Hearing loss in children is more common than you may realize. Hearing loss occurs in two to three per 100 babies born in the United States, prompting hospitals to offer hearing screening as part of the newborn package or charge a small fee for the test. I strongly recommend all parents have their baby’s hearing checked prior to discharge. Hearing Test for Newborns The hearing test is quick and painless for the baby. It is administered by either a nurse or other hospital employee trained in … [Read more...] about Treating Hearing Loss in Babies
Lynn
Understanding Tinnitus: Ringing in the Ears
More than 50 million people are bothered by tinnitus and approximately 20 percent of those people are severely affected by it. Tinnitus is a sound that is heard without any external stimulation. It can be high or low-pitched; it may sound like humming, clicking, buzzing, whistling, chirping or roaring. The sound may come and go and sometimes people say the loudness of their tinnitus changes. Tinnitus is a symptom, not a disease and is not threatening to one’s health. Most tinnitus can … [Read more...] about Understanding Tinnitus: Ringing in the Ears
Understanding Musical Ear Syndrome
Musical ear syndrome, also known as musical hallucinations or auditory hallucination, is more common than you might believe. It can cause enormous stress on the individual experiencing it. It is more likely to be a song or music without words but a few people have reported to me that they hear songs with words. I find in my practice that people are embarrassed to tell anyone about what they hear and are secretly afraid that they are going crazy. One source estimates that auditory … [Read more...] about Understanding Musical Ear Syndrome
Understanding the Connection Between High Blood Pressure and Hearing Loss
Hypertension, or high blood pressure, is a major risk factor for stroke and heart disease, which affects nearly 70 million adults in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This adds up to one in three adults! In addition to people with hypertension, the CDC states that one in three adults is living with elevated blood pressure or prehypertension. Prehypertension is not hypertension, but the blood pressure levels are above what is considered normal. What … [Read more...] about Understanding the Connection Between High Blood Pressure and Hearing Loss
Changes in Hearing After Head Injury
Approximately 1.4 million individuals suffer from traumatic brain injury (TBI) each year in the United States. The most common causes of injury are automobile accidents, falls, assaults/blows, sports-related injuries and explosive blasts. Internal causes of brain injury are strokes, edema, meningitis, tumors and even certain medications. The resulting hearing loss symptoms a person suffers are varied depending on the damage. Injury from Automobile Accidents The brain may be shaken … [Read more...] about Changes in Hearing After Head Injury
What is it Like to Have a Hearing Loss?
As an audiologist, I see hearing impaired individuals every day. One of the most rewarding activities of my job is to teach the family members what it is like to have a hearing loss and how to better communicate with hearing impaired people. What can the hearing impaired person hear? I think that understanding what a person really can and can’t hear is the key to successfully living with or working with a hearing impaired person. It is crucial to understand what can change the … [Read more...] about What is it Like to Have a Hearing Loss?
How to Buy Hearing Aids Online
This is a new topic in the world of hearing aids. There is a whole new world out there offering you hearing aids at a price “too good to be true.” You will now see hearing aids sold online and even offered through your insurance company. This new process for obtaining hearing aids is not without a significant set of issues. First, you need to make certain you do not have a hearing loss that needs medical attention. It is important to understand that online aids are not able to be fine-tuned to … [Read more...] about How to Buy Hearing Aids Online
Speech Understanding in Wind
Wind noise has been an ongoing issue since the beginning of hearing aid use. I remember 30 years ago talking to people about managing wind noise when they were wearing a body-worn hearing aid. I asked people to change the direction they were facing so their back was to the wind or stand sideways to the wind. I helped parents design headbands to be worn over the ear level hearing aids to protect the hearing aid on their child from wind exposure. I recommend that people wear baseball caps with … [Read more...] about Speech Understanding in Wind
Stepping Up to the Challenges of an Aging Body
The basic goal of aging individuals is to age gracefully or to age well. Aging well requires stimulating the brain and using the body in a manner that keeps it strong. Basic everyday activities are not enough to keep both body and mind in a stable functioning state. We all become “set” in our ways and usually do not seek out new, challenging activities. We park in the same area of the parking lot of a store we frequent so we do not need to look around for the car. If you take off your socks, you … [Read more...] about Stepping Up to the Challenges of an Aging Body
Hearing in a Noisy Place
Many people say to their audiologist that they are able to hear fine in a quiet room but the minute there is background noise they are not able to hear well. Sometimes it happens while watching a TV program and the background music suddenly gets louder. Difficulty may arise if a conversation is being held in a large room with echo or reverberation. This comment is true for people who hear normally or people with a hearing loss. The Physiology of Hearing All hearing situations are not … [Read more...] about Hearing in a Noisy Place
