Struggling to Hear? | NIH News in Health

May 2018

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Many people slowly lose their hearing as they get older. Not being able to hear well can make it hard to communicate. That can affect your relationships, emotional well-being, and work performance.

For those who need them, hearing aids can help. These electronic devices are worn in or behind the ears. They make sounds louder. Close to 29 million adults could benefit from hearing aids, yet only 1 in 4 of them has ever used one.

An exam of your ears, nose, and throat might detect a physical reason why you’re not hearing as well. You may want to start by talking with your primary care provider or an ear, nose, and throat doctor, also known as an ENT or otolaryngologist.

A doctor can look for ear wax, an infection, injury, or other reason for hearing loss. A hearing test can show the type and amount of hearing loss. For a hearing test, your doctor may refer you to an audiologistA hearing care professional who can identify hearing loss, measure it, and suggest treatment options..

If ear wax or an ear infection is the cause, the hearing loss may be temporary. Other causes, such as nerve damage, may lead to more permanent hearing loss. Nerve damage can be caused by loud noises, as a side effect of certain medicines, or for other reasons. Hearing aids may help in these cases.

Some people don’t want to try hearing aids because of how they think it might look to others. “Hearing loss is far more obvious than a hearing aid,” says Dr. Kelly King, an NIH hearing health expert. “The hard work people do to compensate for their hearing loss, and the mistakes they sometimes make when communicating, make the loss more noticeable to those around them than a hearing aid.”

And now, advances in technology are making hearing aids less visible. “One of the biggest changes that has taken place in the last 15 years is a major reduction in the size of these devices,” King says. Some can be hidden inside the ear canal. Others are worn over the ear.

Choosing the best device for you will depend on factors like cost, features, and your amount of hearing loss. Today’s hearing aids offer different features. For example, some can connect to your mobile phone, TV, and other devices using Bluetooth technology. That means you can talk on your phone and stream music directly to the speakers within the hearing aids without wires.

It’s important to understand that hearing aids can’t restore your hearing the way that reading glasses correct vision. Instead, a hearing aid can help you make the most of your remaining hearing by making sounds louder. If it’s been a while since you’ve heard the soft sounds of speech, your brain may need time to re-learn and translate those sounds for you.

Do you think you may need a hearing test? Take the quiz in the Wise Choices box to help you decide.

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Editor: Harrison Wein, Ph.D.
Managing Editor: Tianna Hicklin, Ph.D.
Illustrator: Alan Defibaugh

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Do I have hearing loss?

Contributed by Joy Victory, managing editor, Healthy Hearing
Last updated July 13, 20212021-07-13T00:00:00-05:00

What’s the number one complaint hearing care professionals hear from their new patients with hearing loss? Ask them and they’ll likely say it’s, “I can hear, but I can’t understand. ” If this is what you’re experiencing, you may have hearing loss.

Hearing loss involves not only the ears, but also the brain where sound is translated into meaningful words. Symptoms vary between people. Hearing loss comes in all degrees from mild to profound.

But most people, especially older adults, have mild-to-moderate hearing loss, especially the type that makes it harder to hear high-pitched sounds.

In this case, the chief symptom may be difficulty with word understanding, especially in noisy situations. 

Hearing vs. understanding

When your hearing is tested, the results are plotted on an audiogram. People with high-frequency hearing loss are said to have a “sloping” hearing loss. If you have a sloping hearing loss, it means you are able to hear low-pitched sounds (such as thunder), sometimes even as clearly as someone with normal hearing. But, high-pitched sounds (such as children’s voices) need to be much louder before you can hear them.

While not always the case, high-frequency hearing loss is often the cause of feeling like you can hear but can’t understand.

Did you say parrot or ferret? 

In speech, the vowel sounds (A, E, I, O and U) are low in pitch while consonant sounds like S, F, Th, Sh, V, K, P and others are high in pitch. Being able to hear vowel sounds is helpful and will alert you that speech is present, but it’s the consonant sounds that give speech meaning and help you distinguish one word from another. Without being able to hear subtle differences between consonants, words like “cat” and “hat,” “parrot” and “ferret” and “show” and “throw” can be hard to differentiate. This is why so many people with age-related hearing loss or excessive noise exposure have difficulty understanding even when they know sound is present.

Trouble hearing with background noise

If you feel like you can hear but not

understand speech, it may be an early

sign of hearing loss.

If you have a high-frequency hearing loss, you may notice problems understanding speech even in a relatively quiet environment, but when background noise is present or several people are talking at once, it can become nearly impossible to follow a conversation. People with hearing loss may begin to avoid lively social situations or public places they once enjoyed because interacting with others is too difficult.

Signs of high-frequency hearing loss

When you have a high frequency hearing loss, you may:

• struggle to follow conversations (hear but can’t understand)
• sturggle to hear people on the phone
• pretend to hear when people speak to you
• nod and smile when you don’t know what’s being said
• find it hard to watch TV shows or movies even when you turn the volume up.
• mishear female and young children’s voices 
• not enjoy music because it sounds distorted, especially at higher volumes.
• feel like everyone is mumbling more often
• feel exhausted from listening, known as listening fatigue

Family members, friends and work colleagues can get frustrated and feel you aren’t listening to them when they speak to you. Your spouse may accuse you of having “selective hearing.” You may accuse others of mumbling. Sometimes, you will answer questions inappropriately and miss the punch lines of jokes. Other times, you may resort to smiling and nodding when someone speaks to give the impression you are listening when in fact, you do not understand what was just said (see this woman’s story for how that plays out in real life). Untreated hearing loss can take a toll on relationships, careers and your daily life. 

Pass a hearing test but still feel like you can’t hear?

If you’ve taken a hearing test and were told your hearing is fine, don’t give up trying to get answers just yet. Your ears may be fine—but your auditory nerve or your brain may have problems processing sounds or other sensory input. For example:

Hidden hearing loss

Hidden hearing loss is defined as hearing loss that’s not detectable on standard hearing tests, which zero in on problems within the ear. Hidden hearing loss is not a problem with the ears—instead, it originates in the brain.

Auditory processing disorders (APD)

For some people, hearing but not understanding may signal an auditory processing disorder (APD). This means the nervous system—not the ears—struggles to make sense of the sounds coming in from the ears. APD is often diagnosed in children, but it also can be diagnosed in adults. 

Attention deficit disorder (ADD)

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) also can make it hard to understand—in the sense that the brain can’t quite keep up with all incoming sensory inputs, including and sometimes especially noise. If you have undiagnosed and untreated ADD, you may pass a hearing test just fine, yet feel like you can’t understand people, or struggle to follow conversations.

In either case, a hearing aid may help a person with APD or ADD focus on the conversation they want to hear most, allowing them to amplify the voice of their preferred speaker (such as a professor). It’s worth noting that some kids or adults may have ADD or autism and an auditory processing disorder.

Don’t accept difficult hearing

If your hearing test reveals hearing loss, hearing aids can amplify the high pitches you’ve been missing without amplifying low-pitched sounds. Once you begin wearing hearing aids, you will notice improvement with understanding speech and you may even notice you’re hearing sounds that have long been forgotten. For instance, some new hearing aid wearers are pleasantly surprised to hear the soft chirping of songbirds for the first time in years. You will once again be able to hear that beeping sound your microwave makes, your car’s turn signal and your phone ringing.

If you can hear, but can’t understand, you’re not alone. This is what hearing care professionals hear almost every day from their patients, and they are highly skilled at getting to the root of the problem, listening to your concerns and finding a solution that meets your needs. Don’t give up on enjoying conversations at work, home and play. Find a hearing center near you with our directory, and make the call today.

I can’t hear my interlocutor on the phone: 5 main reasons [SOLVED]

A fairly common situation when, during a mobile conversation, one of the interlocutors cannot hear the other, which makes both parties nervous, especially if important information needs to be communicated.

When faced with a similar problem, many people write off their gadget and think about buying a new one, but this is a mistaken action. Basically, when the interlocutor is not heard on the phone, it is not difficult to fix the breakdown, it all depends on the source of the malfunction. About what methods to use and will be discussed in this article.

Volume at zero

117

Dirty or broken speaker cellular network is overloaded

45

Software glitches, viruses, miners

16

Contents

1. Self Diagnosis
2. First things to try
3. Cover the proximity sensor with your finger
4. Clean the speaker
5. Volume up
6. Network overloaded
7. Call back
8. Technical problems
9. Factory reset
10. Serious reasons
11. Q&A
12. Sound too quiet
13. A strange noise appeared: interference, crackling
14. Smartphone writes “do not close speaker»
15. Is there ultrasonic cleaning of meshes and diaphragms?
16. Conclusion
17. Video

Self-diagnosis

For self-diagnosis, take the test. The virtual assistant will determine the malfunction and tell you what to do.

Can’t hear the other party

Share your Results:

What to try first

Cover the proximity sensor with your finger

in inadvertently turning off the microphone with the ear. In modern smartphones, especially in the initial price category, the proximity sensor may sometimes not work or fail, causing a lot of inconvenience.

When talking, just put your hand on the proximity sensor (close the front camera unit entirely) and tap on the microphone icon.

Clean speaker

Last resort, but sometimes works. Take a cotton swab (or brush) moistened with alcohol and gently wipe the mesh of the smartphone’s speaker. Thus, the accumulated dust and dirt will fall out of the sound slots.

Detailed instructions on how to clean the speaker:

Turn up the volume

The easiest method is to try to increase the sound level using the hardware keys located on the gadget’s case. Only then move on to other options.

Network overloaded

This is often due to network outages, such as bad weather or other radio interference. Call tech. support from your carrier to ask why there is such poor cellular coverage in your location. If the consultant says that this problem does not come from them, then try removing the SIM card, and then insert it back and repeat the call.

Ask to call back

If you still can’t hear the caller, there is another way to restore the sound – it is necessary that your interlocutor calls himself, and you pick up the phone. This can work if the reason lies not in mechanical, but in software damage.

Sometimes, you can simply not see and turn off the microphone when making a call. This is especially true for modern Android and iOS devices. We turn the microphone back on and in 90% of cases this will fix the situation. If this does not help, then you need to reboot the device and make a second call.

Technical faults

All of the above tips do not always help, as the reason for the lack of volume may be mechanical in nature. Let’s list the damage in which the microphone stops working:

• There is a magnetic coil inside the speaker, the turns of which are connected to the contacts on the board. One of these turns may break, resulting in failure of the part.
• There are phone models where the speaker is connected to the board via a cable. Such a wire can simply break or come off the connector.
• Possible overwriting of a track on the microcircuit that is responsible for supplying power to the microphone and speaker.
• A special chip is provided in the design of the device for converting and transmitting sounds; it can also burn out or be mechanically damaged after a strong impact.
• The volume button is also not eternal and often breaks when the sound is turned off.

It is possible to repair such elements yourself, but only if you have the appropriate knowledge. In other situations, it is better to take mobile phones to a service center to restore the microphone’s performance.

Reset to factory settings

If you did the manipulations that were noted earlier, but you still can’t hear the interlocutor on the phone, you can return the cellular to the factory settings, since the software can sometimes fail. This procedure is performed using the “Settings” menu in the “Backup and Reset” tab. Depending on the modification and brand of the telephone, this item may be called differently. After going to the “Backup and reset” item, click “Reset settings to factory settings”.

1st way:

2nd way:

We would like to warn you, if your smartphone contains any significant information, photos, audio recordings or video material, first transfer everything you need to an external drive. Thus, after resetting the settings, you can easily return all content to the device and continue to use it.

The bad news is that if that doesn’t help, you’ll need to flash your Android device, which is described below.

Important! Do not forget your accounts (Google, Viber, Skype, mail, etc.), they will also be deleted after the reset, so remember and write down all logins and passwords from them in advance.

Serious reasons

An even more radical method of restoring the audibility of the speakers is flashing the gadget, as problems can start due to OS software failure, viruses, malicious actions of advertising rootkits. Instructions for flashing Android devices. True, it is important to understand the intricacies of computer intricacies at least at an average level.

Sometimes other than replacing the sound element, nothing will help. You will have to buy a hearing speaker and replace it yourself or in a service center. Bring the gadget and say: “When talking, they can hear me perfectly, but I can’t.” Then the master will know where to start diagnosing.

To assess the complexity of the problem, watch the video for replacing the part (you may have to work with a multimeter and soldering iron):

Q&A

The sound is too quiet0079

There may be two problems:

1. This level is set from the factory, you will have to activate the engineering menu, and manually increase the volume level programmatically.
2. The device has been poured or dropped into a liquid (water, beer, soup, glue, a child drooled, whatever).

A strange noise has appeared: interference, crackling

If the earpiece suddenly starts wheezing, phoning (an echo is heard), creaking, hissing, buzzing and others, most likely the module has become unusable. Perhaps from old age or fluid ingress.

The smartphone writes “do not cover the speaker”

The function “Prevention of accidental clicks” or “Pocket” on Xiaomi is probably activated.

Is there ultrasonic mesh and diaphragm cleaning?

Yes, but it makes no sense, metal protection is designed to collect dust, hair, grease, and other contaminants. Clogged dirt can be cleaned with household chemicals or detergents.

Conclusion

First of all, you need to correctly and accurately determine the cause of the malfunction, using all the methods from this article. Since in most cases you can return the phone to full performance without much effort. If the device is under warranty, then do not bother, but immediately bring the equipment to a service center.

Volume at zero

117

Dirty or broken speaker cellular network is overloaded

45

Software glitches, viruses, miners

16

Video

What to do if you can’t hear your interlocutor on the phone / GADGET Service Center Ufa

The problem when you can’t hear your interlocutor is quite common among users of devices of any brand. It is faced by both iPhone owners and Xiaomi and Samsung.

What to do if you can’t hear the person on the phone:

• First, try calling another subscriber, as the reason may not be your device.
• Check the volume level. During a call, hold the top button on the side – the volume indicator and its current status should be displayed on the screen.
• Inspect the earpiece for dirt. It happens that the mesh, which performs a protective function, is simply clogged with dust and dirt. In this case, repair is not required, it will be enough to clean it.
• Restart your phone. Perhaps you can hardly hear the interlocutor due to a failure in the operating system.

If all else fails, then the cause is probably a malfunction of the hearing speaker. It usually fails due to water, dirt and dust ingress, as well as when the device falls.

Free diagnostics

Of course, it is extremely difficult to independently determine the exact reason why the interlocutor is hard to hear. Therefore, if you have little experience, then it is better to entrust this task to a professional.

Smartphones are designed with 2 loudspeakers:

• polyphonic, which plays the melody of the call, is responsible for the speakerphone during a phone call;
• conversational, designed to allow the user to hear the caller’s voice.

By the way, if the sound on the iPhone is completely gone, then the audio codec may have failed. This is a sound chip responsible for playing any sounds on a smartphone. In this case, even the connected headphones will be “silent”.

In the gadgetufa workshop we will be happy to carry out a free diagnosis of your gadget. We will find out what caused the malfunction and provide the best ways to fix it.

Why us?

Our service has advantages that set us apart from all competitors. These include:

• Affordable repair cost.
• Only original and high-quality components that are always in stock.
• Modern equipment and experienced craftsmen.
• Complete data privacy.
• Daily operation of the service. We work for you without days off and breaks.

The earpiece is one of the most important elements of the phone. Therefore, in the event of a malfunction, it is better to immediately contact a specialized workshop. At the same time, the part is quite fragile and not sufficiently protected from dust and moisture.

If you do not hear ringing and voice when dialing, or the sound is distorted, too quiet, this is a direct sign that the hearing speaker needs to be replaced.