What is the Speech Banana Audiogram?
Audiograms are graphs that represent the threshold for sounds one can hear. These types of graphs allow audiologists to break down and decipher through someone's hearing troubles. These graphs map each person's sensitivity to frequencies and loudness. The Speech Banana received its name for the way the pattern of data forms in the audiogram. When looking at the Speech Banana audiogram you may see a shape looking similar to a banana, hence the name. The Speech Banana Audiogram allows families and others struggling to visualize hearing loss and paint a better picture of what someone is probably struggling to hear. It is interesting because audiograms will allow for parents or caretakers to see how much a child is actually comprehending spoken language.
How to read a speech banana
For this part, we know you may not be an audiologist or professional but we want to teach you how one would theoretically read the Speech Banana Audiogram. First let's cover the X and Y axis. On the X axis or the horizontal axis we will be measuring frequency in Hertz (Hz) and on the Y axis or the vertical axis we will be measuring volume level in Decibels. When measuring frequencies or pitch, the Speech Banana Audiogram will begin with lower frequencies or deeper pitches on the left then move up once frequencies are higher. Some examples of what one may hear at low frequency is something like a dog barking but on the other spectrum, something that would be in the high frequency range would be birds chirping outside. On the speech banana, there are all of the letters of the alphabet except for q, w, x, and y plus there are some letter combinations that are usually troublesome for those hard of hearing. These combinations would be like “ch” or “sh”.
Why is the Speech Banana Important?
Communication is vital for everyone’s health and safety. It is important for us and our audiologists to constantly seek ways to help serve the community who is not fortunate enough to hear all the many sounds within the speech banana. This tool is so important to us because it allows us to also identify if there is an oral communication difficulty. In most cases, when someone is suffering from some hearing loss that is within the speech banana region they also will have difficulty with their oral communications like pronunciation. Little issues like this can often lead to bigger ones like someone losing confidence because they can no longer say things the way they previously had or isolation where someone will just withdraw totally because of their incapability to communicate well.
Another reason that the speech banana is so important for us is because of what exactly it tells us about someone's hearing! Yes, it can help identify what sounds someone is having difficulty hearing but let's talk about those sounds within the banana. A normal person with healthy active hearing can hear all the sounds within the speech banana and outside of it. The speech banana was developed because audiologists determined that the sounds within the banana are the most important for humans to communicate effectively with each other.
High Frequency Hearing Loss
High-frequency hearing loss is one of the most common types of hearing loss today. If someone is experiencing difficulty hearing sounds that are between 2000 Hertz (Hz) - 8000 Hertz (Hz), this is considered high-frequency hearing loss by professionals. Commonly, people with high frequency hearing loss will have difficulty hearing when people are speaking, especially those with higher pitch voices such as children and women. Some other things that may be challenging for those that suffer from high-frequency hearing loss is: talking on the phone, hearing doorbells or alarms, or even hearing the chirping of birds while they're outside..
Neosonic hearing amplifiers are designed to help with high frequency hearing loss by boosting sounds that have a frequency of 2000 Hz or higher. So if you have this kind of hearing problem, Neosonic hearing instruments can provide you with a pleasant hearing experience instantly. Our team has worked diligently to provide customers with three different models to fit everyone's financial and lifestyle needs!
The MX-RIC model is easy to use, compact and discreet, comfortable for daily wear, and features a receiver-in-canal design to provide the best clarity and a natural sound experience compared to sound tube based hearing aids. It is also water-resistant and features a quick charge function that lets you fully charge the devices in one and a half hours. We recommend this product to those suffering from mild to moderate hearing loss.
The MX model is meant to help those who may have worse hearing loss. It is suitable for mild to severe hearing loss and comes with unique features, such as a volume wheel to help customers control volume easily and even fine tune settings far better than your simple volume up and volume down button. It also features dual microphones to help with reducing background sound so you can focus on face to face conversations.
Our last model is the MX-Smart, which utilizes Bluetooth to let you connect your hearing aids to your smartphone so that you can fit the aids to your needs. Not only can you adjust the high frequencies, you can adjust the other frequencies as well to find a combination of settings that work for your unique hearing needs. You can also adjust settings such as the volume and listening program through the companion smartphone app so you don't need to fiddle with the buttons on the aids themselves. This product is suitable for mild to moderate hearing loss.
All of our products are rechargeable so you don't need to fiddle with tiny batteries and constantly buy them when you run out of them. We also do our best to provide attentive customer support and are more than happy to answer any questions you may have regarding our products. If you're ready, you can reach out to us and get started today!
