Hearing loss isn’t only about volume, it’s about pitch. It’s possible you have some degree of high-frequency hearing loss if you can understand what the men in the room are saying but you can’t hear women and children. This is a very common form of hearing loss so you’re not alone.
high-frequency Hearing Loss Symptoms
With high-frequency hearing loss, you might still be able to register the volume of a woman’s voice or a child’s voice, but consonant sounds that make conversations easy to understand, get muddled. Usually the most difficult to pick up are consonant sounds such as ch, th, t, soft s, c, sh, k, f, and h. So, it might sound like a woman or child is mumbling, even though they aren’t. Losing the ability to distinguish 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 problem. This includes birds chirping, high musical notes, sirens or squeaks. Even at low volumes a man’s voice, thunder, and bass musical notes, might be relatively easy to detect.
Causes of High-Frequency Hearing Loss
Often imperceptible at first, high-frequency hearing loss, the most common type of hearing loss, can sneak up on you as you grow older. Other than aging, excessive noise exposure, certain medications and a variety of medical conditions like cardiovascular disease can lead to high-frequency hearing loss.
The little hair-like sensors inside the cochlea are injured by all of these scenarios. 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, and this is why the higher-pitched sounds are commonly the first to be difficult to comprehend.
How to Avoid High-Frequency Hearing Loss
You can do several things to slow down or stop the development of high-frequency hearing loss even though you can’t stop your ears from growing older. Including these:
- Taking good care of your overall health. Smoking can damage your hearing. Poor health, poor nutrition, or lack of exercise can also hurt your hearing. Try to take good care of your health in all aspects and this will safeguard your hearing also.
- In noisy settings, put in hearing protection. If you have to yell to be heard in a loud setting, this is a certain signal the noise might injure your hearing. Some instances of occasions when wearing ear-plugs are rock concerts, motorcycles revving, running power tools, and a loud music system. Noise-canceling headphones are also a good alternative in certain circumstances, but might not fit inside your pocket as easily as ear-plugs.
- When getting rid of earwax, never utilize a swab or any other small object. Your capacity to hear becomes blunted when you push old earwax against your eardrum. Carefully clean out excess earwax with a cloth when you’re done showering, or ask your hearing care specialist about other ear irrigation techniques for removing earwax without damaging your hearing.
- Looking for quiet things. Find the quietest product by examining the noise rating of the appliances. If it’s tough to hear your friends at dinner, don’t be hesitant to ask the manager to turn the music down.
- If you take any medication, ask your doctor if it has any effect on hearing. At least 200 different kinds of medications can cause or worsen high-frequency hearing loss. Even aspirin at high doses can damage your hearing. To discover if there are possibilities less likely to damage your hearing, consult your doctor. Stay in close contact with your hearing health care provider if you can’t avoid taking a certain medication. Further hearing loss can be prevented by treatment.
high-frequency Hearing Loss Treatment
Presently, the most reliable technique for managing high-frequency hearing loss is hearing aids. And there are numerous models to choose from since this is the most widespread kind of hearing loss. Hearing aids can enhance high-pitched sounds so they are crisper to the listener. Several 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. Many hearing aids can be manipulated by your phone and include directional microphones for fine-tuning in circumstances such as business meetings, restaurant dinners, talking on the phone or listening to children.
If you suspect that you might be dealing with high-frequency hearing loss, schedule a hearing examination. Chances are, there are personally-customized solutions that can improve your ability to catch your grandchild’s precious one-liners.