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?

You should consider undertaking a cochlear implant in case you are experiencing hearing loss or are turning deaf. This is a small device that gets planted in your ear through a surgical procedure. It sends impulses to your auditory nerves directly, as a result of which sound signals get carried to your brain. Cochlear implants may not make you hear normally again, but help you with different sounds, and in the recognition of the different sounds around you like alarms, telephones, and door bells.

How it works?

A cochlear implant is fit for children and adults who suffer from the sensorineural hearing loss. This condition damages the tiny hair cells in your inner ear, which is called the cochlea. Hearing becomes impaired when these get damaged.
The device consists of two specific parts. The first part or the receiver-stimulator is placed under your skin via a surgical procedure. The other part of the device is the speech processor. It has to be worn around your neck in the form of a hearing aid.
The external device is, however, larger in size than a usual hearing aid. The receiver gets placed under your skin, behind the ear via a small incision. It is connected to electrodes.
This is inserted into the cochlea of your inner ear. The surgery requires a few hours to be undertaken successfully.
The speech processor has to be placed two weeks after the surgery is undertaken. The processor can be connected to the microphone, and this can be worn around the ear.
You can wear it on any other part of your body, based on your lifestyle and age.
Benefits of cochlear implant
The major benefits of a cochlear implant are as follows:

You might be able to hear speech almost normally.
You will be able to understand speech better, and will not have to depend on lip reading.
It will be much easier and simpler for you to listen to the television and talk over the phone.
You will be able to listen to music better.
You may also be able to pick up various sounds around you that include soft, medium, and loud sounds.
You will be able to control your own voice better. This makes other people understand you better.
If you are suffering from severe hearing loss, a cochlear implant may be able to change your life for the better. However, the results are not the same for all, and vary among people. It is possible for some people to benefit more from such an implant than others. 

Cochlear Implants - 6 Benefits You Must Know!

Here are 6 signs to watch out for that could indicate 'You need to get your Ears tested':

1. Your TV is blaring: Do you often find people around you shouting above the TV sound complaining that it's too loud? When you find it hard to hear the TV at the average volume and find yourself turning up the sound, this could signify a hearing loss. Doctors are seeing a growing number of patients visiting them after prolonged exposure to loud music and sounds.

2. You find it hard to hear phone conversations: Do you find yourself asking the person on the other end of the phone line to 'repeat' themselves, or find yourself pressing the phone instrument right into your ear? If you are trying so hard to hear, you might find yourself missing out on bits of the conversation as focussing to clearly hear the conversation is exhausting work. Getting a hearing test might be a good option if this sounds like you.

3. You have trouble hearing in noisy environments: When you are out dining with friends or family at a busy restaurant or accompanying a friend shopping in a busy street, all that background noise makes it difficult to hear what the people are saying. People with hearing loss often have problems masking out background noise.

4. Family members telling 'you're going deaf'?: Trust the views of the people closest to you, they never lie about your health. Family members often are the first to sense signs of hearing loss as they find themselves repeating things to you or calling out louder to get your 'attention'.

5. You find yourself staying away from social occasions, family gatherings or avoid being the first to start conversations

6. You find yourself leaning closer to people to follow the conversation or staring at their lips trying to lip-read what's being said.

6 Signs you Need a Hearing Test

Cochlear Implant is an electronic device replaced with the inner ear (cochlea) of the patients who are unable to send sound waves to the brain.

The surgery is performed on the patients who have the problem of hearing loss due to the damaged hair cells in the inner ears. The implant helps the patient to hear which are not responding to other hearing aids.

Conditions for Cochlear Implant:

Cochlear implants help people to hear with clarity. They are not like hearing aids, which make the sound louder, but it helps send sound waves to the brain and replaces the damaged hair cells in the inner ear. Following are cases where it is beneficial:

People who find it difficult to hear clearly with hearing aids.

Those with moderate hearing loss in both ears.

Patients with 50% or fewer score in the sentence recognition test.

Patients with 60% or less score in sentence recognition test with hearing aids on.

It is suggested to opt for cochlear implants in both ears. The reason is to give the patient a better perspective of sound direction and clarity in understanding the words.

How does the Cochlear Implant work?

Cochlear Implant is an electronic device with an embedded sound processor that has to be worn outside ears or on the body. Following steps are involved in cochlear implant:

The sound captured by the processor is converted digitally by the processor and sent to the coil inside the ears of the patient.

The implant converts digitally coded sound waves to electrical impulses.

The electric impulse simulates the hearing nerve of the patient.

Then sends these impulses to the brain.

Benefits of Cochlear Implants:

The cochlear implant is a blessing for people who have been suffering from hearing loss for a very long time. It provides aid to people who have not benefited from hearing devices. The benefits of the cochlear implant are:

Hear better.

Studies have shown that people with cochlear implants have better sentence recognition scores instead of hearing aids.

The patient can concentrate better in the crowd and can hear conversations across the table.

Reconnect with the missed sounds.

Enjoy music on the phone.

Cochlear Implant improves the quality of life of people with hearing loss. It gives them an aid to understand and engage themselves in a conversation. However, it takes time to learn the interpretation of the sound signals that are received from cochlear implants. But, the patient can learn and lead a normal life with the implant. The factors which affect the benefits of Cochlear implants are:

The extent of hearing loss

The duration of the hearing loss and the condition before implantation

Damage to inner hair cells

Other health issues

The practice and rehabilitation time have been done in practice after implantation

The cochlear implant is performed in the patients after taking extensive tests determining the condition of the patients. It is activated after 2-6 weeks of surgery to give the surgery site a time to heal. Most people are discharged from the hospital after surgery and are prepared for the use of an implant. There are training sessions and classes for patients who have just gone for cochlear implants.

Cochlear Implant - How Do They Help?

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!

Hearing loss is a common sensory problem that generally develops with increasing age or due to prolonged or persistent exposure to loud noises. It is one of the most typical problems that occurs throughout the world. If you are suffering from partial hearing loss, you may find ways of keeping in touch with your family and friends. If you are not suffering from such the following may help you keep your hearing intact for years to come.

Types of hearing loss
There are two main types of hearing loss: 
1. Conductive hearing loss where the problem lies in the middle ear, eardrum or ossicles. A conductive hearing loss affects the passage of sound between the eardrum and the inner ear. Sound passes down the ear canal to the ear drum and through the middle ear, where the sound is transmitted across the middle ear by the three bones called the ossicles to the inner ear.

Causes of conductive hearing loss:
1. Malformation of outer ear, ear canal, or middle ear structures
2. Fluid in the middle ear from colds
3. Ear infection (otitis media - an infection of the middle ear in which an accumulation of fluid may interfere with the movement of the eardrum and ossicles
4. Allergies
5. Poor eustachian tube function
6. Perforated eardrum
7. Benign tumors
8. Impacted earwax
9. Infection in the ear canal
10. Foreign body in the ear
11. Otosclerosis

2. Sensorineural hearing loss where there is damage in the inner ear, cochlea or hearing nerve. Sensorineural hearing loss (snhl) occurs when there is damage to the inner ear (cochlea), or to the nerve pathways from the inner ear to the brain. Most of the time, snhl cannot be medically or surgically corrected. This is the most common type of permanent hearing loss.

Causes of sensorineural hearing loss:
1. Exposure to loud noise
2. Head trauma
3. Virus or disease
4. Autoimmune inner ear disease
5. Hearing loss that runs in the family
6. Aging (presbycusis)
7. Malformation of the inner ear
8. Meniere's disease
9. Otosclerosis 
10. Tumors

Coping with hearing loss
Antibiotics and eardrops are often prescribed to treat hearing loss and its symptoms. In many cases, people suffering from severe hearing loss use hearing aids. Hearing aids are tiny instruments that people use in their ears to make sounds louder. People who suffer from hearing loss cope with their problems through increased concentration and focus. The usual way involves reading the moving lips of the person while they talk. Prevention is better than cure and is the best solution to avoid long term hearing loss. Avoiding continuous loud noises, to the possible extent helps prevent hearing loss to a great extent.

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