Deaf For The Day Research Paper

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Deaf for the day: What happened when I had special ear plugs fitted to simulate hearing loss By BARNEY CALMAN UPDATED: 09:16 EST, 28 January 2011 5View comments Have you ever been to a packed Christmas party and struggled to hear what people are saying - even though they appear to be speaking loudly? You may suffer from the annoying 'cocktail party syndrome' - and this is the prime time of year for things to come to a head. Around nine million Britons are deaf or hard of hearing. It can occur at any age, but the majority are over 50, and more than 70 per cent over 70 suffer to some degree. Barney Calman struggles at a business dinner +1 Barney Calman struggles at a business dinner. He found it hard to communicate with…show more content…
This involves sitting in a soundproof booth and pressing a button every time I hear a tone of various pitches and volumes through headphones. Hearing loss is defined according to the quietest sounds, measured in decibels, which can be heard. Mild hearing loss can cause difficulty following speech, mainly in noisy situations. The quietest sounds you can hear are 25 to 39 decibels - a whisper. Those with moderate deafness find the quietest sounds they can hear are 40 to 69 decibels, the level of normal conversation.Those with severe deafness rely on lip-reading, even with a hearing aid, as the quietest sounds they hear are 70 to 94 decibels - loud shouting. 'Within the inner ear is a structure, called the cochlea, which is lined with sound-sensitive hair cells,' explains Edgar. 'Noises cause these tiny hairs to vibrate, stimulating the auditory nerve and sending messages to the brain, where they are interpreted as sound. We all have a finite number of hair cells and once they die, they are not replaced. 'They die as a natural part of ageing, but how quickly this happens depends on exposure to loud noises - which can prematurely damage the hair cells - over a

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