We all want best medical care for ourselves. We want best doctors to see us in best suited facilities. But do we care really care who is treating our hearing loss and who is providing us hearing aids? if you or your loved ones are opting for hearing aids, you must be aware of the few things, that may help you get the best out of your hearing aids.
EARLY INTERVENTION:
Any medical treatment is best treated during the early stages, similar is the case with hearing loss. Our hearing and listening to sounds especially speech is a very complicated process. Slight damage to our hearing system can sabotage the process of hearing and it affects the auditory processing of speech and other sounds.
The sound travels from peripheral auditory system to central auditory system through different mediums and intricate mechanism that is still not fully understood by humans. Any problem in the ear at any level can affect the sound processing in the proceeding structures. Thus, identifying and treating the problem early can keep the hearing system working smoothly.
How to identify hearing loss?
Signs and symptoms of hearing loss may include:
Muffling of speech and other sounds
Difficulty understanding words, especially against background noise or in a crowd
Trouble hearing consonants
Frequently asking others to speak more slowly, clearly and loudly
Needing to turn up the volume of the television or radio
Withdrawal from conversations
Avoidance of some social settings
As a precautionary measure, you can have your hearing tested at least once a year. It becomes much more important if you are 50+ years old, as the risk of hearing loss increases as you grow old.
When to start using hearing aids?
Hearing aids like a spectacle is a non invasive and very safe option to hear properly. Irrespective of your hearing loss, if you are feeling problems in understanding speech in quiet as well as noisy conditions. Then you should an audiologist to discuss about the possible benefits of hearing aids for your problem.
How to select a Hearing Aid?
Hearing aids are very sophisticated and customizable device. Hearing aids are designed you to improve your hearing abilities according to the listening needs of the patient. The first and most important part of hearing aid selection is the assessment of your hearing abilities and evaluation of listening needs.
Hearing Assessment: Against the common belief, hearing assessment is a very detailed and systematic process. A detailed audiological testing may provide details that are crucial for selection of most suitable hearing aid for you.
Hearing Assessment included the following steps:
Detailed case history: To understand your problem, an audiologist requires a comprehensive medical history related to your hearing loss, any associated medical history, medication history etc.
Diagnostic Audiological Tests like Pure Tone Audiometry (PTA), Speech Audiometry (SA), some patients may require additional tests like TDT, SISI, Impedance Audiometry etc. depending on the symptoms. But we recommend at least PTA + SA should be the part of all test batteries.
Lifestyle assessment: Careful study of your lifestyle and your listening needs should be done to understand the technology level of the hearing aids.
Post fitting services :
Fitting hearing aids is just the first step in the rehabilitation of hearing loss. You may require 3-4 sessions from your audiologist to get completely accustomed to the sound quality of the hearing aid.
There is routine check of your hearing as well as hearing aids after every 3 months.
Good News is at most of the clinics all your visits are covered under the cost of hearing aids, unless you got the hearing aids at very high discounts.
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