Hearing loss isn’t only about volume, it’s also about pitch. It’s conceivable you have some amount 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. You’re not alone…this is the most common type of hearing loss.
Symptoms of High-Frequency Hearing Loss
With high-frequency hearing loss, you might still be able to pick up the volume of a woman’s voice or a child’s voice, but consonant sounds that allow conversations to be easily understood, get muddled. Normally, consonant sounds such as t, th, ch, soft c, s, sh, f, k, and h are the hardest to differentiate. Even though a woman or a child is not mumbling, it might sound that way. Understanding a child’s joke or a family member’s question about dinner plans becomes very difficult because you have lost the ability to differentiate these sounds. Isolation from family and friends, sadness, and frustration can be the result.
People who have high-frequency hearing loss also miss other sounds falling within the high-frequency range (2000 Hz and higher). This includes birds chirping, high musical notes, whistles or squeaks. Low-frequency sounds such as bass musical notes, the rumble of thunder or a man’s voice may still be relatively easy to discern, even if the volume isn’t that loud.
Causes of High-Frequency Hearing Loss
Usually imperceptible at first, high-frequency hearing loss, the most widespread kind of hearing loss, can sneak up on you as you age. Other than growing older, excessive noise exposure, certain medications and a number of medical issues like cardiovascular disease can result in high-frequency hearing loss.
The little hair-like sensors within the cochlea are damaged by all of these scenarios. It’s these little cells that pick up sound input and send it to the brain for processing. The high-frequency sensory cells are more sensitive to damage than the low-frequency sensory cells, which is why the higher-pitched sounds are frequently the first to be difficult to understand.
How to Prevent High-Frequency Hearing Loss
You can take several steps to slow down or stop the development of high-frequency hearing loss even though you can’t stop your ears from growing older. Some of these include:
- In noisy circumstances, put in hearing protection.A sure indication that your ears might be getting damaged is if you need to shout to be heard in a noisy environment. Some instances of occasions when wearing ear protection are rock concerts, engines revving, power tools running, and a loud stereo. Noise canceling headphone might not fit inside your pocket, but they are the best solution in certain scenarios.
- Caring for your general health. Smoking can injury your hearing. Poor health, poor nutrition, or lack of exercise can also hurt your hearing. Maintain your hearing by taking care of your overall health.
- Quieter things are better. Find noise ratings on appliances and pick the quietest models. And don’t be reluctant to ask the restaurant manager to turn down the music if it’s difficult to hear your dinner companions.
- When extracting earwax, never use a swab or any other small object. Your ability to hear is blunted when you push old earwax against your eardrum. A hot shower is normally enough o get rid of exes earwax but if this doesn’t work ask your hearing professional for other ways to irrigate your ears.
- Ask your doctor about medications you use. At least 200 different kinds of medications will cause or worsen high-frequency hearing loss. Even too much aspirin can harm your hearing. To find out if there are possibilities less likely to damage your hearing, check with your doctor. Stay in close contact with your hearing health care provider if you can’t avoid taking a particular medication. Getting treatment for hearing loss early can help avoid further loss.
Treatment For High-Frequency Hearing Loss
Hearing aids are at this time the most effective method for dealing with high-frequency hearing loss. And there are numerous designs to pick from because this is the most common kind of hearing loss. So that they are clearer to the listener, hearing aids can increase high pitched sounds. You can immediately address your level and degree of hearing loss by having your hearing care expert fine-tune your hearing aid to increase your ability to hear sounds at the correct level. 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 suspect you might have high-frequency hearing loss. Odds are, there are personally-customized answers that can enhance your capacity to catch your grandchild’s priceless one-liners.