How Hearing Aids Help with Speech Recognition
One of the very first things we notice when we begin to lose our hearing is our ability to understanding speech. While we might not notice differences in our ability to hear music and other sounds, we often find ourselves exhausted after phone calls, tired after social situations or straining to understand conversations in our favorite TV shows.
Difficulty understanding speech is one of the biggest reasons our patients seek out a hearing test – and one of the most important things a hearing aid can help correct. But even after a hearing aid wearer experiences the wonderful benefits of their aid on their conversations with loved ones, many aren’t quite sure how their hearing aid has helped.
Hearing aids are more than just sound amplifiers. Aids have the ability to change the way we perceive certain kinds of sounds, including those that allow us to understand speech. Curious how a hearing aid helps us have conversations without difficulty? When it comes to hearing aids and speech recognition, this is what you should know.
Frequencies in Speech
Speech is just like other sounds – that is, speech is made up of many different frequencies. It’s the combination of these frequencies that make up the sounds for different words and phrases, and allow us to understand the difference between letters. High pitched sounds are actually higher frequencies, and lower sounds are lower frequencies.
When someone speaks, the sounds that they make are discernable to our ears and brains because of these differences in frequencies. However, when a person begins to lose their hearing, they often begin to lose the ability to perceive certain frequencies – usually high frequency sounds first. In speech, high frequency sounds are important in understanding words because its these high frequencies that help us hear the difference between a B or D (lower frequency sounds) and P and T (higher frequency sounds).
Hearing loss doesn’t mean losing the ability to perceive all sounds and frequencies. Usually our hearing loss starts by losing perception of high pitched sounds first. That’s why we often notice changes in our ability to understand talking first, because high frequency sounds are so important in speech. A hearing aid helps by focusing on and amplifying or adjusting particular frequencies so that we can use them to understanding letters and words. Talking suddenly sounds less “muddy” and sounds richer and more clear – one of the most important elements of understanding speaking.
Background Noise and Speech Perception
Understanding speech isn’t just about our ability to perceive certain frequencies. As we age and begin to lose our hearing, these changes are often more noticeable in noisy environments. That’s because changes in our hearing make it more difficult to drown out background noise and focus on important sounds like talking. This is often why those who suffer from hearing loss withdraw from social situations in environments where ambient noise makes understanding conversation more difficult.
Many hearing aids do more than just adjust particular frequencies for us – they also have the ability to focus on sounds coming from a particular direction. They do this using directional microphones that can either be adjusted automatically or manually, depending on the aid. So instead of amplifying sounds coming from everywhere, they often amplify sounds coming from somewhere in front of us more than those coming from the side or behind us.
When we are having a conversation, having the ability to amplify particular sounds is very important. So when you are in a restaurant and wearing a hearing aid, you can count on most aids helping you understand the person sitting across the table from you, and not the clanking of dishes behind you.
Depending on your aid, certain aids will make adjustments to direction of microphones automatically. Others allow a wearer to make adjustments manually, either directly on the aid or using a remote control or hearing app on their smart phone. For even more control, some hearing aids can connect to hand held microphones to stream sound wirelessly!
Hearing aids change our lives for the better, and improve our relationships in the process. If you are having a difficult time understanding speech and conversations, it might be a sign that it’s time for a hearing test. Contact our team to find out about your hearing and to find the right hearing aid for you!