Talking Hearing Loss

Many times when I meet a new person, I can see their eyes moving to steal quick glance at my ears? Yep, they’re checking out my high-tech hardware—a hearing aid and cochlear implant. I can almost hear the gears turning in their heads: “Okay, he’s wearing hearing aids. He must be deaf. Better talk LOUD and S-L-O-W so he can understand me.”

Here’s the scoop: talking softer is definitely a no-go for anyone trying to understand you. Speaking faster is also not recommended, hearing aids or not. But speaking louder or slower? That’s not always the magic fix for us hearing-impaired folks either.

What’s it really like?
Imagine your ear is like a plumbing system, where sound travels through pipes (your outer and middle ear) to reach the main tank (your inner ear). In conductive hearing loss, there’s a blockage or damage in the pipes — like a clog or a broken valve — that prevents water (sound) from flowing smoothly to the tank. The tank itself is still working fine, ready to receive the sound.

Hearing aids act like a water pressure booster. They amplify the sound, helping it push through or bypass the blockage so the inner ear (your tank) can receive it properly. Since the tank is still in good condition, this boost often leads to clear and effective results, making hearing aids particularly helpful for people with conductive hearing loss.

Now let’s talk about another type of hearing loss that’s a bit trickier to navigate—sensorineural hearing loss.

Imagine a sentence where key letters vanish:

Bu. .ere. another .y. of .earin. lo.. .i. i. a bi. more ..allen..in. to .a..le.

Confused? Me too! Let’s tweak it a bit by making the letters easier to see:

Bu. .ere. another .y. of .earin. lo.. .i. i. a bi. more ..allen..in. to .a..le.

Still foggy? Let’s make it bigger.

Bu. .ere. another .y. of .earin. lo.. .i. i. a bi. more ..allen..in. to .a..le

You will have little chance of understanding the above sentence unless I insert those missing letters.

If I insert a few, you might be able to understand some of the words and maybe guess the context of the sentence.

But .ere. another .y. of hearing lo.. whi.. is a bi. more challen..in. to .ackle.

How did you go?

If you still can’t work it out, the statement is ‘But there is another type of hearing loss which is a bit more challenging to tackle’

The jumbled mess above mimics what it’s like with sensorineural hearing loss. We hear the sounds but miss key details, like incomplete puzzle pieces. No matter how loudly you shout, we might still be left scratching our heads.

Think of your ear like a piano. Each key (representing hair cells in your inner ear) plays a note when struck by a sound signal. In sensorineural hearing loss, some of the piano keys are broken or out of tune, meaning they either don’t work or produce distorted sounds no matter how hard you press them.

Hearing aids act like turning up the volume on a speaker connected to the piano, making the notes louder. While this helps, it can’t fix broken or out-of-tune keys. Some notes might sound clearer, while others remain distorted or missing altogether. That’s why hearing aids provide varied results for people with sensorineural hearing loss — they amplify sound but can’t repair the damaged “keys.”

There’s one more type of hearing loss to mention, mixed hearing loss. This is where your hearing loss is a combination of both conductive and sensorineural loss.

This time, imagine your ear as a radio system. The outer and middle ear are like the antenna and wiring, while the inner ear is the speaker that plays the sound. In mixed hearing loss, you have two problems: the antenna and wiring have damage or interference (conductive loss), and the speaker itself is faulty and distorts or misses some sounds (sensorineural loss).

Hearing aids act like boosting the signal and turning up the volume. They help get the sound past the faulty wiring and amplify what the damaged speaker can still process. While this can improve hearing, it doesn’t fix the distorted speaker, so some sounds may still be unclear or incomplete despite the boost. This combination is why hearing aids often have differing results for people with mixed hearing loss.

It’s Not Just About Missing Sounds
Hearing loss doesn’t just affect your ability to hear—it sometimes messes with your whole life and can be a cause of:

• irritability, negativism and anger
• fatigue, tension, stress and depression
• avoidance or withdrawal from social situations
• social rejection and loneliness
• reduced alertness and increased risk to personal safety
• impaired memory and ability to learn new tasks
• reduced job performance and earning power
• diminished psychological and overall health

Sounds intense, right?

So What Can You Do?
If you or someone you know might be struggling with hearing loss, the best step is to chat with a hearing care professional. A hearing test can clear up the mystery and get you on the path to hearing (and living) better.

Oh, and pro tip for my fellow hearing-impaired warriors: Don’t be shy about asking people to speak clearer rather than louder. You’ll thank me later!