Hearing Loss and Recruitment

Despite the implications of its name, recruitment does not refer to persuading other people to develop hearing loss. Instead, it is a condition that some people with sensorineural hearing loss develop. It causes sounds within a normal range to become painfully loud and often unclear. It is similar to the condition hyperacusis; the main difference between these problems is their respective causes.

Unfortunately, severe recruitment can interfere with the use of hearing aids. This is because the function of hearing aids is to make sounds seem louder, so they will only compound the problem for people with recruitment. However, there are also adjustable hearing aids that can work very well for mild to moderate recruitment.

To learn more about hearing aids that could help you, call a hearing aid consultant from HearingPlanet at 1-800-432-7669.

What Causes Recruitment?

Recruitment is a potential by-product of sensorineural hearing loss, which occurs when small hair-like cells (or cilia) in the cochlea are damaged. The purpose of these cells is to translate vibrations in the cochlea into electrochemical signals, which are passed on to the brain and interpreted as sound. When cilia are damaged, they can no long transmit these signals and hearing will be impaired.

The problem of recruitment lies in the fact that cilia are divided into groups called critical bands. When one hair cell in such a band is stimulated, all of the cells in that band send signals to the brain. If one or more cells become damaged, their band may "recruit" cells from nearby bands. In other words, a recruited cell will stimulate both its original critical band, and the one that has recruited it.

This is an interested adaptive technique, but it can become a problem when a hair cell is recruited to two or more critical bands. This means that stimulation of this cell will cause two, three, or even more bands to respond. This can make even a soft sound uncomfortably loud for the affected person.

In addition, each band translates a different frequency of sound, so multiple bands will interpret one sound as multiple frequencies. This makes sounds fuzzy in addition to being very loud. This can severely interfere with a person's ability to interpret speech or other sounds.

Contact a Hearing Aid Specialist

If you are suffering from mild or moderate recruitment, an adjustable hearing aid can help you reduce discomfort and increase sound clarity. To learn more, contact HearingPlanet's hearing aid experts today at 1-800-432-7669.