What Does a Hearing Loss Sound Like?

Loud noise can permanently damage your hearing. It especially affects the sounds that help you understand speech. To hear what this sounds like, try these computer-generated samples. The sound samples are in the popular MP3 format.

Step 1 - Normal Hearing

First, click the "Normal Hearing" link above to hear a recording of a male voice reading several sentences (while this is playing, adjust your PC's volume so you can clearly understand the speaker).

Step 2 - Moderate Hearing Loss

Now, click the "Moderate Hearing Loss" link above to hear the same recording, but altered to sound as it would for a person with a "moderate" noise-induced hearing loss.

Step 3 - Normal Hearing With Background Noise

Background noise makes speech harder to understand. Click the "Normal Hearing With Background Noise" link above to hear the first recording again, but with a recording of a coal continuous haulage machine added to the background.

Step 4 - Moderate Hearing Loss With Background Noise

Finally, click the "Moderate Hearing Loss With Background Noise" link above to hear the same recording again (with background noise), and with a simulated "moderate" hearing loss.

These hearing loss example where created using the NIOSH Hearing Loss Simulator. The Windows based simulator displays a "control panel" for playing sounds while adjusting the simulated effects of noise and aging. A simulated individual's age (in years) can be entered along with the years of exposure to noise (in A-weighted decibels). The effects are shown visually on the frequency band control panel and sound level display screen while the user listens to the audio playback.