Hearing FAQ´s

Q. What is an Audiologist?

A. An audiologist is a professional who diagnoses, treats, and manages individuals of all ages with hearing loss, tinnitus, and/or balance problems. Audiologists will determine appropriate treatment of your hearing and/or balance problems by combining a complete history with a variety of specialized assessments and can dispense and fit hearing aids as a part of a comprehensive hearing rehabilitation program. As a primary hearing health care provider, audiologists refer patients to physicians when the hearing or balance problem requires medical or surgical evaluation or treatment.

Q. Why should I be evaluated and treated by an Audiologist?

A. By the virtue of their graduate education, professional certification, and licensure, audiologists are the most qualified professionals to perform hearing tests, prescribe hearing aids, refer patients for medical treatments, and provide hearing rehabilitation services.

Q. How do I determine if I am a candidate for a hearing aid?

A. If you are experiencing difficulty hearing or are having increased stress and strain in your daily life, which may include asking people to repeat things, having difficulty with hearing in background noise, difficulty hearing women and children, if others seem to be mumbling, and if the TV needs to be louder, these are a few potential indicators.

Q. Is it really necessary to wear two hearing aids, or can I get by with just one?

A. There are four main reasons why binaural (two eared) listening is superior to monaural (one eared) listening. They are:

1. Better Hearing in Noise: An individual's hearing in noise can be improved if the signal reaching each ear arrives at a slightly different moment in time.
2. Improved Signal versus Noise Level from Optimizing Position: Sound loses intensity (loudness) when it travels across the head. Wearing two hearing aids ensures that the speech sounds will not be diminished any more than necessary because of your position in the room.
3. Improved Localization Ability: When there is a large difference in hearing between two ears (as might occur when a person with similar hearing in both ears only wears one hearing aid) the brain cannot make use of these subtle relative differences and their ability to locate sounds may suffer.
4. Possible Deterioration of the Unaided Ear: The ultimate goal of hearing aids is not just to send sound into the ear, it is also essential to retrain the central auditory system in the brain. Research now suggests that there can be changes in the way your brain processes sound when it is "starved." Providing stimulation may be important in preserving your auditory potential.

Q. What determines what kind of hearing aid I should wear?

A. There are four primary styles of modern hearing aids. They are: Behind-The- Ear (BTE); In-The-Ear (ITE), In-The-Canal (ITC), and Completely-In-The-Canal (CIC).
Physical factors include:

1. The shape of your outer ear: deformed outer ears may not allow for wearing of BTE styles.
2. The depth of the depression near the ear canal (technically called the concha): if your ears are very shallow there may not be adequate space for certain ITE model aids.
3. The ear canal size and shape: certain ear canals may be too narrow or shaped in a manner such that ITC or CIC hearing aids will either not go in easily, or may fall out too easily.
4. Manual dexterity: not only is the removal and insertion of canal style hearing aids difficult for some people, but some individuals are unable to insert the battery or manipulate the volume control.
5. Wax in the ear: some people build up large amounts of earwax, or may have extremely moist ear canals that require adequate ventilation. For these people ITC, or even certain full size ITE aids may not be appropriate.
6. Draining ears or ears otherwise having medical problems may not be able to safely utilize hearing aids that completely block the ear canal.

Q. What are digitally programmable hearing aids?

A. Some of the characteristics of the sound produced by hearing aids can be modified using computers or other devices. Hearing aids that have this capability are called "digitally programmable." They have several advantages over non-programmable instruments.

1. Flexibility: changes in hearing can easily be accommodated, as can unusually shaped and fluctuating hearing losses.
2. Multiple Programs: It is often useful to be able to change the hearing aid characteristics depending on the environment one encounters. With these hearing aids, you can change the program with the touch of a button or a remote control.
3. Advanced Compression Circuitry: Hearing aids are designed so that they will amplify soft sounds more than they will amplify loud sounds. This is called compression. Compression works almost like an invisible finger reaching up and changing the volume control so that soft sounds are made loud enough to hear and loud sounds are turned down so that they don't become uncomfortable.

Q. How much time is needed to adapt to a hearing aid?

A. While each person's experience will vary, hearing aids may allow a person to experience certain sounds they had never heard before (or at least for some time). Relearning takes place in the central auditory nervous system and not in the ear itself. Recent experiments suggest that a listener's ability to comprehend speech may continue to increase over a period of several months when wearing a new amplification system. This process is termed acclimatization. Most dispensing audiologists currently allow for a trial or adjustment period with new hearing aids.

Q. Why do hearing aids cost so much?

A. The reasons hearing aids cost so much are:

1. The amount of time and money spent by manufacturers on research and development is considerable.
2. The amount of time spent by an audiologist with a patient is very significant.

This time is critical for new users, particularly to assist during the acclimatization process. Mail order or budget clubs can afford to sell hearing aids at lower prices because the electronic components often are inexpensive and the hearing aids themselves are often placed on the user with minimal or (in the case of mail order) no instructions or fine tuning adjustments. Additionally, the minimum amount of training required for a dispensing audiologist is a master's degree while mail order or discount centers are often staffed by sales people having minimal technical training. Audiologists, like consumers, are concerned about keeping the cost of hearing aids affordable.

Q. How often must hearing aids be replaced?

A. Generally speaking, hearing aids should last for at least five years. The need for new hearing aids may occur if a patient's hearing status changes, with recent advances in hearing instrument technology and with the new the availability of programmable and digital hearing aids, changes can be made in the audiologist's office and should reduce the need to order new hearing aids merely because of changes in hearing status.

A. What should new users of hearing aids realistically expect?

Q. When wearing hearing aids:

1. Your hearing in quiet environments (one to one communication, watching TV, etc.) should be improved.
2. Your hearing in moderate background noise should be improved.
3. Your hearing in background noise is NOT going to be as good as your hearing in quiet.
4. Your hearing in loud background noise should be NO WORSE than without the hearing aids.
5. Soft speech should be audible, average speech should be comfortable; loud speech should be loud, but never uncomfortable.
6. Your ear molds should be comfortable.
7. Your own voice should be "acceptable" to you.
8. There should be no feedback when the hearing aids are properly seated in your ears.
9. You may hear sounds you have not heard for a while (like footsteps or the refrigerator humming). This is not abnormal.

Be patient. It requires time to adjust to hearing aids. Your listening skills should improve gradually as you become accustomed to amplification.