Recruitment
Recruitment: When Sound is Painful
December 2001
Editor: Ever heard the term "recruitment"? It affects many
people with hearing loss, yet few really understand what it is. Here's a
great article from NVRC News that explains it very well.
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The condition of recruitment causes your perception of sound to be
exaggerated. Even though there is only a small increase in the noise
levels, sound may seem much louder and it can distort and cause
discomfort. Someone with recruitment can have problems only with
specific sounds and frequencies or may have problems with all sound in
general.
The most common response you get from a person suffering from
recruitment is that if you raise your voice slightly, the person will
say, "Don't shout". Your voice may sound slightly louder than
normal, but the person suffering from recruitment perceives it to be
shouting.
What Causes Recruitment?
Recruitment is most commonly associated with hearing loss, but it can
often happen before a hearing loss develops if there is damage within
the inner ear - especially the cochlea. Recruitment occurs when there is
an abnormally rapid growth within the area of the cochlea that deals
with the sensation of loudness.
This condition also occurs in Meniere's disease. The three core
symptoms a person with Meniere's disease would suffer are hearing loss
with recruitment, tinnitus and pressure in the ear which results in the
person getting vertiginous episodes for weeks, months or sometimes
years.
Coping with Recruitment
There is no cure for recruitment. The only thing you can do is to
accept and try to adapt to living with this frustrating condition.
However, there is some help at hand. Firstly the audiological technician
can perform a test to ascertain how limited your Most Comfortable
Loudness level is above the Speech Reception Threshold. This helps to
determine whether a hearing aid would be acceptable for you or not.
If a hearing aid is found suitable, it may be possible to have one
which is fitted with 'peak clipping' facilities, or in some cases
'compression' circuits. The aim of these refinements is to prevent
sudden loud noises being amplified and causing pain. Once the aid is
issued there will probably be a period of trial and error while altering
the setting of the aid before an acceptable sound level is found.
For more information: http://www.audicare.com/also/article3.html
http://web.ukonline.co.uk/hearing.concern/frec.htm
