Hearing Loss
Understand hearing loss and how it can affect your overall health.
Hearing Loss and Health
Your hearing plays a critical role in your ability to effectively communicate with friends, family, and the people around you. Healthy hearing means you have healthy brain function and speech comprehension. When left untreated, hearing loss can have a negative impact on your quality of life. Hearing loss doesn’t only affect communication, it also impacts cognitive function, memory, and social relationships.
It’s important to treat hearing loss at the first signs to ensure you keep your brain active and healthy. Hearing aids are a great management tool as they will provide your brain with the proper amplification it needs to hear.
Types of Hearing Loss
Hearing loss can be experienced in varying degrees, such as mild, moderate, moderately severe, severe, or profound. A hearing test will identify the exact degree of your hearing loss and allow our hearing specialist to find the best hearing aid for you.
In addition to varying degrees, there are also different types of hearing loss. The three main types of hearing loss are sensorineural, conductive, and mixed.
Sensorineural hearing loss
Sensorineural hearing loss, often described as age related hearing loss, occurs when there is damage to the inner ear in the cochlea or to the hearing nerve. This is often caused by age, genetics, repeated loud noise exposure, or underlying health conditions. This type of hearing loss is the most common and can be successfully managed with hearing aids.
Conductive hearing loss
Conductive hearing loss is when sound cannot be transmitted– or conducted – through the outer and middle ear to the inner ear. This is often caused by head/ear trauma, earwax impaction, ear infection, or fluid in the middle ear. This type of hearing loss typically needs to be corrected by a medical doctor.
Mixed hearing loss
Mixed hearing loss is a combination of sensorineural and conductive hearing loss.
Signs of Hearing Loss
Hearing loss often occurs gradually, over the course of a couple years. For this reason, it can be difficult to realize you are having difficulty hearing because you have become accustomed to not hearing well. It’s important to recognize the signs of hearing loss, so you can be proactive. Some common indicators of hearing loss include:
- It seems like people mumble
- Sounds seem muffled or unclear
- You frequently ask people to repeat themselves
- Women and children’s voices are harder to hear
- You can hear but you lack clarity
- You need to turn the TV volume up louder than others like
- A relative or close friend recommended you have your hearing tested
Tinnitus
Tinnitus, more commonly known as “ringing in the ears,” is incredibly common, affecting millions of Americans. The symptoms of tinnitus include hearing a buzzing, humming, ringing, or whistling sound in your head or ears when no external sounds are present. Everyone experiences tinnitus differently. For some they hear the phantom sounds of tinnitus sporadically while others may experience it constantly.
At Hearing Science of the Foothills, we carry the best hearing aids for tinnitus management. Hearing aids with a tinnitus masking feature will play soothing sounds – which can be controlled from your smartphone – to distract your brain from tinnitus. If you want to stop ringing in the ears, contact us today.
