We’re raising awareness for the month of May about communication which involves hearing and speech.
About five percent of the earth’s population has some range of hearing loss. About five percent of the world’s population also has difficulty with speech. Good communication is crucial in every facet of life. Better Hearing and Speech Month informs others about problems when communicating with someone who hears or speaks differently and how to improve those interactions. A Historical Overview of Better Hearing and Speech Month Better Hearing and Speech Month has had formal recognition in the US for 90 years. Established by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association in 1927, Better Hearing and Speech Month will raise awareness about obstacles surrounding speech and hearing. Everyone is encouraged to reflect on their speech and hearing and make improvements if necessary. When a person’s hearing becomes impaired, they may slur their speech or mispronounce certain words because they haven’t heard these sounds for so long. Ways to Observe Better Hearing and Speech Month Throughout this month, think about how you hear and speak. Ask yourself if you are being effective enough with your communication or if you accurately receive verbal information. Signs of hearing problems may include:
If you have children or grandchildren, this month also urges you to be aware of any changes in their hearing, speech, or language. Seek help and treatment immediately. Unaddressed hearing loss may impact their confidence and learning skills. If any of these problems become noticeable, get a hearing test. Spread the word about taking care of your hearing and speech. Pure Sound Hearing offers complimentary hearing tests and consultations. Life is full of ups and downs, and challenges are bound to occur. These challenges often lead to stress.
To anyone reading this blog, you are fully aware that hearing loss can cause stress. Whether you feel anxiety over engaging in a conversation in a loud and crowded area, experience listening fatigue, or have tinnitus, we’ve got some tips on how to deal with the stress of these problems. Simply receiving treatment for hearing loss can significantly lower your stress levels. Hearing better and having smoother interactions with others can be less stressful. Improving stress management skills can have a lasting effect on your overall health. We’re recognizing Stress Awareness Month by sharing how hearing loss treatment with hearing aids can help with your interactions, reconnections, and lower stress. 1. Wearing Hearing Aids can Reduce Social Anxiety and Withdrawal Connecting with others on a social level is a great way to relieve stress. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, it helps to divert attention away from problems you may face while offering support and encouragement. Wearing hearing aids can make you feel more confident to talk to family and friends, participate in volunteer work within your community, or enjoy things like going to a movie theater and hearing live music again. 2. Tinnitus Relief Tinnitus can cause a lot of stress. Wearing hearing aids can help lower those stress levels. According to one study, 60 percent of patients felt small to significant alleviation from their tinnitus while donning hearing aids. The rest of the patients felt significant relief with their hearing aids. These devices can be programmed by your hearing instrument specialist to feature tinnitus relief, which may be accessed through a customized channel on your hearing aids. 3. Keeping Fit with Hearing Aids Being physically active has been a proven stress reliever. Your brain receives endorphins when focusing your attention away from daily problems to the movements in your body. Donning hearing aids helps with an active lifestyle (including light or intense exercises) by reducing the risks of tripping and/or falling. Hearing aids can help you be more aware of your environment with omnidirectional microphones programmed as an optional feature. These microphones will capture sound from every direction, but you can switch back to a directional microphone if you are in a situation where you want to focus on sounds that are coming from the angle in which you face. If you are biking, and want to be aware of sounds from all directions, use the omnidirectional feature. 4. Don’t miss out on a Joke Everyone knows that laughter is a huge stress reliever. The Mayo Clinic has found that laughing decreases your mental load while starting up and lowering your stress response. Stream a comedy through your hearing aids or hang out with your funniest friends. It’ll make you feel much better and you’ll have a fun time. Work on managing your stress this month, so that you can set yourself up for managing it better from now on. If necessary, get help from hearing aids by scheduling an appointment with one of our providers from Pure Sound Hearing in Elizabethtown, Lititz, or Strasburg. Everyone knows that hearing loss is generally caused by exposure to loud noise and aging. But did you know that some chemicals and medications can also damage the inner ear, and cause hearing loss? The literal translation of “ototoxicity” is “ear poison”. Medications or chemicals that are ototoxic can cause balance problems, hearing loss, and tinnitus.
Typical Ototoxicants There are five primary categories of ototoxicants, which include:
Most people do not store these powerful solvents and compounds inside their homes, therefore the ototoxicants that the general public comes across are nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like aspirin, ibuprofen, and naproxen sodium. Ototoxic symptoms can include fatigue, headaches, nausea, nystagmus (involuntary eye movement), and vertigo. Before hearing loss becomes noticeable, tinnitus normally occurs first. Are there Treatment Options for Ototoxicity? The hair cells located in the inner ear are extremely fragile, so there’s no helpful treatment for ototoxicity. Once your hair cells are damaged, that is permanent along with your ability to hear. Preventative action is the best way to approach this. If your hair cells are not permanently damaged after an exposure, hearing, and balance may recover in a matter of months. If your hearing is permanently damaged, hearing aids and other hearing therapies can help. A professional hearing healthcare provider can help you choose the best options for you. How to Avoid Ototoxicity Ototoxicity can be averted by refraining from coming in contact with substances that contain ototoxic substances. It may be difficult to attain this as many life-saving medications like chemotherapy drugs are also ototoxic. You must decide by weighing the risks and benefits. Raising awareness for the general public as well as drug manufacturers who are developing ways to diminish these side effects and figuring out advanced treatment options that won’t impact hearing health, is the first step to tackling this issue. Talk to your healthcare provider about your concerns with ototoxicity, and understand what substances you’ll be coming in contact with if there are any risks in your work environment. Understanding and reducing these risks will help keep you safe. If you, or a loved one, are experiencing hearing loss and believe hearing aids would be helpful, please contact us at Pure Sound Hearing for a complimentary hearing test and consultation. |
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