Babies have now grown into toddlers and they are beyond crawling, balancing to stand and walk. They have become toddlers that race through the living room, screaming and jumping with face covered in peanut butter. Not for long, they are young children in crude wooden carts in a race.
One good thing in the growth and development from a baby to a toddler to a young child is that they have become accustomed to the presence of the hearing aid on their ear; a big relief for any parent. The unintentional loss, the damage of the device will still be there, though.
If hearing loss, however, occurred or commenced within toddler age (three years old) to pre-teen, the same recommended steps are advised by leading authorities and organizations in health and hearing.
Evaluation
A hearing loss professional will do a hearing test on your child to determine the extent of damage and the severity of hearing loss. It is important for the parent to understand that early treatment will prevent the child from language and speech trouble and learning difficulty.
The same professional may also recommend the best and suitable type of hearing aid to that particular child. Not all hearing aids are exact remedy for every child. This device will also help the child socially in school and at home.
After selection of the hearing aid type, the audiologist will adjust the loudness of the sound that is most comfortable for the child.
Selection
Hearing aids basically fall into two types with variations for each type, namely:
Of the two main types, the BTE is best for toddlers and young children because:
On the other hand, an ITE hearing aid is not preferred because:
Accessories such as retainer cords to prevent loss and damage, telephone coil, etc., are available.
For more details of our hearing aid services, please contact HK Hearing & Speech Centre to get a hearing aid prescription.
Source:
HK Hearing & Speech Centre
Specialist of Hearing test & assessment,
and Hearing Aid Prescription
https://www.hkhearingspeech.com
Babies are a blessing to parents and need tender loving care in their infancy. Right after birth, babies undergo newborn screening to check for irregularities in their blood, ears and heart. If they pass the screening, well and good; if not, a trip to an infant health professional is needed.
Birth Defect
Hearing loss right at birth is considered a congenital birth defect. As such, it must be given ample priority by the parent and must be treated as early as possible. In the first years of a baby, phenomenal growth in weight and height can be witnessed.
This defect, whether at the outer, middle, or inner ear, can severely affect the baby mentally and, in the not so distant future, psychologically if delayed or remain untreated.
Effects of Hearing Loss
Absence of sound as a stimuli to a baby’s brain will give the child:
Babies with hearing loss may soon misunderstand things other people say since the child never heard it the right way. The child may also have quite a difficult time with new words along the way, more so, pronounce it correctly.
With this mental deficiency, the child might soon become a loner at school he might be talking gibberish making him a social outcast at a very young age.
Treatment to Hearing Loss
After consultations and tests of the hearing capacity of a baby, a hearing aid may be used by an infant as early a few weeks or a month after birth. This device will provide pertinent sounds to the baby’s brain so the child will connect a sound to its meaning.
Since hearing aids come in different styles, and babies are so naturally busy once they are awake and they grow fast, the best style for them would be hearing aids with earmolds that can be replaced or re-shaped as the baby grows.
Along with this, the parent must give full attention to the baby as they gradually get used to the presence of the device behind their ear(s); hearing loss may also happen in both ears.
So, hearing aids for babies and children with hearing loss are definitely beneficial where it not only treats the defect but also forms the character and personality of the child.
If you think your baby needs a hearing aid, make sure to get a hearing aid prescription. For more details of our hearing test & assessment, and hearing aid services, please contact HK Hearing & Speech Centre.
Source:
HK Hearing & Speech Centre
Specialist of Hearing test & assessment,
and Hearing Aid Prescription
https://www.hkhearingspeech.com
Hearing loss is a problem for many people across all ages. Whether it is diagnosed as mild, moderate, or severe, it causes communication difficulties in everyday lives. This impairment must never be neglected or untreated for what it is since it may lead to complications.
Hearing Aids
These are devices meant to help treat hearing loss that are basically made to amplify sound. Through the many years of its existence, analog hearing devices were introduced first. These were, by then, bulkier and amplified all sounds caught including bothersome noise.
Presently, digital hearing aids flood the market for those in need. These newer devices are leaps of improvement from the analog years in that they have electronic chips inside that fine-tunes the sound from speech and even eliminates background noise in some expensive models.
They are all the same?
If you have seen one, you have seen them all, you might think of hearing aids. They may look the same, but they are not exactly the same; it’s a “yes” and a “no” at the same time.
All hearing aid devices share the same similarity in components. As a whole:
What sets them apart?
The specific differences between hearing aids would fall into three distinct categories, namely:
Sound capture and refinements has made it clearer than before. Some devices can stay immersed in water for a time by purpose.
For severe hearing loss, and even the deaf, the two-component cochlear implant is best.
If you think you need a hearing aid, make sure to get a hearing aid prescription. For more details of our hearing test & assessment, and hearing aid services, please contact HK Hearing & Speech Centre.
Source:
HK Hearing & Speech Centre
Specialist of Hearing test & assessment,
and Hearing Aid Prescription
https://www.hkhearingspeech.com
A survey in 2013 conducted by the Census and Statistics Department involving persons with disabilities and chronic diseases stated that there are 155,200 people who have hearing impairment in Hong Kong.
That accounts to 2.2% of the total population of Hong Kong and 117,600 out of the total 155,200 persons with hearing difficulty are aged 65 or above.
This includes people who perceived themselves as having long-term difficulty in hearing or using specialised hearing aids or rehabilitation tools at the time of survey.
A lot of elderly people lack the financial means to buy hearing aids, which could cost as high as several thousand to several tens of thousand dollars.
In Hong Kong, the government is providing subsidies to elderly people. They pay for the costs of hearing tests and hearing aids.
They impose no upper limit in the scope of application of the Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme which aims to enhance the safety and quality of life of elderly people.
Hong Kong’s general out-patient clinics (GOPCs) of the Hospital Authority (HA) refers patients with hearing difficulty to the ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialists which shall follow-up according to their clinical conditions and needs. They will provide appropriate hearing assessment and treatment for persons with hearing difficulty.
The Hospital Authority has 29 audiologists and audiology technicians that help provide timely hearing tests and treatment according to the diagnosis made by ENT specialists and the needs of patients.
The Department of Health reviews the manpower requirement from time to time to monitor the service demand. This ensures audiology-related services for everyone who needs it.
Eligible seniors may use health care vouchers to pay for healthcare services provided by healthcare professionals assigned under the Elderly Health Care Voucher Scheme.
This includes hearing assessment services provided by enrolled doctors.
Medical items which are not covered by the standard fees and charges in public hospitals and clinics are provided by the Hospital Authority thru the Samaritan Fund safety net.
They pay for hearing aids, and the replacement of external speech processors of cochlear implants and other accessories.
Patients who needed financial assistance for privately purchased medical items or new technologies required in the course of medical treatment will be referred right away to the Samaritan Fund to get immediate assistance.
Patients who have met the specified clinical requirements will be referred to SF for financial assistance because health care vouchers cannot be used for purchasing products such as medication or medical equipment.
To sum up, the Hong Kong government is really extending all the assistance to their elderly who are most prone to the effects of hearing impairment.
If you think you need a hearing aid, make sure to get a hearing aid prescription. For more details of our hearing test & assessment, and hearing aid services, please contact HK Hearing & Speech Centre.
Source:
HK Hearing & Speech Centre
Specialist of Hearing test & assessment,
and Hearing Aid Prescription
https://www.hkhearingspeech.com
Due to advances in the studies on hearing and hearing loss, there are so many types of hearing aid devices in the market today. Anyone using a hearing aid should learn a few things in order to adjust to the fact that one has to wear one .
Tip #1 Know your loss first
Some hearing loss are severe, some are so mild a hearing aid is hardly needed. Others are so profound that people may hear but could not understand. Hearing loss is as individual as individuals get. An in-the- (ear)canal (ITC) hearing aid is custom molded and fits partly in the ear canal while an in-the-ear (ITE) hearing aid is custom made in two styles — one that fills most of the bowl-shaped area of your outer ear (full shell) and one that fills only the lower part (half shell) . The ITC is recommended for mild to moderate hearing loss in adults while the ITE is recommended for mild to severe cases.
Tip #2 Know your (psychological) fit
Whether one likes it or not, there is some kind of stigma attached to wearing hearing devices not only because it is associated with old age, and no one likes to go around announcing it, but also because hearing loss is a disability and no one wants to announce that, too.
Tip #3 Know your type
The type of hearing aid chosen should be dependent on the kind of hearing loss, the quality of the devices, and the price. Sometimes the quality of the hearing aid chosen make adjustment to the use of hearing aids less traumatic.
Tip #4 Know your device
There are several hearing devices now in the market. Some hearing devices called “Invisible In Ear Nano Hearing Aid Small Hearing Amplification Device” advertised as invisible hearing aids . Using and adjusting them sometimes come with RTFMYI (Read The F_ _ _ ing Manual, You Idiot) instructions. However, adjusting them comes with experience in using the device. Sometimes adjusting the device to one’s particular needs, like adjusting the volume, only require common sense after the device had been in use for some time.
Adjusting to hearing devices is a different matter. It needs technical understanding of how hearing aids can change one’s quality of life as well as a psychological acceptance of why only hearing aids could improve such life.
Hence, make sure that you get a hearing aid prescription if you think you need a hearing aid. For more details of our hearing test & assessment, and hearing aid services, please contact HK Hearing & Speech Centre.
Source:
HK Hearing & Speech Centre
Specialist of Hearing test & assessment,
and Hearing Aid Prescription
https://www.hkhearingspeech.com