Overview
Hearing Loss, Amplification, and Realistic Expectations
Hearing loss changes much more than the volume of sound.
REx-PN
REx-PN
Hearing loss changes much more than the volume of sound. It can make speech seem muffled, remove consonants that distinguish one word from another, and make conversation especially difficult when several voices or background noise compete. A person may hear that someone is speaking yet be unable to understand what was said. Conductive hearing loss occurs when sound is not transmitted efficiently through the outer or middle ear before reaching the inner ear. Cerumen accumulation and middle-ear infection are examples of potentially reversible contributors. Sensorineural hearing loss involves the inner ear or auditory nerve and is commonly permanent. Mixed hearing loss has conductive and sensorineural components. These distinctions matter because an aid may improve audibility, but a new conductive problem or medical change can reduce hearing beyond what the device can compensate for. A hearing aid is an amplification device, not a cure for hearing loss. Its microphone collects sound, an amplifier increases the signal, and a receiver or speaker delivers the sound into the ear. The aid can make speech and environmental sounds more audible, but it cannot fully...
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