Archive for the ‘hearing loss’ Category

Conductive Hearing Loss: A Type of Hearing Loss

No one ever desires to have any sort of hearing loss, however, if you do suffer from hearing loss – conductive hearing loss is less serious than sensorineural hearing loss, ENTs and audiologists say.

The reasoning is simple- with condunctive hearing loss, it is medically possible to repair the lost hearing, but with sensorineural the hearing loss is  directly affects the nerves and is usually permanent – only assisted with technology. Only a small percentage of patients have a conductive hearing loss. There are many reasons for having conductive hearing loss that are considered:

- Fluid Trapped within the Eustachian tube: If there is an excess of fluid, it can cause some hearing loss. This is eminently treatable; the tube can be drained and hearing loss alleviated.

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Sensorineural Hearing Loss: A Type Of Deafness

Hearing is a very precious sense that none should ever take for granted. It is very sad whenever one is diagnosed with a hearing problem. Sometimes the loss is conductive but in many cases it is sensorineural hearing loss.

The question now we all have to ask is, how this hearing loss affects individuals who have it and what can be done to treat this hearing loss?

Thanks to our improvements in technology, now sensorineural loss can be treated more properly. Patients can still lead excellent lives and not have to worry about being at a disadvantage when it comes to their hearing.

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Hearing Loss And The Ossicles: The Stapedectomy

As I mentioned in our last post, when it comes to our hearing the smallest bones in the human body are essential to our hearing. These bones however can have problems such as otosclerosis–a condition where the softer parts of the stirrup (stape) harden thus making it harder for the bones to vibrate causing hearing loss. If  not treated as soon as possible, this condition will cause deafness in both ears. There is a procedure to repair it with a surgery known as a stapedectomy. An audiologist would diagnose the problem but is performed by a specialized ear surgeon.

The Stapedectomy is a process where the stapes are removed from the inner-ear. Once removed, it is replaced by a prosthetic. After this process, the ear drum (which is gently opened to insert the stape) is resealed gently and held in place with a packing ointment or gelatin. The benefits to this surgery are rather remarkable.
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Auditory Ossicles: Hearing Bones Of The Ear

ossiclesSound waves are vibrations in the air–these vibrations pass through various bones in the ear to help humans hear. In the middle ear, humans have the three smallest bones in the human body (all three combined can fit comfortably onto a dime) known as the ossicle bones. These little bones are very important in transmitting and monitoring the control of sounds we receive in our ears. They can amplify the sounds which we hear by three times the normal level, but they also can weaken the force of the vibration by contracting the muscles. So what are the three bones? What do they do? Let’s take a look out how these bones help with hearing:

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Hearing Aid Technology: The Telecoil

So you just got your new hearing aid and its functioning great–you are hearing things that you haven’t heard in a very long time or ever before. Yet a question that you may have is why is it still a little difficult to hear conversations or sounds coming from your telephone or cellular phone?

Well, there is good news, your hearing aid has a special built-in feature that you may not have known about called the telecoil (aka t-coil). Telecoils were created to help in the use of phones for people who suffer hearing loss. Let’s take a look at some of the details:
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Digital Hearing Aids: Going Digital To Combat Hearing Loss

The world is going “digital” and everything in technology we use comprises of some sort of internal computerized system. Hearing aids are no exception. Within the last five years, digital hearing aids have become the dominant hearing aid available on the market today. Interestingly enough, the first digital hearing aids were introduced in the late 1980’s, but failed because there were still too many flaws and required very big, unsightly batteries that drained quickly. Fortunately, the technology has progressed and now they come in all style from behind the ear hearing aids to in the canal hearing aids. Exactly how though does the digital hearing aid work? Let’s take a brief look at the step by step process:
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What causes hearing loss? Some causes of deafness.

The reasons for  hearing loss essentially vary like any other medical problem. When it comes to losing hearing, sometimes the problem comes from the surrounding environment, genetics, and at times  like any other problem, disease.

For now let us take a brief look at some of the causes of deafness, hearing loss or any problem of the ear for that matter:

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Deafness: what are the different types of hearing loss?

Often, people discuss hearing loss without specifying which kind they mean. The reality is that there is no one form of hearing loss which can be associated with all forms of deafness. Rather, there are a variety of ways in which people can lose hearing, which affects how their quality of life will be affected, what the ideal treatment is, and how they can most effectively respond to the situation. The four most common types of hearing loss are:

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