Hearing tests
Every year the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) dedicates the month of May to raising public awareness about communication disorders related to hearing and speech. This year’s theme – “Connecting People” –recognizes once more that hearing and speech are essential components for effective communication at any age. And so, those whose lives are affected by struggles…
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Over-simplifying hearing loss? The son who had accompanied his mother to a hearing loss meeting shared confidentially that he liked his music loud and that he did not worry about hearing damage. He felt that he heard enough and that nowadays hearing loss is easy. “With all of that technology out there, you fix it…
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Be included, not excluded! There is no time like the Holidays to remind those with hearing loss of the dreaded oncoming communication crunch. The struggle to understand speech in noisy groups and places makes it hard to participate in conversations and activities. And so. it is easy to feel excluded rather than included during the peak…
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Subjective Tinnitus, the infamous “ringing in the ears” derives its name from the Latin verb tinnire, which means “to ring.” It is said to be a symptom of an underlying process rather than a condition in itself. Usually simply referred to as “Tinnitus,” it is defined as the perception of sound in the absence of an outside noise…
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A sound processing disorder The technical term for “Lazy Ear” is ambly-audia, which means dulled or blunted hearing. Although the condition can be genetic, it is often acquired during the phases of hearing development and maturation in infancy and throughout the childhood years. Lazy Ear or amblyaudia is lopsided, asymmetrical hearing, which results from sound processing challenges…
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The dangers of congenital CMV during pregnancy Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a common, non-genetic cause for hearing loss or deafness in newborn babies. If the virus that infects the mother during pregnancy is passed on to the child, he/she will be born with congenital (present at birth) CMV infection. Yet, some 91% of women do not know…
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Fast, noticeable losses For me, a sudden left-sided deafness became a scary and life-altering event. The longer name for this condition is Sudden SensoriNeural Hearing Loss (SSNHL). “Sensori” refers to damage to the inner-ear cochlear hearing cells and “neural” refers to damage to the hearing nerve. Although both ears may be involved, in most cases…
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Bone-anchored hearing system (picture: en.wikipedia.org) There are three main types of hearing loss: Sensorineural hearing loss – the most wide-spread; conductive hearing loss – often underrated and neglected; mixed hearing loss – a combination of sensorineural and conductive. Do you know your type? Conductive hearing loss due to obstructed sound flow For normal hearing, sound…
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No place to hide Yes, hearing loss became truly a family affair during COVID isolation and quarantine. There was no way to hide 24/7 when conversations became labored for those with hearing loss. Family members grew weary in a hurry of having to confront the communication struggles every single day. One lady shared that she…
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What did you say? Old problem gets a name An almost standard comment from people with hearing loss goes like this: “If only I could turn the speakers’ voices up louder, I would be able to hear and understand better over the room noise.” The issue of not understanding speech in background sound is known…
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