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"High Frequency" Hearing Loss

Nabnassett

Nabnassett

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
I went to a Celebration of Life function yesterday. Well loved guy and probably 150 - 200 people gathered in a fairly large room. Everyone talking so it's that crowded room sound you'd expect

My niece was sitting across the table about 4 feet and as she's talking I realized I'm not really hearing her. Certain words, but most blended into the existing crowd noise. It didn't sound like Charlie Brown's teacher but maybe has well have. I think she recognized the difficulty I was having and asked if I was having trouble hearing her. Of course I said no problem.

I've noticed this before. It doesn't need to be a large group but big enough to be several+ voices and only one I'm trying to listen to that's the problem.

As for me, almost 66, fairly consistent tinnitus for 15 +/- years mostly attributed to sinus issues. I had a complete hearing test and exam last Feb and seems I'd lost a bit of high freq hearing (oddly right in the frequency range of the tinnitus) but the dr said it wasnt uncommon at my age. No hearing aids required.

Last night I did some searching through the Google Medical School and found a bit on Hi Freq loss or interestingly enough S/N Ratio in your hearing.

I've got a checkup with my PCP next week and will ask him but wondering if anyone else is dealing with this. I love listening to music and it all seems to be there.

Thanks!!!!!
 
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My wife had sudden hearing loss one day. Couldn't hear high freq in one ear. It tested bad and really dropped off fast after 2000 Hz. She had steroid shots in her ear and get enough back she could use a hearing aid. It sometimes just happens and they don't know why. Sometimes it's an infection but in her case, they didn't think so. Wish you well with it.
 
I'm 66 years old myself. My hearing drops off sharply at 14kz in one ear, and 12K in the other. I also have constant tinnitus. I worked in very loud environments for over 20 years. I wasn't alway able to wear ear protection due to having to hear certain things around me, like moving equipment.
I even have to have a fan running at night when I sleep to help cancel it out.
A room full of people talking makes it difficult to make out what's being said. Even by people fairly close to me.
I do have difficulty understanding what my wife is saying sometimes.
Of course she thinks I need hearing aids, but I'm not even close to needing them yet. It's mainly certain tones of a person's voice that makes it difficult to make out what they're saying.
My wife listens to the TV at much higher volume than I do.
I stay up later than she does many nights, and I can easily hear the TV or music at very low volumes when things are quiet.
That changes drastically when noise in the environment is present like the pellet stove or central heat is on.
 
Thanks for the replies!

I'd be interested to know if my nephew rather than niece has been talking to me yesterday if it would have been different.

I was thinking about about last Christmas and being at another niece's. We were sitting at her kitchen counter and the kids were going mental in the other room. Same thing happened, couldn't understand her even though she was much closer and likely speaking louder. She had just moved into a brand new house and I kept things that the acoustics in the place sucked.

Lavane, I hear you (NPI) on the fan option. I've tried brown, green and pink noise at night but the fan works best for me.
 
Happily trade some loss for tinnitus. Of all my physical issues, all I want fixed is tinnitus. Hate it.
 
Don't quote me on the numbers I am about to mention, it is only the concept, but for illustrative purposes I will report the numbers as I recall them.
As a kid, at least until 18 years old, I could hear well above 18khz (or maybe 21 khz). From that age onward, like virtually all adults, my high frequency hearing has continuously deteriorated. Now, anything above 10khz is strained at best (and I can't be sure I am actually hearing anything in that range -- sometimes I perceive frequencies that are not there). There is a technology that takes advantage of this phenomenon: Stores that attract teenagers often play high frequencies, and no one notices or cares except for the teen agers (and younger, I suppose). My house has all sorts of things that make high frequency alarm sounds (I am not talking about smoke detectors or CO alarms, those I can easily hear, but instead things like an alarm for my wine cellar if the temp or humidity gets out of bounds. My (much younger) wife was very irritated with me because there was a noise in our bedroom that kept her awake, but I couldn't hear it and slept like a baby. It turned out that the magnetic charging bad for my cell phone has a high pitched hum.

Before buying my current speakers (B&W 801D4), I was concerned that I was investing in quality that I couldn't perceive. That was partially true -- the frequency response is flat to well above 20khz. But, musical instruments don't emit those frequencies (except as harmonics), so I am able to enjoy good music on this system, just as if I was there. Lastly, I too have trouble hearing most everyone in a crowded room.
 
While there is no cure for tinnitus, some people can get some relief with hearing aids. I am 67 with tinnitus that comes and goes. My HF hearing dropped off quickly over the past several years. I did some research, worked with an audiologist, and ended up getting the Widex Moment hearing aids. They have a music setting, along with a lot of other adjustability via a phone app. You can find a few reviews online, and they are a popular choice for musicians and people in the audio industry.

In my case, the hearing aids have really improved my enjoyment of my home audio systems. Better yet, my tinnitus has subsided a bit. It still comes and goes, but I have more days when it is barely noticeable. I still get days when it is louder, but even on those days the hearing aids help me listen through it and enjoy the music.

It's funny when I think about how my parents' generation fought back like mad dogs when we suggested that they might need hearing aids. They wouldn't be caught dead with them. Now, here I am looking forward to putting mine in every morning.
 
I can relate to your issue of having issues of following conversations when a lot of other noises are in the area. I find it hardest if the crowd gathering is in one of them echoee cold sounding rooms with tall ceilings. Last time traveled to visit with siblings we went to a few restaurants and the restaurant I had the hardest time following conversations was a former reception hall that was one large room with 16' ceilings and all hard materials. I dont wanna have conversations there and it would be a pain to make a stereo system sound nice in that room without some serious use of room treatments.
 
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Per Google, the average range for an adult woman's voice is 165–255 Hz, which is about an octave higher than the average range for a man's voice, which is 85–155 Hz.

So, your high frequency hearing loss (above 10K Hz for me at age 63) is a different issue. I too have trouble hearing people in a crowded room. Just part of getting older I think.
 
Maybe you should see a ENT and get the wax cleaned out of your ears first. Keeping your fingers crossed. Carol had to have done every 6 months to a year. Made all the difference for her.
 
I’m 54 and have had tinnitus since I was in the army as a young lad serving as a fire control specialist in an 8” self-propelled howitzer unit, but I’ve spent my life around loud noises, growing up on a farm and having a 30-year career in construction, but not wearing hearing protection until I was in my 30’s. Along the way, I had side quests in motorcycle roadracing, serving as a crew chief for a WERA heavyweight Twins pro-am team for a few years, as well as working in AMA Pro Roadracing & Moto America, and well as American Flattrack doing PR, digital media and photography and working as a Trackday instructor, both for the better part of a decade. The bad news is that my hearing frequency range rolls off at 9750Hz, but the good news is per the hearing test app on my iPhone and AirPods Pro, my range of amplitude is hardly affected. However, I’m only 54, so its not likely to improve over the remaining 20 or so years I have left on this plane.
 
I'll be 66 in a couple of weeks. Actually went to the audiologist today to get hearing aids and get fitted for musician's earplugs before the end of the year so I can use some of my union and Flex Spending benefits to cover some of the cost.

I have had noticeable but not debilitating tinnitus for years (loud music). Audiologist said that my hearing test was borderline for needing hearing aids, that most people with my degree of loss do fine without aids. I really struggle to hear conversation in a loud environment, and I struggle to hear student's questions in class if there's other conversations going on or if the student is soft spoken. I'll have my hearing aids in about 10 days, will try to remember to come back and post my impressions.
 
For the OP, in a crowed room I find I can focus on one person speaking to me or someone else, by slightly moving my head while looking at them. The movement is usually left or right, but can include a little up or down too, like how a dog will focus on a faint sound. But just slight movements, and then holding that new position. And I may have to do that more than once if other people's conversation in the immediate vicinity increases in volume or changes in tone.

I got tinnitus from using closed back over the ear headphones at too high a volume. It has slowly decreased as I have been careful to protect my hearing from loud sounds, I wear ear muffs for the vacuum cleaner, blender, mower, power tools, or when an emergency vehicle goes by with a siren on I will plug my ears with my fingers. And now with music, I keep it to 86 dB or less at my ears, using a android app set to a NOISH app on an iPad that has not been calibrated with a sound generator. The Maratz Model 50 sounds great in the 78-86 dB range.

I enjoy expresso, and that can dehydrate me which can cause temporary tinnitus, so I am careful to stay hydrated.

I clean my ears bi-weekly using a tiny ear cleaning spoon.

And so now in a quiet room I can hear a background noise, I almost think it is the sound of blood moving through the vessels in my ears. What is interesting, is after listening to music at below 86 dB, when the CD ends or I stop the streaming music, the background noise is gone, at least I do not notice it, until I think to listen for it, and then it is barely noticeable. But if I focus on it, in a quiet room, I will hear it.
 
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70.
Attended my son’s/ daughter in law’s son’s baptism yesterday. And couldn’t understand one word in the church.
Have a funeral tomorrow and it will be the same.
Can’t watch movies without captions. So I don’t. Can’t understand dialogue. I need an equalizer to hear high end sounds. Right ear useless. I’ll hear stuff but can’t decipher it.
 
Yup, the audiologist called it high frequency hearing loss. I asked what that means. He said I would not be able to hear all of Eddie Van Halen's "Eruption". Also said it was mostly in my left ear and comes from years of sitting on a noisy farm tractor and looking behind me. I notice it the most when I'm listening to music and some cymbals are only heard in my right ear. And yes, I too have trouble with background noise or more than one voice in a room. It seems odd that another voice or the tv that is considerably farther away can overtake a voice that is closer.
 
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