By Michael Curry
Aug 4, 2011
Hearing loss affects the lives of many people. Still, not everyone who encounters hearing loss in their lifetime will experience the exact same signs and symptoms, nor do they always have the same hearing solution options . There are several different levels (or degrees) of hearing loss, depending on what type of auditory damage has occurred and what part of the ear has been affected.
High Frequency Hearing Loss can occur in one or both ears. It is characterized by difficulty or an inability to hear sounds that have a higher pitch or frequency. It becomes increasingly difficult, over time, to perceive these sounds and even makes regular communication difficult. Certain …show more content…
While it causes few problems with understanding or hearing up close, it can cause issues when distance is involved and with changes in any visual cues. Some of the symptoms involved in this level of hearing loss are difficulties in hearing normal conversation due to the inability to perceive the consonant sounds in words.
Severe Hearing Loss causes difficulty with hearing in all situations. In order to hear or understand anything, sounds often must be loud or nearby. This level of hearing loss can cause the brain to miss up to 100% of speech and sound signals. The main symptom of this type of hearing loss is the inability to hear or understand without ideal accommodations such as speaking face to face, no background noise or accompanied by a speechreading mechanism.
Profound Hearing Loss is the most extreme level of hearing loss. The person may not be able to hear any speech or sound at all and must often rely on visual cues such as lipreading and sign-language in order to communicate.
The good news is that there are solutions which can improve your hearing ability. Make an appointment to talk with your audiologist about which solution is right for you. Hearing loss doesn't have to take you away from the people and things you enjoy most in