Friday, December 3, 2010

Get Relief from Hearing Problems With New Hearing Aid Technology

By Joshua Ellis


Do you still hear geese as they fly overhead? Do the sounds that they make alert you to look upwards and witness their departure south at the end of the summer season? More than 50 million people can't hear these and other sounds in their daily lives, and therefor miss out on some of the simplest things in life. Audiologists have warned us for years that common household machines like leaf blowers, vacuum cleaners and lawn mowers may cause hearing loss if used without wearing a pair of ear plugs or headphones. Not to mention concerts and loud sporting events.

Lists as long as your arm of common appliances have been made by audiologists. Hearing impairment that results from excessive noise has caused lifelong hearing loss in many American lives, and so they have turned to the most recently released hearing aids for help.

Nobody is exempt from the possibility of hearing impairment. It doesn't matter how much money you have. There have been plenty of actresses, baseball players, male actors and even former presidents who dealt with hearing loss. All of them had to get a hearing aid to fix or improve their problem.

Hearing loss is a sensory disorder, one that can be severely difficult to deal with. The most prevalent form of permanent hearing loss is sensorineural, which means that there has been nerve damage. Whatever the cause of your hearing loss, you'll find that there is a chance to improve your life with a hearing aid. Generally, a pair of hearing aids is suggested. You can find over one thousand models to choose from, including hearing aids with directional microphones, to those which rest within the ear.

When it comes to children one of the largest cause for temporary hearing loss is ear infections and the parents and caregivers of these children have spent more than $1 billon each year. The good news - there are better and more advanced methods of testing hearing in newborns and infants, according to one otolaryngologist. It used to be that hearing tests were only done on small children when there was an obvious problem, but today's tests allow doctor's to test earlier and more accurately, helping children enjoy the full range of sound.

Tiny hairs located in the cochlea respond to loud/soft stimulus by giving off their own otoacoustic emissions. The way that these hairs expand and contract can be measured and will project a very soft sound. Loss of hearing at high frequencies is very common in the elderly and while this is an incredibly common problem, it has been studied the least. 50 millions Americans are effected by tinnitus which is a ringing in the ears and is sometimes accompanied by a loss of hearing.

Still, for many people, hearing loss may not be related to the aging process. According to audiologists, Western living is the reason for our hearing loss. Each day audiologists see many patients who are demonstrating hearing loss because of the civilization we live in. All of the loud noises we hear each day, like vacuum cleaners, stereo systems, snowmobiles, lawn mowers, and even hair dryers, accumulate and diminish our hearing in a slow manner.

You may not notice that your hearing is diminishing immediately. If your hearing is diminishing, what signs would you be showing? Occasionally, you may realize that you no longer can hear higher or lower pitches. You may think you hear someone mumbling and turn off your TV. You might even go so far as to start tilting your head to hear things that seem to be just out of your hearing reach. One of the most obvious signals is when you find yourself choosing to stay away from large social events because it bothers your ears or you can't seem to hear things. The ability to hear a single voice among a sea of voices is possible because of the inner ear and the brain, and while not fully replicated by today's technology, a hearing aid can greatly improve this ability. We go through our lives everyday, surrounded by sounds, and yet most never stop to consider this amazing miracle.




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