Hearing loss

Hearing loss can occur very gradually and many people don’t notice it happening until it has become quite pronounced. However, this may be obvious to the people around them.

One in six people in Australia have hearing loss, and with the ageing of Australia’s population, hearing loss is projected to increase to one in every four Australians by 2050.
Hearing loss is usually a very gradual process. In many cases it goes undetected and untreated for too long, causing irreversible damage.
People often think it is not their hearing but others not speaking clearly which is the problem.
Hearing loss is a natural fact of life, and nothing to be ashamed of. Hearing loss is something that should be spoken about honestly.
We at AudioHearing Melbourne want to help you to put your quality of life first.

Hearing is a complex process, which involves travelling of Sound through the ear canal to the eardrum causing it to vibrate. These vibrations are transferred to three small bones (malleus, incus and stapes) in the middle ear. When the stapes vibrates, it causes movement of the cochlea fluid in the inner ear which stimulates the sensory cells for hearing. Stimulation of these sensory cells generates an electrical signal which travels to the brain via the auditory nerve. This is how we hear.

The human ear can be functionally divided into four main sections: the outer ear, the middle ear, the inner ear, and beyond the inner ear (retro-cochlear) 

• Muffled quality of speech and other sounds
• Difficulty understanding words, especially against background noise or in a crowd of people
• Difficulty understanding people unless they are facing you
• Thinking that others do not talk properly and mumble
• Frequently asking others to speak more slowly, clearly and loudly
• Difficulty understanding women and children’s voices

Hearing loss in adults has many causes, such as disease or infection, ototoxic drugs, exposure to noise, tumours, trauma, and the aging process.