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Hearing Loss Prevention Information

Everyone Can Use

1. We all know that a person’s hearing

gets worse with age. So, isn’t it a little

futile to try and prevent this from

happening?

It’s certainly true that some hearing losses are unavoidable, but

there’s a reasonable chance that a part of what we call

presbyacusis is the long-term accumulation of mitochondrial

injuries and reductions in the efficiency of mechanisms that

protect us from damaging exposures.

As you know, age-related hearing impairments can often be

distinguished from those from environmental and other causes by

the shape of the audiogram. Age effects tend to affect the highest

frequencies first and progress into lower frequencies. In contrast,

noise effects begin with a notched configuration. Hearing losses

due to excess noise show up in the first few years of continuing

exposure and approach the maximum effect after about 10 years.

People who start being exposed to noise in their 20s will start

showing substantial notched configurations in their 20s and 30s,

and these notches evolve into a bulge over time as age effects

erode hearing sensitivity at the highest test frequencies. In many

cases, this type of hearing loss can (and should) be prevented.

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2. Hey, be careful. Working with the hearing impaired is

my livelihood!

I know you’re only joking, but I’ll give you a serious response.

Only 15% of hearing-impaired adults between age 20 and 69

have ever tried a hearing aid, and this rate rises only to 25% for

those over age 70. There are plenty of people who need our help.

If fact, I suspect that your business might even increase if you do

some prevention work. If you build good relationships with people

in the prime age range for prevention (20 to 40 years), where do

you think those people will send their friends, family, and

themselves if they have problems?

Read the remainder of this interesting and informative article

written by Greg Flamme from Page Ten of The Hearing Journal at

http://www.audiologyonline.com/theHearingJournal/pdfs/HJ2009

_06_p10-13.pdf.