Why can an elderly person hear but not hear clearly after hearing loss?

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Many elderly people had no hearing problems when they were young, but as they get older, they begin to lose their hearing. You need to speak loudly to them to hear them.


Why can the elderly hear clearly but not clearly after hearing loss?

Generally speaking, hearing includes three stages: hearing (perception), hearing clearly (discrimination), and understanding (understanding). These three stages are inclusive. If you can hear clearly, you must have heard it, but if you hear it, you may not hear it clearly. This shows that the later ones are the activities involved in the higher-level nervous system.


The degree of hearing loss, the type of hearing curve, and the different lesions, such as cochlea, auditory nerve, auditory brainstem pathway, and auditory cortex damage, etc., in many cases Determines language comprehension ability to a large extent.


The inner ear has a simple sound signal discrimination ability. After the inner ear is damaged, the auditory discrimination ability will decrease. However, because people’s auditory discrimination ability has enough room, 70% recognition of a sentence is enough to ensure that we understand it, without demanding 100%. Therefore, less serious inner ear damage will not cause the patient to completely lose his auditory discrimination ability. The auditory center has more complex and powerful sound signal analysis capabilities. If the auditory center is damaged, the auditory recognition ability will be significantly reduced. When people enter a noisy environment, because the speech signal itself becomes unclear, it is more difficult for people with normal hearing to listen, and it is even more difficult for patients with reduced auditory function to hear clearly. A similar situation will occur if the signal sound is too low. For example, if the TV sound is too low, we cannot hear clearly. Unfortunately, most patients with sensorineural deafness have damage to the inner ear and auditory center, but the degree is different. The more severe the hearing loss, the worse the discrimination ability. The only exception is auditory neuropathy. Therefore, most patients with sensorineural deafness complain that they can hear but not hear clearly. In addition, the elderly's central nervous system has degenerated, and the brain's ability to process information has weakened. Compared with young people with the same degree of hearing loss, the elderly's recognition ability is worse, and the phenomenon of unclear hearing and incomprehension is more common.


Hearing loss in the elderly is generally sensorineural hearing loss, with severe high-frequency loss, mild low-frequency damage, and reduced hearing sensitivity. The slow response and appreciation are caused by various reasons such as the deterioration of auditory function. The high frequency affects the clarity of the sound, so it will cause the result of being heard but not being heard clearly. This situation in the elderly is mostly caused by the gradual natural decline of body organs as they age. The ability of the elderly to respond and understand cannot be compared with that of young people. Therefore, it is recommended to wear Hearing Aids in time to improve the efficiency of listening. In addition, during the conversation, try to be in front of the elderly and not speak too fast.

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