How to Hear Better in Noisy Places

Understanding speech and participating in conversations in noisy environments like restaurants and church can be difficult.  However, improving an individual's ability to hear in noisy environments is now possible.  Before suggesting a real solution to the problem, an audiologist must test, measure, and quantify three factors that influence an individuals speech-in-noise difficulty:

• The level of difficulty of understanding speech in noise
• An individual's level of intolerance to loud sounds
• The level of ability to understand rapid speech

For a detailed explanation of how these three factors influence the ability to understand speech in noisy environments, click here.

Once these factors have been tested and measured, the audiologist can propose solutions to improve the individual's ability to participate in conversations in noisy places.  More on solutions next week...