The eardrum is essential for hearing because it senses sound waves and communicates the vibrations to the brain, but it also works as a barrier to seal off the inner ear and keep it free from infection. Whenever your eardrum is fully intact, your inner ear is a safe and sterile environment; but once it
Could your job be causing hearing damage? Hearing loss has lots of underlying causes, but the most common continues to be noise-induced hearing loss. Some occupations are simply more noisy than others, and workers in those fields should be reasonably worried about their hearing.An estimated 30 million workers are at risk of unsafe noise exposure
Comparing hearing aids can be hard if you’re not familiar with the large number of acronyms used to describe common styles. The following list includes most of the acronyms you will come across when looking for hearing aids and provides a brief explanation of each one. The very best way to truly understand the distinctions
Vertigo, defined as a sensation of movement where the person or the person’s environment seem to spin and whirl, is usually a rather uncomfortable experience. It can hinder your balance, contributing to falls that can be serious among older adults, and can be accompanied by dizziness, a sensation that you’re falling or spinning, and in
To start with an attempt at weak humor, the “speech banana” is not a reference to that classic joke, “Speak up…I can’t hear you…I’ve got a banana in my ear.” Speech banana is a reference to the sounds in an audiogram – a graphical rendering of a person’s hearing ability within a range of frequencies
Americans like their guns. Some of this interestin guns originates from television programs and movies where policemen, cowboys and villains are wearing their guns with delight and constantly shooting at each other. The impression from these images must have been powerful, because the US continues to have millions of gun owners who shoot them often,
Have you observed ads for low cost “personal sound amplifiers” (PSAs) on television or in newspapers lately? They are contributing to confusion about the difference between personal sound amplifiers and hearing aids. You generally don’t see similar advertisements for hearing aids because they are medical devices according to the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and
For those who have kids that are old enough, they most likely have at least one of the following devices – gaming systems, music players and computers – possibly even all three. If you responded yes, chances are, at some point they will ask for headphones to work with these products. No big shock there.
For people reading this who have suffered some type of hearing impairment, do you ever find yourself needing to work very hard to understand what’s being said to you or around you? This experience of having to work to understand people is common even among people who wear hearing aids, because they need to be
As with most matters in life, the sounds we hear affect us depending on the quality and quantity of them. Listening to music can be calming and enjoyable, but it can also be annoying and aggravating if the volume is excessive. When it comes to music and other sounds, quality is subjective, one that is
One of the more common questions we are asked is, “My older hearing aid is damaged or isn’t functioning the way it used to – do you think I should purchase a new one, or have it repaired?” The answer is “It depends.” The question of whether to repair or replace hinges on many factors,
Acute external otitis or otitis externa – commonly called swimmer’s ear – is an infection that affects the outer ear canal. The infection is known as swimmer’s ear because it frequently comes about due to moisture staying in the ears after swimmingwhich provides a moist environment that encourages the growth of microbes. Swimmer’s ear can