Woman talking with her granddaughter at a pier now that she is not suffering from high-frequency hearing loss.

Hearing loss isn’t exclusively about volume, it’s also about pitch. It’s possible you have some amount of high-frequency hearing loss if you can comprehend what the men in the room are saying but you can’t hear children and women. You’re not alone…this is the most common kind of hearing loss.

high-frequency Hearing Loss Symptoms

With high-frequency hearing loss, consonant sounds that allow conversations to be understood, get muddled even though you may still be able to register the volume of a woman or a child’s voice. Normally, consonant sounds such as t, th, ch, soft c, s, sh, f, k, and h are the most difficult to pick out. So, it may sound like a woman or child is mumbling, even though they actually aren’t. Losing the ability to differentiate these sounds makes it very hard to understand a child’s joke or your sister’s question about dinner plans. Separation from family and friends, sadness, and frustration can be the result.

People with high-frequency hearing loss also miss other sounds that are within the high-frequency range (2000 Hz and higher). This includes birds chirping, high musical notes, whistles or squeaks. Low-frequency sounds like bass musical notes, the rumble of thunder or a man’s voice might still be quite easy to discern, even if the volume isn’t that loud.

Reasons For High-Frequency Hearing Loss

As the most widespread type of loss of hearing, high-frequency hearing loss can creep up on people as they age, often imperceptibly at first. high-frequency hearing loss can be caused by other things in addition to aging like some medical problems like cardiovascular disease, too much noise exposure, and several medications.

The tiny hair-like sensors in the cochlea are harmed by all of these situations. It’s these little cells that receive sound input and deliver it to the brain for processing. The higher pitched sounds are frequently the first to be hard to understand because the high-frequency cells get damaged more easily than the lower pitched cells.

high-frequency Hearing Loss, How to Prevent it

Although you can’t prevent your ears from aging, there are quite a few things you can do to prevent or at least slow down the advancement of high-frequency hearing loss. Some of these include:

  • In loud situations, wear hearing protection. If you need to yell to be heard in a noisy setting, this is a definite signal the noise could injure your hearing. Some examples of occasions when wearing ear protection are live music concerts, motorcycles revving, running power tools, and a loud music system. Noise-canceling earphones are also a good solution in some circumstances, but might not fit in your pocket as easily as ear-plugs.
  • If you use any medication, ask your doctor if it has any effect on hearing. At least 200 different kinds of medications will cause or worsen high-frequency hearing loss. Even too much aspirin can injure your hearing. consult your doctor to see if there are choices less likely to injure your hearing. Stay in close contact with your hearing health care provider if you can’t abstain from using a certain medication. Dealing with hearing loss early can help avoid further loss.
  • Getting quiet things. Select the quietest model by checking the noise rating of the appliances. And don’t be scared to ask the restaurant manager to turn down the music if it’s difficult to hear your friends at dinner.
  • Your health is important so take care of it. Smoking can injury your hearing. Your hearing can also be injured by poor health caused by poor nutrition. Preserve your hearing by taking care of your overall health.
  • Never utilizing a swab (or other small objects) to get rid of ear wax. This can jam old ear wax into your ear canal and dull your capacity to hear. A hot shower is normally enough o get rid of exes earwax but if this doesn’t work ask your hearing professional for other methods of irrigating your ears.

high-frequency Hearing Loss Treatment

Hearing aids are at this time the most effective strategy for treating high-frequency hearing loss. And since this is the most common kind of hearing loss, there are various different designs a person can choose from. Hearing aids can boost high-pitched sounds so they are clearer to the user. Several models can be configured and your hearing care expert can help fine-tune them to enhance your ability to hear those sounds at the correct level, directly addressing the level and degree of the hearing loss. For circumstances like talking on the phone, listening to children, having dinner at a restaurant, or business meetings many hearing aids can be controlled by your phone and have directional microphones for fine-tuning.

Make an appointment for a hearing test if you think you may have high-frequency hearing loss. If you would like to increase your capacity to hear your grandchild’s precious one-liner, odds are there are individually designed solutions for you.

The site information is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. To receive personalized advice or treatment, schedule an appointment.