Brochure

Do Yourself a Favor -
Save Your Hearing!
Person-to-Person
Communication
Inarguably, the most important function
of our hearing is communication. A
person with hearing loss may not hear or
understand family members and friends,
particularly women and children with
high-pitched voices. Communication over
the telephone for business or pleasure
becomes more difcult. The individual
will confuse similar-sounding words
and mistake the message. Embarrassed
to ask the speaker to repeat, the listener
may just “tune out.” Conversing in groups
is most difcult, especially if there is
background noise. People with hearing loss
often become socially isolated as others nd it too
much trouble to speak to them. What’s more, hearing aids can’t completely correct the problem
because louder sounds are not necessarily clearer to the damaged ear.
Often the message is as much in the sound of the voice as in the content of the speech. Poet
Maya Angelou has observed, “Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the
human voice to infuse them with shades of deeper meaning.”
Effects of Age and Noise on Hearing
Hearing loss from the natural aging process causes a
gradual hearing decline, as shown in the figure to the
right. It affects mainly the ability to clearly hear high-
pitched sounds such as children’s voices, rustling leaves,
and some musical instruments.
Although age-effect hearing loss up through age
60 does not usually impair one’s ability to hear and
understand speech, problems occur when noise-
induced loss is added to age loss. The noise-induced
component can come from occupational exposures
as well as the many loud recreational sounds we
willingly expose our ears to on a daily basis. With noise
damage, even a 30-year-old can have trouble listening
in situations in which background sound is present,
such as in restaurants and other social situations.
Sounds You Want to Hear
A hearing-impaired person may not
be able to enjoy ordinary sounds of
nature or even the sounds of pets, and
distortion from damaged hair cells
may make music seem like “just a
racket.” It becomes difcult to detect
problems with tools or car engines by
listening for changes in the sounds
they make. It can be inconvenient to
miss the sound of the alarm on your
wristwatch or the phone ringing in the
next room. Hearing-impaired people
worry about getting hurt by missing
danger signals such as warning
beepers or smoke detectors.
Remember:
You Need Your Hearing!
These comments from people with
noise-induced hearing loss show why
it is worth the effort to wear hearing
protectors properly: your quality
of life depends on keeping your
good hearing. Once hearing is lost
it is gone forever. And if you aren’t
willing to wear an earplug for hearing
protection today, how would you
tolerate wearing a hearing aid that
ts to the ear with an earplug-like tip,
every day and every waking hour for
the rest of your life.
Even if you already have some
hearing loss, it is still essential to
wear hearing protectors from now on
to prevent the loss from worsening.
Carry them with you like a pair of
sunglasses so that whenever annoying
or potentially damaging sounds
assault your ears, you have the
protection you need. It’s never too
late to start conserving your hearing!
…Always this ringing in my ears.
My daughter no longer seems to
speak clearly.
I miss the birds, the wind in the
trees, the whispers.
I miss all the good sounds…