Hearing loss is one of the more common signs of the ageing process. According to the RNID, there are 9 million hard of hearing in the UK, 6.5 million of which are over the age of 60. It is important to understand age related hearing loss as the condition is almost certain to have an affect on your life style or someone you know.
Age Related Hearing Loss, What Does It Mean?
Age related hearing loss is known medically as Presbycusis. This type of hearing loss normally affects both ears equally. People often first become aware of hearing loss after the age of 45 to 50 when their sensitivity to hearing very high frequency sounds is impaired. The higher frequency range is usually affected sooner than the lower frequencies or tones.
Tiny haircells inside the ear control our ability to pick up sound. These are designed to pick up waves of sound and to translate these waves into neural signals for the brain to interpret. As the body ages, hair cells inside the ear may be damaged; a condition which is irreversible. How quickly and at which rate hair cells are affected is influenced by various factors such as family history, medication, and exposure to noise over the years.
How Does Age Related Hearing Loss Affects Your Lifestyle?
Age related hearing loss is tricky to notice right away. Because the impairment in hearing takes place gradually people tend to notice it only when their lifestyle is affected. The most common tell-tale signs of hearing impairment are difficulty in hearing someone talking within noise or having to turn up the television more than others in the room; you may also find yourself turning your body/ear in order to hear better or subconsciously moving closer to the speaker. You may also begin to think that many people around you are mumbling on purpose! You may also experience ringing in the ears, otherwise known as tinnitus. Tinnitus and hearing loss are commonly experienced together.
What Treatments Are Available?
If you suspect you might be suffering from hearing loss you should book an appointment for a hearing test to investigate not only the potential reason for your hearing loss, but also to provide a baseline for your hearing ability. After the test, you may be asked to consider wearing a hearing aid, by far the most common way of helping overcome the effects of hearing loss. Modern technology offers a number of means to overcome hear loss in a nonintrusive manner. Hearing aids are micro computers, housed in small casing and which fit either inside your ear or just behind your ear. The device amplifies external sounds and deliver those into your hear canal. Another popular option is ALDs or Assistive Listening Devices. The group of devices includes day to day devices which have been specifically designed for the hard of hearing. For example, instead of your normal alarm clock which might be doing little to wake you up, an ALD alarm clock will include flashing lights, vibrating under pillow pad, amplified sound etc.
It is important to understand the causes of age related hearing loss and to know that treatments are available. Talk to your local hearing centre about your hearing loss for more information on possible treatments.
Bio: Article by Joan McKechnie, BSc Hons Audiology & Speech Pathology. Joan works for digital hearing aids company Hearing Direct. For more information on hearing loss, you can read her guide to hearing loss.
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