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How do I protect my ears when I ride a motorcycle?

Can hearing loss lead to deafness?

Can prescription medication damage my hearing?

Can yoga improve my hearing?

Does hearing loss affect my driving skills?

Although hearing loss can occur at any age and for many reasons including extended exposure to loud noises and hereditary factors, people commonly lose their hearing gradually as they age. According to Statistics Canada, 47% of adults age 60 to 79 experience hearing loss compared to 16% of adults aged 40 to 59 and 7% of 19-39 year olds.

Age-related hearing loss normally affects both ears and occurs due to changes in the structure of your inner ear, but structural changes can also occur in the middle ear, in nerve pathways from your ear to your brain, or even due to certain medical conditions and/or medications.

The National Campaign for Better Hearing encourages everyone to get a baseline hearing test at 50 years of age, but even if you aren’t 50 years or older or suffering from hearing loss, this initial test can serve as a useful reference for your hearing health in the future. Your first hearing test will compare your hearing to average hearing levels from people your age to determine your hearing loss. Once you’ve taken your first test, your audiologist can reference your previous results to give you a more specific and personalized assessment of your hearing health.

After this test, if you are 50 years of age or older, you should get your hearing tested annually. Age-related hearing loss is so gradual that it is easy to overlook as it gets progressively worse. The earlier hearing loss is detected, the sooner you can begin to improve your quality of life.

Hearing testing is provided at birth, and some grade schools also provide hearing tests for their students, but if you suspect that you may have hearing loss, you should arrange to have your hearing tested no matter your age. Hearing loss among young people has increased significantly since the use of earphones, which send music, (that is often too loud!) directly into the ear.

In summary, an initial test and a follow up every year can help you stay on top of your hearing health. Remember, the Campaign for Better Hearing recommends you at least test your ears at 50 years, whether you notice you have a hearing problem or not! Happy hearing!

How accurate are online and mobile hearing tests?

How can I encourage my loved ones to get a hearing test?

How can I prevent infections that can cause hearing loss?

How do I protect my ears when I fly?

How does my brain help me hear?

You hear with your brain, not with your ears.

Of course, we need our ears to capture sounds, but we only understand these sounds once they arrive in our brains. So hearing – and especially speech understanding – is a cognitive process, not a mechanical one.
In other words: hearing is thinking.

Our ears deliver all sounds to our brains. They do not choose what to send; in fact, they never rest. Even when we are asleep, our ears are sending sound information to our brains.

Our brain then does all the hard work. The brain filters out irrelevant sounds, like other people talking in a restaurant, and like traffic in the background. Without us realizing it, our brains are constantly at work selecting what we hear, and deciding how much attention to give each sound.

But before any decisions can be made, our brains must first extract meaning from the mass of overlapping sound waves that fill the air. By taking the sound signals from both of our ears and comparing them, our brains locate the source of different sounds.

We use location information to determine which parts of this mass of sound are coming from certain objects or people. Or animals – these skills evolved during our primitive past, when effectively locating threats and food were critical to our survival.

The brain transforms sounds into meaning

Once our brains have singled out a sound source, it compares these sounds to our memory. By doing this, it can determine if the sound is something we have heard before, and therefore something we know already. Equally, our brains sometimes find no reference in their memory bank. Then, it can add a new one, ready for comparison next time. In the meantime, we are alerted to danger by a sound of the unknown.

Once your brain has taken raw sound data from your ears and transformed it into meaning, it can extract more information about your surroundings. From the length of time it takes a sound to echo, and the amount of echo it creates, our brains give us a feeling for how big a space is. We also infer the type of surfaces there are in a room from the way they change the sound, as it bounces off them on its way to our ears.

All of these calculations happen simultaneously, in the brain. Since it is the brain that transforms sounds into meaning, good hearing isn’t simply a question of making sounds loud enough. Good hearing requires that we ensure the brain gets all the sound information it needs. It must not miss out on some frequencies, or some sounds from particular directions.

If your brain is not getting the right sounds to work with, it takes intense effort to extract meaning from the partial sound. Whenever there are missing sounds, the brain tries to fill the gap – an often difficult and exhausting process.

Hearing aids can support the brain

Instead of turning up the volume and overloading your brain, we need to support your brain by giving it the conditions it needs. To properly extract meaning, the brain needs access to the full soundscape, so it can naturally focus on the most relevant sound sources.

Modern hearing aids can provide this. With more powerful processors than ever before, they no longer need to narrow down the soundfield when you are in noisy environments. And when a skilled hearing care expert fits hearing aids, they can compensate for the missing parts of the soundfield, to restore the conditions in which your brain is designed to work.

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What are the signs of hearing loss?

What can I expect during a hearing assessment?

You’ve booked your appointment, now what?

Now that you have decided to take the first step in having your hearing checked by a certified hearing professional and booked a complimentary appointment at a hearing healthcare center, you may be wondering what exactly you can expect from your upcoming appointment.

It starts with the basics

First of all, when you enter a hearing healthcare center, you will be asked some questions about your hearing difficulties and health history in general. This allows them to understand your specific lifestyle needs and motivation better. A certified hearing healthcare professional will then take you in to a testing room. Here he/she will use an otoscope to look in your ears. The health and function of both the middle and inner ear will be assessed through a series of tests that are not invasive or painful at all.

The hearing booth

There is usually a sound-proof booth to assess hearing levels. Once inside the booth, a complete audiological assessment will be performed, which will indicate the type and degree of hearing loss. The ability to recognize and understand spoken words is also evaluated at this stage.

Results explained to you

When your assessment is complete, the hearing healthcare professional will share the results with you and make appropriate recommendations for treatment, if necessary. If hearing aids are recommended, your hearing healthcare professional will discuss various options and explain the advantages of specific hearing aids that are appropriate for your needs.
Each hearing aid is uniquely fitted to match an individual’s hearing loss and hearing needs. The fitting process usually takes place about two weeks after the initial assessment. During this fitting appointment your hearing aid will be programmed using computer software and customized to fit your exact hearing levels. Highly sophisticated equipment is used to verify that your new hearing aid is providing the necessary level of amplification and is comfortable to the wearer.

Achieving solutions that meet your needs

The hearing professional will also go through how to care for your hearing aid and any maintenance that may be required to ensure you are getting the most out of your instrument. Follow-up appointments are an important and necessary part of the rehabilitation process that allow the wearer an opportunity to provide their own feedback, which gives the hearing professional valuable information that will be used to adjust the hearing aids to better suit individual preferences.

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What causes ears to ring?

What do your hearing professional's credentials really mean?

Do you know the difference between a Hearing Instrument Specialist and a Hearing Aid Practitioner? How about the difference between an Audiologist and an Otolaryngologist? They’re all hearing professionals, but they have different specialties and academic backgrounds. If you’ve ever been confused by these titles, read below and find out what your hearing professional’s credentials really mean!

1. Audiologist

Every audiologist in Canada has, at minimum, a master’s degree in Audiology. Their high level of education allows them to qualify, assess and treat a wide range of hearing disorders including tinnitus, balance disorders associated with hearing, and auditory processing disorders with the brain. Audiologists can assist with hearing aids and other assistive listening devices as well.

2. Hearing Instrument Specialist

Hearing Instrument Specialists, (or Hearing Aid Specialists) have a more narrow field of expertise than an Audiologist does. These hearing professionals are trained in a two-year program to conduct hearing tests, select and fit hearing aids, recommend additional assistive listening devices and counsel hearing aid patients.

3. Hearing Aid Practitioner

A Hearing Aid Practitioner has the same qualifications as a Hearing Instrument Specialist. In Ontario, a Hearing Aid Practitioner is referred to as a Hearing Instrument Specialist.

4. Otolaryngologists or ENTs

Otolaryngologists, or ear, nose, throat specialists (ENTs). These physicians diagnose diseases of the ears, nose, sinuses, larynx, mouth, and throat. ENTs also manage diseases within the structures of the neck and face. Otolaryngologists typically deal with ear, nose and throat diseases that require surgery such as hearing loss caused by trauma, severe infection and tumors.

Each practitioner plays an important role in our hearing health, whether the hearing loss is minimal or severe. If you think you may have hearing loss, speak to your doctor or visit a hearing professional.

What is tinnitus?

Tinnitus can be commonly described as “ringing in the ears” as it refers to a sensation of sound in or both the ears, or in the head when no external sound is present. Other descriptions of the sensation include a roaring, whistling, chirping or hissing. The perceived loudness of tinnitus varies from person to person, ranging from subtle to very intense.
Tinnitus affects males and females equally, as well as those with normal hearing.

Causes:

It is unknown what the exact physiological causes are. However, research has identified a number of sources associated with tinnitus. The most common contributor has been cited as exposure to loud noise, which may only lead to temporary effects of tinnitus. Long-term exposure to noise most often leads to permanent sensation of tinnitus. In fact, over 90% of tinnitus sufferers also have some level of noise-induced hearing loss.

Some of the significant causes of tinnitus can be as follows:

A certain amount of wax build-up in the ear canal leading to sensation or increase the perceived intensity of tinnitus.
Certain medications that are oto-toxic, which means that they can produce damage to hearing organ itself. For example, Aspirin is a medication that can cause temporary tinnitus, when taken in large doses.
Ear and sinus infections can also be accompanied by tinnitus. However, it normally disappears once the infection has cleared.
Jaw misalignment and other facial abnormalities can induce tinnitus as well as any trauma to the head and neck region.

Cure:

There is no cure for tinnitus, nor is there one approved medication that has been successful in permanently eliminating the presence of tinnitus for those who suffer from the condition. However, there are several factors that can intensify the perceived loudness if tinnitus.

Alcohol
Aspirin
Caffeine
Cigarettes
Exposure to loud noise
Foods with high salt or sugar content
Stress and fatigue

If you suffer from tinnitus, try reducing or eliminating one or more of the above mentioned factors to determine whether or not you perceive any change in the level or tone of your tinnitus.

Treatment:

Although there is no “cure” for tinnitus, several techniques have been developed to help individuals cope with the condition.

Additionally, there are two major non-medical treatments currently available for tinnitus sufferers: Masking and Tinnitus Retraining Therapy.

These treatments are designed to provide immediate relief from the effects of tinnitus and can be combined with a hearing aid for those who also have hearing loss. The therapy also aims to give you the skills to successfully manage your tinnitus permanently.

Also, a notable factor can be use of hearing aids. Tinnitus becomes much less noticeable for hearing aid wearers.

It is always advisable to visit a professional and reputed hearing clinic to gain more information and check for any signs of hearing loss.

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