How Well Do You Hear?
... Hearing is vital to your safety and ability to communicate. Yet many people are unaware that they have hearing loss and how their hearing can be improved. Complete the 10-item questionnaire1 below to ...

What We Learn From Hearing Tests
... I. The Audiogram Hearing threshold — This refers to the faintest levels of sounds or words that are heard. Pure tones — These levels are easy to control. They tell us how the various frequency (pitch)...

Noise-Induced Hearing Loss
... Every day we experience sound in our environment such as the television, radio, washing machine, automobiles, buses, and trucks. But when an individual is exposed to harmful sounds--sounds that are to...

Signs and symptoms
... Signs and symptoms of hearing loss may include: Muffled quality of speech and other sounds Difficulty understanding words, especially against background noise or in a crowd of people Asking others to ...

Causes
... Hearing occurs when sound waves reach the structures inside your ear, and your ear converts the sound wave vibrations into nerve signals that your brain recognizes as sound. Your ear consists of three...

Risk factors
... Factors that may damage or lead to loss of the hairs and nerve cells in your inner ear include: Aging. The normal wear and tear from sounds over the years can damage the cells of your inner ear. Loud ...

When to seek medical advice
... Talk to your doctor if you have difficulty hearing. Your hearing may have deteriorated if you find that it''s harder for you to understand everything that''s said in conversation, especially when ther...

Screening and diagnosis
... To determine your ability to hear and the extent of your hearing loss, your doctor or an audiologist may administer hearing tests. At first, your doctor may conduct a general screening test to get an ...