"My wife can now fall
asleep while I watch TV with my TV EARS."
Tony G.
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FAQs
What Is Hearing Loss?
The sounds that we hear everyday cover a range of pitches from the sound of a
low pitched foghorn to the sound of a high pitched squeal. We also hear sounds
at different loudness levels. Sounds ranging from soft , like the rustling of
leaves, to loud , like jet engine noise during its take off, can be heard. A
person with a hearing loss can still hear for the most part, but not the full
range of sounds. Depending on the extent and pitch range of the loss, a person
with a hearing loss may only miss some soft, high-pitched sounds; while others
with a more severe degree of hearing loss may not be able to hear a significant
amount of conversation. In effect, part of their hearing range is lost.
How do I know that I may have a hearing loss? How do I know that my child
may have a hearing loss?
Common signs that may suggest that YOU have hearing difficulty are:
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You may feel that people are always mumbling, or notice that you only hear
parts of conversations or stories when people are talking.
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You often ask people to repeat what they said.
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Other people tell you that you seem to have difficulty hearing or that you play
the TV or radio too loudly.
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You can't hear the telephone ring or the caller speaking clearly.
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You are reluctant to participate at family functions and in group situations
because you can't follow conversation to the extent that it is affecting your
quality of life
Possible signs that may suggest YOUR CHILD has a hearing loss are:
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Your child's speech is unclear and/or difficult to understand
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Your child's vocabulary is less than other children his age
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Your child does not respond when you call him; does not hear household sounds
heard by other members of the family; or, needs the sound of the TV or radio,
etc. turned up very loudly to hear well
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Your child does not follow directions and/or needs several repetitions before
doing so
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Your child often says "Huh?".
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Your child does not appear to respond appropriately unless looking directly at
you.
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Your child has difficulty in school/exhibits poor academic achievement
If you have concerns, you should consult a Hearing Health Professional. If you
need to seek help for your child, be sure to look for a licensed/certified
Audiologist experienced in pediatric testing, particularly if your child is
very young (e.g. under the age of 5 years).
Why Is It Particularly Critical To Test A Child’s Hearing – And Get Them
Proper Amplification If They Need It?
A child is born with a mind that is open and ready to receive information
through their senses. The more information the mind receives, the better the
child can understand and participate in the world around them. Their senses are
their tools for learning and communicating. Therefore, their sense of hearing
is absolutely critical for speech and language development. It is extremely
important for children that hearing losses are identified as early as possible.
Significant delays in speech and language development can be avoided if
amplification is provided early – and many problems can be helped on an ongoing
basis with proper amplification.
What Are Some of the General Effects of a Hearing Loss?
The most direct effect of a hearing loss is the inability to hear soft sounds.
Depending on the degree of the hearing loss, some people may have a hard time
hearing conversational sounds or even loud sounds. Some people may hear speech
sounds but they may not understand their meaning. This is referred to as
impaired discrimination ability and is especially noticeable in noisy places.
In addition, many people with a hearing loss also notice a constant ringing or
rushing sound in their ears (tinnitus). Like vision loss, hearing loss is also
a problem that effects quality of life.
Why do my ears sometime "ring" ? Can anything be done about it?
The medical term for "ringing in the ears" is called tinnitus. Sometimes it is
perceived as hissing, whooshing, clicking or some other type of noise. It can
occur in one or both ears and may or may not be related to hearing loss. You
should see your physician to rule out any potential underlying medical
condition (e.g. related to medications, blood pressure, etc.) or dietary habit
(e.g. excessive caffeine) as a contributing factor. Note that tinnitus can very
often be related to excessive noise exposure. It is very important to use ear
protection if working around high levels of noise (e.g. construction) and not
expose your ears to unnecessarily loud noise or music which can damage your
hearing and cause tinnitus.
What can I do to protect my ears and hearing?
It is easy to take our hearing along with our other senses for granted.
Practicing a few safety measures will help to protect your ears and hearing:
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Avoid excessively loud noise whether work or socially related. Check with your
employer regarding any existing safety recommendations for ear protection in
the workplace. Be sure to "turn down the sound": don't self induce hearing loss
with exposure to excessively loud music. Wear ear protection during
recreational activities that may involve high level sound e.g. snowboarding.
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Avoid "Q-tipping" around in your ears. While use of "Q-tips" is practical for
drying and removing wax from the exterior portion of the ears, many people
insert them too deeply and actually increase any existing wax problem by
pushing it in further. If you tend to build a lot of ear wax, see your doctor
to have the wax removed professionally and/or be advised regarding safe wax
removal methods.
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Do not insert foreign objects in your ears such as toothpicks, hairpins, etc.
in attempts to clean the ears. This may damage the lining of the ear canal or
worse rupture your eardrum which will certainly result in pain and some degree
of hearing loss.
How Many People in the United States Suffer From a Hearing Impairment?
Approximately tens of millions Americans have some degree of hearing loss.
What Age Group is Most Affected by Hearing Loss?
Hearing loss can affect people of all ages. However, it is most frequently seen
in the mature population as a natural consequence of aging (presbycusis) and
history of noise exposure.
If I Want To Look Into My Hearing Health, Where Should I Begin?
You should visit either an Otolaryngologist or an Audiologist as a start. An
Otolaryngologist is a physician trained in the treatment of ear (nose and
throat also) diseases that have a medical origin. S/he will offer advice on
whether the hearing problem that you have can be treated medically through
medication or surgery. An Audiologist is trained in the measurement, diagnosis
and rehabilitation of hearing loss. The audiologist will offer advice and
recommendations on whether your hearing problem can be helped through the use
of hearing aids (if so, which type etc) and training in communication
strategies, such as lip reading. In many states a hearing aid dispenser is also
able to recommend and fit hearing aids after your hearing loss is diagnosed.
Any of these professionals will be able to make the right referral to the
others when appropriate.
What Facts Regarding Hearing Aids Do I Need To Be Aware Of?
When your hearing healthcare professional recommends a hearing aid they will
consider how the hearing aids fit your lifestyle, unique personal needs and how
each feature on the hearing aids might improve your ease of communication in
different listening environments. Furthermore, she/he will instruct you on the
proper care and use of the hearing aids including warranty and trial period. If
you have any doubts or questions, it is in your best interest to let your
hearing health care provider know your concerns so they can be discussed.
Why Do Some People Avoid or Put Off Getting A Hearing Instrument?
There are many reasons why people with hearing loss put off getting hearing
aids. The major reason is that many are not aware of the excellent benefits
that modern hearing instruments provide. Some base their decision on a bad
experience that they or their friends may have had with their hearing aids
(e.g., whistling) in the past. Others may think that their hearing loss is too
mild to need help or too severe to get any help. The fact is that modern
hearing instruments are very different from older hearing aids and can be
helpful to the majority of people with hearing loss.
What Are the Benefits of Digital Hearing Technology vs. Analog Hearing
Technology?
Digital hearing technology uses digital signal processing (DSP) techniques to
manipulate sounds. In analog hearing technology sounds are simply amplified in
specific ways. This means that sounds that are processed by a DSP hearing aid
can be more finely tuned to the individual than an analog hearing aid. This
allows for better, cleaner and clearer sound quality. In addition, DSP is
intelligent processing. This means that the DSP hearing aids not only process
sounds but also determine if the sounds are speech or noise using special
procedures. If speech is perceived the DSP hearing aid will work to amplify the
speech sounds in the intended manner. However, if it perceives noise the DSP
hearing aid will work to automatically reduce amplification in the noise
region. This improves the wearer’s listening comfort in the noisy environment.
For some people, it may even improve their speech understanding.
If I need a hearing aid, why is it better to wear two hearing aids instead
of just one?
We normally hear with two ears which allows us to localize sounds, hear better
in noisy surroundings, hear the softest sounds and experience an overall
"natural" sound quality. Given hearing loss in both ears, most people can
understand better with two aids than with one. Your Hearing Healthcare
Specialist will advise you regarding appropriate options.
What is "Feedback" and How Do Digital Hearing Instruments Help Deal With
it?
Feedback is the annoying whistling sound that you may hear when you cup your
hand around a hearing aid, or when the hearing aid is not seated securely in
ones ear canal. Feedback occurs when sound amplified by the hearing aid returns
to the hearing aid and is re-amplified many times. Wearers of analog hearing
aids usually turn down the volume on the hearing aid to stop the feedback.
This, of course, makes it difficult for the wearer to hear the intended sounds.
Many digital hearing aids, however, are designed to minimize this problem. For
example, in the Senso Diva, the Feedback Cancellation System monitors the
sounds that go in and come out of the hearing aids to check for feedback. If
feedback is identified it will work to cancel the feedback whistle
automatically! This not only removes the annoyance caused by feedback, but it
also allows the wearer to use the hearing aids as intended with excellent sound
quality.
What is a "Locator" and How Can it Help in Noisy Environments?
The "Locator" is the advanced directional microphone system used in the Senso
Diva hearing aid. By using two tiny microphones and digital signal processing
technology, this microphone system is able to focus in on the sound that is
presented in front of the hearing aid wearer (i.e., typically speech), while it
is able to "track" the noise surrounding the wearer and cancels it. This helps
the wearer understand speech in noisy situations where speech is presented in
the front and noise is present in the back. In other situations where there is
no noise, the microphone system will automatically switch to the best position
so sounds from all directions are picked up equally.
What Is the Average Cost of Digital Hearing Instruments?
As a manufacturer of digital hearing instruments, and not a retail company,
Widex does not set the exact price that a consumer may ultimately pay for their
hearing aids. The prices are determined by your local hearing healthcare
professionals. Widex Hearing Aid Company has four levels of digital hearing
instruments that vary in their sophistication and prices. Lower cost digital
instruments like Bravo or Bravissimo, advanced digital hearing instruments like
Senso Plus and Vita, and premium digital hearing instruments like Senso Diva.
What are the main differences between a lower cost digital hearing
instrument, an advanced digital hearing instrument, and a premier digital
hearing instrument?
The sophistication of the features on a DSP hearing aid directly
affects its cost to the consumer. A lower cost digital hearing instrument
offers very good performance in noise, very good listening comfort in noise,
very good sound quality in typical situations, they manage whistling with some
sacrifice in volume, and soft sounds are audible while loud sounds are not
uncomfortable. An advanced digital hearing instrument offers excellent
performance in noise, excellent listening comfort in noise, excellent sound
quality in most situations, no whistling in most situations with minimal
sacrifice in volume, and excellent audibility of soft speech sounds. Widex’
premium digital hearing instrument offers exceptional performance in noise, a
Locator microphone, exceptional listening comfort in noise, exceptional sound
quality … almost anywhere, no whistling in almost all situations without
sacrificing volume, and exceptional audibility of the softest sounds.
What should users of new hearing aids realistically expect?
When wearing hearing aids it is important to be realistic and patient. Hearing
aids do not claim to restore your hearing to "normal" and may not allow you to
hear perfectly in every listening situation. Familiar sounds such as birds,
turning the pages of your newspaper, or even your own voice or footsteps may be
strange to you initially because you have not been used to fully hearing these
things for some time. It may take a while to adjust to your new hearing aids
and realize your full potential.
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