Hearing loss due to age is called,”presbycusis.” It stems from damage both to hair cells in the cochlea (inner ear) and the spiral ganglion cells of the 8th cranial nerve that carry signals to the brain. Most affected is the basal turn of the cochlea that encodes high frequency consonant sounds that give speech its clarity. For example: look in the mirror and say silently, “bad”, “mad”, “ban”, or “man”. Hard to distinguish between those words visually, isn’t it?
Helen Keller famousy remarked, “blindness separates us from things, but deafness separates us from people.” Thus, improvements in hearing are expected inevitably to enhance quality of life.
iPhone acting out…sorry! Re: incomplete last comment:
I consulted none other than the Sydney Morning Herald, January 21, 2009. The article of reference is, “Does ear hair growing as we age serve any useful purpose?” The answers are humorous. My favorite is that excess ear hair “filters out a lot of stuff that used to get us stirred up when we were younger.”
As an audiologist and professional mezzo soprano prior to medical school, I always love to talk about the impact of Beethoven’s hearing loss. He began losing his hearing as a young man (not presbycusis) when he could not hear a shepherd piping merrily on a pipe of lilac wood in the forest. He probably had cochlear otosclerosis, which might have been at least somewhat surgically correctable nowadays. The tinnitus (hum or buzz) bothered him to the point of considering suicide. When he conducted the final movement of the Ninth Symphony, the contralto soloist had to turn him around to see the rousing response of the audience that he could not hear.
Everything comes full circle. Some of you know that I’m now a palliative care physician. Tinnitus, an audiological symptom, is a major detriment to sleep and communication for some. White noise machines sometimes help. Its impact is often underestimated and certainly worthy of further study.
Another great article, Don. I like the hearing aids that look like earbuds idea. I know a couple of people with hearing loss who are not wearing hearing aids for the reasons you gave.
This is certainly an interesting train of posts. To answer Don’s query on evolutionary justification for senile earlobe hair, I consulted none other than the Su
Depending on your type of hearing loss, I don't think a hearing aid has to be thousands of dollars. My husband has a very soft voice. Believe me, we know the friends and acquaintances that are not acknowledging their need of a hearing aid.
I was an avid hunter in my younger days and shot many guns without hearing protection. We just didn’t think we needed it. Then on July 4th, 2004 a friend fired a pistol near me and the hearing in my right ear totally disappeared. All I had was a loud hum. Went to the ear, nose, throat doctor the next day and he failed to identify what the problem was. Several doctors later called it “sudden hearing loss”. The nerve was damaged beyond repair. To this day, all I hear from my right ear is hummmmmmm.........24 hours a day. Hearing aids won’t help because the auditory nerve is gone. I am now a big advocate to my hunting friends to make sure they and their children wear hearing protection when firing guns.
Hearing loss due to age is called,”presbycusis.” It stems from damage both to hair cells in the cochlea (inner ear) and the spiral ganglion cells of the 8th cranial nerve that carry signals to the brain. Most affected is the basal turn of the cochlea that encodes high frequency consonant sounds that give speech its clarity. For example: look in the mirror and say silently, “bad”, “mad”, “ban”, or “man”. Hard to distinguish between those words visually, isn’t it?
Helen Keller famousy remarked, “blindness separates us from things, but deafness separates us from people.” Thus, improvements in hearing are expected inevitably to enhance quality of life.
iPhone acting out…sorry! Re: incomplete last comment:
I consulted none other than the Sydney Morning Herald, January 21, 2009. The article of reference is, “Does ear hair growing as we age serve any useful purpose?” The answers are humorous. My favorite is that excess ear hair “filters out a lot of stuff that used to get us stirred up when we were younger.”
As an audiologist and professional mezzo soprano prior to medical school, I always love to talk about the impact of Beethoven’s hearing loss. He began losing his hearing as a young man (not presbycusis) when he could not hear a shepherd piping merrily on a pipe of lilac wood in the forest. He probably had cochlear otosclerosis, which might have been at least somewhat surgically correctable nowadays. The tinnitus (hum or buzz) bothered him to the point of considering suicide. When he conducted the final movement of the Ninth Symphony, the contralto soloist had to turn him around to see the rousing response of the audience that he could not hear.
Everything comes full circle. Some of you know that I’m now a palliative care physician. Tinnitus, an audiological symptom, is a major detriment to sleep and communication for some. White noise machines sometimes help. Its impact is often underestimated and certainly worthy of further study.
Another great article, Don. I like the hearing aids that look like earbuds idea. I know a couple of people with hearing loss who are not wearing hearing aids for the reasons you gave.
This is certainly an interesting train of posts. To answer Don’s query on evolutionary justification for senile earlobe hair, I consulted none other than the Su
Depending on your type of hearing loss, I don't think a hearing aid has to be thousands of dollars. My husband has a very soft voice. Believe me, we know the friends and acquaintances that are not acknowledging their need of a hearing aid.
I was an avid hunter in my younger days and shot many guns without hearing protection. We just didn’t think we needed it. Then on July 4th, 2004 a friend fired a pistol near me and the hearing in my right ear totally disappeared. All I had was a loud hum. Went to the ear, nose, throat doctor the next day and he failed to identify what the problem was. Several doctors later called it “sudden hearing loss”. The nerve was damaged beyond repair. To this day, all I hear from my right ear is hummmmmmm.........24 hours a day. Hearing aids won’t help because the auditory nerve is gone. I am now a big advocate to my hunting friends to make sure they and their children wear hearing protection when firing guns.