Hearing loss, is it a volume problem?

Anyone who is not familiar with hearing loss assumes that it is like turning the volume on a radio lower and lower until,you have difficulty understanding the words, or cannot hear at all.
Hearing loss is far more subtle than that.
A person with hearing loss usually has a different amount of loss at each frequency across a range of hearing. For example, a person may have normal hearing in the lower frequencies,  a moderate hearing loss in the middle frequencies and a severe loss in the high frequencies.
In relation to hearing aids,and in order to understand speech better, the person wants the low frequencies unchanged,the middle frequencies a little louder, and the high frequencies very loud.
Increasing the volume of the radio makes all the frequencies louder. The volume is so loud in the lower frequencies,where the hearing is normal, that it becomes intolerable. Louder does not mean clearer in relation to frequencies unless the frequencies are properly balanced.

Can a hearing aid help a profoundly deaf person?

A profoundly deaf person does not rely on hearing for communication. The hearing aid cannot compensate for the level of hearing impairment. A hearing aid maintains contact with the hearing environment and allows the patient an awareness of what is going on around them, using auditory clues.

How Does It Feel Not To Hear Properly?

What Hearing Loss Really Means

1. Hearing Facts. Explain that when people cannot hear facts well and often have to ask people to repeat themselves, it is not only frustrating to the person with the hearing loss, but to the other person as well. The other person often wonders if there might be a mental problem, before considering that it might be a hearing problem. This consideration alone can represent a strong motivation to purchase hearing aids.

2. Understanding Meaning and Intention. Understanding the meaning behind a person’s words and understanding their intentions are critically important in many conversations. The person with a hearing loss must understand how this capability deteriorates as hearing gets worse.

3. Feelings and Emotions. Hearing loss makes it much more difficult for the patient to understand the feelings and emotions behind spoken words. This is particularly important to family and friends. The more familiar the relationship, the more important subtle intonation and inflection are. When meaning and emotions are not accurately understood due to hearing loss, misunderstandings lead to frustration and disappointment. This is one of the main reasons why families are often the driving force in visits to the hearing aid office.

4. Alerts and Warnings. Personal and family safety can be jeopardized in an instant by poor hearing. The inability to recognize the nature, seriousness, and direction from which a warning or threat comes is very serious. There is a point at which disregarding this concern becomes irresponsible.This can be overcome with modern technology.

5. Sounds of Nature. Hearing the sound of the wind in the trees, birds chirping, and rain on the roof are important parts of feeling part of a living world. As hearing deteriorates, an inevitable feeling of isolation closes in. Though this is experienced most prevalently in advanced hearing loss, it is one of the most unfortunate consequences of the situation getting worse.

6. Music. For many people with hearing loss, music sounds off key or distorted compared to when it was originally heard. Music plays an important part in some of our favorite memories. Hearing loss often makes sharing these memories stilted and uncomfortable.

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Gunshot blasts pose a serious hazard to hearing

The impulse noise from firearms is as intense as 132-165 Db and thus extremely dangerous to
hearing.
A Polish study including 18 hunters and 8 police trainees, with average ages of 46.2 years and
25.2 years, respectively, found that as many as 72.2 percent of hunters suffered from hearing
loss. Only 11.1% had completely normal hearing, and the remaining 16.7% had normal hearing
only in the ear furthest away from the rifle.
The hunters had never used hearing protection while hunting. The police trainees had always
used hearing protection when practising target shooting and none of them suffered from
measurable hearing loss.
In a comparison of the two groups their hearing was examined before and after a number of
test gunshots. Changes were noted in the hearing of the hunters, whereas no measurable
changes were found in the police trainees after the test shots. The latter group wore hearing
protection throughout the test shooting.
The study indicated that long-term exposure to gunshot blasts is not the only hazard when
using firearms. Even short-term exposure can cause temporary hearing damage and make the
ear more susceptible to noise damage later on.
On the plus side, the study confirmed that hearing protection prevents hearing loss. The use of
hearing protection is therefore highly recommended when using firearms.
Source; International Journal of Occupational Medicine and Environmental Health
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What is deafness from noise?

Deafness or hearing impairment resulting from prolonged exposure to loud noise is most frequently associated with industrial workplaces, airports etc. The damaging effects of this kind of noise are also the most studied type of noise-induced hearing loss.


But according to an article in "The Hearing Review", February 1999, by otolaryngolist Ken Einhorn, up to 52 % of classical musicians and up to 30 % of rock or pop musicians suffer from music-induced hearing loss, MIHL. It is hardly surprising that music can cause damage while on the job. The sound pressure of a large concert orchestra may reach 112 dB - of amplified rock bands even up to 130 dB, far more than that accepted in an industrial environment.

For the musicians who are regularly subjected to this kind of noise, the resulting problems can be devastating described as noise induced hearing loss. Symptoms begin with losing the ability to hear high-frequency sounds and tones.

In many cases, this causes problems for musicians and singers who must be able to hear and play high notes equally as well as low ones in order to play or sing along with other orchestra members. Often, a musician who suffers from loss of high frequency hearing will try to compensate by playing louder at high-pitched notes, which leads to an artistically unacceptable performance.

As the problem grows, the musician might react oversensitively: suffer from increased blood pressure, headaches, fatigue or experience some sounds or instruments as being painfully loud, a state that often leads to tinnitus.

Another common symptom is the inability to perceive changes in pitch. This state, known as displacusis, is extremely problematic for singers, who have to be in control of their voice and stay in tune at all times. A hearing-impaired singer is also at risk of damaging his or her own her voice by constantly singing louder in order to monitor his/her own voice.

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