What Is Presbycusis?

Hello,

I am Hunny Somani, Audiologist and speech therapist. Today we will be talking about presbycusis. What is the meaning of this? If the hearing loss is associated with the ageing as the individual grows old, his hearing loss starts happening. Now, what are the causes of the hearing loss? It is basically caused by the damage in the ear and the auditory nerve due to the age. In presbycusis, we see a higher frequency that is more affected compared to the lower frequency or low pit sound, this means the presbycusis person will have difficulty in hearing to the telephone which is the high-frequency sounds.

Usually, in presbycusis, both the ears are affected or equally on both sides. They might have difficulty in listening to the sounds or understanding the speech in background noise. Moreover, the male voice is clearer compared to the female voice. How can we help people with presbycusis so that they can understand the speech or the sound in the background? They actually avoid talking to people with background noise. They can start using ear protective devices, earplugs. And last but not least, the hearing gears. Usually, an audiologist does the complete evaluation of the patient in order to select a proper hearing gate. Now once the hearing is selected, we fit the hearing to the patient and its advances are depending on the type and degree of the loss of the patients.

Basically, all the patients will have a different adaptation to the hearing gate so the outputs depend upon the individual itself. Now a few communication tips can be given to the patient with presbycusis. Now supposing we are talking to the patient with the hearing loss, you should actually talk and face the patient. Avoid talking to the patient in the background noises. Talk a little louder than the normal but do not shout. Because it can make the sound much unclearer for them. Try to rephrase the sentences into a smaller and simpler way for them. And always make them sure about the topic of the discussion. For more information, you can contact me through Lybrate.

Thank You.