PRESS RELEASE – HEARING can start deteriorating from age 50, particularly when in crowded rooms, where there is noise to contend with during conversation.
One in three people over the age of sixty have some amount of hearing loss.
What are the common signs of hearing loss that indicate help is needed?
* Complaining about others mumbling
* Needing to have things repeated
* Struggling to use a telephone
* Having the TV or radio set at a high volume
* Becoming more withdrawn and less sociable
But guess what? It’s better to seem old and wise and wear a hearing aid than to look old and clueless because you cannot hear!
If you know someone who struggles at social events, family gatherings or church meetings to hear what’s happening, they need help.
What Happens in a Hearing Test?
The Hearing Specialist, after a chat to find out the problems, checks inside the ears with an otoscope to ensure there is no medical problem or ear blockage.
The patient then goes into a sound booth or quiet room and puts on head phones.
The audiometer is completely computerized and plays an assortment of different types and pitches and volumes of sounds. The patient simply presses a button at each sound they hear.
The computer then prints out the result of the hearing test.
The specialist will show the printed results and explain what they mean and answer any questions.
If there is a hearing loss, a hearing aid can be tried to see if there is a difference in what can be heard.
After several years of slowly deteriorating hearing, many patients are amazed at what they are missing.
The best hearing aids are now digital and very small and discreet. They fit behind the ear and run on batteries, which normally need changing every ten days. Everyone is shown how to change the batteries and how to clean the hearing aid.
The main thing to remember is that although this is a small piece of equipment, it is very complicated and needs to be handled with care.
A hearing test isn’t a complicated process and the computerized results show whether there is a problem or not. Once the problem is known, the decision to purchase a hearing aid is up to the patient.
Loss of hearing in older people can lead to social isolation.
If you know someone who needs help, perhaps suggesting a hearing test and using a hearing aid may be something which will actually change their life and make it much more fulfilling.