Have you ever left a hearing test with normal scores but still found it difficult to hear conversations, especially in noisy eateries, crowded events, or busy workplaces? If this is the case, be assured you are not imagining it. You may be dealing with a condition known as hidden hearing loss, a form of hearing loss that conventional hearing tests often miss.
This type of hearing loss is a genuine and growingly recognized medical condition. It’s believed to trouble up to 10% of people who report hearing difficulties. Although standard audiograms do not detect it, the difficulty in listening that comes with this condition is very substantial.
What exactly is hidden hearing loss?
Hidden hearing loss differs from typical sensorineural hearing loss (which involves injury to the inner ear’s hair cells, or stereocilia) because it does not impact your ears in the expected manner. The condition is caused by damage to the neural connections, or synapses, between the inner ear and the auditory nerve. The function of these synapses is to relay signals about sound from the ear to the brain.
Extended exposure to loud noise often results in these neural connections becoming compromised, causing a broken signal to be transmitted to the brain. This is akin to a broken communication chain or a static-filled radio signal: chunks of the message vanish as they travel, especially within challenging sound settings where speech and background noise interfere.
Because general hearing exams primarily evaluate how well your ear detects tones in a quiet room, they might not show issues in the way your brain processes real-world sound. This is the fundamental nature of hidden hearing loss, it hides behind normal test results.
Recognizing the signs and symptoms of hidden hearing loss
A normal result on a traditional test does not rule out the possibility, as several patterns may suggest hidden hearing loss. The first step in obtaining the needed support is to recognize these signs:
- It may seem like people are mumbling, or you frequently miss important words or syllables in a conversation.
- Loud surroundings become too much for you. In places like restaurants, parties, or public events, it becomes tiring to follow a conversation, no matter how hard you concentrate.
- You prefer one-on-one conversations in quiet spaces. With minimal background interference, your brain can process speech more clearly.
- Despite passing hearing tests, you still have the feeling that an issue exists. Getting a passing score on a test can be confusing, not comforting, when you’re still facing hearing difficulties every day.