WHY SHOULD YOU TRY YOUR HEARING AID AT HOME? 

HOW CAN YOU BENEFIT FROM IT?

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Consumers today have many questions about hearing loss and hearing aids. How do you know if you need a hearing aid?

Where should you go for testing? What testing will be done? What are your options among hearing products?

What level of technology is best for you? How much is it going to cost? How long will the whole process take?

 

How will you adjust to hearing with a hearing aid? 

Many people with hearing loss could benefit from hearing aids, but don’t have them. Some are hesitant because they don’t know where and how to start the whole testing process. Others may not be sure about picking a professional and selecting the right aid from among the many options. Cost is a big barrier for many. Some people are concerned about “looking old” with a hearing aid.

 

If you are just beginning to have concerns about whether your hearing is declining; or if you’ve tried a hearing aid in the past and weren’t happy with it; or if you know someone who really should get his or her hearing checked,

the list below will answer many of your questions or if you prefer a more personal way to get answers contact us.

 

How big is the problem of hearing loss?

According to WHO nearly 2.5 billion people (almost 1/3 of the overall population) are projected to have some degree of hearing loss and at least 700 million will require hearing rehabilitation by 2050.
Due to noise pollution in urban environments, headphones and other noises the amount of hearing impaired people living on this planet will increase in the next few years.
 

In Singapore every 1 in 11 - experience impaired hearing. Hearing loss affects all ages, but specifically, there are more baby boomers aged 45-64 with hearing loss (10 million) than there are people over the age of 65 with hearing loss (9 million).

 

As baby boomers reach mid-age, a time when hearing loss frequently becomes more noticeable, they face concerns about what to do about their hearing loss. Boomers may have more hearing problems at an earlier age than previous generations. Their noisy lifestyle, with prolonged exposure to rock concerts, loud stereos, city traffic, power tools, and lawn mowers, may take its toll on their ears. Hearing care professionals confirm that they are seeing more younger clients seeking help with hearing loss. The National Institute on Deafness and Communication Disorders reports that 20 million Americans are exposed to dangerously noisy environments. Of the 31.5 million Americans with hearing loss, 10 million of these impairments are partially attributable to damage from exposure to loud sounds.

 

Most hearing loss can be helped—but not cured—by hearing aids. Yet most people with hearing loss don’t take advantage of this help. Almost everyone with a hearing loss hears better with a hearing aid, yet only 23 percent of those who need a hearing aid have one. More than 6 million Americans do use hearing aids, but about 24 million with hearing loss do not.

 

What can go wrong with your hearing?

Hearing loss is common and a normal part of getting older. The major kinds of hearing losses are sensorineural or conductive. Sensorineural hearing loss or “nerve deafness” is caused by damage to or deterioration of the tiny sound-sensing hair cells in the inner ear. It can be due to aging (called presbycusis) or to exposure to loud noise (noise-induced hearing loss). Because the nerve cells can no longer effectively transmit electrical impulses, you lose some ability to hear. Other causes are high fever, head trauma and certain drugs.

 

While those older than 65 are more vulnerable to presbycusis, some baby boomers aged 45 to 65 are realizing that they have noise-induced hearing loss.

 

People with sensorineural loss typically say they can hear but can’t understand, especially high pitched sounds. Although it can’t be reversed or treated medically, it may be effectively treated by hearing aids. By over-stimulating the nerve cells with the amplified sound waves from the hearing aid, you become able to hear what you couldn’t hear before.

 

An obstruction in the outer or middle ear or the ear drum causes conductive hearing loss. Sound does not transmit effectively because something interferes with the sound vibrations before they reach the inner ear. Conductive loss can result from severe head trauma, birth defects, punctured eardrum, or simply wax or fluid buildup.

 

It is often reversible through medical or surgical procedures. Hearing aids can improve conductive loss as long as there is no medical reason not to use an aid.

 

What are the signs of hearing loss?

While a history of hearing loss in your family or exposure to high noise levels may cause hearing loss, the easiest way to identify hearing loss is to notice how your hearing affects your daily life. You are probably the best judge of whether your hearing has declined.

 

You should have your hearing checked if you have experienced more than a couple of these signs of hearing loss:

 

• Tired or stressed from trying to hear

• Believe that everybody mumbles

• Find it easier to understand others when you are looking directly at their faces

• Frequently ask others to repeat themselves

• Increase television or radio volume to a point that others complain

• Have difficulty understanding speech in noisy places like cars, restaurants and theaters.

• Fail to understand doctor’s instructions about medications

• Make inappropriate responses because you didn’t understand the question

• Miss essential sounds like doorbells, alarm clocks, smoke alarms

• Have trouble hearing on the telephone

• Turn one ear towards a speaker to hear better

 

How does your hearing work?

As sound passes through each ear, it sets off a chain reaction. The outer ear 

(1) collects pressure (sound) waves and funnels them through to the ear canal. These vibrations strike the eardrum. The eardrum vibrates the delicate bones of the middle ear (2) that conduct the vibrations into fluid in the inner ear (3). The vibrations stimulate tiny nerve endings (hair cells) that transform vibrations into electro-chemical impulses. The impulses travel to the brain (4) where they are understood as sounds, such as speech, music, or noise.

How do you select a hearing care provider? 

Not only do you need to purchase a product, you need to rely on the services of a qualified professional who must assist you with your selection. In beginning your search for the person who will sell you and fit you for a hearing aid, your doctor may refer you, or friends and neighbors may suggest someone. A friend’s successful experience is a good indicator of the professional’s quality of service, although not of the type of aid you may need. Professionals who provide hearing health care and sell hearing aids are generally called “hearing care professionals” or “hearing aid dispensers.” They may be either audiologists or hearing aid specialists. In most cities, a variety of professionals dispense hearing aids, although you may have limited choices in rural areas.

 

Shop around among hearing care professionals to compare prices and services; testing procedures, products, services, and prices vary considerably.

 

Some hearing care professionals bill separately for the testing and the aid; but most quote one price that includes many services other than just the aid.

 

Check with the state licensing boards for audiologists and hearing aid specialists, Better Business Bureau, local consumer protection agency, or state attorney general’s office for records of any complaints against the dispenser you are considering. You should give the same care to selecting a hearing care professional that you give to selecting your other health care providers.

 

What does a hearing care professional do?

At a minimum, the hearing aid dispenser will use complex equipment to test your hearing and then evaluate your need for an aid. You should expect that the dispenser will then recommend the best aid for your individual loss, your listening environments, and your budget. As probably the most important step, the dispenser will fit, or “fine tune,” the appropriate aid to your physical and audiological needs.

 

On the more technologically advanced aids, the audiologist will fit your aid to your audiological specifications with sophisticated computer software right in the office.

 

The dispenser will need to counsel you on how to use your aids and provide follow-up care and adjustments. You should get oral and written instruction on how to insert your aid, how to adjust and care for it, and how your family must adjust to your hearing aid use.

 

What are the characteristics of a good dispenser?

Beyond the minimum skill and service provided to hearing aid clients, the “good” dispenser focuses on being a health care provider, rather than the seller of a product. You should look for a hearing care professional who will take the time to find out about how your hearing affects your lifestyle, figure out 

which of the many hearing aid options best fits your needs, and stay with you for as long as it takes to make your hearing aid work right for you.

 

Look for the following characteristics when selecting a dispenser:

 

• Is licensed or certified

• Has adequate testing equipment in a sound-controlled environment

• Offers aids from a variety of manufacturers

• Demonstrates competence in fitting hearing aids

• Works with you to get satisfactory fit

• Explains all costs, trial periods, warranties, insurance

• Offers continuing support services

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What are the kinds of hearing professionals?

The three kinds of hearing health care professionals are otolaryngologists (otologists), audiologists, and hearing aid specialists. One distinction is the amount of their formal education. Each group may have different licensing requirements or have different certifications. Private organizations certify audiologists and hearing aid specialists who meet their specific requirements. The letters after a dispenser’s name indicate if they are certified.

 

Otolaryngologists, more commonly known as ear, nose, and throat specialists (or ENTs), are physicians who have specialized residency and internship training in the medical conditions of the ear. While most do not fit hearing aids, many will have audiologists on staff to test hearing and dispense hearing aids.

 

Audiologists have a master’s or doctoral degree in audiology to measure and treat hearing loss.

Hearing aid specialists’ education requirements vary by state, and virtually all states require a specialist to pass an exam before being issued a license. These individuals may also be certified as hearing instrument specialists (BC-HIS) by the International Hearing Society (IHS). To receive this certification, the hearing aid specialist has passed a national competency exam and has 2 years’ experience.

 

What will happen when you get your hearing tested?

The dispenser examining your hearing will first ask you a number of open-ended questions about how hearing loss affects your life every day; try to be as specific about your hearing requirements and hearing problem as possible. You and your family may have filled in a self-assessment questionnaire before your first visit. The dispenser will inquire about how you spend your day and where you notice the most difficulty in hearing. He or she will want to observe your dexterity in handling aids and batteries. Expect other questions about medications, pain, drainage, surgery, dizziness, ringing in your ears, family history of hearing problems, and prior experience with aids.

 

Testing
The dispenser will conduct a series of tests to determine the type and extent of your hearing loss. You will sit in a sound-controlled booth and wear earphones. The dispenser will ask you to push a button or raise your hand when you hear a tone or a word. Typical tests include pure tone air conduction, speech reception threshold, and word recognition tests. 

One typical test that you will take on your first visit is the pure tone air conduction audiometry. This test determines how well you hear at different frequencies. The audiometer produces a range of pure tones of varying frequency [or pitch, called Hertz (Hz)] and intensity [loudness, called decibels (dB)].

 

The bone conduction test is a painless vibration of your skull that goes directly to the inner ear.

 

The dispenser will put an instrument against the mastoid bone behind your ear and present the same frequencies as in the pure tone test.

 

The speech reception threshold test shows at what decibel you start to understand speech. You will listen for two-syllable words spoken at increasingly softer volumes until you can no longer repeat correctly the words spoken.

 

During the speech discrimination test, you will repeat what is being said to tell how well you will do with a hearing aid.

 

To check if a battery is still good, cup your turned-on aid in your hand. If you hear feedback, the battery is good. If you don’t hear any noise, make sure your aid is turned on or replace the battery.

Assess your hearing loss online here

Your test results are recorded on a graph called an audiogram. If your hearing is perfect, your audiogram would show a fairly straight line across the top, from 250 Hz (low bass sounds) to 8000 Hz (high treble sounds). The typical audiogram for someone with age-related hearing loss slopes downward to the right, usually at about the 1000 Hz level, indicating that the greatest hearing loss is in the higher ranges. 

Do not hesitate to ask the purpose of each test before you receive it and for an explanation of all test results. Be sure to take home a copy of your audiogram.

 

Depending on the style of hearing aids that are recommended, the dispenser may also take an ear impression by inserting a soft plastic mold in your ear canal. This mold, indicating the exact conformation of your ear canal, is used to shape your hearing aid.

Evaluation 

After conducting the assessment tests, the dispenser will meet with you and your family to review the test findings and identify areas where you have difficulty hearing. The dispenser will talk with you about what you can 

Checking Your Hearing

 

What steps should you take if you have a hearing problem?

First-time hearing aid shoppers wonder where to begin. Where do you go to get a hearing aid? Unlike most consumer purchases, you can’t just walk into a store and pick out one. You are buying an expensive piece of electronic equipment that someone has to adjust to your specific hearing needs. Because most hearing aids are custom-molded and custom-adjusted to your needs, you can’t easily “try one on for size.” Your hearing care professional can give you good examples of amplification, but these demonstrations will not necessarily sound exactly like your own hearing aids. You also need to stay away from ordering an aid online or through the mail-order advertisements for devices that look like hearing aids. A “discount” price just for the aid does not include the necessary services for testing, fitting, and after care. 

Here are the basic steps you need to take to have a satisfactory buying experience.

 

You will find more detailed explanations later in this booklet.

Doctor visit 

You may want to have your physician (or an otolaryngologist or otologist) examine your ears to make sure you have no underlying medical problem. The physician can rule out the need for medical or surgical treatment for your loss and probably refer you to a hearing care professional who fits hearing aids. However, medically treatable hearing loss accounts for less than 10 percent of cases. 

A cochlear implant is a small, complex electronic device that can help to provide a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard-of-hearing. The implant consists of an external portion that sits behind the ear and a second portion that is surgically placed under the skin. For more information, visit www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/coch.asp

 

After fitting you with your hearing aid, the dispenser will take a Real Ear Measurement. The dispenser will put a tiny microphone in your ear canal alongside your new hearing aid. This test tells how your aid is functioning while in your ear. By measuring the actual sound waves your hearing aid produces in your ear canal, the dispenser can determine if your hearing aid’s amplification is correct for your hearing loss.

 

What else can you expect?

There is more to a successful hearing aid fitting than just selling you a product. After your dispenser tests your hearing, recommends a specific hearing aid, and adjusts it to your hearing pattern, you should expect the dispenser to teach you how to insert your aid, turn it on, set the volume, use it with the telephone, listen to television or hear in different listening environments, take it out, clean and store it, and change the batteries. You will also get clear instructions—orally and in writing—on how many hours per day you should wear your new aid initially and how to handle any problems. Your family should learn how to assist you as a new user. You should also be given information on assistive listening devices, education, and support groups (aural rehabilitation) and hearing loss consumer organizations, such as those listed at the end of this publication. Be sure you know about your choices of batteries, the trial period, manufacturer’s warranty, insurance for loss, and repair costs.

 

Check qualifications

Check the qualifications and the licensing of the professional who will do the testing and fitting. This could be an audiologist or hearing aid specialist. 

 

• Verify services 

• Find out what services the audiologist or hearing aid specialist provides. 

• Hearing screening 

• You will need a comprehensive hearing examination to determine the extent of your hearing loss. 

Test results 
Ask for a copy and clear description of your test results (audiogram). Make sure you understand what the test results mean, so you will be able to understand the available options. 

Aid recommendation
Be sure you understand why the hearing care professional recommends a particular type of hearing aid. Make sure it has the features you need and that you will be completely trained to use them. Know the trial period, manufacturer’s warranty on the aid, how to get repairs, and how long you can expect the batteries to last. 

Follow-up care
Understand all follow-up care instructions and schedule follow-up visits. 

Schedule a follow-up visit to make sure you have a satisfactory fit. During this session, the specialist will make any adjustments, replace the aid if necessary, and answer any questions. It’s a good idea also to schedule a semiannual routine cleaning and an annual check-up. 

What is the “trial period”?

 

No one hearing aid is appropriate for every one. If you have unforeseen problems after trying the aid, you can switch to another product—a different style of aid or level of technology—or get a refund.

 

The trial period allows you to make sure that you will benefit from the particular hearing aid the dispenser selected for you. As a new user, you need time to learn about how your hearing aid works in different hearing environments.

 

Even if you do not need to return the aid, you will probably need to have some adjustments in the fit or settings. Be certain that you understand the dispenser’s policy for follow-up appointments.

 

Types of Hearing Aids

Hearing aids come in many types and sizes, with a wide variety of features. Just which is best for you depends on your individual hearing loss and your personal needs. Your audiogram along with your budget and dexterity must all be coordinated to find the right aid for you.

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What are the choices among hearing aids?
A modern hearing aid is an electronic device that picks up sound waves with a tiny microphone, changes weaker sounds into louder sounds and modifies the sound signals in other ways, and conveys them to the ear through a tiny speaker. A small battery powers all this. Beyond the basics of microphone, amplifier, and speaker is a technological array of sizes and options that your hearing care professional will explain to you. The newest designs are like tiny computers that automatically adjust the hearing aid for you in different listening environments.