KABARMEGAPOLITAN.com – Apple and the University of Michigan released the results of a large study on hearing health, and the results are quite interesting. From 160,000 respondentsit was found that 16% of people with normal hearing actually feel they have hearing loss.
In the study, approx 85,000 participants still in the normal hearing category according to WHO standards (≤25 dB). However, some of them still rated their listening ability as “bad” or problematic.
How come?
Researchers found that even when test results are normal, many people still experience difficulties in real-life situations—e.g It’s hard to focus when you hear people talking or difficulty understanding conversations in noisy environments.
Another finding that is no less important: in different samples the numbers 57,183 peoplethose with worse hearing tend to walking slowerespecially in the age group over 60 years. This indicates that hearing may be related to overall health conditions, including mobility.
Interestingly, Apple also highlights the role of their devices. Feature four-frequency pure-tone average (4PTA) AirPods are said to be able to be used to help measure hearing conditions. This means that devices like AirPods are now not just audio devices, but can also function as daily health monitoring tool.
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This study also emphasizes its importance regular hearing testseven if you feel there is no problem. Early detection can help prevent more serious decline in function later on.
For the elderly, hearing loss has also been shown to be associated with decreased mobility. If symptoms begin to appear, using hearing aids can be a solution to maintain quality of life in the long term.
In conclusion, hearing health is often more complex than just test results. And in the future, wearable devices like AirPods could play a bigger role in helping us monitor our body condition—practically and in real-time.***
Source: Gizmo China
