Mild hearing impairment may indicate greater underlying problems

Scientists identified mice models that mimic high-frequency hearing impairment in humans. Their work sheds light on the anomalies causing the hearing impairment and could explain the pronounced masking effect experienced by some hearing-impaired individuals when trying to discriminate high-frequency sounds in noisy environments. The scientists suggest that more substantial auditory assessments would enable clinicians to improve diagnosis of these auditory impairments.