Patient Resources

According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), about 15% of American adults (37.5 million) report difficulty hearing and 28.8 million of this population could benefit from using hearing aids. Many people do not realize how much their untreated hearing loss impacts them in ways that are not obvious. Hearing loss is a pervasive communication disorder that negatively affects many aspects of life including but not limited to physical health, emotional and mental health, social relationships, as well as school and job performance. Embarrassment, loss of self-confidence, frustration, anger, isolation and depression are just some of the results of untreated hearing loss. Many times the impact is felt even more by family members living with an individual who has untreated hearing loss. They feel frustration and anger when they have to yell and scream all the time and may feel less inclined to have conversations with the family member who can’t hear well.  As a progressive condition that tends to get worse over time, hearing loss can easily have a detrimental “snowball” effect on one’s life but fortunately, there is help with hearing aids which keep people communicating and connected with the world. In recent years, bluetooth technology in hearing aids has been a major advancement, allowing people the ability to hear clearly with cell phones and use Skype/Facetime. At CALV, we take the time to help patients understand and utilize features such as bluetooth connectivity so they can stay connected with loved ones. 

Auditory deprivation is a real condition that occurs when the brain is deprived of sound and progressively loses the ability to process sound. There is a “use it or lose it” effect and the result is brain shrinkage and atrophy. Numerous studies have revealed an association between untreated hearing loss and dementia. They have found that people with hearing loss tend to develop cognitive issues more than people without hearing loss. Other studies report brain shrinkage and decreased neural activity in response to complex sentences as a function of age in individuals with untreated hearing loss. Even a mild hearing loss results in as much as a 30% greater cognitive decline when compared with people without hearing loss. For people with moderate and severe hearing losses, the decline was 42% and 52% higher. Today’s hearing aid technology focuses on stimulating the brain as much as possible and minimizing the detrimental effects of hearing loss on the brain. Because hearing loss is a progressive condition, addressing it sooner than later is always best to minimize possible long term irreversible effects.

Tinnitus is a very common condition and it refers to  the perception of ringing, buzzing, hissing, chirping, whistling, etc. which can be constant or intermittent. Usually it is a result of some kind of damage or trauma to the auditory system and some of the most common causes include noise exposure, aging, medications, and medical conditions like Meniere’s disease and otosclerosis. Hearing loss is often present with tinnitus so a hearing test can be helpful. While there is unfortunately no cure for tinnitus, many people often find that hearing aids can alleviate much of this bothersome condition through the amplification of missing sounds and the ambient soundscape. In addition, special programs can be added to hearing aids in which a user can turn on a masking feature (usually a type of noise or ocean wave sound) to block out the bothersome tinnitus and provide some relief.  The American Tinnitus Association cites hearing aids as a valid treatment option based and so we recommend trying them especially when hearing loss is present.

According to an article entitled Thinking Outside the Booth from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), “eliminating the need for a booth increases flexibility in offering services. It also boosts consumers’ access and convenience in obtaining them.”

To ensure accuracy and reliability of our testing, we use special earphones that provide higher levels of noise attenuation, recorded speech tests, and request a quiet space for testing. In the same article, ASHA states that it was found that ER-3A insert earphones, with fully inserted ER-14 ear tips, can provide adequate noise attentuation to allow for testing to audiometric zero in a typical office noise environment. Insert earphones can provide adequate noise attenuation to precisely diagnose hearing loss for the purpose of hearing aid fittings (Margolis and Madsen, 2015) and are considered the recommended transducer (AAA, 2012). In addition, studies note that most hearing impaired individuals exhibit a hearing loss that typically exceeds ambient noise levels in a quiet space. Taking all these factors into consideration, therefore, our testing procedures are sufficient for the purpose of hearing aid recommendations and programming. Through today’s technology and our mobile hearing services, we make hearing more accessible to a greater population in need and those who seek convenience.