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Listen to the Sounds of Hearing Loss

Posted by Professional Hearing Aid Center on March 13, 2015

There is an old saying: “You can’t really understand another person’s experience until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes.” The same rings true for someone experiencing untreated hearing loss. It’s hard to know what it sounds like, or feels like, to experience hearing loss. However it’s important to understand and acknowledge the hearing journey that they’re on. 

If you haven’t already used our hearing loss simulator, we recommend giving it a try! Select a speech setting such as child speech or restaurant scene and select a hearing loss level. You can choose to compare normal hearing to mild, moderate or severe hearing loss. Then play the sound clip and toggle between the different levels of hearing loss.

You’ll notice that mild hearing loss makes it difficult to hear soft consonant sounds making words seem incomplete. Noisy environments, like the restaurant setting, make hearing more challenging. For people with moderate hearing loss, hard and soft consonant sounds become inaudible and speech becomes difficult to understand — particularly with background noise like in the outdoor scene. People with severe hearing loss will be able to hear some loud sounds, but communication without a hearing instrument is nearly impossible.

Using the hearing loss simulator can be an eye-opening experience once you realize what your friend or loved one may be experiencing daily. If you have questions about hearing loss or would like to schedule a hearing evaluation, call us or visit our office.