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“The important thing is the rhythm. Always have rhythm in your shaking. Now a Manhattan you shake to fox-trot time, a Bronx to two-step time, a dry martini you always shake to waltz time.” -- William Powell as detective Nick Charles in The Thin Man (1934)
No, we’re not about to critique your cocktail making skills, but we really do need to talk about how well you hear in noisy situations - like a cocktail party.
We all know the situation - we attend a party with music and conversation all around us. You’ll notice that you have to work a lot harder to hear clearly, perhaps you’ll stand a little closer, watch someone’s lips more keenly, ask them to repeat themselves knowing that you’re not catching every word.
In the end you might tap that person on the shoulder and indicate that you go outside where it is more quiet to continue your conversation where you both can hear.
Is it any wonder you leave at the end of the night feeling utterly exhausted?
It’s not just the stimulating company which saps your energy, the truth of the matter is your brain has had to work so much harder to hear in noisy environments.
The Cocktail Party Effect is a recognised phenomenon that relates to how well your brain can process conversations in noisy environments.
The term was coined in the early 1950s with research carried out on air traffic controllers.
Back then, radio communications between pilots and ground control was broadcast over loudspeakers, leaving the controllers working hard to discern the important information being told them by the pilot - a very important conversation considering many lives are at stake!
Researchers discovered that the brain effectively uses selective hearing to home in on the voice the person wants to hear - using different parts of the brain to identify and filter the competing noise.
So what happens when you have hearing loss?
The truth is that many people over the age of 50 will have some degree of hearing loss. The catch is that it may not be immediately obvious.
For instance, you might find that you can hear quite well as long as there are few competing sounds. But as soon as the television is on or there are more than a couple of people in the room, conversation becomes more difficult to maintain.
We’ve outlined the importance of getting hearing support when you need it in previous articles here. But in summary the risks of untreated hearing loss include:
- Social isolation
- Reduced income earning potential
- Increased risk of depression
- Increased risk of dementia
Some hearing aids do better than others when it comes to help you hear best in noisy environments, but you may never get to know about them because not every hearing specialist will offer it.
There is only one way to find out how well you will hear in these challenging environments and that is to insist on a Speech In Noise test.
What’s the difference between a Speech Test and a Speech In Noise test?
Unfortunately, many people are confused by the names and purpose of the hearing tests.
Without the comprehensive suite of hearing tests you cannot be sure how well your hearing aid will work for you in all the places you need them to work. Worse still, you could be paying for more than you need to for your hearing aids.
Before making an appointment for a hearing assessment, ask whether you will receive these tests:
Middle ear exam: Your specialist should physically examine your ears and take a note of your ear health and history. They will look at your ears with an otoscope. Well established clinics will have a video otoscope which will allow you to see what your specialists sees on a television screen.
Real Ear Measurement: This measures the sound pressure level in the ear canal developed when a hearing aid is worn. This gives the clinician an idea on the type and style of hearing aid that will be suitable for you.
Audio beep test: We’ve outlined a number of times that hearing comprises two sensory organs - the ears themselves and your brain. So, we have to determine what degree of sound is being transmitted through your ears.
This is done through a beep test. You are given a button to press, then given a series of tones in each ear at various volumes and frequencies. As soon as you hear the tones you press the button to indicate you’ve heard them.
Hearing speech in quiet: You are given a series of words to hear at different volumes and you will be asked to repeat them. This takes place in the absence of any other sound to ensure that your brain is correctly interpreting the sound it hears, into words you know.
Hearing speech in noise: This is the gold standard in hearing assessments. In this test, you will hear a sentence and asked to repeat it. The first test is done with minimal background noise. It is then repeated with increasing volumes of sound and competing conversations - in other words, imagine yourself in that cocktail party trying to hold the conversation.
This is the test overlooked by many audiologists. That is a great shame, because Speech In Noise is the only test that will tell you how well you can do in day-to-day environments where you will be encountering sounds, noises and conversations.
How hearing aids help you pass the cocktail party test
Modern hearing aids have come a long way in helping you hear effectively in noisy environment.
Whatever what make and model your audiologist recommends, be sure they explain why they’ve selected that model and ensure they’ve addressed the three must-have features:
- Automatic directional microphones – gives you better speech understanding in noise by automatically identifying which conversations you want to hear
- Multi-Base Automatic Switching – this program switches the hearing aid automatically from one set of core features to another, so you don’t have to remember to change programs.
- Exceptional Sound Quality – manufacturers have been updating their hearing aid ranges with much more powerful processing, allowing them to deal with a wider range of incoming sound. This greatly improves their sound quality, especially for music. It also means less distortion in very loud environments which means improved speech clarity, better music enjoyment and less distortion in loud environments.
