The simplest sounds around us such as the creaking of a chair, the tapping of keyboard keys, the turning of a door knob, the beeping of a truck backing up, the squeaking of car breaks, and even the turn signal sounds are all parts of our environment. Not hearing these can have an impact on our connection with things as well as may result in safety issues. These are all common sounds that may not be heard with a high-frequency hearing loss.
Recently, I had the opportunity to help a patient with high-frequency hearing loss. We discussed on her first-week checkup how speech and clarity have been. She said, it was wonderful and she had no idea that her chair squeaked. This observation was of special interest to her. Then she proceeded to share how words now seem “pronounced and clear”. She is thrilled. So am I!
I’m happy for her!! She’ll be hearing a lot of new sounds that she’ll be thrilled about!
I am also Gail! She sure will.
It’s crazy how you can forget about the little sounds of the world when you have hearing loss.
That’s well said ELizabeth. It’s easy to forget about the many “little’ sounds in our world.