What is High-Frequency Hearing Loss?
One of the first parts of your hearing to degrade is the ability to hear higher-pitched noises and sounds. High-frequency hearing loss is one of the most common types of hearing loss. It typically occurs due to age, but other factors can cause it to appear in people of any age.
Experiencing this type of hearing loss can impact your life, from affecting your ability to have a conversation to being unable to hear things like your doorbell or fire alarms.
The Definition of High-Frequency Hearing Loss
Sound wave frequencies are measured in hertz (Hz) and humans can hear frequencies from 20 to 20,000 Hz. This type of hearing loss is exactly what it sounds like: it’s the inability to hear certain frequencies and pitches of sounds. People who experience high-frequency hearing loss have trouble hearing sounds between 2,000 and 8,000 Hertz.
Examples of High-Frequency Sounds
- Birds chirping
- Emergency sirens
- Female and children’s voices
- Flutes or violins
- Whistles
- H2: What Causes High-Frequency Hearing Loss
From an anatomical perspective, sound vibrations travel through your ear to your cochlea and cause the fluid in your inner ear to ripple. Those ripples cause hair cells in your inner ear to flex and bend. When those hair cells get damaged, they cannot grow back.
There are several factors that can be the cause of high-frequency hearing loss:
Age
As we get older, our hearing can degrade naturally. Presbycusis, or age-related hearing loss, is common and can happen slowly. It can affect 1 in 3 people.
Noise-Induced Hearing Loss
Loud noises like sporting events or concerts can affect your hearing. Also, noises like leaf blowers or machinery. Though it can be temporary, frequent or consistent exposure can make that damage permanent and lead to high-frequency hearing loss.
Family History
If hearing loss runs in your family, you might be genetically predisposed to developing it yourself.
Disease/Illness
There are various health conditions that can cause this kind of hearing loss. Meniere’s Disease affects the inner ear, and severe cases can result in high-frequency hearing loss. Other illnesses like ear infections and even tumors can cause hearing loss.
Medications
There are medicines that can cause harm to the inner ear. Certain drugs, like NSAIDs as well as specific antibiotics and cancer treatments, are labeled as ototoxic. Extended use and higher dosages can result in hearing loss.
Signs and Symptoms to Look Out For
Hearing loss isn’t something that is always apparent right away since it is something that can happen gradually. It’s important to know what to check for to stay on top of any changes to your hearing. One of the first indicators of high-frequency hearing loss is the inability to understand people when they’re speaking or needing to turn the volume up on the TV.
Common symptoms of high-frequency hearing loss are:
- Ability to hear certain consonants like S, F, or T
- Speech sounds muffled in loud environments
- Constant tinnitus
- High-pitched noises are irritating to you
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Health Risks of High-Frequency Hearing Loss
Though most commonly found in adults, if children are affected by high-frequency hearing loss, it can delay speech and language development. This can affect their ability to learn or pay attention in school or how they socialize.
In adults, if left untreated, hearing loss can cause them to isolate and can lead to a higher risk of depression. High-frequency hearing loss can also affect adults cognitively, leading to memory loss or dementia.
In both kids and adults, hearing loss can affect them emotionally, so early detection is crucial for maintaining mental health and emotional well-being.
Diagnosis and Treatment Options
To properly diagnose high-frequency hearing loss, you’ll need to set up an appointment with an audiologist so they can perform a hearing test. The test will be performed in a sound-treated booth and the results are plotted on an audiogram. If the audiogram shows a slope to the right, the person has high-frequency hearing loss.
This type of hearing loss is permanent, so it’s impossible to reverse. The best way to treat it is to get fitted for a receiver-in-the-ear (RITE) hearing aid. These have a part that sits in the ear canal but has an open fit that won’t muffle lower-frequency sounds. This allows you to still hear naturally while allowing you to hear those higher pitches again. If you’re in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Beltone DFW has hearing aid options to help you hear the world around you better.
It’s important to note that not all hearing aids will work well for this type of hearing loss. Invisible-in-the-canal or completely-in-the-canal hearing aids aren’t the best options because they block low-frequency sounds, further inhibiting your ability to hear correctly.
Preventing High-Frequency Hearing Loss
Since this kind of hearing loss is irreversible, it’s crucial to know how to protect your hearing and prevent it.
- Using hearing protection like ear plugs when around noises louder than 85 decibels.
- Turning the volume down on your media: TV, music, podcasts and more. Especially when using headphones.
- Use noise-cancelling headphones in loud environments like work sites or around machinery.
Beltone DFW Can Help You Manage Your Hearing Loss
If you suspect you’re dealing with high-frequency hearing loss, schedule an appointment with one of our hearing care professionals in our DFW area offices to assess your hearing.
Our extensive range of hearing aids allows you to choose the best hearing aid for you with our live demos. Beltone DFW offers several models of RITE hearing aids, which are the best hearing aids for high-frequency hearing loss, with custom ear-molds to ensure a perfect fit.
Don’t let high-frequency hearing loss affect your quality of life. Let Beltone help you restore your hearing so you can get back to enjoying the things you love.
