Hearing loss is a serious issue that is affecting millions of people around the world. Unfortunately, we’ve yet to find a be-all, end-all cure for hearing loss as this issue is extremely complex even for our modern medicine.
That being said, there are different treatments and procedures that help. A hearing aid is currently one of the best tools we have in battling hearing loss. Here are 4 typical issues that you can take care of by using hearing aids.
Helping with Mild to Moderate Hearing Loss
Hearing aids are a powerful tool that can help you regain some of your hearing if you have mild to moderate hearing loss. This is especially true if your hearing loss belongs to the sensorineural category where little hair cells in your inner ear are destroyed or damaged.
These hair cells are used to pick up and sense sound and then pass that information along to your brain. A hearing aid works by boosting the volume that’s reaching the hair cells. That way your ear has a much better chance of recognizing what the sound means.
Not all mild and moderate types of hearing loss are the same. Some patients are dealing with hearing loss that affects certain frequencies of the audible spectrum. Modern hearing aids have reached a level where audiologists can focus on very specific frequencies and boost them appropriately.
Treating Hearing Fatigue
Hearing fatigue occurs in people who have suffered hearing loss. Audiologists from Audiology Island Clinic warn that hearing fatigue can be one of the first signs of hearing problems and shouldn’t be ignored. People who suffer from hearing fatigue often find themselves exhausted after a day of interacting with other people.
Hearing fatigue makes you focus extra hard on other people’s voices, words, and intonation. Just like trying to read all day without the use of glasses is difficult for those who have compromised eyesight, hearing fatigue can take up a lot of energy. People who suffer from it are often left feeling completely depleted at the end of the day. In many cases, this feeling of exhaustion can last for more than a day.
A properly fitted hearing aid can help treat this problem by boosting the volume just enough where your brain doesn’t have trouble picking up vocal communication clearly.
Treating Pediatric Hearing Issues
Hearing is so much more important than most people realize. It’s not only a matter of being able to hear the world around you, but hearing is an important prerequisite for healthy brain development.
As the human body develops, it expands the scope of its senses. It is also very much reliant on them, at the same time. Sight helps the brain develop a sense for spatial dimensions while the sense of smell and test offers guidance on whether something should or shouldn’t be consumed. Similarly, the sense of hearing is there to help the brain better understand the world around it.
Pediatric hearing aids are essential for allowing young children with hearing loss to go through the critical stage of growth that lasts from their birth to around 3 years of age.
Severe Hearing Loss
Severe hearing loss is a serious condition that can be debilitating for those who suffer from it. This type of hearing loss requires the use of super power hearing aids which are designed to boost the sound output to a level where the user can recognize it.
That being said, severe or profound hearing loss doesn’t mean that the person who suffers from it is completely deaf. In fact, the fitting process for this type of hearing loss is more complicated. A person that suffers from profound hearing loss uses a very small number of hair cells.
If not enough stimulation is provided, those remaining hair cells won’t be able to pick up sound. However, if you go overboard with stimulation, you are running a risk of causing even more damage. Because of the delicate nature of this condition, the fitting process is more complex and requires the expertise of experienced audiologists.
Technology that Keeps Evolving
Hearing aid technology keeps advancing with every passing year. We’re gaining new insights into what causes different types of hearing loss and how to treat it.
This information allows engineers to develop hearing aids that are more capable of offering the type of performance that is necessary to help a wide range of users. Modern hearing aids are a true marvel of technology that is giving those who suffer from all kinds of hearing loss a fighting chance.
