A. What are the symptoms of Hearing Loss?
Hearing loss can happen gradually. You might not even notice you’re losing your hearing.
Most people don’t have any pain with hearing loss. Instead, you might notice you:
Signs of hearing loss in children include:
B. What are the common causes of Hearing Loss?
Hearing loss is a common problem caused by noise, aging, disease, and heredity. People with hearing loss may find it hard to have conversations with friends and family. They may also have trouble understanding a doctor’s advice, responding to warnings, and hearing doorbells and alarms.
Approximately one in three people between the ages of 65 and 74 has hearing loss, and nearly half of those older than 75 has difficulty hearing. But, some people may not want to admit they have trouble hearing. Older people who can’t hear well may become depressed, or they may withdraw from others because they feel frustrated or embarrassed about not understanding what is being said. Sometimes, older people are mistakenly thought to be confused, unresponsive, or uncooperative because they don’t hear well.
Hearing problems that are ignored or untreated can get worse. If you have a hearing problem, see your doctor. Hearing aids, special training, certain medicines, and surgery are some of the treatments that can help.
C. What is the difference between Analog Hearing Aids & Digital Hearing Aids?
An Analog hearing aid is a device that is designed to amplify all sounds the same way: continuous sound waves are made louder. That means that speech and noise are amplified in the same manner. A volume control wheel allows the user to increase or decrease volume as needed; however, this can become cumbersome and tedious when in a complex listening environment. Analog hearing aids are becoming less and less common.
A Digital hearing aid is a device that uses a computer chip to convert sound waves into a digital signal. This results in more complex processing of input sounds. The computer chip is able to recognize and analyze speech versus background noise, resulting in clearer sound quality. Additionally, the signal is processed according to input volume. A loud sound is treated differently than a soft sound. Soft speech is made audible while loud speech is kept comfortable. Features are also available that help reduce background noise and wind noise while maintaining speech audibility.
D. Why Hearing Aids are need in both the Ears?
When you have two hearing aids, you can take better advantage of the way the brain processes sound through what’s known as binaural hearing. With normal hearing, sound signals from both ears are comparable in strength. The brain can pick out the important signals, like voices, when they’re louder than the background noise. But if you’re wearing just one hearing aid and someone talks into your unaided ear in a noisy room, the voice may sound softer than the background noise. As a result, it’s harder for your brain to give it preferential status.
It may also be harder for the brain to identify the location of particular sounds if you’re wearing a single hearing aid. The brain normally does this by comparing the qualities of the sound signals that come through each ear—their relative loudness, their frequencies, and the time it takes them to travel through the ears. But the brain can’t locate a sound as well if sound signals are always louder through one ear. Wearing wireless hearing aids in both ears enhances the binaural hearing process because the hearing aids communicate with each other and transfer data back and forth, rather than working independently to process sound. This means they are able to maintain localization cues better than hearing aids working independently of each other.
E. How long a person will take to adjust to Hearing Aids?
It can take between a few days and a few months to adjust to your hearing aids, and many factors affect this time frame, such as how you adapt to the way sounds are amplified and to the presence of a new object in your ears. One of the more disconcerting aspects of a new hearing aid is the way everything is suddenly amplified, particularly when you’re used to things sounding a certain way. Sound reproduction has reached the stage where hearing aids produce extremely lifelike sounds, however, without the tinniness of the hearing aids of the ‘70s and ‘80s.
This takes some getting used to, especially if you have never worn hearing aids before. Essentially, it’s a form of auditory hypersensitivity — because everything is suddenly louder, your brain starts to experience distress and anxiety. There are several ways to mitigate this. One is to slowly ramp up the volume level over the course of several months. For hearing aids without user-adjustable volume levels, this requires several visits to your audiologist. However, having set sound levels can be beneficial in the long run – there’s no temptation to dial back the volume level, and you can be sure that you’re hearing things at a suitable volume. The other is to wear your hearing aids intermittently and increase the time you use them.
F. How can I troubleshoot my Hearing Aids?
Hearing aids are remarkable devices; however, like anything mechanical, they are prone to breakages. If you have one of the common problems with your hearing aid listed below, here are some simple remedies that you can perform on your own.
Hearing Aid is not loud enough: Sometimes you feel that the sound suddenly gets reduce its happen due to earwax. So try to clean the wax with a ear drop.
Hearing Aid seems to be Dead: This happens when the battery ends its life. In that case replace the dead battery with a new one.
Remember, though, that if you’ve tried to fix your hearing aid on your own and there are still issues, do not hesitate to visit your audiologist or hearing professional to help test both your hearing aid and your own hearing.
G. What is Feedback sound in Hearing Aids?
Your hearing aids include a microphone to pick up sounds and a speaker to relay sounds to your ears. Feedback is caused when sound leaves the speaker, and instead of going into your ear, it feeds back into the microphone. This creates a sound loop that overwhelms the digital technology in even the most advanced speakers or hearing aids.
If this feedback is subtle, it may sound like a persistent whistle. If it’s more significant, the hearing aid will squeal like it’s gone haywire.
Make sure your Hearing Aids are properly positioned
Turn down the volume
Have your ears cleaned
Clean your ears regularly
Consider a different dome or mold
Consider a new tube
Ask Audiologist about Feedback Cancellation (FBC) Technology
H. How often should I Fine-Tuning my Hearing Aids?
Every year, you get your car serviced at the mechanic and your teeth cleaned at the dentist. You even take your dog to the veterinarian for a check-up.If you have hearing aids, you can add ‘get a yearly tune-up’ to that list! A weak hearing aid is useless, so make sure yours is functioning at its best by following these hearing aid check-up tips.
Hearing Aid Tune-Up
Every six months to a year, you should get your hearing aid checked and reprogrammed to fit your hearing needs. Just as your eye doctor gives you a new eyeglasses prescription, your audiologist can adjust your hearing aid levels as needed.
Adjustments, Reprogramming, and General Care
Even a slight adjustment in programming can make a world of difference. During the tune-up, the hearing aids will also be examined to ensure they are working properly, so it is imperative to get this checked regularly, particularly since many manufacturers offer this type of customer service for free.If you need help with your hearing aids, you might consider heading over to a local clinic where a licensed professional can assist you.
I. Is purchasing Hearing Aids online is right decision?
Modern technologies have become widely accepted in our daily life, so it is not surprising that many people explore the option of buying hearing aids online. This purchase has its advantages:
There is nothing wrong with people trying to save their money. Unfortunately, they don’t realize that in this case, they are more likely to buy a device that will not help them. As a result, they will become frustrated with hearing aids, although the devices are not the problem. Moreover, online stores often sell a sound amplifier falsely labeled as a hearing aid. Of course, such a device is not suitable for the treatment of hearing loss. Smaller marketplaces don’t always pay enough attention to the product descriptions. As a result, a person, purchasing hearing aids online, receives a product, shall we say, not of the best quality. Instead of saving, the person eventually overpays even more.Acoustic does not recommend you to pick devices on your own and buy them online. Only an audiologist can choose the right model, based on the results of diagnostics and the individual characteristics of the patient.
J. What is Audiology? Who is Audiologist?
The word Audiology is made up of two roots: Audio and Logy. ‘Audio’ refers to ‘hear’ and ‘logy’ to ‘the study of’. In short, audiology is the study of hearing – as the inner ear is also required for balance. In medical terms it is the branch of science dedicated to the study of hearing, balance and their associated disorders.Audiology combines the best available technology with medical science to come up with solutions to hearing or balance disorders people have. People who practice audiology are called audiologists. Audiologists are responsible for managing and rehabilitation of disorders related to hearing as well as balance.
Audiologists are those who have a Doctorate in Audiology from an accredited university. They are trained to care for patients ranging from new born babies to elderly senior citizens. The wide age spectrum includes a multitude of possible problems that they need to resolve. They work with a multidisciplinary team to provide these individualized solutions for their patients.