Better Hearing Blog
Features that Count
When choosing a hearing instrument, one of your primary goals is to better hear what people are saying to you. To this end, you will want to outfit your hearing instrument with features that reduce background noise. One component to consider is a directional microphone which reduces noise from the sides and the back of a listener and prioritizes sounds directly in front of the user. To further enhance the speech of conversation partners, it also helps to select an instrument with wide dynamic range compression to increase the volume of softer sounds over louder atmospheric and background noise. Wind noise managers which filter out sounds created by blowing wind, can also make conversation easier to understand. Modern hearing instruments are highly sophisticated and are intended to help assist with communication. Having a good understanding of their benefits as well as their limitations will help with a successful fitting for amplification. To schedule a consultation, please call BETTER HEARING CENTER . Let us help you get back to the world of hearing at New Hampshire’s premier hearing care provider .
P.S. Programmable hearing instruments enable users to adjust and store their settings to particular environments so that they can switch from one to another as listening circumstances change.
For the Open-Minded
If you think that a Bluetooth headset wireless phone is an innovative piece of technology, take a look at the latest in hearing instrument technology. An “open-fit” hearing instrument is very similar to a behind-the-ear hearing device except that it is much smaller. In fact, an open-fit hearing instrument is more discreet than a Bluetooth headset. The part of the instrument (case) that sits behind the ear is housed in an elongated plastic shell. This part of the instrument feeds sound to the wearer’s ear through a thin, clear plastic tube with a very small tip that holds the tube in place in the canal. Since no earmold is needed, wearers feel more comfortable wearing an open-fit instrument.
If your loss is in the mild to moderately severe range and you have the dexterity to manipulate small objects, open-fit hearing aids may be a good option for you. To learn more about open-fit hearing aids, please call BETTER HEARING CENTER New Hampshire’s premier hearing care provider, we are the only hearing center that has served the Concord area for over 50 years.
P.S. Because an open-fit hearing instrument’s tip keeps the ear ventilated, it enables low frequency sounds to flow in and out of the ear without amplification.
Struggling to Keep Up The Conversation
It’s bad enough when you struggle to keep up your end of the conversation for want of anything to say; worse yet is the inability to keep up your end because you cannot hear what is being said. As most of us reach middle-age, we experience barely perceptible hearing loss that makes it difficult to understand what people are saying. This is largely due to the fact that, while most of the energy of spoken words is contained in low-frequency vowel sounds, much of the information required to distinguish one word from another is supplied by consonants in the higher frequencies. As age-related hearing loss (presbycusis) makes it difficult to distinguish words, it seems as though everyone else is mumbling.
Untreated, hearing loss has been shown to cause sadness, depression, anxiety, paranoia, and poor social relationships. People who have difficulty hearing may have a challenging time in their careers, often earning thousands of dollars less than their peers. To schedule a hearing exam, please call BETTER HEARING CENTER. Let us help you get back to the world of hearing at New Hampshire’s premier hearing care provider.
P.S. A hearing instrument can help people suffering from age-related hearing loss by amplifying the sound of consonants in another individual’s speech, which are not only high pitched but also may be soft.
Waxing Poetic
While most people generally regard ear wax (“cerumen”) as something that should be removed from the ear canal, it plays an important role in maintaining the health of the ear. The only time ear wax should be removed is when it builds up excessively, possibly causing hearing loss, a feeling of fullness in the ear, and infection. In reality, this sticky, shiny substance produced by the wax glands located in the outer part of the ear canal helps clean, protect, and lubricate the ears. Cerumen, which is 20 percent to 50 percent fat, coats the ear canal to moisturize it; fight off infection; and help keep dust, dirt, and other debris from getting deep inside the ear.
Unless you have an earwax blockage, it’s actually best to leave your earwax alone – don’t try to remove it with cotton swabs or other device. If you experience hearing impairment from wax buildup, you can use water, oil, or ear drops to soften the wax to help it migrate out on its own, or you can use ear irrigation to flush the wax out. To schedule a consultation, please call Better Hearing Center. Let us help you get back to the world of hearing at New Hampshire’s premier hearing care provider.
P.S. Once ear wax has done its job, it migrates out of the ear canal and normally dries up and falls away from the ear.
Use It or Lose It!
Some hearing-impaired individuals choose to postpone getting a hearing instrument in the belief that there is little reason to do so as long as they are still able to hear sound. However, postponing treatment only makes it more difficult to treat hearing loss. Research indicates that, if the brain’s auditory system is not stimulated, it will cease to recognize sound. This phenomenon helps explain why people who wait too long to get properly fitted with a hearing instrument do not get as much benefit as those seeking earlier treatment. Fortunately, thanks to a process known as “neuroplasticity,” the brain eventually relearns to hear once the brain is stimulated with sound it receives from a hearing instrument.
Not being able to hear well isn’t just frustrating, it also can be a safety concern when it interferes with the ability to hear warning signals, such as police sirens, weather alarms or railroad crossing and train whistles. To schedule a hearing exam, please call BETTER HEARING CENTER . New Hampshire’s premier hearing care provider, we are the only hearing center that has served the Concord area for over 50 years.
P.S. Research suggests that wearing a hearing instrument helps those with hearing impairments increase their memory, improve their mood, and avoid dementia.
Twice as Nice!
If a hearing specialist recommends wearing hearing instruments in both ears, it is generally better to do so, even if the hearing loss in both ears is not equal. Why? Just as it is better to view the world through both eyes, the brain processes sound from both ears when providing an enhanced hearing experience. When the brain receives information predominantly from one ear, hearing ability is compromised. However, those wearing bilateral hearing instruments benefit from better sound localization (the ability to tell where sounds are coming from), better sound quality (mono versus stereo), better listening balance (precluding the need to turn to the “good” ear to hear), and improved ability to hear soft sounds (children and nature sounds).
By wearing hearing instruments in both ears, sound is able to reach and stimulate each ear’s auditory nerve, keeping the nerve actively engaged. Studies have shown that if auditory nerves aren’t stimulated by sound, they can slow down and make hearing impairment worse.
At Better Hearing Center, we offer a range of hearing aid packages and the most advanced hearing testing to best serve you and your ears. New Hampshire’s premier hearing care provider.
P.S. Research shows that those who wear bilateral hearing instruments report more satisfaction with their experience.