You might be surprised to learn that over 4 million people in America sensor hearing aids, but many don’t use them optimally. Although most adults are able to adjust and adapt to their hearing aids, it becomes a huge problem when it comes to small children.
Hearing aids are necessary for those who need to take steps towards hearing rehabilitation. The best way to help a family member who needs them is by giving them the confidence and resources they need to wear their hearing aids. Giving verbal reminders, showing them what alarms mean, and teaching sign language can all go a long way in creating a bridge between audiology and your loved ones.
A small child, especially one who is under three years old, will try to take out the hearing aid especially on the first few times that this gadget is attached to their ears. To avoid such problems, here’s what you need to do:
Kids can also have a flexible loop attached to hold their hearing aid when they do physical activities like dancing or running. This will help the hearing aids stay in place, and prevents them from bouncing off when they move their head back and forth.
If a family member is struggling with hearing aids, it is important to recommend seeing an audiologist to get a hearing aids prescription. This will help ensure the individual gets just the right device, determined from an expert’s recommendation.
Source:
HK Hearing & Speech Centre
Specialist of Hearing test & assessment,
https://www.hkhearingspeech.com
Do you need a hearing aid? Maybe not, but you should think about getting one before you go out to buy one. This article explains the benefits of getting a hearing aid prescription before you purchase a hearing aid. It also highlights some of the issues that can come with hearing aid prescription.
There are several different types of businesses that provide hearing aids ranging from audiologists, to ENT Doctors, to hearing aid dealers and franchise stores, and even big-box retail stores and internet sellers. Hence, it’s often recommended to take a hearing test and assessment by an audiologist in order to obtain a prescription for a hearing aid. The licensed audiologist is the most qualified hearing professional to diagnose and evaluate your hearing, and to recommend and provide a comprehensive solution to your hearing needs.
Whether you need hearing aids prescription or non-prescription can depend on several factors. There are elements that make prescription better than non-prescription, and vice versa.
A hearing aid made by an audiologist or an ENT doctor is typically better than one you can purchase in stores. It is specifically designed for the particular needs of the person with a hearing impairment. You cannot get this type of hearing device without getting hearing aids prescription from an audiologist or an ENT specialist.
A hearing aid professional will diagnose your degree of hearing loss, and prescribe the optimal type of hearing aids. If you show your prescription to a supplier of hearing devices, they can tell you what model is best for your type and degree of hearinig loss.
The premium offered by your prescription model for your medical device is well worth it. Regular, off-the-shelf hearing aids may not work as well as the prescribed models because they are specifically designed to account for individual needs. Non-prescription models are really only suitable for some situations because you cannot customize them enough to account for different individuals.
A prescription hearing aid is said to last longer than a non-prescription hearing aid. Reliable and durable, they can be trusted to work for a long while. By paying the higher costs of a prescription hearing aid in the beginning, you will continue to enjoy your investment for years to come.
The major drawbacks of prescription hearing aids is the cost. You have to pay for an audiologist or the services of an ENT specialist who will diagnose your condition and provide you with a hearing aid prescription. From there, you may need to buy a more expensive hearing aid than if you wanted to go the non-prescription shop.
Most of the non-prescription hearing aids aimed at the masses aren’t made of quality materials; you really have to search for quality brands and models if you want sure that it will last a reasonable length of time.
Source:
HK Hearing & Speech Centre
Specialist of Hearing test & assessment,
and Hearing Aids Prescription
https://www.hkhearingspeech.com
One similarity between hearing aids and eyeglasses is that they work in a similar way. Eyeglasses cannot return your eyesight to normal. The same goes for hearing aids. Unless you are totally deaf, a hearing aid can:
1) Give sounds a louder and more significant quality
2) Transform sound into vibrations so that they can be recognized by your brain cells.
You might be able to hear better with your hearing aid, but you are still not hearing as well as someone with 20/20 eyesight. Although new innovations are constantly being introduced to make people’s lives easier, there are some external factors that affect its performance even if you might have a hearing aid prescribed by your audiologist. Here lists them as below:
Hearing aids can only restore some hearing, but they cannot make us hear as well as other people can. This is what makes these devices different from eyeglasses, which may be very thick so that people can still see and read normally.
This is known as speech discrimination, which is an approximation of how well you understand words; it’s measured on a scale from 0-100% (0% understanding equals constructive interference). For example, if you’ve scored 50%, then you understand half of what you hear – the rest is gibberish.
You must wear them constantly to adjust to them and reap benefits of your devices. It can take weeks before you adjust, so wear it regularly for an optimal experience.
If you must read lips in order to understand what people are saying to you, wearing hearing aids will make it much easier. Those with hearing aids should also speak clearly and laugh out loud if necessary. People speaking to them should interact face-to-face and not mumble their words.
Noise is a common problem for those with hearing loss. In a noisy environment, you may need to increase volume to the point where the voices are jarring and hard to understand. That is because you can’t decipher what someone is saying from reading their lips alone.
Rooms with excellent acoustics will improve your ability to hear out conversations while various other rooms may muffle what you’re trying to hear.
The performance of your hearing aid is not the only thing that can affect how well it works for you. Hence, it is important to note these factors before using your hearing aid to improve your hearing in conversation.
Source:
HK Hearing & Speech Centre
Specialist of Hearing test & assessment,
http://www.hkhearingspeech.com
Hearing can be impaired by many factors, such as an ageing ear, noise exposure, head injuries, pregnancy and more. As hearing loss progresses it can affect how well you hear speech in noisy environments or even isolate you from the people around you. It’s not always easy to know what your options are for dealing with it.
Do you choose a hearing aid or a cochlear implant?
Here are some facts that will help inform your decision.
Hearing aids are a type of medical device that is typically used to improve the ability of a person with hearing loss in one or both ears to hear better in a situation. Hearing aids come in three parts: the microphone, the amplifier, and the receiver. They help make sound louder and clearer for people who have trouble hearing what’s going on around them.
Cochlear implants are devices that are surgically implanted into the inner ear by a medical professional. They use technology to help people who are deaf or hard of hearing to detect sounds. Initially, they were only used for children but now they’re also being used for adults.
Hearing aids and cochlear implants might both appear to be similar, but they do have some significant differences. Hearing aids amplify sound, whereas cochlear implants stimulate the auditory nerve to allow those with hearing loss to hear again. Hearing aids are best for those whose hearing loss has just started and didn’t notice it until later on in life. On the other hand, cochlear implants are best for those who haven’t been able to hear well since birth. The implant will be a more cost-effective solution if the person is getting a lifelong benefit from it.
There are some cases where people can wear both a hearing aid and cochlear implant at the same time, but this is not always possible. A cochlear implant needs to be surgically placed inside the ear. So, it’s typically only an option for children or adults who have lost their hearing due to illness or injury that have open-canal ear drums. A hearing aid can be worn by anyone, but it cannot provide as much sound amplification as a cochlear implant.
The choice between a hearing aid or a cochlear implant is one that people often have to make. Both devices can be used to provide hearing for someone who has lost their ability to hear, but they are different in some key ways. The decision should be based on the needs of the person with hearing loss and their current lifestyle.
Source:
HK Hearing & Speech Centre
Specialist of Hearing test & assessment,
and Hearing Aids Prescription
https://www.hkhearingspeech.com
When you are picking up your first pair of hearing aids, it might be difficult to understand why you should have certain features.
If you’re hesitant to buy a hearing aid because of the high pitched voice, which pierces your ear at regular intervals, consider getting a new model with user likes and dislikes in mind.
One of the main features of a hearing aids might be invisibility, but not every person needs it. Wideband is a must have for those listening on TV or podcasts as it boosts very high and soft sounds that can normally do not come into focus on its own.
As the hearing aid industry continues to evolve, they continue to introduce new and better models. Hearing aids that fit discretely on your ear or on the back of your ear and nearly disappear. Now you don’t have to sacrifice quality for a discreet design.
When deciding on which features are most important for your hearing devices, you need to take the following into consideration:
Modern hearing aids go beyond amplifying the sound coming your way; they filter and convert it to digital. This means you can listen to every conversation and enjoy every moment with crystal clear clarity, thus eliminating all communication problems.
Luckily, new hearing aids won’t distract you in the midst of a crowded room. New features turn down external sound if you do not hear it well and hear you clearly when in close proximity with your friend. The new directional microphone feature allows you to focus on a sound and isolate it from the others. As a result, you are able to hear everything is the first go.
This is perhaps one of the best features of today’s hearing aids. Multiple channels allow you to experiment with different setting according to the acoustics of the environment you are in. You might hear the speech louder in some rooms and quieter in other rooms. The memory setting will allow you to adjust the microphone frequency, which will shift the channel automatically when you are certain environment.
Telecoil features, which connects your hearing aids to a loop, allows you to listen clearly in various big and loud places such as sporting arenas, places of worship, musical concerts and more. The list of location is pre-installed on the device and can be routed through Bluetooth.
The binaural processing feature in hearing aids synchronize the two hearing aids for full listening experience. By using this feature, delays or miscommunication can be prevented because there are no longer any differences in input.
Once your hearing aid connects to your mobile device, it stores settings in your hearing preference for different environments and the programming feature will adjust automatically.
It depends on how severe your hearing loss is. You should carefully choose a hearing aid with the features to best serve you and your life. For more information and consulation, please contact us now.
Source:
HK Hearing & Speech Centre
Specialist of Hearing test & assessment,
and Hearing Aids Prescription
https://www.hkhearingspeech.com