The main focus of the study, then, is the cause and effect relationship between the problems in voice and the faculties of oral communication as caused by the hearing loss and other auditory problems that can lead to the expression of the said condition. Through the determination of such connection, the factor of aging is an important concern due to the effects that it can bring about to the physiological composition of a human being.
The Relationship of Hearing Loss and Voice Problems In the study of the effects of hearing loss in the development of voice problems there are different factors that are considered. Included in the factors that can be surmised as essential are the causes, the method of diagnosis and the treatments that are needed to be able to provide comfort and cure the condition. The determination of hearing loss can be associated in different techniques.
One of these methods is through speech recognition which can be considered as more common in children with hearing loss with underdeveloped capability in oral communication. In cases of adults that experienced the abnormalities in auditory capability changes in the ability for oral communication can be observed. Aside from the age factor, peripheral noises and capability to modulate noises and dimensions of sound amplification are also studied.
Based on prior studied capability reduces with age groups but are not based on the factors considered, thus came the genetic view on the causes of hearing loss through aging (Souza, Boike, Witherell, and Tremblay, 2007). A. Age Factor Age factor can be considered as an essential focus in the study related to hearing loss. Other than cases of abnormalities during birth and through accidents, hearing loss in later stage of life can be considered as an inevitable deterioration of the capabilities of a person (Karmody, Blevins and Lalwani, 2005).
For that matter a comparative observation can be made on the voice characteristics of the people that had experienced the hearing loss in the later stages of life and those in the early stages or even since birth. B. Voice Characteristics To be able to determine the effect of hearing loss to the voice of a person, there are different measures that are undertaken. Included in the most important methods are the techniques that are undertaken that analyses the quality of voice of the patient. One method used characterizes the voice parameters, e.
g. through the voice field measurements or VFMs. The main focuses of such systems are voice frequency and intensity and other physically related voice factors. Upon the determination of the voice quality of persons with hearing loss specifically in adults, there is comparatively higher frequency in both genders than people with normal hearing capacity. Both voice and speech are affected resulting to greater stress in voice production, more energy requirement and even a limited voice capacity (Lejska, 2004).