Final answer:
A person with a 50-dB loss requires sounds to be amplified 100,000 times to seem normal. For a woman needing 5.0 × 1012 amplification, her hearing loss is calculated to be 120 dB.
Step-by-step explanation:
To adjust a hearing aid for presbycusis, which is an age-related hearing loss that affects higher frequencies, one would typically add a capacitor in parallel with the hearing aid's speaker. This is because a capacitor in parallel will bypass higher frequencies, thereby reducing the amplification of these frequencies when compared to lower frequencies. This tailors the output of the hearing aid to compensate for the patient's relative insensitivity to high frequencies.
Now, regarding the decibel (dB) level and amplification needed for someone with a 50-dB hearing loss at all frequencies: since the dB scale is logarithmic, a 50-dB loss implies that sounds need to be amplified 100,000 times (10 to the power of 5) to seem normal to this person. However, the amplification should be less for more intense sounds to avoid further hearing damage.
If a woman needs an amplification of 5.0 × 10¹² times the threshold intensity to hear at all frequencies, her overall hearing loss in dB can be calculated using the formula dB = 10 × log(I/I₀), where I is the intensity and I₀ is the threshold intensity. In this case, her hearing loss would be 120 dB, a significant loss requiring cautious amplification.