Why Noisy Places Are Harder for Hearing-Impaired Ears

Author: Purdue Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences
Published: 2012/09/11 - Updated: 2025/09/26
Publication Details: Peer-Reviewed, Research, Study, Analysis
Category Topic: Deafness and Hearing Loss - Academic Publications

Page Content: Synopsis - Introduction - Main - Insights, Updates

Synopsis: This article provides a clear, practical overview of how noise exposure impacts hearing health, particularly for individuals with disabilities, older adults, or those managing existing hearing challenges. It explains common causes of noise-related hearing loss, outlines preventive strategies to reduce risk, and discusses tools and technologies, such as hearing protection and assistive devices, that can improve daily life for people with auditory sensitivities. The content balances scientific insights with actionable advice, making complex topics like decibel levels and workplace safety guidelines accessible to a general audience. By addressing both prevention and adaptation, it serves as a helpful resource for anyone seeking to protect their hearing, navigate environments with excessive noise, or support others in managing auditory disabilities. The straightforward approach ensures relevance for diverse readers, from caregivers to those directly affected by hearing impairments - Disabled World (DW).

Introduction

Hearing impaired ears hear differently in noisy environments - The world continues to be a noisy place, and Purdue University researchers have found that all that background chatter causes the ears of those with hearing impairments to work differently.

Main Content

Hearing Loss is defined as partial deafness that occurs gradually as you age (presbycusis). Doctors believe that heredity and chronic exposure to loud noises are the main factors that contribute to hearing loss over time. Other factors, such as earwax blockage, can prevent your ears from conducting sounds as well as they should. You can't reverse hearing loss but your doctor or hearing specialist can take steps to improve what you hear.

"When immersed in the noise, the neurons of the inner ear must work harder because they are spread too thin," said Kenneth S. Henry, a postdoctoral researcher in Purdue's Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences. "It's comparable to turning on a dozen television screens and asking someone to focus on one program. The result can be fuzzy because these neurons get distracted by other information."

The findings, by Henry and Michael G. Heinz, an associate professor of speech, language and hearing sciences, are published as a Brief Communication in Nature Neuroscience. The work was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.

"Previous studies on how the inner ear processes sound have failed to find connections between hearing impairment and degraded temporal coding in auditory nerve fibers, which transmit messages from the inner ear to the brain," said Heinz, who studies auditory neuroscience. "The difference is that such earlier studies were done in quiet environments, but when the same tests are conducted in a noisy environment, there is a physical difference in how auditory nerve fibers respond to sound."

Hearing loss, suffered in varying degrees by 36 million American adults, means there is damage to sensory cells in the cochlea and to cochlear neurons as well. The cochlea is the part of the inner ear that transforms sound into electrical messages to the brain.

In this study, the researchers measured a variety of physiological markers in chinchillas, some with normal hearing and others with a cochlear hearing loss, as they listened to tones in quiet and noisy environments. Chinchillas are used because they have a similar hearing range to humans, and background noise is used in the study to simulate what people would hear in a crowded room.

"The study confirmed that there is essentially no change, even for those with hearing loss, in terms of how the cochlear neurons are processing the tones in quiet, but once noise was added, we did observe a diminished coding of the temporal structure," Henry said.

The researchers focused on coding of the temporal fine structure of sound, which involves synchrony of neural discharges to relatively fast fluctuations in sound pressure. Both coding of fast fine structure information and coding of slower envelope fluctuations are critical to perception of speech in everyday listening environments.

"When noise was part of the study, there was a reduction in how synchronized the neurons were with the temporal fine structure," Henry said.

The auditory system filters sound into a number of channels that are tuned to different frequencies, and those channels vary based on their frequency tuning. In a normal system, the channels are sharp and focused, but they get broader and more scattered with hearing impairment.

"Now that we know a major physiological effect from hearing loss is that the auditory nerve fibers are particularly distracted by background noise, this has implications for research and clinical settings," said Heinz, who also has a joint appointment in biomedical engineering. "For example, most audiology testing, whether it is lab research or hearing-loss screenings, takes place in a quiet environment, but testing noisy, more realistic backgrounds is necessary to truly understand how the ear is processing sound. This also could influence the design of hearing aids and assistive technologies."

"Designers are often working on improving the temporal coding of the signal, but this research suggests that a primary focus should be on improving noise-reduction algorithms so the hearing aid provides a clean signal to the auditory nerve. Other ways people can reduce background noise include induction-loop hearing systems, which are used in churches and other public settings to provide a cleaner signal by avoiding room noise."

Next, the researchers plan to expand the study to focus on more real-world noises and coding of slower envelope information in sound.

"Additional study is certainly needed, and there are others who are also looking at the role the central nervous system plays, too," Henry said. "But ultimately, we found that hearing loss degrades temporal coding of sounds in background noise in the cochlea, the most peripheral level of auditory processing."

Abstract:

Diminished Temporal Coding with Sensorineural Hearing Loss Emerges in Background Noise - Kenneth S. Henry & Michael G. Heinz

Behavioral studies in humans suggest that sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) decreases sensitivity to the temporal structure of sound, but neuro-physiological studies in mammals provide little evidence for diminished temporal coding. We found that SNHL in chinchillas degraded peripheral temporal coding in background noise substantially more than in quiet. These results resolve discrepancies between previous studies and help to explain why perceptual difficulties in hearing-impaired listeners often emerge in noisy situations.

Insights, Analysis, and Developments

Attribution/Source(s): This peer reviewed publication was selected for publishing by the editors of Disabled World (DW) due to its relevance to the disability community. Originally authored by Purdue Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences and published on 2012/09/11, this content may have been edited for style, clarity, or brevity.