Know Your Hearing Impairment Before Buying Consumer Hearing Aids
Hearing and balance are the two main functions of our ears. Although our balance seldom fails us as we grow older our hearing almost does become impaired. During our lives we all experience loud noises at times by accident, and we may even seek such damagingly intense sounds by attending loud music events or using earphones at sound levels which are unsafe. Whatever is the cause, most us us will experience a loss of hearing ability as we age. Here are the unfortunate facts about our hearing abilities as we grow older. Get to 65 years old, and your chances of a hearing problem of some sort will be about 1 in 3. At 75 this proportion increases to one in two. Hearing impairment may also occur from another cause we have not yet mentioned, and that is from a genetic malfunction, and these can often only affect us as we grow old. Such loss of hearing may happen even for those that have always avoided excessive exposure to noise.
We know that we have a hearing problem if one or more of the following occurs:-
1) If the range of notes you hear are restricted as is often described as fuzzy or muffled hearing
2) You are unable to make sense of what you do hear
3) People seem to have to be told by you to repeat what they have said but especially slowly, and with good diction for you
4) You find yourself continually turning up volume controls when others say they can hear them OK
If you suffer from any of the above, combined with a desire to withdraw from conversations or avoid social settings, it is highly likely that you are suffering from a loss of hearing. Eighty five decibels is normally thought to be the threshold at which hearing damage results after extended exposure periods, and at this sound intensity, or above, the sound vibration sensitive hairs inside the cochlea become damaged. Decibels are often also referred to as dBs.
Sound intensity damage is not the only means of damage, of course, and others are:-
1) Diseases of the ear, such as can be during child illnesses
2) Damage to the tiny sensitive bones of the ear
3) Tumours of the outer or middle ear
4) Rupturing of the ear drum
Auditory Neuropathy, Meniere’s Disease, Noise Ostosclerosis and Usher’s Syndrome, are other causes of full or partial deafness which can strike at any age..
Only 3 generic types of hearing reduction result from the above, as below:-
A) Conductive Hearing Impairment
For this type of damage to have occurred the lack of proper conduction of the sound vibrations from the outside world into the inner ear (cochlea) is the common cause of hearing reduction or near complete loss. Causes can be temporary/reversible such as due to curable infection, the presence of unwanted fluids, or indeed even excess ear wax.
B) Sensorineural Hearing Loss
This condition occurs when there is damage to the inner ear (cochlea) or to the nerve pathways from the inner ear to the brain. Disease, birth injury, drugs or genetic syndromes can also be causes of Sensorineural hearing loss. Additional causes may include noise exposure, viruses, head trauma, aging and tumors.
For the person to hear there is also a need for the brain to be able to receive the neural signals correctly and interpret those signals correctly. Problems with this stage of hearing also fall within this category.
C) Combined Hearing Loss
Combine A) and B) and you have this unfortunate type of loss or deafness. Thankfully, this is not a common event.
Of the three possible forms of hearing loss, this is the final type.
Loss of the ability to hear may be unique to one ear or may be present in both ears. It may be long term, or may be rapidly amicable to being cured. Fast and fluctuating deterioration of hearing is possible, especially if the problem arises from a local ear infection. In such cases improvement or cure may also be fast.
This article is for general information use. It does not contain advice, nor must it be in any way be interpreted as doing so. Consult your own doctor, or other qualified hearing expert.
There is always the option of buying one of the new ‘up-to-the-minute’ hearing aid models, and these can represent great value and also really help the older (retired) population.
If you suffer from a hearing impairment Steve Evans has a great web site full of articles on the subject which you should visit at the Batteries for hearing Aids web site.