Your hearing is active all the time; it is not a sense that you can turn off and on. Hearing works on several levels. We can perceive background sounds such as traffic noise or more important alerting sounds such as the buzz of an alarm clock. Most important is the ability to communicate-to hear and understand speech.


See how different types and degrees of hearing loss affect your ability to hear the sounds of life...

Reprinted with permission of Widex Hearing Aid Company.

Normal: Normal speech recognition

Mild Loss: Trouble with soft speech, such as children's voices, some female voices, hearing in noise, hearing at a distance

Moderate Loss: Trouble with whispers, speech in noise, distance, auditoriums, some telephone hearing, all voices seem weak

Severe: Difficulty understanding all speech