Hearing loss is not exclusively about volume, it’s also about pitch. It’s conceivable you have some degree of high-frequency hearing loss if you can comprehend what the men in the room are saying but you can’t hear women and children. This is a very prevalent form of hearing loss so you’re not alone.
Warning Signs of High-Frequency Hearing Loss
With high-frequency hearing loss, consonant sounds that allow conversations to be understood, get muddled even though you might still be able to register the volume of a woman or a child’s voice. Usually the most difficult to differentiate are consonant sounds such as ch, th, t, soft s, c, sh, k, f, and h. Even though a woman or a child is not mumbling, it might sound like they are. Losing the ability to differentiate these sounds makes it very hard to understand a child’s joke or your sister’s question about dinner plans. Isolation from friends and family, sadness, and frustration can be the result.
Other sounds within the high-frequency hearing loss range (2000 Hz) are lost to people who have this condition. This includes birds chirping, high musical notes, whistles or squeaks. Even at low volumes a man’s voice, thunder, and bass musical notes, may be fairly easy to discern.
Reasons For High-Frequency Hearing Loss
Frequently imperceptible in the beginning, high-frequency hearing loss, the most prevalent type of hearing loss, can sneak up on you as you get older. high-frequency hearing loss can be triggered by other things besides aging like particular medical conditions like cardiovascular disease, excessive noise exposure, and various medications.
The little hair-like sensors in the cochlea are injured by all of these situations. Sound input is picked up by these little cells and sent to the brain for processing. The high-frequency sensory cells are more sensitive to injury than the low-frequency sensory cells, which is why the higher-pitched sounds are commonly the first to be difficult to understand.
high-frequency Hearing Loss, How to Avoid it
You can take several steps to slow or stop the progress of high-frequency hearing loss even though you can’t stop your ears from growing older. Including these:
- Using hearing protection in noisy spaces. If you have to yell to be heard in a noisy setting, this is a definite sign the noise could injure your hearing. Heavy traffic, motorcycles revving, power tools running, the loud stereo systems at movies or live music concerts are all good examples of instances when putting in the ear-protection is a smart idea. Noise canceling headphone might not fit inside your pocket, but they are the best option in certain circumstances.
- Quieter things are better. Look for noise ratings on appliances and pick the quietest products. And don’t be afraid to ask the restaurant manager to turn down the music if it’s hard to hear your friends at dinner.
- Ask your doctor about medications you use. At least 200 different varieties of medications can cause or worsen high-frequency hearing loss. Your hearing can even be damaged by too much aspirin. consult your doctor to determine if there are options less likely to injure your hearing. If you can’t avoid taking a particular medication, keep in close communication with your hearing professional for regular hearing loss and balance testing. Dealing with hearing loss early can help avoid further loss.
- Never utilizing a swab (or other small objects) to get rid of ear wax. This can push old ear wax into your ear canal and dull your ability to hear. A hot shower is usually enough o drain exes earwax but if this doesn’t work ask your hearing professional for other methods of irrigating your ears.
- Your health is important so take care of it. Smoking can harm your hearing. Poor health, poor nutrition, or lack of exercise can also injure your hearing. Try to take good care of your health in all ways and this will protect your hearing as well.
high-frequency Hearing Loss Treatment
Currently, the most effective strategy for treating high-frequency hearing loss is hearing aids. And there are many models to choose from because this is the most widespread kind of hearing loss. Hearing aids can augment high-pitched sounds so they are crisper to the user. Many models are configurable and your hearing care expert can help fine-tune them to improve your ability to hear those sounds at the right level, immediately addressing the level and extent of the hearing loss. For situations such as talking on the phone, listening to children, having dinner at a restaurant, or business meetings several hearing aids can be controlled by your phone and have directional microphones for fine-tuning.
Make an appointment for a hearing test if you think you might have high-frequency hearing loss. Chances are, there are personally-customized answers that can enhance your capacity to hear your grandchild’s priceless one-liners.