by Laura L. Brady, AuD, CCC-A, Cleveland Hearing & Speech Center
- Are you having difficulty hearing speech clearly?
- Do you find yourself asking others to repeat themselves?
- Is hearing in restaurants harder than it used to be?
Many people complain that they seem to be able to hear well enough, but have difficulty understanding what is being said. They struggle with clarity of the conversation or TV program. What they may not realize is that they actually may have some hearing loss.
Audiologists perform hearing testing using a standard technique in a standard acoustically controlled environment (sound-proof booth.) During a typical hearing test, the results are recorded on a form called an audiogram.
The typical pitch and loudness of different speech sounds are plotted on the audiogram. Generally, vowel sounds and voiced consonants (where the larynx is used along with the lips and tongue) are loud, low frequency, and last longer. The soft friction sounds made by only the lips and tongue are softer, higher pitched and briefer. For example, listen as you say the word tooth. The “oo” part of the word is lower pitched, louder and lasts longer than the “t” and “th”.
Hearing loss is categorized as mild, moderate, moderately-severe, severe or profound. Many people have hearing levels that change across frequency; it is not unusual for a person to have normal hearing in the lower pitches, but as the pitch increases, hearing declines.
Sensorineural (permanent) hearing loss is generally a high frequency loss. This results in poorer audibility of soft speech sounds, like “s,” “f,” “th,” and “t,” and explains why many people with hearing loss report that, “I hear, but I have difficulty understanding what people say.” The amount of hearing loss at each pitch determines what is audible and what is not. For example, the “th” sound in the word “thin” could be mistaken for “sin” or “fin” or “shin” or “chin” – or not be heard at all! Also, in the presence of background noise, these soft speech sounds can be masked or covered up by other extraneous sound.
To ensure you are not missing out on the full conversation, schedule a hearing test to determine the range of any potential hearing loss.
Opinions and claims expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of ScripType Publishing.
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September 18, 2020 at 08:57PM
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