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About Hearing To help you understand hearing better, imagine yourself in the following situation. A small, quiet room has one instrument, a guitar. You approach the instrument and pluck one string. The guitar makes a wonderful sound. Now, to hear this sound, it must first travel through your external auditory canal. There it travels to your eardrum. The eardrum vibrates, ideally, at the same frequency (pitch), intensity and tone, as the string. These vibrations travel further into your ear by means of the ossicular chain in the middle ear through the oval window and on into the fluid of the inner ear. This movement of the endolymph stimulates the cochlea. The cochlea is a set of fine hair-like structures called hair cells. These are collectively known as the organ Corti. As the corti is stimulated it sends a signal directly to the auditory nerve. The brain then processes the sound of the guitar string and you hear it. Several different things can cause hearing loss, most often gradually and painlessly.
Testing for Hearing Loss If you suspect a hearing loss the first step is an appointment with a Hearing Health Care Provider for proper testing and evaluation. Testing is painless, comfortable and safe. It includes checking you ability to recognize everyday words at different volume levels, and to hear various tones. The data from the test will be used to determine the type and severity of your hearing loss, and whether you might benefit from hearing aids. Hearing loss is especially prevalent in older age groups. As a result, those over age 50 should consider a yearly evaluation as an important part of your physical checkup. |