Sounds Commonly Missed by Those with Hearing Loss
Nick Moomaw
Hearing loss primarily begins with higher frequencies and works its way to the lower frequencies. Depending on the severity of the hearing loss you could be missing out on your favorite sounds without even knowing it.
Seasonal
There are all types of sounds just waiting to be heard all day long everyday of the week. Seasons have a change in sounds just as the colors change too! Leaves rustling in the wind in the fall, birds chirping in the spring, grass whispering as a light breeze blows on by; these are a few of the seasonal sound changes.
Daily
What sounds or noises do you here that make up your everyday life? I can hear keyboards typing and phones singing all day long, almost to a point of not noticing it anymore. A baby cooing would be a common option. Perhaps the alarm on your phone or alarm clock you rely on every morning, or more importantly the fire alarm hanging on the wall to keep you safe. The animal lovers I am sure, love to hear dogs bark, cats meow, cows moo, horses whinny, etc. There are an abundance of sounds floating around us daily that occupy our ears.
Family and Friends
A grandchilds voice is a very common and very hard thing for grandparents to interpret. Children have a higher frequency to their voices and high frequency is the first to go in the world of hearing loss. Woman also have a high frequency voice, so in all honesty grandpa really can't hear grandma even though we always thought he was kidding. On a serious note though, not being able to hear your significant other or your daughter can lead to isolation of the family member whose hearing is impaired or unnecessary battles between family members.
Music
Music is medicine for the soul. It is made to suite everybody with all the different genres and artists it would be hard to try and find someone who doesnt like music at all. With hearing loss, it becomes less understandable which makes it not enjoyable. Music is used to soothe people or to enjoy "peacefulness". I couldn't imagine not being able to hear my favorite songs.
This list of random things affected by hearing loss can go on indefintly. We do know that once it is gone there is no medicine that can bring it back or make it better, but there are aids that can help. Hearing aids being an obvious solution are the leading solution to all different degrees of hearing loss. They aid you in hearing your car blinker again while waiting in line to go, or the laugh of your grandchild that lights up when he/she sees you. The little things are important too and there are ways to aid you and figuring out what the favorite sound of yours is.