Why do so many elderly people have hearing problems? Is the auditory system especially fragile?
Actually, the ear protects itself well. The outer ear keeps the eardrum warm and out of harm’s way, while the middle ear can dampen most sounds that are loud enough to hurt the all-important hair cells. And when hair cells do get overexercised, they tend to quit for a time. That’s why the universe seems muted right after a loud concert. Probably because of continued insults, however, hearing problems seem to be more widespread in the industrialized world than elsewhere. In the U.S., the major causes of hearing loss are thinning hair cells and sclerosis of the middle ear. Loss of hair cells is permanent. (“You have all the hair cells you’ll ever have at birth,” says Young.) It mainly affects soft sounds and high frequencies, the range where women and children tend to speak. To date, even the best hearing aid is “a very crude instrument,” Young concedes. In boosting soft sounds, it also amplifies the too-loud and loud-enough. (No wonder people turn off their hearing aids.) Nevertheless,
