Ever wonder what exactly makes your ears hear the sounds around you? There is a simple answer to that question and it is hair. There are tiny hairs that are inside your ear. These hairs pick up the sound waves around you, changing them into signals that are sent through your nerves to relay the data to your brain, allowing it to interpret the sound.
Losing these hairs means losing your hearing. When these hair cells get damaged and are unable to re-grow due to age or other issues, your hearing loss can become permanent.
There are other reasons that hearing loss can occur. It is not just the concerts, not just the damaging of the hair, but health reasons. These health reasons can actually be large factors in hearing loss.
Back in 2001 the Population Health program faculty at Wisconsin University produced a study called “The Association between cardiovascular disease and cochlear function in older adults.” In this study they found that individuals who exercised at least once a week saw a 32 percent reduction in the risk of suffering from hearing loss compared to those who did not exercise.
In creating this study Wisconsin University discovered that hearing loss was appearing in nearly 80% of those who may have suffered from a heart attack.
But that is not the only reason people have hearing loss. Other reasons include your family history, repeated exposure to loud noises (i.e. stock car racing, concerts and construction equipment) and smoking.
Since hearing loss can be related to health issues, it’s important to know these health issues and be prepared for them. Health related hearing loss issues include:
Blood
Slow or poor blood flow to the ear
High blood pressure
Those with Sickle Cell Disease could also experience sensorineural hearing loss or deafness but in most cases hearing has returned.
Diabetes
Recently the National Institutes of Health funded a study where it was discovered that hearing loss is nearly two times as common in the adults tested with diabetes than those who do not have it.
Screenings for diabetes typically do not include hearing tests. If you have diabetes you should have your audiologist do a screening to see if you are having any kind of hearing loss.
According to the study, the reason that hearing loss can occur with diabetes is found by the damaging of the nerves and blood vessels of the inner ear.
Meningitis
It has been found that bacterial or fungal meningitis attacks, covering the brain and spinal cord, have caused high loss of hearing. It’s recommended you get tested once you’ve entered into the recovery period.
Ototoxic Drugs
Any ototoxic drug has the potential of causing temporary or permanent hearing loss in individuals.
There are approximately 200 or more over the counter drugs that are ototoxic. Check with your doctor if you are taking any of these and seem to be experiencing hearing loss.
Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease
Evidence of this link comes from many sources, including a recent study that was published in the Archives of Neurology. This study showed that older adults who are developing dementia with some form of hearing loss, actually have the chance of the hearing loss to become more severe as they go along.
According to this study, for every 10 decibels of hearing loss, the extra risk of developing Alzheimer’s increased by nearly 20%.
Arthritis
Arthritis and vasculitis are associated with some hearing loss. Conditions include rheumatoid, lupus erythematous and many others.
Kidney Disease
The inner ear and the kidney are both very similar. Both can be irritated by some medications.
In some cases, if something is bothering the kidneys it can also bother the ear at the same time, causing some hearing loss
Cancer
Cancer in the ear or head will cause hearing loss
Chemotherapy and radiation could also cause hearing loss. If you are receiving or planning to receive chemo, check with your audiologist before, during and after your treatment.
Tinnitus
You will commonly hear a ringing noise with Tinnitus. This is one of the few that can be treated.
Meniere’s Disease
Meniere’s disease is a disorder of the inner ear. The cause is still unknown. It typically affects individuals between the ages of 20 and 50 years old. One of the most common side effects is dizziness, resulting from the inner ear. Usually only one ear is involved, but in some cases both ears could be effected. If you are experiencing this, it is highly recommended that you visit a physician for a balance test known as videonystagmograph.
In all cases, contact your local audiologist to get your hearing tested.
Sources: Better Hearing Institute, Allegiance Health, betterhearing.org, medlineplus.com and hearflorida.com
Think about the last time you thought that someone was “selectively” listening to your conversation. A usual thought is that you are being ignored because you’re boring or the person listening to you just doesn’t care. What if you discovered that there is more to selective hearing loss than just “ignoring?”
Selective hearing is common in most people because listening to a conversation requires effort. In some cases individuals are not ignoring you because you are boring them or they just don’t care, they are not able to hear what you’re saying due to circumstances happening around them.
For example, in a loud room, the sound of everyone talking tends to drown out the sound of your own voice traveling to that individual’s ear. When one has hearing loss, this increases the loss of your voice traveling through ones ears.
Not everyone in the world can pay attention 100% of the time, so individuals who do have hearing loss have to literally select when to hear and when not to hear.
Another issue that causes selective hearing is sleepiness. The more tired you are, the harder it is for you to pay attention. It’s not that you don’t care, it’s that your mind isn’t ready to receive the information that is coming in and you tend to shut out that voice by accident.
If you notice that it’s getting harder for you to listen to conversations or pay attention, we recommend you have your hearing tested by a professional.
And remember, your friend more than likely isn’t ignoring you… He just can’t hear past the baby crying and waiter dropping glasses on the floor. Give him the benefit of the doubt, and tell him or her what you said one more time.
Hair, eyes, nose, height and hearing. Each of these characteristics is affected by the genetic makeup of an individual. According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, genetics are responsible for one half of all congenital hearing loss cases. As a result, parents must take early initiatives to detect hearing loss in their children. Early detection practices can prevent future emotional, social and cognitive developmental issues.
Just remember, “The apple does not fall far from the tree”!
Here are some signs to make sure your infant’s hearing is developing appropriately:
Jumping motion to sudden loud noises among infants
Recognition of a parent’s voice by 3 months
Head and/or eye movement toward sounds by 6 months
Production of common sounds or words such as “Dad” or “hi” by 12 months
Signs of hearing loss in your toddler:
Minimal speech production
Constantly distracted
Problems learning
Inability to respond to direct speech initiation
Increase of television volume
Based on your infant or toddlers compatibility with these indicators, make sure to contact your local pediatrician and schedule a hearing screening. While you cannot change their hair, eyes, nose or height, you can help change their hearing effectiveness.
You can check out the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association at:
Occasionally, our patient’s get “robbed” of their amplification benefits due to unexplained, unidentified, chronic malfunction problems that go unresolved. The symptoms of the malfunction cleverly disguise themselves as a component issue, when, in fact, it usually is something entirely different. Some detective work is required to prevent these cases from ending up cold.
Case Study: Patient has severe hearing loss and is a long-time user of monaural In the canal hearing aid. He purchased one in October 2009. In September 2010, one year after favorable results, patient complained that the “volume goes up/down by itself…” There were no leads on the reason for the malfunction; could not be duplicated in the office. From September – November, several “stings” were pursued to replace components, remake with different length canal, and re-plate entirely; the culprit was untraceable. Subsequently, patient became extremely frustrated and requested justice or a refund.
C Interview with Professional on Program Settings: Kneepoints are 69-75dB, dual compression, 16dB VC range, minimum S/N reduction
C Interview with Patient on Specifics of Crime: “I always turn the wheel all the way up and then back down a little to hear well, however, with radio and TV, voices are good, then, volume goes up and go down for seconds and sometimes minutes and I miss the words…Very frustrating!”
C Interview with Siemens Audiologist: Possible issues are battery surges due to high-VC drainage, if need more gain, recommend change receiver to make it “hot” with max gain/output, turn off the input compression, change the VC range to 8dB, make a music program his primary program
Upon reviewing all of the evidence and interviews, the professional pursued the recommendation to change the VC range to 8dB and to change input compression to “off”. Outcome? The programming changes eliminated the “malfunction” and patient is, once again, a content citizen. It seems that with patient’s high volume need and wheel setting, the TV/Radio voices were being compressed causing the softening of the voices. The evidence from the detective work led to the culprit’s arrest. CASE SOLVED!
Have you ever dreamed of helping your patients hear better in all situations? How many times have your patients told you they cannot hear the fast-paced dialogue on TV or in a public place? It would be great if the hard of hearing could hear clearly in a grocery store, at a service counter window, at an airport or in a place of worship. Many of us have explained FM systems, but how many times have you discussed loop systems with your patients?
People with hearing loss struggle to hear speech clearly at a distance, in rooms with poor acoustics (reverberation and sound distortion) and/or distracting background noise. Working hard to hear clearly can be fatiguing and discouraging. Moreover, many hearing aid wearers blame their hearing aids. When in reality it can be difficult to hear clearly in many situations even if you have good hearing. How many times have you struggled to hear an important message delivered over a public address system? Can you imagine the added burden if you had a hearing impairment?
By fitting our patients with telecoils, we give them a built-in receiver and the potential to hear clearly in all listening situations. Residential loop systems can provide improved hearing on the phone, with the TV or stereo and even in the car. Commercial loop systems can improve hearing in public places.
An induction loop system consists of an amplifier and a loop. The amplifier is connected to a sound source such as a TV, stereo, public address system or a dedicated microphone. It then amplifies the sound signal and sends it through the loop to create a magnetic field. A hearing aid telecoil or a loop receiver (headset) then picks up the fluctuations in the magnetic field. By delivering the sound directly to the hearing aid or headset, the sound is pure and undistorted. Using ones own personal hearing aid is appealing to patients because it is less conspicuous than a headset receiver is and eliminates concerns about hygiene with public headsets. In addition, loop systems operate in settings with bright light and on a universal frequency thus eliminating the problem of operating in multiple frequencies as with FM systems.
Here in the United States we hear little about loop systems. However, with the mandates of the Americans with Disabilities Act along with increasing awareness from social, welfare, and public health authorities we can be hopeful to see more and more induction loop systems installed in public places.
In the meantime, we can assist our patients right now with residential loop systems. A pilot study conducted in HearUSA centers focused on two systems, a neck loop by Sennheiser, and a room loop by Phonic Ear. The loop systems were initially discussed during hearing aid evaluation and annual appointments. Demonstrations were provided during HELP Class as well as all hearing aid check appointments. Patients commented about how the loop systems would enhance their TV experience and improve the quality of their lives.
Disclaimer for Pacemaker Wearers:Under normal circumstances, a correctly installed induction loop system does not interfere with pacemakers. However, a minimum of two inches should be maintained between the loop cable and the pacemaker to remove any potential interference.
Experts agree that over time continued exposure to noise above 85 dBA will cause hearing loss.
To know if a sound is loud enough to damage your ears, it is important to know both the loudness level (measured in decibels, dBA) and the length of exposure to the sound. In general, the louder the noise, the less time required before hearing loss will occur. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Association, the maximum exposure time at 85 dBA is 8 hours. At 110 dBA, the maximum exposure time is one minute and 29 seconds. If someone must be around noise, it is recommended that they limit the exposure and/or wear hearing protection.
Measure Up and Turn it Down: Decibel levels Around Us The following are decibel levels of common noise sources around us. These are typical levels, however, noise levels may vary depending on the particular item.
Keep in mind that 85 dBA will harm hearing over time. Noise levels above 140 dBA can cause damage to hearing after just one exposure.
Points of Reference
0 dBA the softest sound a person can hear with normal hearing
1. Modern technology brings us hearing aids that are smaller, smarter and more effective than ever
before – and a lot less noticeable than untreated hearing loss!
2. Hearing aid technology today has exceptional digital performance and is designed in many discrete and comfortable styles.
3. Advanced digital hearing aids provide fine tuning to match your degree of hearing loss and preferences.
4. Some hearing aids are equipped with several levels of programming, (memories or programs) which have different settings for diverse listening situations, such as telephone or restaurant.
5. Some hearing aids automatically store data regarding which setting you prefer in certain situations, and will automatically switch to the desired setting for each situation.
6. Hearing aids are available with and without manual volume controls and most people prefer the ability to adjust the sound level.
7. Hearing aids with built-in telephone coils reduce external sounds and allow you to hear more clearly when using a phone.
8. For improved sound clarity and understanding, Bluetooth functionality allows you to connect wirelessly with cell phones, televisions, iPods, iPads and other electronic devices.
9. Age old-complaints, such as whistling (feedback), echoes, and background noise are dramatically minimized and clarity is much improved with today’s advanced technology.
10.The most modern hearing aid is only as effective as the clinician who matches the technology features to your needs, and produces a meaningful and measurable benefit… your provider is at least as important as the product.
HEARING AIDS – EXPECTATIONS AND HOW TO ACHIEVE THEM
When properly fitted, hearing aids can vastly improve the quality of life for 95% of people with hearing loss. Your provider is your partner in the process of what, for many, is the equivalent of learning to hear again. The key to success is to establish realistic goals and to work with your hearing care provider to achieve them.
• Hearing loss is called ‘the invisible handicap’ because there are no outward signs of difficulty or disorder and the loss is almost always gradual, usually over a period of years, and there is no pain.
• Among seniors, hearing loss is the most prevalent medical condition, following arthritis and hypertension.
• People with diabetes are twice as likely to have hearing loss than those who do not have diabetes.
• Smokers and overweight individuals are also at increased risk for hearing loss.
• Inability to hear and understand instructions by physicians, pharmacists or caregivers can put personal health in jeop-
ardy.
• Men that regularly use aspirin, acetaminophen and non- steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs experience more hearing loss.
• Also, men that take phosphodiesterase (PDE) inhibitors are twice as likely to develop hearing loss as men who do not.
• Depression, isolation and alienation can plague those who have hearing loss.
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Ever wonder what exactly makes your ears hear the sounds around you? There is a simple answer to that question and it is hair. There are tiny hairs that are inside your ear. These hairs pick up the sound waves around you, changing them into signals that are sent through your nerves to relay the data to your brain, allowing it to interpret the sound.
