Hearing loss is a common occurrence, being the third most frequent health problem in the U.S. But it is treatable and more successful when started early. If you think you have hearing loss, there are 10 reasons you should get a hearing test:
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1. The Mayo Clinic encourages baseline hearing tests for adults.
2. Be proactive because you care about your health and want a quality life.
3. Treated hearing loss impacts earning power in a positive way.
4. You could develop dementia with untreated hearing loss.
5. Hearing tests are painless, take less than hour, and are often free.
6. Getting hearing aids lessens cognitive decline.
7. Your hearing test may be normal.
8. Hearing loss may indicate diabetes or cardiovascular disease.
9. You might get depressed or become socially isolated with untreated hearing loss.
10. You might have increased incidents of falling with hearing loss.
    
    

Don't miss out on time with your grandchildren. They are beautiful and you will want to hear every word.

If you suspect you have hearing loss, contact your hearing instrument specialist at Pure Sound Hearing Aids for the best free test.

Middle-aged bodies don’t behave, feel, or recover like before. But if you live to be 85, you’ll probably happily accept some hearing loss along with it as a trade-off. The chances of hearing loss do increase with age.

​According to the Journal of the American Medical Association Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, hearing loss affects 4 out of every 5 adults 85 and older. In the next 40 years, they say, the U.S. population of individuals older than 80 is expected to double. That’s a lot of people with hearing loss. But you can increase the quality of your life and keep your health on track with hearing aids.

For the best hearing test, please contact your hearing instrument specialist at Pure Sound Hearing Aids.

According to the Better Hearing Institute, people with hearing problems who use hearing aids get more satisfaction in doing things and are more likely to socialize and exercise. Wearing hearing aids boosts positive feelings, improves the quality of life, can help to improve balance, and has a positive impact on relationships.

Feeling motivated becomes a key factor in wearing hearing aids. You have a higher quality of life. There are many benefits to seeking hearing loss treatment and getting hearing aids.

For more information on hearing aids, please contact your hearing instrument specialist at Pure Sound Hearing Aids.

A normal, challenging day, like dealing with family, work, or school, can quickly turn frustrating when tinnitus--buzzing in the ears--becomes too much to bear. Tinnitus may be constant, distracting, and irritating. It heightens anxiety, stress, and nervousness. While it may seem singular and hopeless, it is more common than you think, and there are proper solutions to ease it. To reduce your tinnitus symptoms, try one or more of the methods explained below.

1. Do exercises in breathing

Although breathing is a vital, natural process, we often fail to realize the positive benefits it can engender, besides being life-sustaining. Performing techniques in breathing will help you concentrate on your body’s natural rhythm and can effectively calm you. The good news is that the exercises can be done anywhere, don’t take much time, and are easy to do. Here are two ways to ease tinnitus, control your breathing, and relax you:

• Start with taking long, even breaths through your nose, releasing the breaths through your mouth. Ease the stress in your body while exhaling by focusing on the lessening of tension in your neck, shoulders, core, and jaw. Repeat this action three or four times per session.

 

• Slowly breathe in and out of your nose and then for two or three seconds hold your breath. Stay relaxed while repeating this exercise three or four times. Concentration is heightened in this way.

2. Use guided meditation

​You will achieve a relaxed state by using guided meditation as a tool. Personal meditation may be too silent for tinnitus sufferers. Guided meditation is best. Listening to another person’s voice with your eyes closed, as your guide gives you breathing exercises to do, will lessen tinnitus. Ambient noise in the background can be played during this process to create a calming soundscape. Because there will be pauses between your guide’s words, such a distraction may be necessary.

3. Use sound therapy

Avoid situations of absolute silence. Absolute silence allows you to focus on the distracting, phantom buzzing of tinnitus. Gentle, soothing sounds, like white noise or ocean waves, even if it is just a recording, help to calm you and ease tinnitus. The disorder will be less noticeable. By using sound therapy, you will train your brain to focus less on the disorder and more on external sounds.

There are tinnitus therapy features now available in hearing aids. This new technology allows wearers to hear environmental sounds more successfully, often reducing tinnitus. There are different sound therapy signals that exist for your comfort needs. You can choose from two different types--static noise or nature-inspired sounds.

For Signia hearing aid wearers, there is Notch Therapy, a unique therapeutic approach, available to combat a certain, common type of tinnitus. It works unnoticed in the background and offers long-term relief over time. Rather than using sound therapy, where a sound is audible in the background, Notch Therapy operates imperceptibly in the background.

Remember, it is best to practice relaxation techniques even when you are not stressed to promote your overall well-being. You will have more success over tinnitus in no time at all. For more help, contact a hearing instrument specialist at Pure Sound Hearing Aids.

Part 1: Determining if there is a hearing loss problem

Someone with hearing loss commonly refuses to acknowledge the problem before anyone else. Close friends, children, and siblings are among the first ones to identify the problem. If you suspect someone close to you has signs of hearing loss, below are some ways you can tell if there’s a serious problem.

Just a challenge or signs of hearing loss?

• There might not be a reason for concern if your loved one has to have you repeat yourself because you are talking over the sound of the television. However, there is cause for concern if your loved one has the volume turned up so high it hurts your ears.

 

• It could just be a temporary distraction if your friend forgets to shut off the turn signal in the car. However, if your friend doesn’t hear a blaring police siren until it is behind him or her, there is cause for concern.

 

• If your co-worker pulls the wrong file because the name you asked for doesn’t sound clear enough once in a while, that might not be a problem. However, if your co-worker constantly makes this mistake and his or her competence is being questioned by others, it is a cause for concern.

Don’t be caught off guard if your loved one, friend, or co-worker denies there is a problem with a difficulty in hearing. However, don’t let the subject go; hearing loss is life changing on many levels. Social isolation may occur, which may lead to depression or dementia. It may also affect your loved one’s job, if he or she isn’t already fired. Also, be cognizant of the fact that the hearing loss may be an indicator of some underlying problem like cardiovascular disease or diabetes. It is imperative that you don’t just brush off the symptoms of hearing loss or let your loved one do that, either.

Part 2: Time to get hearing aids?

Above, the discussion was about determining if hearing loss is a factor in your loved one’s life. Now, it is time to discuss how you can gently discuss your loved one getting an appointment with a hearing instrument specialist to have his or her hearing tested. Here’s what you should do:

• Confront excuses - Don’t let your loved one pass off the hearing loss as someone else just mumbling instead of being heard. Trouble understanding speech at a normal or louder volume is part of hearing loss. It is even worse for your loved one in a noisy environment. You can let your loved one know that hearing aids don’t just make everything louder; they also clarify speech and help eliminate background noise.

 

• Address quality of life - Mental and physical health are affected by untreated hearing loss, according to studies. The mental effects can be linked to depression, stress, and anxiety, while the physical effects can be linked to cardiovascular disease, risk of falling, diabetes, and dementia. So, be clear about how hearing aids are more than just about hearing. It’s not just a nice idea to treat hearing loss; it’s imperative.

 

• Be honest  - Many times people with hearing loss think getting hearing aids will make them look old. But explain that wearing discreet hearing aids and conversing normally in a crowd actually does the opposite. It’s when people have to ask others to repeat themselves or they can’t participate in a conversation that makes people look old. No one cares if someone has to wear hearing aids or will probably even notice.

 

• Explain the cool technology - There are innovations with hearing aids. Smart hearing aids are able to recognize many listening situations, like being outside in the wind, in a car, or in a crowd. Seamlessly, the devices adapt their performance to a situation and can even learn a hearing aid wearer’s listening choices. Advanced wireless technology makes it so that hearing aids work together as one system to provide clarity and to adjust volume. High-tech Signia hearing aids are clinically proven to produce better than normal hearing in challenging situations and reduce listening efforts. Let you loved one know that hearing aids are so smart now that they can be adjusted by app or remote control and stream sound from televisions, smartphones, Bluetooth®-enabled PCs, and more. The result is that the hearing aids are transformed into wireless headsets.

 

• Address any preconceptions - Many people with hearing loss think of hearing aids as the outdated ones of the past - large, beige, uncomfortable, squealing banana-shaped devices. Times have changed. Hearing aids fit discreetly behind or in the ear and can be adjusted to eliminate feedback. Even the ones you can see are more hip--sleeker, smaller, and stylish--with many colors available. They are so comfortable that a wearer forgets he or she is wearing them. Plus, the technology, as stated, is out of this world. So, the best thing you could do is compare wearing hearing aids with wearing glasses. Glasses used to be embarrassing, thick-framed, and clunky. Now, they are a fashion statement.

If you suspect a loved one has a hearing loss problem, please have him or her contact a hearing aid instrument specialist at Pure Sound Hearing Aids for help.