“I passed the audiogram test. I told you I don’t have hearing loss”, you gloat to your spouse who responds with a grimace, silently conceding defeat after finally managing to drag you to the audiologist after years of having to repeatedly repeat things to you. But, if you’re over 50, you may not have gotten away as scot-free as your test results indicate.

A recent British study adds credence to the posit that “a need for clinical tests in addition to the [pure tone] audiogram [are needed] when assessing the hearing of older people.” The sophisticated study found ‘speech in noise’ identification declines with age.

While not a totally recent discovery (I could refer to some 1980s papers on clinical models showing the connection between hearing and cognition), this study shows that hearing loss goes beyond what goes on in the ear – the ear is just the first step in the complex process of interpreting external stimuli. After reaching the ears, sound is collected, transmitted and processed and made meaningful in the brain. In other words, as soon as sound passes through the ears it stops being a physical process and becomes a matter of perception.

Hearing problems in older people with an otherwise normal pure tone audiogram may indicate there’s a problem somewhere in the path between the ear and the brain.

That’s why the advent of Speech Perception tests are great for measuring how we both hear and interpret speech sounds. They shed even more light on auditory processing ability when played against background noise.

So, maybe your hearing is fine in a quiet environment but you struggle understanding the person across the table from you when you go out to a noisy restaurant with friends. Good quality hearing aids with automatic directional microphones can dramatically improve your interactions in social settings.

As an aside, our hearing aids show the most noticeable improvements when tested under difficult listening conditions, including background noise (click here to watch our quick explainer video).

If you decide to get your hearing tested, make sure you find an audiologist who can have you conduct a speech perception test.

You can take the Blamey Saunders speech perception test here, or come into our clinic for a thorough evaluation.