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Hearing Gender Gap |
Did you know that there is a "gender gap" when it comes to hearing? A very interesting article on this subject appeared in the June 2002 Reader's Digest, entitled, "The New Gender Gap," by Dorothy Foltz-Gray. The author commented, "It's why men tune out and women miss the point." Much of the following information must be credited to her article.
Researchers have finally found a huge clue to the battle of the sexes! You aren't going to believe it. It's all in our heads!! As I've stated before, you really do hear with your brain — and, no kidding, — it's a right brain/left brain kind of thing!
Various researchers across the country have come up with some interesting findings pertaining to aging, hearing loss and the brain. And surprise, surprise — there is, indeed, a difference between men and women in this regard.
In the first place, we all have genes that predispose us to hearing loss. At what age and to what extent and type of loss varies from one individual to another. Other factors enter into the picture: exposure to noise, wax build-up, head trauma, infections, even medications can adversely affect one's hearing. The major culprit appears to be noise pollution. We live in a very noisy world. I even have to wear ear protection just to use the office vacuum cleaner — a louder vacuum doesn't exist anywhere else, I'm convinced!
Our office is seeing younger people (usually men) in their 30's and 40's coming to us for hearing help these days. Rock concerts and loud music are largely to blame. Truck engines, road noise, boom boxes, etc. — all contribute to the fact that hearing problems have risen dramatically between the ages of 45-64.
Residing in the cochlea — the shell-like structure in the inner ear — are hair cells which are arranged from low to high frequencies. These hair cells vibrate when the sound pressure gets too high. When these sensory cells vibrate too much, they fall apart. This shearing of these hair cells starts with the higher frequencies first, and they don't grow back (although there is ongoing research at this time to find a way to regrow these hair cells). The more hair cells you lose, the less you hear. Alongside these hair cells is a membrane that generates the electrical current which delivers the auditory information to the brain. This membrane acts as a type of battery, and as we get older, this battery weakens.
The higher frequencies help us to hear women's and children's voices, birds singing, the higher musical notes, the "f", "s", "t" speech sounds. People with a high frequency hearing loss — usually men — often complain that their wives mumble, and kids these days — they talk mush!
While it's true that after age 50 women hear better than men in the high frequencies, that doesn't hold true for the low ones. Researchers theorize that menopausal changes affect the blood flow to the various structures in the ear that provide the power to the battery cells, thus resulting in low frequency hearing loss.
Now, for some of us, these various changes may be imperceptable; for others, more dramatic. What to do? Protect our hearing and exercise our brains.
- We can start with lowering that volume! Oh yes, those surround-sound home theatre systems are pretty cool, delivering that increased decibel level like a real theatre — but is it worth a few hair cells? Turning the stereo down and avoiding loud concerts isn't a bad idea, either. Wearing hearing protection while you use power tools, farm equipment, or even the lawn mower helps. We can even fit custom earplugs that are filtered to reduce these loud sounds but still enable you to hear.
- Get periodic hearing check-ups. If you have a hearing loss it's best to detect it early. It's easier to adapt to hearing amplification and to prevent the loss from getting worse when you address a loss early on. If you wait until the hearing loss is too severe, rehabilitation is very difficult.
- Keep your brain active. Your brain can help you augment your ability to communicate with a hearing loss. It's important to remember that hearing aids are aids to hearing, improving but not restoring 100% hearing. So, some people with hearing aids may still need to read lips and watch for other cues to provide more complete information in communication. Reading facial expressions and gestures can provide hints to words that seem unclear. Attending lectures, taking courses, reading, playing board games — even Scrabble (my personal favorite) — whatever you enjoy to stay intellectually stimulated, will help with brain acuity. Our diet and the amount of exercise we get also play a role in brain health. Since we hear with our brain, we need to care for it in conjunction with our ears in order to help preserve our hearing.
Aside from the physical differences, there's a "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" dynamic going on here.
As everything else seems at its peak during our 20's, so is men's hearing. By the time men hit their mid-30's, the communication between the right and left brain hemispheres is beginning to diminish, causing men to have greater difficulty hearing more than one sound at a time. Now, that does explain why a man with a remote in hand doesn't hear us, gals!
During this time, women continue to hear quite well. But then comes menopause. As if hot flashes and heart palpitations aren't enough, now we gals begin having trouble perceiving voice cues — something we've always done quite well in our right minds — I mean, with our right brain. Before a lack of estrogen caused frazzled nerves and panic attacks, we had no problem detecting humor or sarcasm. Good thing when rearing teenagers! Now, we may be finding it harder to tell what people mean. We now hear our husbands retort more often than before, "But, Honey, I really was just kidding!" Another mystery solved. Now you guys know why you just can't say anything right! Ah, but ladies, there is life after menopause! Once women reach their 70's they recover. See, it's always been a hormone thing!
Boy, I can't wait to share all this with my husband when I get home —that is, if he'll hit mute on the remote and get out the Scrabble!
From information found in "The New Gender Gap," by Dorothy Foltz-Gray, Readers Digest, June 2002.
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| (Article 0605, originally published June 2005) |
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