Understanding Hearing Loss
HEARING LOSS, A COMMON PROBLEM
Loss of hearing affects over 2 million Canadians of all ages. Hearing loss can range from a mild loss resulting in not hearing faint sounds or voices, to impairment that is so severe that very loud noises may not be detected. It is one of the most common health problems worldwide and also one of the most ignored problems. This is unfortunate because hearing loss and its many psychological side effects are highly treatable.
EFFECTS OF HEARING LOSS
Studies have shown that it takes an average of seven years for someone with a hearing loss to seek help. For most people, the onset of hearing loss is a gradual process, often over many years. As a result, they simply just adapt to their hearing loss and may not be aware that their hearing has decreased. What they often don’t realise, is that they are in the process of disconnecting with their surroundings.
Firstly, the
subtle sounds disappear, but then progressively, one’s social
interaction with others becomes affected. You start avoiding social
situations and no longer appreciate or enjoy activities that you enjoyed
before. Frustration creeps in and eventually, when the situation becomes
intolerable (or your family and friends pressure you sufficiently), the
seven year average period has arrived and help is now sought.
Hearing
loss impacts on all aspects of one's life from family relationships to
self-esteem, from academic performance to job stability.
HEARING WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING
Hearing loss is not like listening to sounds with the volume simply turned down. Hearing loss tends to vary with changes in pitch or frequency. The most common hearing loss is a high frequency loss which means that you hear lower pitched sounds better than higher pitched sounds.
In speech, the vowels ('a','e','i','o','u') tend to be more low frequency in nature while the consonants ('k', 's', 'p', 't', 'f', etc.) tend to be higher in frequency. The result is that you tend to hear the vowels better but miss the higher pitched consonants which tend to occur at the beginning and ending of words. If you take the words: 'fat' or 'cat' or 'sat', the only difference is the first letter. If you missed the first letter, which word was it? You now have to look at the sentence or context in which the word was used or be watching the person's mouth to give you the clues as to which word it may have been. Because you are only hearing part of the word, it often appears that people are mumbling or speak unclearly.
HEARING IN NOISY ENVIRONMENTS
In daily life, most of the background noise we experience tends to be in the lower frequencies. If you have a high frequency hearing loss, this means that you now hear the noise before you hear the speech. Low frequencies also have much more power than high frequencies do and therefore tend to drown out the higher frequencies which are important for the clarity in speech and for your sense of direction and ability to focus.
Often, someone with a high frequency hearing loss hears a car coming before their spouse, who has normal hearing, does. This is because the low frequency drone of the engine falls into the frequency range that they do hear and so their attention is drawn to the sound. Their spouse is not drawn to the car as their attention is caught up in the other everyday sounds in the environment which their partner doesn't hear due to their hearing loss.
High frequencies are also needed to localise the direction from which sound is coming. Someone with a high frequency loss therefore has difficulty focusing on a speaker in a noisy environment. They are too easily distracted by the background noise. Balance between the two ears is also very important for localising sound. Your brain continuously compares the sound heard in the left ear with the sound in the right ear. The brain has the ability to pick out the parts of sound that it wants to hear and 'switch off' the rest. In a noisy environment, a person with normal hearing is able to focus on the speaker and follow the conversation successfully with a bit of concentration. When a person has a high frequency hearing loss or a difference in hearing between ears, their ability to focus and pick out the sounds they want to hear from the background is severely compromised.
SIGNS OF HEARING LOSS
If you suspect that you may be experiencing hearing loss, consider the following questions:
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Do you find that people mumble and speak unclearly?
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Do you often ask people to repeat themselves?
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Do you have difficulty following conversation in group situations?
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Do you have difficulty following conversation in noisy environments?
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Do you have difficulty hearing the doorbell or telephone ringing?
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Do you turn the TV or radio louder than other people find comfortable?
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Do other people tell you that you speak too loudly?
If you answered Yes to any of these questions, you may have a hearing loss. If you do have a hearing loss, you are not alone. Worldwide, you are one of about 500 million other people suffering from hearing loss. In most countries, that is one in six people.
THE NEXT STEP
The next step is to have a hearing test conducted by a hearing healthcare professional. Your hearing healthcare professional will determine whether you do have a hearing loss and the degree or nature of the hearing loss. If your hearing loss is medically treatable, they will refer you to your medical doctor or an ear, nose and throat specialist for further treatment.
If the hearing loss is not medically treatable, your hearing healthcare professional will discuss your hearing loss with you and provide you with the best solution to maximise your residual hearing.
Seeking help means you are taking positive steps to improve your hearing as well as your quality of life for you and those around you.
CAUSES OF HEARING LOSS
There are many factors that may affect your hearing. Some you have little control over and may be inherited, or due to illness or disease. Other causes include side effects from some medications, aging, ear infections or injury. Many hearing losses are caused by your environment or daily activities. Noise exposure is a large contributor. Noise damage may be caused by a sudden loud noise such as an explosion or through longer term, regular exposure to high noise levels.
The world we live in has steadily become a noisier place. Hearing protection in the workplace is now commonplace and monitored regularly, but even exposure to every-day activities such as traffic noise, use of the lawnmower or leaf blower, the vacuum cleaner, power tools, loud music, etc. may all contribute to the loss of hearing over time. Increased awareness of noise exposure and taking steps to reduce noise levels either by removing yourself from those conditions or by reducing the noise levels by wearing hearing protection would help to reduce the damage to your hearing from this source.
