Having trouble hearing in background noise?
You are not alone. If you find that you are having difficulty hearing in crowded situations, like family get togethers or at a restaurant, you may have an underlying hearing loss. Those struggling with a high pitch hearing loss due to age, ototoxicity (damage to the ear due to medication), and noise exposure have a greater disadvantage.
The hearing deficit is caused by damage and thinning of the inner hair cells in the hearing organ also called cochlea. This damage can impact the filtering mechanism of background noise. The signal to noise ratio (the difference between what you want to hear and the noise in the background) needs to be greater for those with hearing loss. It essentially makes your hearing loss worse by masking out the important information. With normal hearing individuals, their brain can fill in the blanks making background noise less of a problem.
If you keep finding yourself in situations where you are having a hard time understanding what is being said because of the background noise going on around you, it may be time to give Lemme Audiology a call at (814) 941-7770 to schedule a hearing evaluation.
