The best sounds ever relax us, entice us, evoke fond memories, and force smiles on our faces. They are the opposite of noise. Noise — according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — can cause bad things, like stress or anxiety or depression or high blood pressure. Especially if you are regularly exposed to it without hearing protection. Noise is something to avoid. Best sounds ever are something to seek out. So the no-brainer ...
In 2018, assistant professor Yune Lee and his research team at Ohio State University monitored the brain activity of study participants 18 through 41 years of age as they listened to increasingly complex sentences. The team was hoping to measure if human brains work harder to comprehend more complex messages. What they unexpectedly discovered, instead, was that the young adults with subtle hearing loss (everyone’s hearing was tested before the monitoring took place) were ...
An analysis of data from the National Health Interview Survey found that, over an eight year period (2007 – 2015), people who reported that they had “a lot of trouble” hearing ended up being twice as likely to have an accidental injury — both at work and leisure — as people who reported no trouble hearing. While the study didn’t dig into what it was about hearing loss that led to these higher numbers, experts suspect the ...
The National Safety Council’s Safety + Health magazine recently published an article about ototoxicants, chemicals that can cause hearing loss and balance issues. In the article, warnings were shared from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) about which industries have higher exposure risks to these chemicals — and how the adverse effects of ototoxicants increases when “workers are exposed to elevated noise levels.” One type of hearing loss OSHA notes as “especially hazardous” is speech ...
Does this sound familiar? Either you or someone you know is just starting to deal with hearing loss. But instead of taking it seriously, you brush it aside. You can cope, you’ve decided. You’ll just turn the TV up a little louder. Ask people to speak up or repeat what they said. And really, the quiet can be kind of nice, right? “Why should I treat it,” you wonder? Should you treat or ...
One of the first things people with hearing loss observe is “I hear people fine, but I don’t understand what they are saying.” This is a consistent complaint of individuals who are experiencing the effects of a “sloping high frequency hearing loss." What’s happening and why do so many have this complaint? Hearing loss involves not only our ears, but also our brain: where sound waves are coded by the ears and then ...
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that 50 million Americans experience tinnitus. That’s over 15 percent of the U.S. population, or nearly one in every six of us. So what is this condition that affects so many people — and what can tinnitus sufferers do about it? We cover the basics here. 1. What is tinnitus? Tinnitus is the medical term for the sensation of hearing sound in your ears when ...
Research by Johns Hopkins and other institutions have linked cognitive decline and even dementia to hearing loss for reasons you can read about here. One study found that older adults with hearing loss experience a 30-40 percent faster decline in cognitive abilities than peers with normal hearing. But a 25-year-long study published in 2015 found that hearing aid use reduced the risk of cognitive decline associated with hearing loss. Researchers also reported that treating hearing ...
Readers of the publication Trends in Neurosciences will already know today’s fact. For the other 99.9 percent of us, though, it is definitely interesting. According to a story in the June 2016 edition, research has confirmed that “even relatively mild levels of hearing loss” can lead to cascading negative effects on the brain. Those effects can impact perception, comprehension and memory. The thinking goes: the more effort it takes to listen and piece ...
Holidays are a time for being with family and friends and having fun! A few tips will help keep your hearing aids working well to make sure you get the most out of this holiday season! 1. Watch out for the cold! Hearing aids are basically little computers, so don’t leave them in the car overnight. If you do, give them time to warm up before using them. 2. Children and pets love hearing ...
We know that, left untreated, hearing loss can negatively affect our quality of life. Studies link untreated hearing loss to stress, depression, social isolation, and even dementia. Untreated hearing loss also increases the risk of falling, putting personal safety at risk. But the person with hearing loss isn’t the only person affected by it. Hearing loss impacts spouses, family members, and friends. Repeating things over and over during conversation can be exhausting and frustrating ...
Do you ever feel like people around you are mumbling or speaking too quickly? Are you having to ask others to repeat themselves frequently or struggling to follow a conversation when there is background noise? If so, these could be indicators that you have a hearing loss. Often, our friends and family members may notice we have hearing loss before we do. We may even use them as a crutch to help fill in the ...
Hearing loss happens. It’s the third most common health problem for older adults in the U.S., after arthritis and heart disease. Hearing loss is also very treatable — and more beneficial when treatment is started early. If you suspect you have hearing loss, here are 11 reasons why you should schedule a hearing test and find out for sure. A hearing test is painless, usually free, and should take less than an hour of ...
Mild hearing loss may sound, umm, mild, but it’s quite the misnomer. Professionals classify any hearing thresholds between 25-40 dB to be a mild hearing loss. But short of measuring your hearing loss precisely, how can you tell if you have mild hearing loss? People with a mild hearing loss tend to be able to hear speech when someone is speaking close to them or if the room is quiet. They can hear when ...
Instead, I am going to write about what you can do to avoid the second-leading cause of hearing loss — noise-induced hearing loss. Did you know that one in four U.S. adults have noise-induced hearing loss? That’s a lot of people (at least 40 million)! The good news is that you can protect your hearing in most situations. And if you practice good hearing protection, not only do you increase your chances of avoiding ...
You already know that hearing aids can improve hearing and communication. But did you know they can also enhance safety? Several studies have confirmed what many hearing healthcare experts and their patients already knew — that using hearing aids improves quality of life, and can provide the wearer with an increased sense of safety and independence. Here are a few reasons why: Improved balance. Researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine found that adults performed ...
We are all concerned about our health and well-being! Benjamin Franklin once said “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Whether it is diabetes, cancer, heart disease or hearing loss, we have become increasingly more focused on stopping illness through preventative healthcare. It’s one reason why we’re living longer and why, if Mr. Franklin were alive today, he’d agree that “60 is the new 40.” We get yearly physicals ...
Can I wear my mother’s hearing aids? I hear versions of this question often. A family member has passed and someone else wants to use their hearing aids. Or a friend is upgrading their hearing aids and has offered their current pair to you. Seems like a good idea, but it is not quite as simple as slipping on a pair of shoes. Let’s talk about some things to think about. Hearing aids ...
With summer here, it’s a good time to remember that hearing aids, like most high-tech devices, are susceptible to excess heat and moisture. And while Starkey hearing aids are more durable than most — thanks to our proprietary Surface™ NanoShield moisture-repellent system — keeping these five tips in mind will help ensure long-lasting performance even as the temperatures rise. 1. Keep hearing aids stored in a cool, dry place. Excess heat can harm the hearing aid ...
Research found that young people with subtle hearing loss are altering their brain function in ways typically only seen in older adults. As a result, they could be paving the way for dementia. Researcher Yune Lee and his team monitored the brain activity of study participants 18 through 41 years of age as they listened to increasingly complex sentences. The team wanted to know if our brains work measurably harder to comprehend more complex messages ...
