Hearing loss at 6Khz

Hearing Loss
1

I have recently undergone a hearing test at my workplace. My audiogram is as follows:

Hz250……0500….1000….2000….4000….6000….8000
L…20………20………15………15………15………30………20
R…20………20………15………15………20………40………20

I only have a mild loss at the 6Khz frequency, slightly worse in my right ear. I have been told that it may be due to noise exposure (I work in the music industry). I have noticed that I have problems with understanding speech when there is background noise, and I frequently have to ask people to repeat themselves and to speak up. I wonder if hearing aids could help with this kind of loss. Any responses are appreciated.

2

Do you have your speech discrimination or word recognition scores? If your word recognition is already high you might not get much benefit from hearing aids.

It would be a good idea to protect your hearing so it doesn’t get worse. I use the earmuff style hearing protection every time I am around loud equipment, like mowing the grass, and I avoid any other loud situations or I use the small, roll up, foam ear plugs.

3

Your hearing is normal in the speech frequencies. There’s very little speech at 6KHz. Like the reply above, I also suggest you get a speech test.

4

Unless you’ve noticed a problem understanding speech, I don’t think you have anything to worry about. Many people that I test have perfectly normal hearing across the frequency range, but then drop off in the very high frequences, 5k and beyond. Don’t think you have anything to worry about, but to reiterate what everyone else has said, without speech discrimination scores it’s kind of hard to know for sure. Good luck!