When you suffer from tinnitus, you learn to cope with it. You leave the television on to help you tune the constant ringing out. And loud music at bars is making your tinnitus worse so you avoid going dancing. You check in with experts frequently to try out new therapies and new techniques. You just work tinnitus into your everyday life eventually.

Tinnitus has no cure so you feel powerless. Changes could be coming, however. New research published in PLOS Biology suggests that an effective and permanent cure for tinnitus may be coming soon.

Tinnitus Causes

You’re suffering from tinnitus if you hear a buzzing or ringing (or in some cases other noises) with no objective cause. A problem that affects over 50 million people in the United States alone, it’s incredibly common for people to suffer from tinnitus.

And it isn’t a cause itself but a symptom of something else. In other words, something triggers tinnitus – tinnitus symptoms are the outcome of some root problem. One reason why a “cure” for tinnitus is challenging is that these underlying causes can be hard to narrow down. There are numerous possible causes for tinnitus symptoms.

It is true, most people attribute tinnitus to hearing loss of some type, but even that relationship is not clear. There is some connection but some people have tinnitus and don’t have any hearing loss.

A New Culprit: Inflammation

The new study published in PLOS Biology highlighted a study lead by Dr. Shaowen Bao, an associate professor of physiology at the Arizona College of Medicine in Tuscon. Dr. Bao performed experiments on mice who had tinnitus triggered by noise-induced loss of hearing. And a new culprit for tinnitus was revealed by her and her team: inflammation.

According to the scans and tests performed on these mice, inflammation was found around the areas of the brain responsible for listening. As inflammation is the body’s reaction to injury, this finding does suggest that noise-induced loss of hearing could be causing some harm we don’t fully understand yet.

But this discovery of inflammation also brings about the opportunity for a new kind of therapy. Because we know (generally speaking) how to deal with inflammation. The tinnitus symptoms went away when the mice were treated for inflammation. Or, at a minimum, those symptoms were no longer observable.

Does This Mean There’s a Pill for Tinnitus?

One day there will probably be a pill for tinnitus. Imagine that–instead of investing in these various coping elements, you can just take a pill in the morning and keep your tinnitus at bay.

There are a couple of obstacles but that is certainly the goal:

• These experiments were performed first on mice. This method is not approved yet for humans and it may be quite some time before that happens.
• There are a number of causes for tinnitus; it’s really difficult to know (for now) whether all or even most tinnitus is related to inflammation of some kind.
• All new approaches need to be confirmed to be safe; it may take some time to determine precise side effects, concerns, or problems related to these specific inflammation-blocking medications.

So, a pill to treat tinnitus might be a long way off. But it isn’t impossible. If you suffer from tinnitus today, that represents a substantial boost in hope. And other strategies are also being researched. Every new finding, every new bit of knowledge, brings that cure for tinnitus just a bit closer.

Ca Anything be Done Now?

If you have a prolonged ringing or buzzing in your ears today, the potential of a far off pill might give you hope – but probably not relief. There are current therapies for tinnitus that can produce real results, even if they don’t necessarily “cure” the root problem.

Some techniques include noise-cancellation devices or cognitive therapies manufactured to help you ignore the sounds connected to your tinnitus. A cure may be several years away, but that doesn’t mean you have to deal with tinnitus by yourself or unassisted. Spending less time stressing about the ringing or buzzing in your ears and more time doing what you love is the reason why you should let us help you discover a treatment that works for you. Contact us for a consultation now.

How frequently do you think about your nervous system? For most individuals, the answer would probably be not that often. As long as your body is performing as it is supposed to, you have no reason to consider how your neurons are firing or whether nerves are sending correct messages through the electrical pathways of your body. But you tend to pay more attention when something goes wrong and the nerves start to misfire.

One distinct disease called Charot-Marie-Tooth Disease which generally affects the extremities can also have a fairly wide-scale affect on the whole nervous system. high-frequency hearing loss can also be triggered by CMT according to some evidence.

Charot-Marie-Tooth Disease, What is it?

Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease is a set of inherited conditions. In essence, these genetic disorders cause something to go wrong with your nerves or with the protective sheathing surrounding your nerves.

There is a problem with the way signals travel between your brain and your nerves. A loss of motor function and sensation can be the result.

CMT can be present in a number of varieties and a mixture of genetic considerations normally result in its expressions. Symptoms of CMT commonly begin in the feet and go up to the arms. And, strangely, among those who have CMT, there is a higher rate of occurrence of high-frequency hearing loss.

The Cochlear Nerve: A Connection Between CMT and Hearing Loss

The connection between CMT and loss of hearing has always been colloquially established (that is, everybody knows someone who has a tells about it – at least within the CMT community). And it was tough to realize the connection between loss of sensation in the legs and problems with the ears.

A scientific study firmly established the connection just recently when a group of researchers examined 79 people with CMT at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.

The results were rather conclusive. Low to moderate frequencies were heard almost perfectly by those who had CMT. But high-frequency sounds (in the moderate region particularly) were effortlessly heard by all of the individuals. high-frequency hearing loss, according to this study, is likely to be associated with CMT.

The Cause of Hearing Loss and How to Treat It

The connection between high-frequency loss of hearing and CMT may, at first, seem perplexing. Like every other part of your body relies on properly functioning nerves. Your ears are exactly the same.

What many researchers hypothesize happens is that the cochlear nerve is affected by the CMT – interfering with your ear’s ability to interpret and transmit sounds in a high-frequency range. Certain sounds, including some voices, will be difficult to hear. Trying to hear voices in a crowded noisy room is especially hard.

This kind of hearing loss is commonly treated with hearing aids. There’s no known cure for CMT. Modern hearing aids can give tremendous help in terms of overcoming the effects of high-frequency loss of hearing, isolating only those ranges of sounds to boost. The majority of modern hearing aids can also work well in loud environments.

There Can be Many Causes For Hearing Loss

Beyond the unconfirmed theory, it’s still not well understood what the connection between CMT and high-frequency hearing loss. But hearing aid tech offers a definite solution to the symptoms of that hearing loss. That’s why many people who have CMT will take the time to get a consultation with a hearing care professional and get fitted for a custom hearing aid.

There are many causes for hearing loss symptoms. In some instances, hearing loss is caused by undesirable exposure to harmful noises. Obstructions can be yet another cause. It also looks like CMT is another possible cause.

Sometimes it can be easy to identify dangers to your hearing: loud equipment or a roaring jet engine. When the hazards are logical and intuitive, it’s easy to convince people to take pragmatic solutions (which commonly include using earplugs or earmuffs). But what if there was an organic substance that was just as bad for your hearing as excessive noise? After all, if something is organic, doesn’t that mean it’s good for you? But how is possible that your ears could be harmed by an organic substance?

You May Not Want to Eat This Organic Compound

To clarify, these organic substances are not something you can pick up at the produce section of your grocery store and you wouldn’t want to. According to recent (and some not-so-recent) research published by European scholars, chemicals called organic solvents have a good chance of harming your ears even with very little exposure. It’s worthwhile to note that, in this case, organic doesn’t make reference to the type of label you see on fruit in the supermarket. Actually, marketers utilize the positive associations we have with the word “organic” to get us to buy products with the suggestion it’s actually good for you (or at the very least not bad for you). The word organic, when related to food means that the growers didn’t utilize certain chemicals. The word organic, when associated with solvents, is a chemistry term. In the field of chemistry, the term organic makes reference to any chemicals and compounds that consist of bonds between carbon atoms. Carbon can generate a significant number of molecules and consequently practical chemicals. But that doesn’t imply they aren’t potentially hazardous. Millions of workers every year handle organic solvents and they’re frequently exposed to the hazards of hearing loss while doing so.

Organic Solvents, Where do You Come Across Them?

Some of the following products contain organic solvents:

• Cleaning supplies
• Paints and varnishes
• Degreasing agents
• Glues and adhesives

You get the point. So, this is the question, will your hearing be damaged by painting or even cleaning?

Organic Solvents And The Hazards Associated With Them

The more you’re subjected to these substances, based on recent research, the higher the corresponding hazard. This means that you’ll most likely be fine while you clean your bathroom. It’s the industrial laborers who are regularly around organic solvents that are at the highest danger. Industrial solvents, most notably, have been well investigated and definitively reveal that exposure can trigger ototoxicity (toxicity to the auditory system). Lab tests that utilized animals, along with surveys of people, have both revealed this to be the case. Subjection to the solvents can have a detrimental effect on the outer hair cells of the ear, resulting in hearing loss in the mid-frequency range. The issue is that a lot of companies are don’t know about the ototoxicity of these compounds. An even smaller number of workers are aware of the hazards. So those workers don’t have standardized protocols to safeguard them. One thing that may really help, for instance, would be standardized hearing examinations for all workers who deal with organic solvents on a regular basis. These workers could get early treatment for hearing loss because it would be detected in its beginning stages.

You Have to go to Work

Regular Hearing examinations and controlling your exposure to these solvents are the most common recommendations. But first, you have to be conscious of the hazards before you can heed that advice. When the risks are obvious, it’s not that hard. It’s obvious that you have to take safeguards to protect against the noise of the factory floor and any other loud noises. But it isn’t so straight forward to persuade employers to take precautions when there is an invisible hazard. Fortunately, as specialists sound more alarms, employees and employers are starting to make their places of work a little bit less dangerous for everyone. Some of the most practical advice would be to use a mask and work in a well ventilated spot. It would also be a practical plan to have your ears examined by a hearing specialist.

What’s the reason for wearing hearing aids? More than likely it’s to hear better, right? Well, yeah, for many individuals that’s going to be the reply. Helping your hearing is what a hearing aid is made to do.

But that’s not the actual motivation for wearing them. We use them so we don’t lose touch with the people around us…so we can not only hear interactions, but also take part in them. Hearing aids help us make certain we don’t miss the key lines of our favorite show, the punchline of a joke, or our favorite music.

Put another way, there are many of benefits, overlooked advantages, that that you will get if you use hearing aids. And you will probably use your hearing aids regularly rather than leaving them put away because of these boons. So we can be certain that these benefits deserve to be showcased.

Clearer Sound

So it’s not just that your hearing aid raises the volume of sounds. Sounds are made clearer also. The reason for this is that your hearing doesn’t wane symmetrically: certain frequencies are the first to go. So the sounds around you will be easier to perceive and clearer.

On top of that, modern hearing aids have all sorts of settings that can be adjusted (or that can adjust themselves) depending on the room you’re in, the audio characteristics of that room, etc. So that you are able to hear more clearly, hearing aids precisely increase the volume of specific frequencies while leaving others untouched.

A More Lively Social Life

If the sounds around you are easier to understand, you’re more inclined to take part in social activity and that’s a big improvement. Just give some thought to this, you’re less likely to jump in with a clever joke at a crowded restaurant if you can’t hear what anyone is saying. But when your hearing aids are doing most of the work for your ears and all the voices are nice and crisp, you’ll know exactly when to come in with your hilarious joke.

When you can hear cleanly, clearly, and don’t need to ask people to repeat themselves, social situations become less difficult; instead, socializing goes back to being something you can enjoy again.

Improved Concentration

When you’re struggling to hear, a large part of your mental effort is focused on one task: making sense of the mess. You will need to redirect so much mental energy towards interpreting jumbled or partial audio information that your general concentration takes a dip. So when your hearing aids are working correctly, you can find yourself focusing with far greater ease, whether you’re doing your taxes, listening to the news, or watching TV.

You Will be Safer

Research indicates that individuals with untreated hearing loss have a higher danger of falling down. There are a couple of ways that hearing aids can help with fall protection. The first is by stopping falls in the first place. It’s easier to walk around without stumbling on something when you have better concentration (and therefore be less mentally exhausted.) Next, some hearing aids have automated tech that activates when the wearer experiences a fall. If a fall happens, friends, family, or emergency services can be automatically called.

Better Cognition

When you wear hearing aids, it’s not simply your focus that improves. You also get a mental improvement too. When you have a difficult time hearing and start to separate yourself, the pathways in your brain, which are responsible for interpreting sounds, can start to deteriorate (pretty much, it’s an involved process that we’re simplifying to save time). A hearing aid will help maintain several mental cognitive activities, meaning your self esteem, mood and mental health could all benefit from wearing your hearing aids.

Get The Benefits Now Rather Than Later

Taking the slow approach has no real advantage if you’ve already detected a decline in hearing. Hearing aids can provide both instant and long term benefits. So schedule a hearing test today with a hearing care expert.

We’ve been looking forward to summer activities all year: swimming in the pool, visiting the beach, and other activities that could harm your ears. You could find yourself in external scenarios or exposed to other loud sounds this summer that are hidden dangers to your ears. Any noises over 80 decibels could lead to harm to your ears, while lasting loss of hearing can happen in swimming pools or other bodies of water. You have to take precautions and be mindful of your environment in order to protect your hearing this summer season. Read on to identify the summer’s 6 hidden threats to your ears.

Wear Hearing Protection at Concerts

Summer is concert time, but even if you go to a venue, you still should attend to your hearing. Concerts can have volumes over 90 decibels, even at outdoor concerts, which is inside the danger zone of hearing loss. That’s the reason why it’s definitely a good strategy to wear earplugs whether you’re going to a show indoors or outdoors. You can still hear the sounds with earplugs it’s just dampened a little bit. If you’re going to a performance with young children, consider getting them a heavy duty pair of earmuffs because children have more vulnerable hearing than adults.

Your Ears Can be Damaged by Fireworks

Honestly, there are a lot of reasons to avoid fireworks in the summer. This is not about the skilled 4th of July displays, we mean the backyard fireworks that trigger hundreds of injuries during the summer season. Home fireworks reach decibel levels of over 155 which can damage your ears as well as causing hand problems, loss of sight and backyard fires. This year, on the 4th of July, enjoy the fireworks from a little further away and leave the fireworks to the pro’s.

Mowers Can Cause Hearing Loss

If you love to take care of your yard, your edger, trimmer, and mower are your best friends. But the muffled sensation in your ears is a sign that your hearing has taken damage. That’s because the lawn tools, which are constantly loud, impact your hearing over time. No doubt you’ve noticed landscapers using some form of hearing protection, you should take a cue from them and wear earmuffs or earplugs next time you take care of your lawn to ensure your ears doesn’t get injured.

Beaches And Pools, What You Should do to Protect Your Ears

Millions of people suffer from swimmer’s ear every summer, which happens when bacteria-laden water gets trapped inside your ear canal. Swelling and painful earaches are the result when the bacteria infects the ear. These bacteria are generally found in lakes and rivers but could also be found in pools and hot tubs if the water isn’t properly treated. As long as you have your ears treated by a hearing expert you will probably be fine, and no irreversible loss of hearing will occur. To be safe, when your swimming in your pool, use special swimmers earplugs and keep the chemical balance correct to decrease the likelihood of getting swimmers ear.

Water Sports And Boats

Summertime is a taste of freedom for the people who love to be out on the water, smelling the salt air from the ocean or the fresh breeze of the lake. But, jet ski and boat engines can be noisy,they can get up to more than 100 decibels. Continual subjection to that much noise for a period of about 15 minutes can result in long-term hearing damage. In this case also, putting on a set of throw away foam earplugs is a smart strategy.

Your Hearing Can be Damaged by Car Races

It doesn’t matter what type of auto racing you love, stock cars, midgets, motorcycles, drag racing, Formula 1. If you attend many auto-races this summer, they all present a risk. It’s estimated that sound levels can exceed 120 decibels at many races, which is certainly inside the danger zone for hearing injury. As mentioned earlier, your children should wear muffs whereas you should wear earplugs at least. If you don’t, you might not get to enjoy the sound of those engines in the future.

Aging is one of the most common indicators of hearing loss and let’s be honest, as hard as we may try, aging can’t be escaped. But did you know that loss of hearing can lead to between
loss issues that are treatable, and in some cases, avoidable? You could be surprised by these examples.

1: Diabetes

Over 5,000 American adults were examined in a 2008 study which found that individuals who were diagnosed with diabetes were two times as likely to have mild or more hearing loss when tested with mid or low-frequency sounds. Impairment was also more probable with high-frequency sounds, but not as severe. It was also revealed by investigators that people who had high blood sugar levels but not high enough to be defined as diabetes, put simply, pre-diabetic, were 30 percent more likely to have hearing loss than people with healthy blood sugar. A more recent 2013 meta-study (you got it, a study of studies) discovered that the relationship between hearing loss and diabetes was persistent, even while taking into consideration other variables.

So the association between loss of hearing and diabetes is pretty well established. But why should diabetes put you at greater chance of getting hearing loss? Science is somewhat at a loss here. Diabetes is related to a wide variety of health concerns, and particularly, can cause physical injury to the extremities, eyes and kidneys. One hypothesis is that the the ears could be similarly affected by the condition, blood vessels in the ears being harmed. But it may also be associated with general health management. A 2015 study that investigated U.S. military veterans underscored the connection between hearing loss and diabetes, but most notably, it found that individuals with unchecked diabetes, in other words, people suffered even worse if they had uncontrolled and untreated diabetes. It’s necessary to get your blood sugar tested and speak to a doctor if you suspect you might have undiagnosed diabetes or might be pre-diabetic. It’s a smart idea to get your hearing checked if you’re having trouble hearing too.

2: Falling

All right, this is not really a health condition, since we aren’t talking about vertigo, but experiencing a bad fall can start a cascade of health concerns. And though you might not think that your hearing could impact your likelihood of tripping or slipping, a 2012 study uncovered a significant link between hearing loss and risk of a fall. While analyzing over 2,000 adults between the ages of 40 to 69, researchers found that for every 10 dB rise in hearing loss (as an example, normal breathing is about 10 dB), the chance of falling increased 1.4X. Even for people with minimal hearing loss the relationship held up: Within the last twelve months people who had 25 dB of hearing loss were more likely to have had a fall than individuals with normal hearing.

Why should having trouble hearing make you fall? While our ears play a significant role in helping us balance, there are other reasons why loss of hearing could get you down (in this case, quite literally). Although this research didn’t delve into what had caused the participant’s falls, it was suspected by the authors that having difficulty hearing what’s going on around you you (and missing a car honking or other important sounds) could be one problem. But if you’re struggling to pay attention to sounds near you, your split attention means you might not be paying attention to your physical environment and that may end up in a fall. The good news here is that treating hearing loss could potentially reduce your chance of having a fall.

3: High Blood Pressure

A variety of studies (such as this one from 2018) have demonstrated that hearing loss is linked to high blood pressure and some (including this 2013 study) have established that high blood pressure could actually speed up age-related hearing loss. It’s a link that’s been seen fairly consistently, even while controlling for variables like noise exposure and whether you’re a smoker. The only variable that is important appears to be gender: If you’re a male, the connection between loss of hearing and high blood pressure is even stronger.

Your ears are quite closely related to your circulatory system: along with the numerous tiny blood vessels in your ear, two of the body’s main arteries run right by it. This is one explanation why individuals with high blood pressure often suffer from tinnitus, it’s actually their own blood pumping that they’re hearing. (That’s why this kind of tinnitus is called pulsatile tinnitus; you’re hearing your pulse.) But high blood pressure may also potentially be the cause of physical damage to your ears which is the primary theory behind why it would quicken loss of hearing. Each beat has more pressure if your heart is pumping harder. The smaller blood vessels in your ears could potentially be injured by this. lifestyle changes and medical intervention, high blood pressure can be controlled. But if you believe you’re suffering with hearing loss even if you think you’re not old enough for the age-related stuff, it’s a good idea to consult a hearing care professional.

4: Dementia

Chances of dementia may be higher with hearing loss. A 2013 study from Johns Hopkins University that was documented after nearly 2,000 individuals in their 70’s during the period of six years discovered that the danger of mental impairment increased by 24% with only minor loss of hearing (about 25 dB, or slightly louder than a whisper). 2011 research by the same researchers which tracked people over more than 10 years discovered that the worse a subject’s hearing was, the more likely it was that he or she would get dementia. (They also found a similar connection to Alzheimer’s Disease, albeit a less statistically substantial one.) Based on these conclusions, moderate hearing loss puts you at three times the danger of somebody who doesn’t have loss of hearing; one’s danger is raised by nearly 4 times with extreme hearing loss.

It’s scary information, but it’s important to recognize that while the connection between hearing loss and cognitive decline has been well recognized, researchers have been less successful at sussing out why the two are so strongly linked. If you can’t hear well, it’s difficult to interact with people so in theory you will avoid social situations, and that social isolation and lack of mental stimulation can be incapacitating. Another hypothesis is that loss of hearing overloads your brain. In essence, because your brain is putting so much of its recourses into comprehending the sounds near you, you may not have very much energy left for recalling things such as where you put your medication. Staying in close communication with friends and family and keeping the brain active and challenged could help here, but so can treating loss of hearing. If you’re able to hear clearly, social situations become much easier to handle, and you’ll be able to focus on the necessary stuff instead of trying to understand what someone just said. So if you are coping with loss of hearing, you should put a plan of action in place including getting a hearing exam.

If you have eyeglasses, you understand you still need to visit your eye doctor once a year, right? Because your eyes change as time passes. In fact, no part of your body is static, your eyes aren’t and, the reality is, your ears aren’t either. That’s why, just like you do with your eyes, it’s necessary to keep getting your ears tested even after you get a pair of hearing aids.

Unfortunately, many people miss those regular checkups. It’s easy to forget to go in to consult with your hearing care professional because you’ve been occupied with enjoying your life. Or perhaps lately, work has been stressful. Or it’s possible you’ve just been so happy with your hearing aids that you haven’t had a reason to get another appointment. That should be a good thing, right?

In the long run, for individuals suffering from hearing impairment, it is even more essential to have even one follow-up consultation. In spite of that, ongoing attention is often ignored. According to one survey, only 33% of seniors with hearing aids also used regular hearing services.

After You Get Hearing Aids, Why Would You Need to Get Regular Examinations?

Your hearing is not static. It changes over time. When these changes happen, you need to modify your hearing aids to compensate. Occasional testing helps monitor any variations in hearing and catch concerns early.

It may be a good idea to have regular hearing exams for other reasons also. Here are various reasons why you should make it to your hearing examinations:

• Calibrating Hearing Aids: There may be need for yearly calibration of your hearing aids based on tiny changes in your hearing despite the stability of your general hearing. Without this calibration, your hearing aids could slowly become less effective.
• Hearing decline: Even if you use a hearing aid, your hearing may keep degenerating. If this degeneration is slow enough, you probably won’t recognize it’s taking place without the assistance of a hearing screening. Hearing decline can often be slowed with appropriate alterations to your hearing aids.

It’s important to get your hearing aids cleaned professionally from time to time along with keeping track of changes in your hearing. We can help make certain your hearing aid is working the way it should, clean all the small parts and keep it in top notch condition.

If You Don’t Follow up With Routine Check Ups There is a Consequence

If you get frustrated with your hearing aids, say because they don’t work the way you thought they would, you might simply stop wearing them and that would be a problem. Hearing aids make your all-around health better and also, needless to say, makes your hearing better. If you stop using your hearing aids, not only can your hearing decline faster, you might not recognize it right away. Increased danger of hearing accidents, along with cognitive decline, have been related to hearing loss.

In terms of having your hearing aids working at an ideal level, frequent check ups are your best bet. Annual hearing exams or screenings can help you be sure your hearing aids are performing as they should and that your hearing remains protected. So schedule your hearing consultation right away.

Noise-related hearing loss doesn’t just impact people who work in loud environments, like construction workers or heavy metal roadies. Recreation related noise exposure can be just as dangerous as work related noise exposure. What type of exposure are we discussing? Music, gaming, streaming video or anything else that you would listen to through earbuds or headphones.

You might be surprised to find out that a mobile device can get that loud. The typical pain threshold for human hearing is close to 150 db which is in the range of these devices. Your ears will actually start to feel pain at this volume. So what can you do to protect against this sort of noise-related hearing loss?

The volume level here is significant. Listen with the volume at no more than 60% for 60 minutes or less at a stretch (how long you listen for also matters), this is known as the 60/60 rule.

Make a Setting on Your Hearing Aids For Listening to Music

Be certain, if you’re wearing hearing aids, you don’t try to drown out other noises by turning your streaming music up too high. And there are better ways to listen to music so consult us about that also. Hearing aids aren’t designed to increase the quality of music like they do with voices so if you’re really into music, you may have observed this. We may be able to make adjustments to decrease noise and feedback while increasing some frequency to better the quality of sound while listening to music.

Choosing Headphones

When shopping for headphones there are numerous options, specifically if you wear hearing aids. There are various things to consider, although it’s largely a matter of personal preference.

Headphones That go Over The Ears

While the foam-covered speakers that came with your old Walkman are basically no longer used, over-the-ear headphones have had a resurgence. Often surprisingly costly, they feature lots of color possibilities and celebrity endorsements, and of course, exceptional sound quality. And unlike those little foam pads, these go over the entire ear, limiting outside sounds.

Main-stream perception is that these are less dangerous than in-ear headphones because the source of the sound is further away from your eardrum. But because the speakers are larger they are often capable of much louder sound level. Also, noise-canceling might help you ignore the crying baby on your flight, but in other scenarios, it can block sounds you need to hear (such as a honking car). But on the upside, you don’t have to contend with outside sound so you can enjoy your music at lower levels.

Earbuds

The standard earbuds are well known for inferior sound quality, but because they come with your phone a lot of people still use them. Plus, with newer models that don’t have a headphone jack, sticking with Apple’s earbuds can just be easier.

The drawback, aside from the inferior sound quality, is that basic earbuds don’t cancel outside sounds, so that it’s more likely that you will crank up the volume. It’s generally assumed that inserting earbuds so close to your eardrum is the primary concern but it’s really the volume.

Noise Blocking Earbuds

More comfortable than ordinary earbuds, models that have a round rubber tip are the choice of many because they help stop outside sound. A seal that stops outside sound from getting in is formed by the rubber tip which conforms to the shape of the ear. Not to sound like a broken record, but these types of earbuds have the same drawbacks as the other two (it’s all about the volume), as well as carrying the same caution as over-the-ear headphones (they can block out warning sounds). Obviously, these won’t work for you if you wear hearing aids.

A number of pairs might need to be tested before you find headphones that are right for you. Your expectations, acoustically, will differ dependant on what kind of usage you usually give them. Listening to your tunes at a safe volume and coming across headphones that assist you in doing that is essential.

How to be Sure Your Hearing is Safeguarded

How can you be sure it’s safe? There’s an app for that…If you use a smartphone, you can download the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s free Sound Level Meter app. You can get different apps, but research has discovered that the accuracy of these other apps is spotty (also, for whatever reason, Android-based apps have been shown to be less reliable). That prompted NIOSH to develop an app of their own. The app allows you to measure external noises, but you can also measure the sound coming from your device’s speakers, so you will know exactly how much volume your ears are subjected to. It’s a little bit of work, but putting in place these types of preventative measures can help safeguard your hearing.

Your brain can be helped by treating your hearing loss. At least, that’s according to a new study from a University of Manchester study group. These analysts considered a team of around 2000 participants over a time period of nearly twenty years (1996 to 2014). The outstanding conclusions? Treating your loss of hearing can delay dementia by up to 75%.

That is not a small figure.

But is it actually that surprising? The importance of the finding, of course, is still useful, that kind of statistical relationship between hearing loss treatment and the battle against dementia is important and eye-popping. But it coordinates well with what we already know: as you get older, it’s essential to treat your hearing loss if you want to hold off cognitive decline.

How am I Impacted by This Research?

Scientific research can be inconsistent and confusing (should I eat eggs, should I not eat eggs? What about wine? Will that help me live longer?). The reasons for that are long, varied, and not all that pertinent to our discussion here. The bottom line is: yet further proof, this research reveals untreated loss of hearing can lead to or exacerbate cognitive decline including dementia.

So for you personally, what does this indicate? It’s straightforward in many ways: if you’ve observed any possible indications of hearing loss, come see us as soon as you can. And, if you need a hearing aid, you should absolutely start wearing that hearing aid as advised.

Hearing Aids Help Prevent Dementia When You Use Them Regularly

Unfortunately, not everyone falls right into the habit of using a prescribed pair of hearing aids. The usual reasons why include:

• The way that the hearing aid is advertised to work, doesn’t seem to be the way it’s currently working. Many people need to have their settings adjusted, and calibration problems are definitely something that can be addressed by our hearing specialists.
• The hearing aid doesn’t feel as if it fits well. If you are having this problem, please let us know. We can help make it fit better.
• Voices are difficult to understand. In some cases, it takes time for your brain to adapt to recognizing voices again. There are some things we can recommend, such as reading along with an audiobook, that can make this process easier.
• How hearing aids look concerns you. You’d be amazed at the variety of models we have available now. Some models are so discreet, you may not even notice them.

Clearly using your hearing aids is important to your health and future cognitive abilities. If you’re struggling with any of the above, come see us for an adjustment. Consulting your hearing expert to make certain your hearing aids are working for you is just part of the process and it requires time and patience.

It’s more significant than ever to deal with your loss of hearing specifically in the light of the new findings. Hearing aids are protecting your hearing health and your mental health so it’s crucial to be serious about treatment.

Dementia And Hearing Aids, What’s The Connection?, What’s The Link?

So why are these two conditions dementia and hearing loss even linked to begin with? Social isolation is the prominent theory but experts are not completely sure. Many people, when faced with loss of hearing, become less socially active. Sensory stimulation is the basis of another theory. Over time, if a person loses sensory stimulation, like hearing loss, the brain receives less activity which then leads to cognitive decline.

Your hearing aid allows you to hear better. And that can help keep your brain active, delivering a more effective natural safeguard against dementia and cognitive decline. That’s why taking care of hearing loss can slow dementia by as much as 75% percent and why it shouldn’t be surprising that there is a connection between the two.

It’s well understood, that over time, overeating will be unhealthy to your health. Obesity is related to a number of health concerns. You can add hearing loss to high cholesterol, heart disease, and diabetes as a possible problem. It’s calculated that around 48 million people in the U . S ., about 20% of this country’s population, suffer from loss of hearing, and around double that amount of adults, 93 million, are obese. These figures are shocking and point to a significant health problem throughout the country.

How Is Obesity Related to Hearing Loss?

Various studies have revealed that there’s a relationship between obesity and hearing loss. Exactly what that link is, is still being investigated, it’s assumed that loss of hearing and obesity have a relationship because of its impact on our circulatory system. What’s more, obesity is associated with high blood pressure and diabetes, which are also connected to hearing loss.

The inner ears are filled with tiny hairs that detect sound in the ear. So that they can work effectively, these little hairs, called stereocilia, require a steady blood flow. Because of obesity, the flow of blood is restricted throughout the body because, in order to keep the blood flowing inside the body, the heart needs to do additional work, which means that there is less than ideal amount of blood flow available to your ear. This could irreversibly damage the ears. As all of these conditions effect the blood flow, diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure impact the inner ear in the same way.

It’s especially important to keep control of your weight as you age since age-related hearing loss and high-fat mass index are also connected. Your body’s metabolism doesn’t work as fast or as well as it did in the past, which is the reason why you should try to stick to healthy habits that you started when you were younger.

Good nutrition and exercise are great for your overall health and your hearing.

Treatment Options For Obesity-Associated Hearing Loss

It’s a possibility that you may not be able to recover your lost hearing if it’s brought on by obesity, nonetheless, in order to find out how extensive your loss of hearing is, it’s important to get your hearing screened. If the injury is permanent, you might need a hearing aid or other device to begin hearing correctly again.

If the injury is not that severe, you might need to see your doctor about initiating a diet and exercise plan to minimize the effect your weight has on your well being before it gets any worse. Your doctor should recommend a cardio intensive exercise routine that will get your blood pumping and improve your general health. You will likely find that other areas of your life also get better, mental health, as an example, since regular exercise has been proven to lessen depression.

How to Prevent Obesity-Related Hearing Loss

A healthy diet and a regular exercise regime are essential to avoiding obesity-related disorders like heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure. staying healthy can also assist in keeping your hearing in superior shape. A plan that can assist you to achieve your goals and that is individualized for you can be planned by a nutritionist. The nutritionist can make certain you’re consuming the ideal blend of nutrients in nutritious foods, including foods that have plenty of iron, because of course, a lack of iron in your diet can aggravate your loss of hearing and lead to tinnitus.

Find out more concerning hearing loss and how you can hear better with the proper treatment method.