Very often, one of the first complaints of hearing loss is difficulty hearing in background noise, such as restaurants or social gatherings. While loud background noise, coupled many times with poor acoustics, can make any environment challenging to listen in, hearing loss also exacerbates this effect as we age.
In background noise environments, our brains are highly dependent upon the higher frequency ranges to give clarity to what is being spoken. The reason for this is that high frequencies envelope a large portion of human consonant sounds which bring greater clarity to speech. Also, background noise tends to be heavy in lower frequencies which can cover-up the higher frequency ranges.
Unfortunately, as we age we tend to lose our high frequency hearing first. This primarily affects our understanding ability and creates a greater degree of cognitive load on our brains in challenging listening situations. It’s just like someone took the treble on the TV and turned it down. You can hearing all the ambient music but the voice clarity is muffled. (Think Charlie Brown teacher voice, “wha-wha-wha…”).
Difficulty hearing in background noise environments is one of the most common initial hearing complaints associated with hearing loss. Since high frequency loss affects clarity perception rather than noticeable volume/loudness perception, this difficulty can easily sneak up on us. As we age this untreated deficit starts to yield diminishing returns socially and personally. In fact, current research has revealed a definitive link between hearing loss and dementia risk! If hearing in background noise is a struggle for you or a loved one, the first step is to have a thorough evaluation completed by an audiologist.
P.S. Please stop in this month for a free water bottle and hearing protection as well as enter a drawing for a free soundbar!