It’s hard to imagine what an important role good hearing plays in our lives. When we have it, we never think about it.
In the distant past, most of the noise our ancestors had to deal with came from natural sources, rushing water, crackling fires and the occasional rainfall or lightning and thunder.
Today we’re overwhelmed by noise. Traffic noises, music with bass woofers thrown in for added pressure on our eardrums. Noise from construction sites—noise from all sides.
It’s little wonder then that as we age, our hearing will have suffered from all this loud noise, and the day may well come when we realize something is not right. Perhaps it’s time to visit anaudiologist.
Not so long ago, the hearing aid was a funnel-like instrument you could hold to your ear . It could be quite helpful in many cases, but carrying a huge funnel around every place you go presents an awkward problem.
Since those primitive hearing aid devices, audiology has progressed to the point where today, hearing aids are tiny, can be fine-tuned on the computer to give a wearer the best possible custom hearing.
Of course, not everyone is lucky enough to be born with excellent hearing, and some childhood diseases may damage our hearing as well.
While a good deal of research has gone into cochlear implants, hair cell regeneration and other possibilities, these are generally more specialized treatments directed toward patients who are deemed good subjects, patients who otherwise, may not be helped.
For most of us, a properly fitted and tuned hearing aid, or two, can bring our hearing “back to life”. While even the finest hearing aids have their limitations, a properly fitted hearing aid can make television, conversation, telephones and the many other aspects of life so much more satisfying again than perhaps the patient has experienced in many a year.
Hearing aids today have the capability, for instance, in restaurants or other noisy locales, to tune out much of the background noise allowing the wearer to hear speech in the immediate surroundings and overall enjoy a much more satisfying experience.
If you have any questions about your hearing, it’s time for a visit to an audiologist for an in-depth hearing test. This will give you a very accurate picture of your hearing and what can be done to improve it if necessary.
Contact us at DoctorsOfHearing.com for more information!
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