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1. High Frequency Hearing Loss
Normally a healthy person of around 20 years of age can hear in the frequency range of
20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. As we age, the ability to discern sounds in the upper frequency
range deteriorates.
As a matter of fact, for the average middle aged man this upper range drops to around
12,000 Hz. What are the impacts of this for understanding speech and what can be
done about it?
Hearing loss in higher frequencies can often
make it more difficult to hear speech sounds
like S, F, T, or TH. However, speech sounds
with lower frequency distributions, like
vowels, can still be heard. The personal
dilemma is that in this case, affected people
can hear conversation loudly enough, but
without clear understanding of what is being
said.
In addition this type of hearing loss can
deprive people of the ability to hear higher
pitched sounds like bird songs or some
musical instruments. Not hearing sounds
clearly, especially speech sounds, can cause
people to become bitter and withdrawn since it is more difficult for them to participate in
conversations or even to experience things they would ordinarily enjoy.
Fortunately there are solutions. Modern digital hearing aids are designed with features
which can help to restore the ability to hear higher frequency sounds. This is sometimes
done with special amplification or algorithms which can change the processing of higher
frequency sounds.
In order to determine if you are affected by this, an audiologist can test your hearing and
determine the specific type of hearing loss you are experiencing. She can then perform
precise adjustments to hearing aids so that they can provide you with the best results
for your particular type of loss.
In this way it is very possible to enjoy sounds which you have been unable to
experience for many years. This has had a tremendous impact on many peoples’ lives.
The high quality hearing aids available today have amazing computational power and
are able to correct for various types of hearing loss on a highly individual basis. Simple
hearing amplifiers are simply not able to do these types of things.

2. New features and enhancements related to improving the ability of people to perceive
higher frequency sounds through hearing aids continues to improve. Some exciting
developments include the new generation of ultra compact in the ear canal hearing aids
which provide outstanding results due to their positioning and proximity to the eardrum.
In addition, specialized circuitry can even allow people to hear sounds in frequency
regions that are technically “dead”.
So while high frequency hearing loss can be a common problem particularly as we age
in our noisy world, it does not have to be a permanent disability with the use of properly
fitted and adjusted modern hearing aids.