HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — It starts with asking a spouse to repeat themselves or turning the TV volume up just a few notches. For many, hearing loss isn’t a sudden silence—it’s a slow “shift and drift” in audibility that can take years to realize.
As part of Wellness Wednesday, we sat down with Dr. Jan Liles of Alabama Hearing Associates during National Speech-Language-Hearing Month to discuss why audiology is a critical pillar of overall health.
THE EAR VS. THE BRAIN
Dr. Liles explains that many people misunderstand how we actually process sound. She uses the analogy of an iceberg to describe the relationship between our ears and our minds.
“I like to use the analogy of an iceberg,” Dr. Liles says. “The ear is the detector of sound—it’s just the tip. The real mountain is below the water, where you can’t see, and that’s the brain. You hear in your ears, but you listen in your brain.”…