Poor Hearing

         As a school doctor, one of the things I had to do regularly was check hearing. This is done with a gadget called an audiometer.
       I later trained in something fascinating called Sound Therapy. In this, one of the beliefs is that some people fail to hear certain frequencies properly and that this can lead to problems with spelling. Training that person to hear those frequencies better, can then help them to spell better.
        It all involves much use of the audiometer.When I retired,  it got put away.  Now it has come out again.
       Old age and deteriorating hearing go hand in hand. It is nice to be able to check my own hearing but depressing to see it getting a bit worse. I dread the day I will have to wear a hearing aid. Not because of it's appearance, I don't care a jot about that, it is being able to hear that matters
        At one point in my medical training, we were all made to wear hearing aids in each ear for a time, so that we could see what it was like. What I hadn't realised until then, was that the aid cuts out all normal hearing, because it completely blocks the ear canal. So all you hear is what is being transmitted by the aid. It sounds like a very bad old fashioned tinny radio - it doesn't sound real at all. It does not give you a good clear sound, you can't tune it as you would a radio and if you turn the volume up it just makes the unclear sound with all the interference - louder.
       However - the human brain is quite amazing - and I gather that after a month or two, it does adjust and it is - sort of OK. It is always advised that we don't leave getting hearing-aids until too late, because the older we get, the harder that adjustment is to make.
       Recent research has shown that geriatrics with poor hearing develop dementia faster that those without. This does not surprise me. Not to hear is a dreadful thing. The person is cut off from the world, with nothing to stimulate their brain - so of course the brain deteriorates.
        Hearing is such a precious thing. The young abuse it terribly by playing music too loud through headphones. Damage caused that way cannot be cured although work with stem cells is showing some promise.