By dpancy: For More Info, Go Here…
ngd- Great article, well worth reading init’s entirety…
Allow me to share some of Dr. Stephen Nagler’s wisdom:
There are many misconceptions about hyperacusis and recruitment. Hearing professionals often oversimplify the concept of recruitment by stating that when hyperacusis occurs in a person with hearing loss, it is “recruitment.” Moreover, you and I have both heard folks with severe hyperacusis claim that “my hyperacusis is so bad that I must have recruitment, too.” In order to answer your question, then, I feel it is very important that these terms are defined properly. (Or at the very least, that you understand how “I” am defining them.)
1) Hyperacusis is a decreased threshold to discomfort from sound.
2) Recruitment is something completely different. Recruitment is the rapid growth of perceived loudness for those sounds located in the pitch region of a hearing loss. (This is Jack Vernon’s definition.) So let me give you an example. My father had a significant hearing loss for several years before his death at the age of 89. I could say, “Dad.” He heard nothing, and he of course did not respond. So I’d say it a bit louder. Still nothing. A bit louder than that. Still nothing. And then … just a very tiny bit louder. The response: “Stop yelling so loud, Steve, I hear you just fine. Tone it down a bit, will you!”
