Hearing has a deep impact on your life. It determines the kind of life you are going to lead. It has been found by various studies and surveys that hearing aids drastically improve the quality of life you lead. It is the much needed relief to a life, burdened by the stress and strains of living with hearing impairment. The hearing aids are not just instruments. This is a way to live a life of dignity. According to the Evaluation of the Social and Economic Costs of Hearing Impairment report, hearing loss leads to socio and economic stress in ones  life in major continents like Europe, Australia and the United States.

A research conducted by the National Council on Aging found that over 2,000 people living with hearing impairment or loss experienced positive changes in their respective lives after using hearing aids. They experienced improvements in social, emotional, psychological and physical spheres of life. Furthermore, a US study claims that nine in ten people using hearing aid say that their life has changed for the better after using the aids. It can also be said that hearing aid users lead a better life than non-users of these aids.

How these aids better your life?
Hearing aids gift you a life of expressions and dignity. They can connect you to the rest of the world and empower you to maintain your individualism. You are empowered to make your point in front of others and understand their perspectives too. Here s what a hearing aid can do for you:

Users of hearing aids have a better life as they have improved cognitive functioning. The family members claim that the users of these aids become more interactive. They are lesser of an introvert than the non-users.

It improves the social life of user. He or she can participate in group activities and their family and other ties or relationships go smooth. There is no communication gap.
Hearing aids build up your confidence. You regain your lost dignity and faith on your abilities. Hearing loss kicks you to a life of loneliness, alienation and leaves you with low confidence levels.
It helps you in having better psychological functioning. It keeps you away from psychological problems like depression, personality disorders and over-all absurd behavioural changes.
It improves the understanding in closer or personal relationships. The warmth in a relationship is regained or bettered with effective communication.

Hearing Aids - How Can They Improve Quality of Life?

Using a hearing aid presents a number of advantages to a hearing impaired person. First and foremost, you will hear a lot better. Hearing aids do not restore your hearing to normal but they improve it significantly. It becomes easier to hear what other people say. Sounds you have not heard for a long time such as birds singing, door bell ringing, the howling of the wind and water running may become audible to you.

Hearing aid usually improves the user s social, psychological and physical sense of well being.

Study as well as experience shows that hearing aid generally improve the quality of life and will help you:

Get a better relationship with your family
Feel better about yourself
Get better mental health
Improve your physical well being
To concentrate better
Feel more independent and secure
Feel less tired or exhausted
Be more able to participate in social gathering
Be able to increase your social contact
Be able to do better in your job  
Hearing aid will help you to reduce tinnitus
Hearing aid will help you to avoid dementia by helping you to hear and improve cognitive functioning
As you start hearing through hearing aid, you will start socializing yourself and indirectly improve your quality of life.
Why you need to wear two hearing Aids?

Better understanding of speech
Better understanding in group and even in noisy situation
Better ability to tell the direction of the sound (Localization)
Better sound quality
Greater listening comfort
Hearing is less tiring and more pleasant
Keeping both ears active preserves speech understanding in both ears
Effective tinnitus masking
Better understanding of listening to radio and television
Speech will be clear

Advantages Of A Hearing Aid!

It is that time of the year when insects are all around. Suddenly one feels a buzzing sound or an itchy feel in the ear. To your horror, one feels a live insect is in your ear, which can be extremely annoying and is like a nightmare. Insects often get stuck when they enter our ears as they cannot fly or crawl out. They try to find their way out and their movements inside our ears can be very uncomfortable, painful and can be itchy as well. Moreover, they can easily produce infection.

In this scenario, do not try to remove an insect with cotton swab, tweezers or hair clip as it will make the situation worse and can lodge the insect deeper into the ear canal, which can possibly damag the eardrum, leading to permanent hearing loss. If an individual is not certain about the potential harm taht can be caused by the insect in the ear, one should seek medical care immediately. Insects in the ear are common reasons for visits to doctor's clinic, especially in children.

If one suspects an insect in ear, one may experience pain, swelling, blood or crackling. One may even feel biting, stinging, hearing loss or dizziness. It is best to stay calm in this situation as being active may lodge the bug further in ear or cause it to move further back or cause serious damage to the sensitive eardrum

One way to try to remove a bug in ear is by tilting the ear toward the ground and attempt to wiggle the ear. Grasp the earlobe and give it a wiggle. If the bug is not too far into ear canal, it may fall out on its own. If the bug is still alive and is not too far inside of the ear canal, it may simply come out on its own. If one stays calm and keep objects including fingers away from ears, it is likely that the bug will find its way back out of ear.

One can also try to flush the ear with warm water with a dropper or a bulb syringe. This can be done by holding head upright and stretching the ear canal by pulling the outer ear and then putting a steady stream of warm water into ear. Tilt head to the side to drain out the ear. Do not try this if one suspects that ear drum has been ruptured to prevent additional damage.

To avoid stinging or eardrum rupture from scratching or biting , one may use a drop or two of mineral, baby, or olive oil inside your ear canal to kill the insect. Finally, visit an ENT specialist doctor as they can remove the insect by special suction devices. Post insect removal, one must look out for signs of infection as swelling, dizziness, hearing loss, fever, and pain. Finally follow up with ENT specialist or Otolaryngologist for the final opinion.

How to Remove Insect from Ear at Home? 

SSHL is not like any other normal hear-loss trouble. Rather it is quite a severe condition. Sudden deafness can occur at any time due to several reasons. This trouble does not affect both the ears rather only one specific ear is usually affected, and thus this is one of the prominent signs that can help the doctors to understand that SSHL has occurred. 


What are the leading causes of this hearing loss?

    Head injury: If you have faced any severe kind of head injury ever, then it might bring SSHL. This is why you are suggested to get necessary treatment on time so that this kind of hearing loss can be avoided.
    Loud-noise exposure: If your ears are exposed to louder noises or sounds in a consistent manner, then there is a greater possibility of the occurrence of this hearing loss. Thus, you should stay away from unwanted noises. 
    Ageing: With the increase in age, hearing power slowly decreases. However, if you take proper precautions from the very beginning, then SSHL can be definitely avoided. 
    Blood-circulation troubles: Interrupted blood-circulation creates different physical troubles out of which hearing loos is one of the most prominent one. And if timely treatment is not provided, then it might get converted into SSHL. 
    Ototoxic medication: This kind of medication should not be continued for long without doctor's prescription otherwise SSHL might occur. 
    Lyme disease: This is a kind of disease, which occurs due to tick bites and this is pretty infectious in nature. Apart from that, this disease is now considered as one of the main sources of SSHL. 

How to evaluate this hearing loss? 

    History analysis: The history of the patient needs to be known first otherwise SSHL cannot be perfectly treated. If the history shows that the patient already has an existing trouble of ear loss for which SSHL has been proven, then in accordance with the same the treatment can be prescribed. 
    Laboratory and imaging: Laboratory analysis is one of the main methods for evaluating SSHL and necessary images of the ears boost the potentiality and importance of this kind of analysis to a great extent. 
    Quick evaluation: This kind of medical evaluation is mainly made on the basis of the symptoms. The doctors often follow the signs thoroughly in order to determine as to whether the patients have SSHL or not. This evaluation is highly supported by different medical tests that are prescribed by the doctor.

Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss: Causes and Evaluation

Hearing loss is experienced by millions of people these days. Ageing is not the only factor that brings hearing impairment. The causes are many. Certain medications, continuous exposure to loud noise, genetic involvement, injury and some medical conditions may cause hearing loss.

There are quite a few myths that people have come to believe about hearing loss over the years. Since it is such a common phenomenon, here we take a look at the common myths surrounding hearing loss.

Myth no. 1: Hearing loss is exclusive to elderly.

Fact: As said before, hearing loss can be an outcome of various causes. Nearly half of the people suffering from the same are below the age of 55 years. No matter what your age is, you must always get your ears checked, especially if you are feeling that are you missing things.

Myth no. 2: Diagnosing hearing loss is easy.

Fact: Most people do not come to know about the condition until it gets worse. Also, your physician never really checks for hearing loss symptoms in a general check-up unless you ask for it specifically.

So, always get a check-up done, like you do for other probable diseases.

Myth no. 3: There's no effective solution for hearing loss.

Fact: Like there have been advancements in the medical field for everything else, there are aids available these days that improve your hearing and have finer adjustments for noise adaptation. Also, there are certain other procedures and surgeries that have proved to improve the condition in many.

So, seek help as soon as possible.

Myth no. 4: The sounds aren't loud enough; my ears are healthy and fine.

Fact: If there is a problem you're experiencing with hearing, you have got to accept that and get it treated. Avoiding a certain condition will only get things worse for you.

Also, hearing aids are no more a stigma. Ear aid devices have designs similar to earphones these days, which are comfortable enough to wear. Ignoring a medical condition or inability to accept the same would only do more harm instead of making things fine.


Common Myths About Hearing Loss

Usher syndrome is a genetic disorder that is characterized by complications in vision and hearing; the most common of them being partial/complete loss of hearing and retinitis pigmentosa. Retinitis pigmentosa is characterized by progressive deterioration of the retina, resulting in deprivation of peripheral vision and subsequent night blindness.

The symptoms and its rate of progression usually vary among people. Usher syndrome is classified into three types:

Type 1: In this type, children are born with balance issues and hearing loss problems. The symptoms of night blindness and loss of peripheral vision associated with  Retinitis Pigmentosa  only appear in the early stages of adolescence.
Type 2: In type 2, children are born with moderate to mild hearing loss problems. Retinitis Pigmentosa develops soon after the child reaches adolescence.
Type 3: In type 3 Usher Syndrome, children are usually born with normal hearing skills, however, loss of hearing and Retinitis pigmentosa occur soon after puberty.
Causes
Hearing loss in Usher syndrome occurs when the nerve cells that are present in the cochlear (inner ear s spiral cavity) are affected by genetic mutation. A similar problem occurs in the cells of the retina leading to loss of vision. These cells allow conversion of light into electrical signals for the brain to interpret them. Both the parents need to pass the mutated gene to the child for it to be affected. If the child has only one gene, then he/she rarely develops the symptoms.

Treatment
This disorder does not have any prescribed course of treatments. The vision loss that occurs in this disorder can be slowed down by nutritional therapy. This therapy involves providing the body with essential amounts of vitamin A which can help in reducing vision loss.

Usher Syndrome - Things You Must Know!

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