Ease the Impact of Age-related Hearing Loss

By Joan McKechnie

No joke: Age-related hearing loss

As the body gets older certain changes take place, which can have
a direct effect on your quality of life.

Age-related hearing loss is an example of such a change which occurs
due to the natural ageing process of the body, and can start as early
as in a person’s 40s.

There are an estimated 35 million hard of hearing in the US with
the main causes linked to age-related and noise-induced hearing loss.

What goes wrong when age-related hearing loss occurs?

Age-related hearing loss, which is also known as presbycusis,
is a type of sensori-neural hearing loss condition.

Sensori-neural describes the cause of the hearing loss as being within
the inner ear (mainly the cochlea), and may include deterioration or damage
to the neural pathways. Within the cochlea of the inner ear, tiny sensory cells
known as hair cells are tasked with transferring information contained within
incoming sound waves to the nerves responsible for hearing and the brain.
When these hair cells deteriorate due to the natural ageing process, hearing
loss may occur.

The level of hearing loss will vary from one person to the next
depending on the extent and location of the damage.

Signs of hearing loss

Age-related loss usually happens gradually, and the signs of hearing loss may
be ignored for many years. The most common signs include increased difficulty
hearing within background noise, feeling that others are constantly mumbling,
and having to have the television turned up much louder than others in the
same room, or struggling to hear people on the telephone.

The ability to hear high-pitched sounds usually deteriorates first, which makes
distinguishing between consonants such as “s,” “th” and “f” difficult.

Ways offered to treat age-related hearing loss

There is as yet no cure for age-related hearing loss, as the damage is permanent
once present. There are however many solutions available to help ease the impact
of the hearing loss. The first step is to have a hearing test to determine the extent
of hearing loss in each ear. Once the amount of hearing loss is established, your
health professional may then recommend a number of devices that can help.

Here are the most common devices:

Digital hearing aids – Micro computers that fit around or inside the ear and
process and then amplify sounds by way of a tiny amplifier. There are many
types of hearing aids that vary in how they fit the wearer’s ear.

Assitive listening devices - These are daily living aids that have been adopted
for the hearing impaired. The most common are amplified phones where both the
ringer and the speaker are amplified; amplified doorbells and alarms, or TV listeners.

Lip and speech reading training – Lip and/or speech reading can also help train
people to take advantage of visual cues to aid understanding.

Joan McKechnie BSc Hons Audiology & Speech Pathology at Hearing Direct. www.HearingDirect.com.
The company offers aids for the deaf and hard of hearing as well as a web based hearing test.