Hearing loss isn’t simply about volume, it’s about pitch. If it’s hard to comprehend the speech of a child or a woman, but you can still, for the most part, understand the men in the room, you could have some level of high-frequency hearing loss. This is a very common kind of hearing loss so you’re not alone.
Symptoms of High-Frequency Hearing Loss
With high-frequency hearing loss, consonant sounds that allow conversations to be understood, get muddled even though you may still be able to register the volume of a woman or a child’s voice. Usually, consonant sounds like t, th, ch, soft c, s, sh, f, k, and h are the hardest to differentiate. So, it may 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. Separation 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 high musical notes, birds chirping, and squeaks or sirens. Low-frequency sounds like bass musical notes, the rumble of thunder or a man’s voice might still be fairly easy to discern, even if the volume isn’t that loud.
Causes of High-Frequency Hearing Loss
Frequently imperceptible in the beginning, high-frequency hearing loss, the most prevalent kind of hearing loss, can sneak up on you as you get older. In addition to growing older, excessive noise exposure, some medications and numerous medical issues including cardiovascular disease can cause high-frequency hearing loss.
These situations all harm to the little, hair-like sensory cells inside the cochlea. Sound input is received by these little cells and sent 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 become difficult to understand.
high-frequency Hearing Loss, How to Avoid it
You can take several steps to slow down or stop the progress of high-frequency hearing loss despite the fact that you can’t stop your ears from growing older. Some of these include:
- Ask your doctor about medications you take. At least 200 different varieties of medications will cause or worsen high-frequency hearing loss. Your hearing can even be injured by too much aspirin. consult your doctor to determine if there are possibilities less likely to damage your hearing. Stay in close touch with your hearing health care provider if you can’t abstain from taking a particular medication. Treating hearing loss early can help avoid further loss.
- Quieter things are more ideal. Find noise ratings on appliances and pick the quietest models. And don’t be afraid to ask the restaurant manager to turn the music down if it’s difficult to hear your dinner companions.
- When eliminating earwax, never use a swab or any other small object. Your capacity to hear becomes blunted when you push old earwax against your eardrum. A hot shower is usually enough o get rid of exes earwax but if this doesn’t work ask your hearing care professional for other methods of irrigating your ears.
- Your health is important so take good care of it. Smoking can damage your hearing. Your hearing can also be injured from poor health due to poor nutrition. Try to take good care of your health in all aspects and this can protect your hearing also.
- Wearing hearing protection in noisy spaces.A sure sign that your ears might be getting damaged is if you need to shout to be heard in a loud location. Heavy traffic, engines revving, power tools running, the loud sound systems at movies or rock concerts are all good examples of times when putting in the ear-plugs is a good idea. Noise-canceling headphones are also a good solution in some circumstances, but may not fit in your pocket as easily as ear-plugs.
Treatment For High-Frequency Hearing Loss
At this time, the most effective strategy for dealing with high-frequency hearing loss is hearing aids. And since this is the most common type of hearing loss, there are many different designs a person can choose from. Hearing aids can enhance high-pitched sounds so they are crisper to the listener. You can immediately address your level and degree of hearing loss by having your hearing care expert fine-tune your hearing aid to enhance your ability to hear sounds at the right level. Many hearing aids can be manipulated by your phone and come with directional microphones for fine-tuning in circumstances such as business meetings, restaurant dinners, talking on the phone or listening to children.
Make an appointment for a hearing test if you think you may have high-frequency hearing loss. Odds are, there are personally-tailored solutions that can increase your capacity to catch your grandchild’s priceless one-liners.