The Cocktail Party Effect

The Cocktail Party Effect

The term “cocktail party effect” refers to the human ability to focus on a single speaker while tuning out noisy background noise. Research indicates that the left side of our brains picks out the desired sounds from the background noise. This makes sense when you...
The Most Popular Hearing Instrument

The Most Popular Hearing Instrument

According to recent statistics released by the Hearing Industries Association (HIA), “open-fit” hearing instruments now account for more than half of all hearing instruments sold in the United States. This category, which includes “receiver-in-the-canal” (RIC) and...
Abnormally Loud

Abnormally Loud

Sometimes we may raise our voices only slightly to get the attention of a person with hearing loss, only to have that person respond, “You don’t have to yell. I’m not deaf!” This type of encounter provides anecdotal evidence of a phenomenon known as “recruitment,”...
Tumor-Induced Hearing Loss

Tumor-Induced Hearing Loss

An “acoustic neuroma,” the most common inner ear tumor, begins growing within the inner ear. “Vestibular schwannoma,” as the tumor is also known, forms when Schwann cells, which wrap themselves in layers around the auditory nerve, grow too rapidly. It is important to...
Surfer’s Ear

Surfer’s Ear

Anyone who regularly swims in cold ocean water or other chilly natural bodies of water may be surprised to learn about “external auditory exotosis” (otherwise known as “surfer’s ear”). This condition, which is essentially a buildup of bone in the ear caused by...
“Hidden” Hearing Loss

“Hidden” Hearing Loss

It is estimated that one-quarter of today’s teens may have serious hearing damage and not even know it. It, therefore, becomes necessary that we find ways to diagnose hearing loss and treat it. Until recently, one common way of informally detecting hearing loss is to...