Do you enjoy listening to the sounds of birds, whether it’s while bird watching at Buena Vista Park or just while sitting on your back porch? If so, you’re not alone; a recent survey found that bird song is one of the most popular sounds to listen to.
About the Survey
The survey was conducted by Widex, a hearing aid manufacturer. A total of 1,621 adults ages 40 to 70 from the USA, UK, Canada, Germany, France, Japan, China and South Korea participated.
The survey used open-ended questions to ask participants to rank the top three sounds that mattered most to them, along with listing their favorite nature sound.
The two highest-scoring sounds were music and voices, with bird song taking third place. Seventy-five percent of countries polled included bird song in their top three picks. Forty-two percent of respondents listed bird song as their favorite nature sound, making it the top nature sound for all eight countries. The UK actually listed bird song as the favorite sound across all categories, beating music and voices.
The Impact of Hearing Loss
Unfortunately, many people who have hearing loss cannot hear bird song. This is because the chirping of birds is a high-frequency sound, and high-frequency sounds are usually the first to go as you develop hearing loss.
Many people with hearing loss actually don’t realize they’re missing sounds like birds chirping. This is because hearing loss often develops so gradually, the person doesn’t know they have it until it has reached an advanced stage.
Hearing Aids Can Help
Fortunately, hearing aids can help you hear bird song and other sounds you’ve been missing.
Hearing aids work by amplifying sounds to a volume level your ears can detect. There are three parts that make this happen:
- The microphone, which picks up sounds in the environment.
- The processor, which amplifies sounds to meet your exact hearing needs.
- The speaker, which delivers the amplified sound to your ears.
Your audiologist can create a special program that allows you to hear high-frequency sounds like bird song.
For more information about the benefits of hearing aids or to schedule an appointment, call San Francisco Audiology today.