What Does Hearing Loss Feels Like?

Humans rely on their five senses to navigate the world. This is why people with poor vision and hearing take measures to attain an optimal level of sight with aids such as eyeglasses and hearing aids. Some even spend thousands of dollars to correct their impairments.

One of the most expensive and difficult “loss” to treat is hearing loss. When not taken care of, your ears could suffer from damage. If you are wondering what this feels like, here’s what you need to know:

What Can Cause Hearing Loss?

Before we dive into the feeling experienced by impaired individuals, it is important to know what causes such loss. This can occur when exposed to extreme loud noise dosage. This is composed of two parts: the intensity of the noise and duration of exposure. According to experts, exposure to 85 decibels without protection for more than 8 hours is harmful. Eighty-five decibels and above fall under the risk range.

As a reference, a normal conversation and background music are 60 decibels while a shouted conversation and subway noise is 90 to 95. Meanwhile, heavy traffic, a power lawnmower and a blender are 80 to 89 decibels.

The elderly are prone to losing their hearing, this is due to several factors such as changes in the structure of the ear, changes in blood flow to the ear, damage to the tiny hairs in the ear that are responsible for transmitting sound to the brain etc. Other common causes of hearing loss are medication, illnesses, infections and trauma.

What Does it Feel Like?

• Ringing Sensation

Individuals with hearing loss often hear a ringing or buzzing in their ears. This is called tinnitus. While it is commonly experienced by many people, it is not a condition in itself. Instead, it indicates a more fundamental cause, which is hearing loss. However, it can also mean other health conditions such as circulatory disorders.

• Muffled Hearing

Another great indicator of hearing loss is muffled sounds. When sufferers listen to the world around them, the sounds come as if it is stifled and subdued. This can be detrimental in navigating everyday life and can be dangerous when in places with high traffic.

• Difficulty Understanding Speech

When listening to someone speak, those with such issue tend to have difficulty catching words. In fact, they may have trouble perceiving consonants. The problem is aggravated when the patient is placed in a setting with background noise. In conversation, they tend to ask people to speak louder or repeat what they said.

• Constant Need to Increase Volume

Sufferers tend to have loud voices as they regulate their voice’s volume using their own ears. As their hearing is impaired, they are more likely to project their voices more loudly than the average person. Moreover, they are known to increase the volume of devices that emit sounds such as the television and music players.

Now that you know what hearing impairment feels like, you have an idea of whether or not you or others around you are suffering from hearing loss. If you suspect you may be suffering from hearing loss, it is recommended to obtain a full diagnostic hearing assessment from an audiologist. Call today on 1300 736 702 to speak with one of our highly qualified audiologists at Attune Hearing.

One or two hearing aids?

Hearing with both ears is important for both localizing sounds and for communicating in noisy environments. One would think, therefore, that a binaural fitting- the use of two hearing aids- would always be optimal, but this would be similar to claiming that most people using glasses would need to have their eyesight corrected for both eyes.

When the expert responsible for fitting of the hearing aids suggests that two hearing aids might be the best solution, it often happens that the person with hearing loss says, “I am not that deaf”, thereby indicating a certain reservation towards testing the possibilities offered by modern hearing aids.

In addition to improving the ability to localize sounds and to communicate in difficult listening situations, the fitting of two hearing aids also makes it possible to create the correct sound balance, so that the hearing impaired will have a feeling of balance between the sounds coming from the right and left side. There are, however, a number of circumstances that may contribute to the fact that not all hearing-impaired people-including those with considerable hearing losses on both ears- will benefit from using two hearing aids.

It is not always possible to make a binaural fitting because some hearing losses develop in such a way that one of the ears no longer contributes effectively to the understanding of speech. Before a binaural fitting is attempted, it is therefore important to test whether both ears are in fact able to transmit speech information to the brain, and thereby avoid making decision to fit two hearing aids on the basis of an audiogram alone.

To attempt a binaural fitting in cases where one of the ears does not function may ruin the possibility of a good result, because the hearing aid on the bad ear will often contribute with distorted sounds and noise instead of additional information.

In some cases, however, it is possible to create a good sound balance despite the fact that one of the ears contributes very little to the understanding of speech.

The final decision to fit one or two hearing aids depends, therefore, on whether or not the user can benefit from them. If a binaural fitting is not selected, the hearing expert must concentrate on finding the optimal adjustment of the hearing aid for the better ear.

In a case of a long-lasting, asymmetrical hearing impairment, the brain may have become accustomed to utilizing the information coming from the better ear, in which case the worst ear is “forgotten”. If the worst ear is not used, its ability to transmit speech information to the brain may deteriorate and finally it may no longer be brought to function again, even after long-lasting training with a hearing aid- and in spite of the fact that the audiogram may tell a different story.

In contrast, in the event that the worst ear is still functioning, it is important to keep it stimulated and, in such cases, the worst ear should also be fitted with a hearing aid. This all depends in the cortical plasticity of the brain.

Do you have a hearing loss? Looking to get some hearing aids fitted? At Attune Hearing, our highly trained audiologists provide comprehensive hearing assessments for all ages and suitable recommendations on what hearing aids would best cater to your needs. Call today on 1300 736 702 and speak with one of our client advocates for a booking.

Coping with Hearing Loss

Just as personality and lifestyle are decisive in determining the benefit the hearing impaired person may get from using hearing aids, the same factors are decisive for how well a hearing loss is handled at the personal level.

Strategies for coping with hearing loss

The word “coping” is used to describe how we handle the mental and behavioural reactions that arise when we are challenged with hearing loss. The hearing-impaired person may react positively to the changed life situation by being conscious of it and by planning strategies for difficult listening situations in advance. This means, for example, being well-rested before an important meeting or large parties. Such situations are often demanding and require great concentration and may, therefore, be strenuous for the hearing impaired person.

In the pro-active coping process, the hearing impaired person may attempt to involve other people. This can be done by drawing attention to hearing loss, by speaking distinctly and by obtaining good visual contact as well as using good communication strategies. In this way, there is hope that other people may also feel responsible for creating a good communication situation.

If, on the other hand, the hearing impaired tries to avoid situations that make demands on the hearing sense or situations where one may run the risk of being misunderstood or even being “disclosed” as a person with a hearing loss, the hearing impaired will have no control when such situations appear anyway. In more “passive” coping situations, there is no mutual responsibility and the ultimate consequence is that the hearing impaired person will withdraw and avoid social contacts.

It is not always easy to “cope” with a hearing loss in the most optimal way. There are certain days and situations that are easier to handle than others. Now and then, there will be a need for the hearing impaired to retreat and recover and it is therefore completely normal to use different strategies. It is important, however, that the hearing impaired are conscious of which of the two coping strategies are being used in different situations.

In general, being pro-active about social situations is the most constructive but also the most demanding approach. The passive approach may be less demanding in the situation, but in the long run, it may have serious implications and lead to loneliness.

Coping strategies and hearing tactics

Strategies on how hearing loss can be handled and for choosing the optimal tactics in the given situation can be listed as follows:

• Inform other people about the hearing problem
• Participate in activities required by family and job
• Do not isolate yourself
• Remember to be well-rested before participating in difficult listening situations
• Seek eye contact and look at other people’s mouth, face and hands
• Speak clearly and distinctly yourself- good habits are contagious
• Ask control questions and point out if something has not been heard
• Draw attention to the fact that background noise may prevent you from hearing everything said
• Be aware of situations that are annoying and try to change the situation so that stress can be avoided
• Ask that consideration be shown to you within reason

At Attune Hearing, we understand the difficulties of hearing loss when listening and following conversation, especially in noisy situations. Book an appointment with one of our Audiologists to discuss solutions. Call on 1300 736 702 now.

Why You Hear Better With Your Right Ear

We all have five senses: sight, sound, smell, taste and touch. Each one of them helps you navigate the world by letting your brain know what is going on around you. When they work together in harmony, they keep you safe from danger and allow you to focus on what is important to you. Your senses work hard, even when you’re asleep. Sound, for example, can disrupt sleep, waking you from your slumber to warn you if something unusual is occurring in the middle of the night - even if that’s just your dog wanting to play fetch at 2 a.m.

Your body truly is a miracle. Hearing alone is a very complicated process. The sense that allows you to perceive sound only works thanks to the complex system that is the human ear. Simply put, sound is funnelled through the external ear into the auditory canal. From there, sound waves reach the eardrum, a thin sheet of connective tissue that vibrates when sound waves strike it. The vibrations travel to the middle ear where they are passed on to the organ of Corti - a spiral organ that is the receptor organ for hearing. Functioning as a sort of translator, it turns vibrations into electrical impulses that travel to the brain via sensory nerves.

A Job For Different Sides Of The Brain

And here is the clue to why your right ear is better equipped to understand and make sense of noise: Sounds entering your right ear are processed by the left side of the brain, which controls speech, language development, and portions of memory. The sounds entering your left ear, on the other hand, are processed in the right hemisphere of your brain, which dominates over the right in processing different sounds such as pitch, timbre and loudness which plays a role for listening to or making music. This is why many folks will automatically turn their right ear towards you if they’re having trouble understanding you.

Young children’s auditory systems don’t have the same ability as adults to separate background noise from important information, and as a result, they rely on the ear with the most efficient pathway. We’ve assumed for a long time, that the right ear dominance diminishes over time. But a recent study has proven that this effect can be found both in kids and adults: "Conventional research shows that right-ear advantage diminishes around age 13, but our results indicate this is related to the demand of the task,” said Dr Aurora Weaver, a member of the research team. "As we age, we have better control of our attention to processing information as a result of maturation and our experience."

To understand the ear differences in adults and learn how to help people hear better, the researchers asked 41 participants between the ages 19-28 to complete complex listening tasks: wearing a headset they had to recall a list of numbers played into either their right or left earpiece. The researchers found no difference in hearing at the normal memory capacity. As the list of digits, the participants had to recall grew, results were an average of eight per cent better when the numbers were played into to the right-hand ear, with some individuals improving as much as 41 per cent!

The research team is hoping the findings of the study will help improve hearing aids and deafness testing: “The more we know about listening in demanding environments, and listening effort in general, the better diagnostic tools, auditory management, including hearing aids, and auditory training will become”, researcher Dr Danielle Sacchinelli added.

"We always assumed that our left and right ears worked exactly the same way. As a result, we tended to think it didn't matter which ear was impaired in a person. Now we see that it may have profound implications for the individual's speech and language development," said the leader of the study, Dr Yvonne Sininger of University of California at Los Angeles.

After our eyes, our ears are one of the most important sensory organs. Hearing loss can have far stretching impacts on your life and have a variety of causes, from progressing age to extremely loud noises and even infections. Protect your hearing and that of your children, to prevent these issues and make sure to get a hearing test should you suspect that you are already experiencing first signs of hearing loss.

The good news is: Modern technology makes life easier and can help you hear better - whether it’s your left or right ear that is affected! When amplifying and modulating background noises, hearing aids can take into account how your brain processes sound and voices.

Don’t hesitate - make an appointment with your audiologist today and improve your quality of life!

Communicating with people who suffer from hearing loss

Communicating with someone who suffers from hearing loss can be difficult at times. Wearing hearing aids can help a person with hearing loss understand conversation better. Nonetheless, there are events such as crowded restaurants or stadiums in which hearing aids alone cannot provide sufficient help in following a conversation. In addition, not all hearing loss warrants a fitting of a hearing aid. Therefore, learning a variety of communication strategies will help someone with a hearing loss better understand you. Commonly known as “communication tactics”, they are useful for everyone, regardless if you have a hearing loss or if you wear a hearing aid. Keep in mind communication involves at least two people: a speaker who sends the message and a listener who receives the message. You, as a member of this communications pair, can enhance the conversation by following a few simple strategies:

1. Attention:

Get the listener's attention before you start speaking, for example, say their name. If the person with hearing loss hears better in one ear, go to that side of the person. Also consider lightly touching the listener's hand, arm, or shoulder for attention. Let them turn around and look at you before you start speaking. These simple gestures prepare the hearing loss individual to listen and not miss the start of a conversation.

2. Maintain eye contact:

Face the person who has a hearing loss and make eye contact. You can "see" a person's emotion, joy, confusion, or frustration by observing their facial expressions or body language. Your facial expressions and body language add vital information to the message you wish to be conveyed.

3. Keep your hands away from your face:

When you are speaking, try to keep your hands away from your face. This will produce clearer speech and allow the listener to use these visual cues.

In addition, most listeners can improve their perception by seeing the speaker's face, also known as speechreading. Speechreading helps improve speech recognition. You can “see” many hard to hear sounds. For example, the sound “s” is very hard to hear but can be easily lip read. In addition, it is important not to talk with food in your mouth or chew gum when talking to a person with a hearing loss.

4. Speak naturally:

Speak clearly without exaggeration. You do not need to shout. Shouting distorts words. Try not to mutter as this is very difficult to understand even for people with normal hearing. Use pauses instead of speaking slowly to give the person time to process the speech. Give clues as you change the subject, for instance, saying "next topic or new theme”, allows for people with hearing loss to keep up with the conversation.

5. Rephrase instead of repeating:

If the listener is having difficulty in understanding something you said, repeat it once again. If they still have difficulty understanding, find a different way of saying it. Rephrase sentences with the same meaning. For instance: "Dinner is ready" to "Time for dinner ". If he or she did not understand the words the first time, try to rephrase instead of repeat. Another option is to ask what the person did not understand and simply repeat the sentence or word.

6. Avoid background noise:

Try to reduce background noise when speaking. Turn off the radio or television. Move into a quiet space away from the noise source. When you go to a restaurant or make a dinner reservation, ask for a table away from the kitchen, server stations or large parties.

7. Good lighting is important:

A person with hearing loss can read speech to help them hear easier, so it is important they can see your face clearly. Sit near a light source so your facial expressions and lips can be easily read.

8. Use an app to translate from spoken word to written word or use text messages:

Several downloadable applications allow you to speak on a smartphone and convert your speech to written words for people with a hearing loss to read. For instance, Dragon Dictation. It is a voice recording app that records and converts verbal information into text. The use of text messaging is also an efficient use to complement communication.

Hearing aids give people with hearing loss access to daily sounds in life; however, they do not return the user's hearing to normal. This means that although the user can hear your voice, they may still have difficulty understanding some words. Implementing clear speech, optimizing visual cues are essential. Remember to be kind and patient when communicating with someone with a hearing loss. There may be times when you need to repeat, rephrase, simplify, or write what you are trying to say. If you feel frustrated, try to empathize and imagine how the person with hearing loss feels. At Attune Hearing, we understand the frustration of keeping up with conversation when you have a hearing loss. If the strategies stated above are not helpful for you, give one of our friendly staff a call to discuss alternate strategies or call us to book a thorough hearing assessment to check if you are getting the most out of the world of hearing.

How Is Hearing Loss Tested on Babies?

In Australia, one in 1000 babies is born with significant hearing loss each year. Thankfully, hearing loss can be identified early to plan support provisions and ensure each child affected develops at a standard pace. In fact, identifying hearing loss within a newborn ensures the best possible start to life as children can receive immediate assistance. The two common tests used to identify hearing loss in babies are the Otoacoustic Emissions Test (OAEs) and the Auditory Brainstem Response Test (ABR). Although for many new parents, the thought of running such tests may be concerning, these tests are perfectly safe and comfortable, and most importantly, reliable. However, not all hospitals run both tests, so it’s important to check whether these tests are available at a hospital before booking. Whether a hospital provides these tests depends on funds, personnel, and the number of babies born in the hospital. To ensure you have access to all the resources needed, it is sometimes better to see a hearing healthcare provider. If you do make a booking, you can ask for both tests to be performed or just one. Often, the OAE test is first conducted, and then if the baby does not pass, the ABR is performed. So, what does each test entail?

Otoacoustic Emissions Test

The OAE tests how effectively the inner ear, or cochlea, works. This is done by testing the ear’s otoacoustic emissions, which are sounds produced by the inner ear in response to sound. As sound travels through the ear and into the inner ear, tiny hairs that line the membrane of the inner ear vibrate. This vibration causes a very quiet sound to echo through the middle ear. This sound is the OAE that is measured. If you have average hearing, your ears will produce this sound; however, if your hearing loss is greater than 25-30 Decibels (Db), then you will not produce this sound.

This test is run by a small device that looks like a small earphone or probe, which is inserted into the ear of the baby. The earphone transmits sound into the ear and also measured the sound returned. The results of the test are displayed on the monitor, which is observed by the specialist running the test.

Auditory Brainstem Response Test

The ABR also tests the inner ear for its functionality, while also checking how if the brain’s pathways for hearing are working. This test is also sometimes called the Auditory Evoked Potential (AEP) test. It is performed on babies, small children, and anyone that may not be able to participate in a typical hearing test. One of the benefits of the ABR is that it can determine whether symptoms of hearing loss are caused by the brain or in a brain pathway, rather than by the ear. The test involves the placement of small electrodes on a baby’s head. These electrodes are connected to a computer that measures brain wave activity in response to sounds emitted from earphones. Again, the specialist conducting the test will see the results on the computer monitor.

For each of these tests, the sound is transmitted at one volume to only check whether the sound is actually being heard. These tests are performed with a pass or fail outcomes. Upon failing any of these tests, more tests are conducted to identify the specific conditions of the child’s hearing loss. If you’re the parent of a newborn, rest assured that resources are available to test for an accommodate hearing loss within your baby.

Attune is Australia’s leading independent provider of Hearing Healthcare. Attune perform tests on patients of all ages, from babies to senior citizens. If you’re in doubt about your hearing, book a test today.

How Does Hearing Work?

Our hearing is undoubtedly one of our most important senses. It allows us to understand people, hear oncoming traffic, listen for sirens or warning signs, socialise and work. The human body is capable of incredible things, but just how does our hearing work? Let’s find out.

Our ability to hear relies on five main steps:

1.Sound waves from our surrounding environment enter the outer ear and travel down the ear canal where it encounters the eardrum.

2.The eardrum starts to vibrate from the soundwaves and this causes the ossicles to vibrate as well in what’s called the middle ear. The ossicles are made up of three small bones, called the malleus, incus and stapes (commonly known as the hammer, anvil and stirrup respectively).

3.The bones then also vibrate causing fluid in the inner ear to move as well. The inner ear is also called the cochlea and it is shaped like a snail, as it has a coil-like appearance. Getting cochlea implants are a common procedure that people get to enhance their hearing by producing clearer sounds. It works by having the digital code of sound waves sent to the cochlear implant which helps your brain interpret sound.

4.As the fluid moves, this makes the hair cells in the cochlea to vibrate. The hairs on the wider ends of the cochlea are able to detect sounds with higher pitches such as the cry of a baby or the screeching sound of a siren. Towards the centre of the cochlea is where the hair cells can separate lower-pitched sounds like thunder or the bass in a song. Hair cells are meant to stand straight in rows but when they are compromised, they become permanently bent over and out of order. When the hairs move, the tops of the cells bump the top section of the cochlear where they are located and slightly bend, causing the tips of the stereocilia to open. This creates an electrical signal or pulse.

5.These electrical pulses are transmitted to the auditory nerve and make its way to the brain where it becomes interpreted as sound.

While hearing loss is something that is common amongst a lot of elderly people, younger people also experience the effect of losing their ability to hear. This can become troublesome and can hinder your lifestyle. If you find yourself noticing a decrease in your ability to hear, get in touch with a professional today. Attune Hearing is Australia’s largest independent and only accredited hearing healthcare provider committed to caring for and helping Australians nationwide. Book in for an appointment today!