Hearing Loss happens to all humans as they get older. We can hear a range of frequencies from 20Hz to 20,000Hz (20kHz), however as we get older two things happen:
- We lose the ability to hear high frequency sounds. It is not uncommon to find an older person can only hear frequencies up to between 11kHz and 16kHz.
- We lose the ability to distinguish between frequencies.
This second problem is why some older people do not like loud background music but at the same time have the television turned up too loud. As they are unable to distinguish between sounds they need the sound they are trying to listen to to be the dominant sound.
