The table is set, homemade lasagna is baking in the oven, wine glasses are lined up and ready on the kitchen counter, and dinner guests will be arriving shortly. Oh, one more thing, sweetie. Turn the music down. One of our guests has a hard time hearing conversations, especially if background sounds are too loud.
Funny thing is, that guest isn’t an elderly relative. He’s a successful, attractive, intelligent and healthy baby boomer. He’d love to listen to the Clash at dance-party volume. But if he does, he won’t be joining in the chatter with everyone else, because he won’t be able keep up with what others are saying.
He might have a high-frequency hearing loss, which affects a person’s ability to understand speech, according to the Hearing Rehab Center website. People with high frequency hearing loss can hear vowels but have trouble discerning the consonant sounds of F, S, T, and Z, higher octaves like a woman’s or a child’s voice, or a bird chirping. Background noise consists mainly of low frequency sounds, which someone with a high frequency hearing loss can hear just fine.
Or there could be some other reason. And our baby boomer guest,who is more than likely aware of his difficulty, isn’t doing anything about it. He’s not the only one.
Among Americans ages 46 to 64, about 15 percent have hearing problems, says a survey by the Better Hearing Institute.
Why? “Common causes of hearing loss in adults ages 40 and over are usually related to presbycusis-age-related hearing loss,” says Samuel Atcherson, assistant professor of audiology at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. “Presbycusis is related to a variety of biological changes and is usually tied to genetics. It typically hits around 30 to 40 years of age and progressively gets worse.”
Noise-induced hearing loss, a form of acoustic trauma, can begin at any age and can be gradual (chronic exposure) or sudden (all it takes is one or two very loud events) or a combination, especially without the use of hearing protection devices, Atcherson says.
For individuals 50 years and older in the United States with hearing loss, 1 in 7 uses a hearing aid, and for adults aged from 50 to 59, the rate of hearing-aid use declines to less than 1 in 20, reports a study on the prevalence of hearing-aid use among older adults in the U.S. by Dr. Frank Lin, assistant professor of otolaryngology and epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University.
That brings us back to our dinner guest who can’t keep up with the ebb and flow of conversation around him. The solution may lie in the problem. Hearing devices, unlike eyeglasses and contact lenses, carry the stigma of being a sign of age. The rock ’n’ roll generation doesn’t intend to grow old (just ask Mick Jagger). So many baby boomers, like Peter Pan, rebel against any obvious symbols of aging, even those that can have a positive effect on their interpersonal and professional interactions.
“We still don’t have all the answers to this reluctance, but here’s what we do know: Eyeglasses, for most people, usually result in an almost instantaneous improvement in eyesight,” says Atcherson. “Hearing aids, on the other hand, do a terrific job of amplifying and fine-tuning sounds. But this improved sound must still be processed by an impaired inner ear [cochlea]. The most common type of hearing loss is one that is sensorineural, meaning tiny hair cells in the inner ear have been damaged or are missing. Nevertheless, many individuals can learn to adjust to this new amplified sound and still reap benefits.”
Unlike bulky hearing devices of the past, he says, “there are more styles of hearing aids available that can offer greater degrees of comfort and fit with a variety of lifestyles. Hearing aid technology is so much more versatile than before, and can improve-or salvage-an already active career or lifestyle.”
According to the Better Hearing Institute, advances in digital technology have dramatically improved the size and sound quality of hearing aids. Some feature “directional” or “high definition” hearing, using two microphones and an algorithm to enhance sound coming from the front (the person you are talking to), while tuning down sound coming from behind (the rest of the noisy party). Devices using Bluetooth communication technology can turn some hearing aids into wireless hands-free headsets. And a development related to the use of Bluetooth is making hearing aids compatible with cell phones, a subject of serious concern to hearing-aid users.
Despite all this, Atcherson says, “hearing aids continue to be viewed as a sign of aging, and they are generally much more expensive than a eye exam and cost of prescriptive eyeglasses. It is more common to see dental and vision insurance than hearing insurance.”
In some cases, he adds, there’s total denial. “Let’s not forget that some people avoid getting glasses. I know many people who are perpetual squinters and don’t even recognize people until they are close. And what about folks who choose not to seek both vision and hearing help?
These are individuals with dual sensory loss, and research suggests that hearing loss is far more detrimental than vision loss.”
Perspective, Pages 75 on 04/21/2013