Emergency medical technicians are sometimes instructed to speak in a lower voice when responding to older patients. Why is this? A. A lower voice sounds more authoritative. B. Older people's eardrums are heavier and do not vibrate as well to high-pitched voices. C. Conductive hearing loss typically starts with high-frequency hair cells. D. Lower frequencies require higher sound pressures, according to the Fletcher-Munson curve. E. Sensorineural hearing loss typically starts with high-frequency hair cells.

Medicine · High School · Tue Nov 03 2020

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E. Sensorineural hearing loss typically starts with high-frequency hair cells.

Sensorineural hearing loss, which is common in older adults, often starts with the loss of hearing high-frequency sounds. This type of hearing loss is caused by damage to the hair cells in the cochlea or the neural pathways to the auditory cortex. These hair cells do not regenerate, so once they are damaged, the hearing loss is usually permanent. Because of this, older patients may have a harder time hearing high-pitched voices, so speaking in a lower voice can make the sound more accessible to them.

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