 | Ed Clausen M.A
M.A. Audiologist, CCC-A is a licensed Audiologist under the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. He received his CCC-A in 1994 and serves as Company Audiologist for the 18 company offices of Midwest Hearing Aids, Inc. in Kansas. He holds memberships in the American Speech/Language and Hearing Association, the Kansas Speech/Language and Hearing Association, and the Kansas Hearing Aid Association. You may contact Ed at Midwest Hearing Aids corporate office in Wichita at 1 (800) 668-4055 or locally at (316) 264-2411. |
Audiology
2001-10-01 17:43:00
Background noises #@*!
Question: I know that they say the mind is the first to go, but I believe it might be my hearing. Lately I have been having trouble hearing conversations where there is background noise. I remember hearing something about a similar type of loss suffered by President Clinton. What is this hearing impairment called and is there any way to correct or prevent it?
Answer: When a person's hearing ability starts to diminish, usually the first situation they experience difficulty in is background noise. Speech starts to sound muffled, as if the person talking was mumbling. This is due to two factors. First, most forms of hearing loss occur in the high frequencies (pitches), where the sharpness and clarity of speech lie. Second, background noise tends to reside in the low frequencies, and low frequency sounds carry more energy than high frequency sounds. Furthermore, due to the way the inner ear processes them, they can cover up (mask) the high frequencies. As hearing ability in the high frequencies diminishes further, speech in quiet situations may start to sound muffled as well. Not only does the ear's ability to distinguish sounds decrease, but the brain's ability to distinguish and understand words diminishes as well. When attributable to age, this combination of decreased hearing in the high frequencies and decreased word understanding is called presbycusis. The symptoms of presbycusis can sometimes start to be measured when an individual is in their 40s. Additionally, people classified as "baby boomers" have been exposed to a lot of noise during their life. This can have a detrimental effect on hearing ability as well.
