Hidden Hearing Loss and Its Connection to Tinnitus and Hyperacusis
Hidden hearing loss is different from typical hearing loss. It doesn’t show up on a standard audiogram, since that test only measures the softest sounds a person can hear — essentially how sensitive the cochlear hair cells are — but it doesn’t tell us much about how clearly we hear or how well we understand speech in complex environments. This condition, which currently has no known cure, was first described in 2009 by Drs. Sharon Kujawa and Charles Liberman. Their research showed that some people had difficulty understanding speech in noisy environments — like parties or busy restaurants — even though their audiograms were normal. What they discovered was that the issue was not in the hair cells of the cochlea, but in the auditory nerve. Specifically, the synapses — the connections between the hair cells and the nerve — were damaged. This meant that although sound entered the ear, the information wasn’t being properly transmitted to the brain. This form of hearing damage was l...
