The Relationship Between Gender and Hearing Aids
It is interested investigating the role played by gender as a factor in hearing aids. Of the 28 million Americans suffering from some type of hearing impairment, about 60% of them are men. Health specialists say that this disparity is due to environmental factors, as most men suffer hearing loss due to the prevalence of noise in their workplace. Men are less likely to bothering wearing any protection from noisy situations. Most of male’s dominated occupation places them in the noisy world of construction, factory, and etc.
Studies, conducted by researchers from the Harvard University in Brigham, the Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary in Boston and the Vanderbilt University Women’s Hospital discovered that rampant usage of aspirin as common pain reliever increased the risk of hearing loss among adult men younger than 60.
Men and women have equal level of hearing spoken words
Even after the age of 80, the two sexes continued showing differences. Women have problem in hearing frequencies that are low. It means that they found it hard to hear and understand the sound of vowels. On the other side, men cannot hear when frequencies are higher; that means, they encounter difficulty in hearing consonant sounds. These conditions placed them both in the same boat: having difficulty in hearing spoken words like they used to years ago.
Comparison of men and women in using hearing aids
Hearing aids are not involved in the gender issue because there is no “his and hers” involved. In fact, there is no style exclusively for men and women. The comparison is based on the grounds of usage: who are likely to use them? Studies made on the use of hearing devices reported a disparity between them.
Women are ahead in the daily & regular use of hearing aids, as well as longer daily duration of its use. They have accepted that these gadgets were invented for their own good. They are also fond of purchasing new models to suit their style.
Men were found to show irregular use of the device. They are not so keen in using them regularly; perhaps believing that they not irrelevant in their daily activities. Most men only update their hearings aids when necessary, although, some are interested in buying the ones with new technology.
Conclusion from multivariate analyses conducted: women are regular users while men are irregular.
The more regular hearing devices are worn, the faster both background and foreground sounds will become more natural. This process will take time and vary for all genders. Being the case, for reason, hearing aids must be used regularly throughout the day to “hear” the best you can in multiple situations.
If you think you need a hearing aid, make sure that you get a hearing aid prescription. We are a Hong Kong hearing & speech centre offering hearing test & assessment and hearing aid prescription.
Source:
HK Hearing & Speech Centre
Specialist of Hearing test & assessment,
and Hearing Aid Prescription