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Does hearing continue to deteriorate after exposure to noise stops?
Hearing Loss | Last Active: Mar 22 2:28pm | Replies (63)Comment receiving replies
I MUST ASK AGAIN -the main point is- Does the hearing continue to deteriorate even after you stop being in a noisy environment? Or if noise stops also stops a continuous decrease?
Is there a difference, regarding the continued deterioration in hearing, between acoustic damage resulting from a sudden noise (explosion for example) and which has not disappeared, and permanent acoustic sabotage after several years of exposure to noise and the hearing deterioration continues though slowly?
Replies to "I MUST ASK AGAIN -the main point is- Does the hearing continue to deteriorate even after..."
Your question seems simple but the answer is complicated.
There is the physical damage to the cochlea and then there is the auditory processing part of hearing. The ears ability to pick up sound and send electrical impulses to the brain is permanently damaged by noise. But the brain continues to change to adapt to conditions. If some sounds are not heard by the brain (due to noise damage) the brain forgets how to "hear" some sounds. The brain starts using that capacity in a different way. That is an ongoing process.
So my thought is that part of the hearing process is damaged by noise and stays that way while the auditory processing capacity continues to change through a persons life. AND everyone is different.
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@aba @julieo4 I am now 84 yrs old.. but when I was 19 and aboard a US Navy ship, a 5" gun was fired close to where I was standing on deck.. while my ears rang for a few hours... I thought I was indestructible in those days..
10+years after that event my hearing was noticeably not as good as it once was... A respected hearing doctor said that I had the symptoms of someone who had hearing loss caused by an explosion or very loud noise.. He explained that the tiny hair like sensing parts within my middle ear should be usually standing up... but unfortunately mine in that left ear (closest to that 5" gun fire) were lying flat... and could not sense the vibrations sent from the ear drum through those bones in the middle ear.. The Hearing in that left ear never got better.... when not subjected to that big noise..
My right ear just compensated for the left ear's lack of hearing.. The VA gives me hearing aids... as the hearing in my right ear is not very good for the last 20 yrs or so.. I have the hearing aids where the left one just sends what it hears to the right ear for mixing with what is heard from the right side... That is very helpful when riding in a car someone else is driving..