{"id":3506,"date":"2021-12-16T19:48:47","date_gmt":"2021-12-17T00:48:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advancedent.com\/?p=3506"},"modified":"2022-01-19T12:08:22","modified_gmt":"2022-01-19T17:08:22","slug":"tuning-into-hidden-hearing-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advancedent.com\/tuning-into-hidden-hearing-loss\/","title":{"rendered":"Tuning Into Hidden Hearing Loss"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Imagine noticing that you\u2019ve started to struggle to hear in certain situations. You find that you\u2019re having trouble following conversations, especially when you\u2019re out at The Little Hen<\/a> or other restaurants or bars with lots of background noise. Eventually, it gets so bothersome you decide to have your hearing tested,<\/a> but the results come back normal. What could be the explanation?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The answer might be hidden hearing loss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Hidden Hearing Loss <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Hidden hearing loss is very similar to other types of hearing loss, except it does not show up on an audiogram, which is a graph of your pure-tone hearing test results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sensorineural hearing loss, the kind associated with age and noise exposure, is caused by damage done to the hair cells of the inner ear. These cells help your brain detect sound. However, in a person with hidden hearing loss, their cells are undamaged. This is why they are found to have normal hearing on a pure-tone hearing test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In hidden hearing loss your auditory nerve fibers are damaged instead. This interferes with the connection between your brain and ears. Messages that get sent to the brain are incomplete, which makes comprehension of noises, and particularly speech, difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it is unknown exactly how prevalent this condition is, a study looking at more than 100,000 patients complaining of hearing loss found that almost 10% had a normal audiogram<\/a>. In these kinds of cases, it\u2019s important for audiologists to conduct additional tests to help their patients figure out what\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other Hearing Tests<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you are struggling to hear in your daily life, even though your pure-tone hearing test came back normal, your audiologist will likely perform additional evaluations. These tests include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n