I have bilateral sensorinueral (also known as nerve deafness) hearing loss. which means i have hearing loss in both ears and hearing loss due to problems within the inner ear/hairs in the cochlea. Hearing loss is the inabiity to make sense/aware of the normal range of sounds audiable to someone with normal hearing. The hearing loss can be greater at some frequeinces than others or all frequiences can be the same. I have a moderate hearing loss in my left ear and around a severe hearing loss in my right ear. Right ear has always been the worst ear. Sensorinueal hearing loss is permanent. Which means I have permenant hearing loss/deafness.
Your pobably thinking what can and can't I hear. And the answer is this:
With both ears i can't keep up with a conversation. And if mulitple people are talking at the same time i can't understand what any of them are saying. I cant hear clearly or understand speech properly with both ears. With both ears it is hard to hear someone in background noise. I have a lot of difficulty following speech that is with both ears.
Right (without a hearing aid): I can hear loud things such as sirens, fireworks, aeroplans taking off (when i am near to any of those things), etc and other loud sounds and if someone is shouting at me from 1 foot away but i won't be able to understand them..
But i can't hear whispers, birds chirpping, water coming from a tap, myself chewing, my footsteps, etc and i cant hear th,f,t,s,sh,ar,or,ee,m, p, k, and cant hear everything else that is in the speech banana. I have incredible difficulty what people are saying to me and understanding without my right hearing aid. When i dont have my hearing aid in i rely on lip reading and that doesnt always help.
Right ear (with hearing aid): If someone whispered to me i won't be able to understand it and probably some other things i wont be able to understand or hear but i havent thought of them yet.
With my hearing aid i can hear a lot better and clearer and i can hear myself chewing, myself typing, traffic, people talking, etc. I am hearing some and understanding some words in speech, etc but not all. With my new hearing aids I probably could hear everything in the speech banana including ee, s, sh, th, f, p, k, etc but im not hearing them clearly enough to understand them yet. I need to go back to my audiologist to help me get a better understanding of speech with my new hearing aids. and also i would have to wear them more.
Left ear (without hearing aid): I can hear loud things i.e. sirens, fireworks, etc. I also can hear people talking but it seems to be quit mummbles to me thus i cant hear clearly and properly to understand what they are saying, can hear or, ar but can easily get mixed up between the to because they sound very similar in a way cant hear them clearly enough to understand each one,traffic, etc
I cant hear the fridge, whispering, my footsteps, birds singing, f, th, s, sh, etc
Left ear (with hearing aid): There is very little I can't hear.
I can hear the majority off things. Which include speech still not got the grasp of understandiing it all yet need to go back to audi to help me understand speech a lot better with my hearing aid, water coming from a top, whispers, my hair brushing up against my hearing aid, the fridge making a noise, myself typing, etc
I need sounds and speech loud enough/amplified for me to hear them properly and clearly before i can understand what someone is sayong or what a particular sound is. That is why i need (to wear my) hearing aids because of my hearing loss/deafness. I need hearing aids to help me hear better, clearer and properly to understand speech and sounds. And i would need to rely on my hearing aids to help me do that
Hearing aids do not cure peoples deafness/hearing loss, hearing aid sare there to help the people hear and understand better by ampliying the sound (makinging sound louder) for the wearer.
A good description of a hearing aid is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearing_aid
http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/hearingaid.asp
Here is a link where this guy talks a bit about his deafness: http://www.open.ac.uk/inclusiveteaching/pages/understanding-and-awareness/what-is-deafness.php
If you want to know what its like to have a hearing loss here are a couple of sites that give you some demos: http://www.phonak.com/com/b2c/en/hearing/understanding_hearingloss/how_hearing_loss_sounds.html
and
http://hearmehearmenot.wordpress.com/2010/05/11/what-does-a-hearing-loss-sound-like/
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