Learn About Hearing Loss
Do you find yourself struggling to hear the other person in a conversation? This might not just be due to your surroundings – you might be suffering from hearing loss.
You might not even be considering hearing loss as something you’re experiencing. However, despite common myths, one in every eight people experiences some level of hearing loss. Ample solutions exist to counter hearing loss, whether you are a younger adult or an older person looking for a discreet hearing solution for declining hearing.
How Hearing Loss Occurs
Although aging is the most common cause of hearing loss, people of all ages can experience hearing loss. Prolonged or sudden noise exposure, traumatic brain injuries, and disease are just a few of the many reasons you could be experiencing hearing loss. As scary as hearing loss might sound, most people who experience it have only mild cases that can be easily countered with help from expert audiologists.
How Hearing Works
Behind the ears we see every day lies a complex web of organs and nerves that allows us to hear. Once sound enters the holes in our ears, it travels through the ear canal into a hidden network of anatomical miracles that give us the ability to hear.
The ear canal leads to the middle ear, where three small bones – the hammer, the anvil, and the stirrup – and the eardrum interact with each other to direct sound toward your inner ear, which is essentially nature’s amplifier. When sound reaches your eardrum, the waves vibrate it enough to rock the hammer, which in turn rocks the anvil. The anvil then rocks the stirrup, which ultimately passes the sound into the inner ear. It’s here where the magic happens – the inner ear conveys sound to the brain, allowing us to hear.
Of the ear’s three parts, the ear canal and middle ear are the most sensitive. The hair cells lining the ear canal receive vibrations that get translated into sounds by the brain. These hair cells are easily destroyed by external factors, and they can’t be regrown. With each hair cell that dies, hearing loss increases, making hearing aids more necessary.
Dispelling Common Hearing Loss Myths
Myth #1: Hearing loss is always obvious.
Almost all hearing loss is long-term and gradual, so it commonly goes unnoticed until it begins affecting a person’s everyday life. If you notice yourself not properly hearing people in conversation or needing to turn up the TV way past the volume you’re used to, these behaviors may be everyday signs of hearing loss. If you watch out for subtle signs, you just might catch hearing loss early.
Myth #2: I can wait a while to get hearing aids.
Since the hair cells lining the ear canal can’t be regrown, hearing loss is always permanent. That’s why hearing aids are vital to get the moment you notice hearing loss. Seeing an audiologist and determining the hearing aid best for you can help you to be more aware of sounds that may be accelerating your hearing loss. Plus, the less severe your hearing loss, the easier time you’ll have adapting to your hearing aids.
Myth #3: Hearing aids won’t be right for me.
With thousands of hearing aids available for purchase, hearing aids offer a solution for almost anyone searching for one. However, without careful attention from a licensed audiologist, hearing aids may fail to provide the benefits long associated with them. I Love Hearing Inc.’s audiologists pride themselves on finding the hearing aids best for a patient’s needs and lifestyle.
Myth #2: I can wait a while to get hearing aids.
Since the hair cells lining the ear canal can’t be regrown, hearing loss is always permanent. That’s why hearing aids are vital to get the moment you notice hearing loss. Seeing an audiologist and determining the hearing aid best for you can help you to be more aware of sounds that may be accelerating your hearing loss. Plus, the less severe your hearing loss, the easier time you’ll have adapting to your hearing aids.
Myth #4: Everyone will know I’m using a hearing aid.
Many of today’s best hearing aid models lie completely inside the ear canal, making them all but invisible to the average person. Most hearing aids are now small enough that even those that lie outside the ear canal appear unobtrusive, unlike the old, bulky models of decades past.
Myth #5: I only need one hearing aid to counter hearing loss.
Just as you wouldn’t wear glasses with only one lens in them, using just one hearing aid provides an incomplete solution for hearing loss. Without adequate hearing in both ears, you may struggle to identify where sound is coming from and even experience problems with balance.
Myth #6: I can’t afford hearing aids.
It’s true – hearing aids can be expensive. However, purchasing a hearing aid is an investment, a question of value. The high price tags on hearing aids can be well worth the benefits of returning to a normal level of hearing, allowing you to resume everyday conversations and keep the TV at an average volume level. Plus, some audiologists will offer financing plans to reduce the immediate financial burden of a hearing aid purchase.
Why Hearing Aids?
Hearing aids have a proven track record of countering hearing loss in people of all ages, and thousands of hearing aids exist to help all kinds of people restore their hearing. Learn more about how, at I Love Hearing, we help you find the perfect hearing aid for you at our Hearing Aid 101 page and learn all about the massive variety of hearing aids at our Hearing Aid FAQ page.
Book an appointment and discuss your hearing aid questions and needs with one of our licensed audiologists in Nassau County.
