Hearing loss is as unique to each person as a fingerprint. No one person has the same type of loss in each ear, nor do people get hearing loss the same way. But, what everyone with hearing has in common are the 8 possible things that hearing loss can indirectly or directly affect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Vocabulary<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n With untreated hearing loss, various sounds and letters lose frequencies. Each letter and verbal sound corresponds to a unique frequency range, and when one loses the ability to hear that range, two things happen. First, all the sounds, letters and words that involve those frequencies are more difficult to hear and exceptionally harder to understand or identify. Secondly, when hearing loss is left untreated as time goes on, the sounds associated with those frequencies begin to lose their crispness. Some may notice they skip over S\u2019s, leaving out \u201cing\u201d endings or even stumbling over an entire word itself. The ears and brain communicate together to help produce words clearly, and if certain sounds are no longer heard, the brain\u2019s ability to produce the words clearly and accurately is impaired<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2. Voice<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n For some people with untreated hearing loss, their auditory loss may actually influence and change the way their voice sounds all together \u2014 to themselves and to others. For example, when I meet new people, the first thing they say is, \u201cYou have an accent. Where are you from?\u201d This has been going on for nearly six years. I have a running tally of countries that people guess, and so far England and Australia are the top contenders, although I get some outliers such as Poland, Finland and most recently South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The other way untreated hearing loss can influence someone\u2019s voice is the perceived volume at which they talk. With untreated hearing loss, even someone\u2019s own voice sounds soft, and as they speak louder and louder to compensate for it, the \u201cinside voice\u201d becomes the \u201coutside voice.\u201d In short, shouting is now speaking. This is something many may not realize they are doing, and for many it takes hearing aids to realize just how loud they\u2019ve been talking<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3. Enjoying Music and Movies<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n With untreated hearing loss, closed captions become a necessity for many as hearing loss begins to take away the ability to understand speech and sounds in movies, especially those where the actors aren\u2019t facing the audience, the dialogue is spoken in romantic soft whispers, the environment is dark, the actors have facial hair or wear masks, there are loud explosions, rushing waters or roaring fires and crashing cars. Essentially, if watching a drama, action, romance or comedy, ones ears might be making enjoyment impossible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So much time is being spent trying to understand what is said that eventually people lose track of what\u2019s going on, and might decide to give up and stare at the screen blankly. I do that about 20 minutes in, and if it\u2019s a comedy, I mask my being lost by laughing when the audience does. It\u2019s not so great when I start anticipating laughter, laugh myself and then it\u2019s dead silent as everyone stares at me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4. Parties, Bars and Restaurants<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Two words: Too Loud! Step into any loud, noisy environment and try to hold a conversation with someone, or, even worse, a group of people. Even for people without hearing loss, this can be hard. For those with untreated hearing loss, the clanging dishes, thumping music, hundreds of conversations going on at once, and the hardwood floors often found in such environments, these situations make listening impossible. When loud ambient noises overwhelm the ears, they cannot focus on speech, even if it\u2019s nearby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For situations like this, our hearing aids have a Voice iQ feature that allows for noise control. Another feature, Speech ID, helps ensure that speech is protected and enhanced while background noise is lowered. With Halo hearing aids, people can also create auto-adjustable programs for various locations so that they never have to worry about an environment being too distracting or that it\u2019ll take 15 minutes to re-set their hearing aids the way they want them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5. Work Performance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A study by Sergei Kochkin<\/a> in 2010 found a $14,000 income difference between adults with mild and severe untreated hearing loss. The study also found that people with untreated hearing loss can lose as much as $30,000 annually. As the age of retirement extends past 65, so too does the number of employees with hearing loss. Hearing loss can hurt work performance in a variety of ways including difficulty hearing at important meetings or on calls, trouble interacting with employees at work through conversation and missing important auditory announcements. Untreated hearing loss can also lead to listening fatigue at work, affect ability to focus and retain information, and impact attitude as stress and lack of energy become overwhelming, all of which can be detrimental to overall production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6. Love and Friendships<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Relationships with untreated hearing loss<\/a> can be challenging as conversations and social outings are not conductive to understanding speech. Restaurants, bars and other loud, group environments make it difficult not only to hear but also to understand what is being said and who is speaking. Untreated hearing loss can thus become a stressful issue for not only the one with untreated hearing loss but for that person\u2019s friends and loved ones. Over time, this may even lead to the person with untreated hearing loss to become isolated and avoid social events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7. Cognitive Health<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n