Do You Hear What I Hear?
Do YOu Hear What I Hear?
By Shane Sauer
Have you noticed a decrease in your ability to hear and understand certain sounds? Do you attribute that change to ageing?
If so, you’re not alone. Many people suffer from hearing loss, and they have good reason to believe that it’s an inevitable part of ageing.
But here’s the thing. Hearing is complex, and there are parts of hearing loss that can be worked on and improved!
Hearing is a three-step process:
Electrical signals are created in the inner ear
Nerves transmit the signals from the inner ear to the brain
The brain interprets the signals to them meaning
The signals are created in the inner ear (cochlea). The inner ear consists of the eardrum (tympanic membrane) and the hairs (stereocilia). The eardrum filters incoming sound waves. The hairs convert those sound waves into electrical signals. Both of these can be damaged over the course of a lifetime. A damaged eardrum can heal, but when the hairs die off, you permanently lose the ability to sense a certain frequency of sound.
The electrical signals are then transmitted to the brain by the nerves. Sometimes the nerves are damaged by infections or trauma. Nerves can be hard to fix, but we know that neuroplasticity makes it a possibility if you’re willing to do the work.
Once the signals are transmitted to the brain, the brain processes/interprets them to give them meaning. If trauma to the brain has caused an issue with hearing, it can be healed through neuroplasticity just like the nerves. But typically, a problem at the level of the brain comes from deconditioning. Just like any skill, if you don’t keep training it, you lose it!
A problem in any or all of these three steps can decrease your ability to hear and understand certain sounds. Fortunately, problems in the last two steps can be corrected! So let’s get training!
The simplest way to start training is with your cell phone and a pair of earbuds:
In a quiet place, use the app to slowly increase tones from low to high frequency, noting the ranges you cannot hear.
Practice listening to tones around those boundaries and see if you can improve your range.
Practice listening to tones you can hear in a noisy place and switch your awareness from the tones to the noise and back again.
You’ll be amazed at how you can regain lost skills with a willingness to practice. And if you would like to learn some more tricks to speed up the process, don’t hesitate to reach out for some help.