Recruitment

Hearing Loss
#1

Hi,

I’m 51 and have been HOH for about 30 years. Two weeks ago I had an accident at work where I was exposed to loud noise for about 10 minutes and lost about 10-15 more db in the high frequency range. I can’t get into my regular audiologist until later in the week.

I’ve noticed a great deal more recruitment than I ever had in the past. I’m curious if anyone has ever seen recruitment get better over time, especially after an injury?

A second question I have is, does recruitment normally span all of the frequencies sufferinlg loss, or is it typically limited to a narrow range (i.e, at 3Khz, or from 4-6Khz, for example)?

I am hopeful that my audiologist will be able to compensate during my adjustment fitting, but would appreciate any expertise that could provide me with additional insight.

Thanks for any information you might have about this.

Wearing Oticon Agil Pros (which I really loved)

250 L-10/R-O
500 L-10/R-20
1K L-45/R-50
2K L-75/R-75
4K L-85/R-75
8K L-80/R-85

#2

Mark,
What I’ve read is that recruitment that is brought on by sudden exposure to loud noise can ease up over time, your ears just have to have time to get over the exposure they were subjected to. Hopefully your audiologist will be able to provide you with a treatment plan. My sister had fairly severe recruitment issues and her audiologist was able to improve her ability to tolerate loud sounds by gradually increasing her amplification over a period several years. She still isn’t at full amplification but is much closer than she has ever been in her years wearing HA’s and no longer does she have to pull her HA’s out of her ears at shopping malls and when loud noises are present. If you google hearing recruitment I think you will find enough reading material to keep you busy for a while. Good luck and I hope you find some relief.