Sound waves pass around an individual throughout the day, stimulating his or her hearing organs to produce messages in the brain. A human being's ability to hear is extremely detailed and is very important when it comes to determining his or her ability to communicate normally. Humans tend to communicate in a very advanced way when compared to animals. The advanced form of communication of human beings is performed using various sounds including those made by voice. Hearing loss is a rather complicated subject because it's vast scope. An individual may experience hearing loss in terms of volume or in terms of the range of sound that can be perceived. The individual may also experience hearing loss where both these factors come into play.
Human beings are capable of hearing sounds in the range of 20 hertz and 20,000 hertz. 20,000 hertz is often printed as 20khz which refers to kilo hertz, a larger unit of measure. These numbers and measurements are based on the frequency of the sound waves being produced by the sound source. Some animals are capable of hearing sounds that are higher up in the range. Dog whistles, for example, are designed to produce a sound high up in the frequency range. This sound will be heard by dogs but not heard by humans.
People who have high frequency hearing loss tend to lose their ability to hear sounds that are higher up in the frequency range. This type of hearing loss does not limit an individual's ability to communicate normally. It may, however, diminish his or her ability to listen to certain kinds of music or to respond to situations where the presence of a high frequency sound may indicate some sort of emergency. This is particularly true of individuals who work in fields where electronic and machinery testing take place.
A high frequency hearing test is used to determine if the individual is capable of registering higher frequencies. The high frequency hearing test is usually a simple test where a range of sounds from lower to higher frequencies are played. The lower frequencies are used to ensure that the sound equipment is broadcasting sounds. As the frequencies build, an individual with high frequency hearing loss may stop hearing any sound. In this case, the patient will be diagnosed as failing the high frequency hearing test. The high frequency hearing test for different age groups could be conducted on the advice of the doctor. The extent to which an individual fails the high frequency hearing test determines how badly his or her hearing system is damaged.