Hearing 101
Trouble Understanding Speech
This is the most common complaint from people suffering from hearing loss
Have you ever experienced, or heard a loved one or friend mention, that they can hear but not understand what others are saying? Hearing loss often affects high-frequency sounds, making it challenging to understand speech clearly.
Patients may hear vowels without issue, but consonant sounds like F, S, T, and X can be difficult to distinguish. Additionally, sounds such as a woman's or child's voice, or a bird chirping, are often lost. Losing hearing in these frequencies makes those sounds softer and unclear.
Imagine removing all the high keys on a piano and asking someone to play a well-known melody. Even with only six or seven keys missing, the melody might be hard to recognize. People with hearing loss experience a similar disruption in the soundtrack of their lives every day.
Identifying Hearing Loss
Because most cases of hearing loss develop gradually, many people don't recognize it at first. The sounds of chirping birds or rustling leaves may fade away unnoticed. It often isn't until speech recognition and communication are affected that the problem becomes apparent. This delay underscores the importance of treating hearing loss as soon as it is recognized. If left unaddressed, hearing loss can significantly impact one's life. Studies show that people with untreated hearing loss are more likely to experience sadness, fear, depression, and anxiety, leading them to withdraw from normal personal interactions.
The Importance of Early Intervention
The sooner steps are taken to manage hearing loss, the easier it will be to find a solution. Hearing is centered in the brain, and the longer it is deprived of certain sounds, the harder it becomes to retrain the brain to recognize those sounds later. Hearing aids can prevent or reduce this deterioration. Treatment can dramatically improve quality of life, with people who use hearing aids reporting benefits such as greater self-confidence, closer relationships with loved ones, and an improved outlook on life.
Hearing Loss Can Be Linked To:
Heightened irritability and/or anger
Fatigue
Increased tension and stress
Decreased alertness and heightened risk to personal safety
Impaired memory
Difficulty learning new tasks
Reduced job performance and earning potential
Cognitive decline
The Anatomy of The Ear
Most hearing loss occurs when the tiny hair cells in the inner ear bend or break. Physicians believe that prolonged exposure to loud noises and heredity are the primary factors contributing to hearing loss over time. Other causes of this damage can include viral infections in the inner ear, medical treatments like chemotherapy and radiation, head injuries, and aging.
The Audiogram
Speech Banana - The banana-shaped area in the diagram below represents speech sounds. Sounds outside this range, whether artificial like music or machinery or natural like birds chirping, fall outside the speech range.
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