30 Sep Back to Basics: Frequency Shifting/Lowering
What is Frequency Shifting?
Some hearing aids have a feature described as frequency shifting or frequency lowering. When hearing loss in the high pitch region is severe to profound, it can be difficult to provide adequate amplification to those pitches. With frequency shifting or frequency lowering, high pitch sounds are shifted down to lower frequencies where hearing is typically better. Consonant information in speech is typically present in the high pitches and by shifting these sounds down to an area of better hearing, speech understanding may be improved. This feature may require a period of adjustment to learn to use these different speech cues.
What does it mean for the user?
Initially, frequency shifting/lowering can sound unnatural to the user. However, after a period of adjustment, the user will have improved access to some speech cues that they may have previously been missing. For example, hearing the “s” sound on the end of cats versus cat.