Hearing Aid Blog

Hearing Quiz:

March 26, 2010

1) Do you have trouble understanding conversation in a noisy restaurant or crowded room?

o Yes o No o Sometimes

2) Do you sometimes feel that people are mumbling or not speaking clearly?

o Yes o No o Sometimes

3) Do you experience difficulty fol­lowing dialog in the theater?

o Yes o No o Sometimes

4) Do you sometimes find it difficult to understand a speaker at a pub­lic meeting or a religious service?

o Yes o No o Sometimes

5) Do you find yourself asking people to speak up or repeat themselves?

o Yes o No o Sometimes

6) Do you find men’s voices easier to understand than women’s?

o Yes o No o Sometimes

6) Do you experience difficulty understanding soft or whispered speech?

o Yes o No o Sometimes

7) Do you have difficulty understand­ing speech on the telephone?

o Yes o No o Sometimes

8 ) Does a hearing problem cause you to feel embarrassed when meeting new people?

o Yes o No o Sometimes

9) Do you feel handicapped by a hearing problem?

o Yes o No o Sometimes

10 Does a hearing problem cause you to visit friends, relatives, or neighbors less often than you would like?

o Yes o No o Sometimes

11) Do you experience ringing or noises in your ears?

o Yes o No o Sometimes

12) Do you hear better with one ear than the other?

o Yes o No o Sometimes

13) Have you had any significant noise exposure during work, recreation, or military service?

o Yes o No

14) Have any of your relatives (by birth) had a hearing loss?

o Yes o No

Scoring

2 points for Yes

1 point for Sometimes

0 points for No

Scores of 3 or more: May mean that you have a hearing problem.

Scores of 6 or more: Strongly suggest that a hearing check is warranted.

Hearing with our skin

December 12, 2009

Hearing with our skin

If your ears can’t hear what someone is saying what about listening with your skin?
According to a study in the journal Nature, sensations on the skin can help people understand speech.
Just like looking at someone’s lips in a noisy place, or if you have a hearing loss, feeling, can also help you hear.
“From our brain’s point of view, we can hear with our eyes,” says Bryan Gick, a professor of phonetics at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
“From my point of view, we’re whole-body perceiving machines,” Gick says. “We just take all of the information that comes at us in our environment and merge it into a percept of something that happened in the world.”
Where does the Integration Happen?
David Ostry, a professor of psychology at McGill University in Montreal says these days the big scientific question isn’t whether our brains routinely integrate sensory information, but how.
“It’s up for grabs where within the brain this kind of integration is happening,” he says.
One possibility is areas in the brain that process sensory information, Ostry says. But he notes it’s also possible that integration takes place in the motor cortex, which controls our muscles.
Researchers say what they learn about how other senses influence hearing could help people with hearing loss, as well as people such as commercial airline pilots, who often have to decipher speech in a noisy environment.

If your ears can’t hear what someone is saying what about listening with your skin?

According to a study in the journal Nature, sensations on the skin can help people understand speech.

Just like looking at someone’s lips to help you hear better,  feeling sounds can also help you hear.

“From our brain’s point of view, we can hear with our eyes,” says Bryan Gick, a professor of phonetics at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.  ”We’re whole-body perceiving machines,” Gick says. “We just take all of the information that comes at us in our environment and merge it into a percept of something that happened in the world.”

Where does the Integration Happen?

There’s no question that our brains routinely integrate sensory information, but how our brains do that, is still unclear.  One possibility is that integration takes place in the motor cortex, which controls our muscles.

Researchers say what they learn about how other senses influence hearing could help people with hearing loss, as well as people such as commercial airline pilots, who often have to decipher speech in a noisy environment.

Degree of Hearing Loss Varies from Person to Person

December 9, 2009

Between the two extremes of hearing well and hearing nothing, there are many degrees of impairment. The terms used to describe the degree of hearing loss are mild, moderate, severe, and profound. Most hearing losses are mild to moderate.

Mild hearing loss:  Unable to hear soft sounds, difficulty perceiving speech in noisy environments.

Moderate hearing loss:  Unable to hear soft and moderately loud sounds, considerable difficulty in perceiving speech, particularly with background noise.

Severe hearing loss:  Speakers must raise their voice. Group conversation is possible only with considerable effort.

Profound hearing loss:  Some very loud sounds are audible but hearing conversation without a hearing instrument is impossible.

The Impact of Hearing Loss on Speech Perception

Hearing loss in the inner ear (sensorineural hearing loss) mainly affects high frequency sounds. These high-pitched sounds such as “s,” “f,” “sh,” “t” play a key role in our ability to understand speech clearly. This is why a person with this type of hearing loss will often say, “I can hear but I don’t understand what’s being said.” Hearing loss drastically reduces the ability to understand speech.

The Hearing Test

The performance of the ear is tested with a special measuring instrument, the audiometer. The object of the test is to precisely register the extent of the hearing loss. This can only be done when there is no background noise to distort the result. Since the extent of the damage may be different in each ear, they need to be tested separately. In order to do this the sound signals are transmitted via headphones. Both the perception of the sound and the understanding of speech are tested. The key observations are “when do I begin to hear the sound” and “when does the sound become unpleasantly loud.” This test is usually carried out for several frequencies (or pitches), at a range of different loudness levels. The result is presented in the form of a sound-audiogram. The audiogram is a special graphic representation of the evaluation of a person’s hearing ability. The audiogram enables us to establish the degree, type, and progression of a loss of hear. Regular checks give a clear picture of any changes in the hearing system.

What do the horizontal numbers in the audiogram mean?

The frequencies (pitches), measured in Hertz (Hz) are marked on the horizontal axis. The pitch of the sound increases from left to right. Lower numbers mean lower-pitched sounds (e.g. bass voices, drums) and high numbers correspond to higher-pitched sounds (e.g. birdsong, soprano voices).

What do the digits on the left-hand side of the audiogram mean?

The hearing loss for each frequency measured can be seen on the vertical axis. The higher the number, the louder the sounds. The level is measured in decibels (dB).  0dB indicates the softest sound normally heard by the healthy ear.  120 dB is the loudest sound usually considered tolerable by human beings.

Analog, Digitally Programmable, Digital?

Every hearing instrument has at least one microphone which picks up sound from the environment, an amplifier which transforms the signal to compensate for hearing loss and a receiver that directs the signal, which is adapted for the hearing loss, into the auditory canal. This is similar to a hi-fi system although these hearing systems are much smaller and adapted specifically to the needs of the hearing-impaired individual.  Thanks to increasingly small micro-processors, digital technology has been introduced in to the most modern hearing systems. Digital hearing instruments are programmed by a hearingcare professional via computer. Acoustic signals are transformed into a binary code at high speed and with great precision. Complex calculations provide the ultimate flexibility in providing individualized solutions to hearing loss. Additional hearing system features can be offered: e.g. various hearing programs, automatic program selection, noise cancellers, and adaptive directionality. Remote control operation is also possible.

Expectations from a hearing aid

October 10, 2009

HEARING AIDS CAN:

1.  Make soft sounds louder, thus making them easier to hear.

2.  Allow you to hear in some situations that used to give you trouble, such as conversations.

3.  Help you hear high-pitch sounds better, thus helping you to understand speech better.

4. Help you feel more at ease in social situations by making it easier to hear what is being said.

HEARING AIDS CANNOT:

1.  Allow you to hear extremely soft sounds.

2.  Cure distortion in your hearing.  Distortion is usually due to a problem in your inner ear.  A hearing aid will mechanically equalize the sounds you hear, but not correct the damaged inner ear.

3.  Allow you to hear well in ALL situations of background noise.  An advanced hearing aid noise setting will enhance speech and reduce background noise; however noise will likely continue to be the most difficult listening environment.  Lip-reading will compliment the sounds you hear in all situations.

4.  Amplify only what you want to hear.

Who do you really need two hearing aids?

With some exceptions, if you have hearing loss in both ears, you should have hearing aids in both ears.  There are three primary reasons for this:
1.  The brain needs input from both sides of the head for balanced hearing.
2.  The brain needs balanced hearing to be able to localize sounds.
3.  The brain needs balanced hearing to hear voices in noise.*
* Difficulty hearing in noise is one of the most common complaints we hear.  A single hearing aid will be of benefit in a quiet listening situation.  However, in a noisy situation such as a restaurant, dining room, work environment, or car, the brain needs input from both ears to pull out a specific speech signal from the background noise.  Hearing aids cannot do this alone! Advanced technology hearing aids often employ a circuit to help reduce noise; however, your brain will not perceive this benefit from only one ear.
Expectations from a hearing aid
A hearing aid CAN:
1.  Make soft sounds louder, thus making them easier to hear.
2.  Allow you to hear in some situations that used to give you trouble, such as conversations.
3.  Help you hear high-pitch sounds better, thus helping you to understand speech better.
4. Help you feel more at ease in social situations by making it easier to hear what is being said.
A hearing aid CANNOT:
1.  Allow you to hear extremely soft sounds.
2.  Cure distortion in your hearing.  Distortion is usually due to a problem in your inner ear.  A hearing aid will mechanically equalize the sounds you hear, but not correct the damaged inner ear.
3.  Allow you to hear well in ALL situations of background noise.  An advanced hearing aid noise setting will enhance speech and reduce background noise; however noise will likely continue to be the most difficult listening environment.  Lip-reading will compliment the sounds you hear in all situations.
4.  Amplify only what you want to hear.

With some exceptions, if you have hearing loss in both ears, you should have hearing aids in both ears.  There are three primary reasons for this:

1.  The brain needs input from both sides of the head for balanced hearing.

2.  The brain needs balanced hearing to be able to localize sounds.

3.  The brain needs balanced hearing to hear voices in noise.*

* Difficulty hearing in noise is one of the most common complaints we hear.  A single hearing aid will be of benefit in a quiet listening situation.  However, in a noisy situation such as a restaurant, dining room, work environment, or car, the brain needs input from both ears to pull out a specific speech signal from the background noise.  Hearing aids cannot do this alone! Advanced technology hearing aids often employ a circuit to help reduce noise; however, your brain will not perceive this benefit from only one ear.

How to cope with difficult listening situations

• Ask speakers to speak in a good light and while facing the listener so that speech-reading skills can be used.
• Ask the speaker to speak clearly and naturally but not to shout or exaggerate their articulation.
• If you do not understand what a speaker is saying, ask the speaker to repeat or rephrase the statement.
• If entering a group in the middle of a conversation, ask one person to sum up the gist of the conversation.
• If someone is speaking at a distance, that person should be asked to stand closer.
• If the speaker turns his head away, ask him or her to face you to permit optimal speech-reading and listening.
• If you are attempting to understand speech in the presence of noise, try to move yourself and the speaker away from the source of the noise.
• When in a communication situation requiring exact information, such as asking directions or obtaining schedules for a trip, request that the speaker write the crucial information.
• If the speaker is talking while eating, smoking, or chewing, request that he or she not do so because of the difficulties speech-reading.
• A person who has a unilateral loss should be sure to keep his or her better ear facing the speaker at all times.
• If possible, avoid rooms with poor acoustics.  If meetings are held in such rooms, request that they be transferred to other rooms with less reverberation.
• If a speaker at a meeting cannot be heard, request that he use a microphone.
• Come early to meetings so that you can sit close to the speaker.  Avoid taking a seat near a wall to minimize the possibility of reverberation.  This is particularly important for those who use hearing aids.
• If you are going to a movie or to a theatre, read the reviews in advance to familiarize yourself with the plot.
• In an extremely noisy situation, limit conversation to before the noise has started or after it has subsided.
  • Ask speakers to speak in a good light and while facing the listener so that speech-reading skills can be used.
  • Ask the speaker to speak clearly and naturally but not to shout or exaggerate their articulation.
  • If you do not understand what a speaker is saying, ask the speaker to repeat or rephrase the statement.
  • If entering a group in the middle of a conversation, ask one person to sum up the gist of the conversation.
  • If someone is speaking at a distance, that person should be asked to stand closer.
  • If the speaker turns his head away, ask him or her to face you to permit optimal speech-reading and listening.
  • If you are attempting to understand speech in the presence of noise, try to move yourself and the speaker away from the source of the noise.
  • When in a communication situation requiring exact information, such as asking directions or obtaining schedules for a trip, request that the speaker write the crucial information.
  • If the speaker is talking while eating, smoking, or chewing, request that he or she not do so because of the difficulties speech-reading.
  • A person who has a unilateral loss should be sure to keep his or her better ear facing the speaker at all times.
  • If possible, avoid rooms with poor acoustics.  If meetings are held in such rooms, request that they be transferred to other rooms with less reverberation.
  • If a speaker at a meeting cannot be heard, request that he use a microphone.
  • Come early to meetings so that you can sit close to the speaker.  Avoid taking a seat near a wall to minimize the possibility of reverberation.  This is particularly important for those who use hearing aids.
  • If you are going to a movie or to a theatre, read the reviews in advance to familiarize yourself with the plot.
  • In an extremely noisy situation, limit conversation to before the noise has started or after it has subsided.