Our ears have three major parts \u2013 the outer ear, the middle ear, and the inner ear. The inner ear houses the hearing organ called the cochlea. It is a small snail-like structure within the inner ear. Inside the cochlea, there are over 20 thousand hair cells that communicate with the auditory nerve and send electrical signals to the brain. The brain interprets those signals and assigns meaning to them, so that we can understand what we hear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With hearing loss, those hair cells in the cochlea are damaged and do not send strong enough signals to the brain. As we age, we typically develop hearing loss in the high-frequencies, causing difficulty hearing women\u2019s and children\u2019s voices, television, and in background noise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
High-frequency hearing loss also causes certain sounds and syllables to become harder to hear, distorting speech. Individuals with hearing loss often say they can hear people talking, but do not understand what they are saying. And eventually, they might start withdrawing from conversations and begin to feel left out. Hearing loss can really impact our quality of life if left untreated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n