If you can hear voices and understand some words but not others, or you can’t differentiate between somebody’s voice and nearby noise, your hearing problem might be in your ear’s ability to conduct sound or in your brain’s ability to process signals, or both.
Age, general wellness, brain function, and the physical makeup of your ear all play a role in your ability to process sound. You could be dealing with one of the following kinds of hearing loss if you have the frustrating experience of hearing people talk but not being able to comprehend what they are saying.
Conductive Hearing Loss
You may be experiencing conductive hearing loss if you have to continuously swallow and yank on your ears while saying with increasing annoyance “There’s something in my ear”. The ear’s ability to conduct sound to the brain is diminished by problems to the outer and middle ear such as wax buildup, ear infections, eardrum damage, and buildup of fluid. Depending on the seriousness of issues going on in your ear, you could be able to make out some individuals, with louder voices, versus catching partial words from others speaking in normal or lower tones.
Sensorineural Hearing Loss
Where conductive hearing loss can be induced by outer- and middle-ear problems, Sensorineural hearing loss impacts the inner ear. Sounds to the brain can be blocked if the auditory nerve or the hair like nerves are injured. Sounds can seem too soft or loud and voices can come across too muddy. You’re suffering with high frequency hearing loss, if you have difficulty hearing women and children’s voices or cannot distinguish voices from the background noise.