Blog - Hearing Health Center

Does High Humidity Affect My Hearing Aids?

On July 15th, 2018 | by admin | in Hearing Aid Maintenance, Hearing Aid Repair, Hearing Aids

One of the great things about starting your better-hearing journey is that your world is more enjoyable when you can hear all those sounds you’ve been missing.

That might also mean you’re getting outside more, possibly exposing your hearing devices to humidity. Your hearing aids are tiny computers, and just like with laptops and tablets, moisture can present a challenge.

Humidity

Let’s discuss humidity first. Simply put, humidity is a measurement of the amount of water vapor in the air.

Hot air can hold a lot of water vapor, but cold air cannot. When hot air meets cold air, the drop in temperature means a drop in how much water vapor the air can hold.

Let’s consider a can of soda pop: When humid air makes contact with a cold can of soda pop, the air temperature around the can drops quickly. Any water vapor from the humid air …

Eyes and Ears: More in Common Than You Think!

On July 1st, 2018 | by admin | in Comorbidity, Disorders, Hearing Health

4 Reasons to Keep Your Hearing and Vision in Check

We all know that eyes and ears play a huge role in helping people — and animals, too! — experience life’s adventures. Seeing or hearing the people, places, and moments that matter can make for wonderful, lasting memories.

But did you know that seeing and hearing have more in common than just their rock-star status? Here are four reasons to make regular checkups for hearing and vision an important part of your overall health and wellness:

Hearing actually enhances the sense of sight, according to a UCLA study, with both working as a team to help you perceive and participate in the world around you. In the study, which ran participants through a series of trials to correctly identify the direction in which a display of dots were moving, hearing the direction in which the dots …

High Blood Pressure + Hearing Loss: 3 Things to Know

What Does Hypertension Have to Do With Hearing? Plenty!

On June 15th, 2018 | by admin | in Uncategorized

We’ve got a tip for your wellness checklist: Keeping your blood pressure down may help keep your hearing up!

Both hearing loss and hypertension, or high blood pressure, impact millions of people around the world, but few realize that these two chronic conditions might go hand in hand.

For your best health, here are three important things to know:

Hypertension and Hearing Loss Are Connected

Like hearing loss, which affects an estimated 466 million people worldwide, hypertension is a serious public-health challenge that can take a toll on your health and overall quality of life. It could also put you at greater risk of hearing impairment.

In one study of 274 men and women ages 45 to 64, researchers found a strong relationship between high blood pressure and age-related hearing loss, with hypertensive patients having a higher threshold below which they couldn’t hear — …

Noise Is Bad for My Heart? How Noise Pollution Affects Your Health

Health Effects of Noise Pollution

On June 1st, 2018 | by admin | in Hearing, Hearing Health, Hearing Loss, Hearing Protection

Noise is just noise, right? You learn to tune it out and, unless it’s really loud, you don’t worry about it. You definitely wouldn’t worry about its effects on your heart — would you?

As far back as 1972, awareness of the adverse health effects of noise pollution was so strong that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency passed the Noise Control Act to establish “a national policy to promote an environment for all Americans free from noise that jeopardizes their health and welfare.” This naturally leads to the question, “How bad can noise pollution really be?”

What Is Noise Pollution?

Noise pollution isn’t just rush-hour traffic, living near an airport, or working near a long-standing construction site. To truly understand noise pollution, let’s try a little experiment, either in real life or in your imagination:

Go to your favorite spot in nature. Keep your headphones packed away …

Better Hearing & Speech Month: 7 Accessories to Turn Up Your Tech

On May 15th, 2018 | by admin | in Hearing Accessories, Hearing Aids, Technology

Have you heard? We’re celebrating Better Hearing & Speech Month in May!

In honor of the theme, “Communication for All,” here are seven hearing aid accessories to make sure you’re communicating and connecting your best with the people, places, and moments that matter in your life.

Wireless Mic

Conversations rock when everybody around the table can join in, but background noise at restaurants and other spaces can make that a tall order. Whether you’re having a one-on-one chat or hanging with a crowd, an extra microphone can help. A wireless Bluetooth® microphone worn on your companion’s lapel can send speech directly to your hearing aid, or place the mic in a central spot for group conversations.

Phone Clip

Does talking on the telephone seem harder than it used to be? Try using a phone clip. The ReSound Phone Clip+, for example, lets you stream phone calls, music, and other …

5 Ways to Support Your HEARing Health

On May 1st, 2018 | by admin | in Hearing, Hearing Health, Tips & Tricks

The whir of a hummingbird. The warning of an approaching ambulance. The round of laughter after your deviously funny — and deftly delivered — wedding toast. That sublime guitar riff or soulful crescendo in your favorite song.

As we celebrate Better Hearing & Speech Month in May — and the theme, “Communication for All” — it’s a great time to remember the many ways hearing makes a difference in your life. And to help you maintain those connections that matter, we’re sharing five easy tips for hearing your best.

Know the Signs

More than 466 million children and adults have disabling hearing impairment, according to the World Health Organization, but nearly all hearing loss can be treated. One of the first steps is recognizing the potential signs. If you experience muffled speech sounds, difficulty hearing on the phone or in a crowd, trouble understanding women’s or children’s …

Celebrate Lawn & Garden Month by Protecting Your Hearing

April Is National Lawn and Garden Month

On April 15th, 2018 | by admin | in Hearing Health, Hearing Loss, Hearing Protection

Celebrate by Protecting Your Hearing

Spring has sprung, and so has the annual spring cornucopia of sounds: birds singing, children laughing, neighbors chatting — and lawn equipment.

Maintaining your burgeoning plant life is a noisy affair. Once you’ve used the mower, leaf blower, chain saw, and string trimmer, your ears have put up with quite a racket.

With noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) affecting one in four U.S. adults ages 20 to 69, according to the Centers for Disease Control, it might be worth exploring the question, “But how dangerous is all that noise, really?”

Noise-Induced Hearing Loss

Hearing happens when the hair cells in your inner ear convert sound signals to electrical signals, and these electrical signals get sent to your brain to be interpreted as sounds. Every hair cell that gets damaged, therefore, means a reduction in your ability to hear. NIHL, then, is hearing damage …

Diabetes & Hearing Loss: What’s the Deal?

On April 1st, 2018 | by admin | in Comorbidity, Disorders, Hearing Loss

Are hearing impairment and diabetes connected? More than you might think.

Hearing loss — which affects an estimated one of every five Americans — is twice as common among people living with diabetes, making healthy habits and regular hearing checkups all the more important for overall wellness.

Some 30 million people in the U.S. have diabetes, a chronic metabolic disease that isn’t yet curable but can be managed. Controlling blood sugar is crucial to managing the condition, which, if uncontrolled, can lead over time to other problems such as cardiovascular disease, kidney damage, and hearing loss.

Much like age-related hearing loss, diabetes-related hearing issues commonly take a toll on higher-frequency hearing. In addition, people with diabetes can have a harder time hearing speech in noisy environments such as restaurants and parties.

What’s the link between the two conditions?

It’s not yet known …

Dementia a Real Risk With Hearing Loss

On March 15th, 2018 | by admin | in Comorbidity, Disorders, Hearing Health

If you think of hearing loss as just an inconsequential part of getting older, you’re not alone.

The truth is, however, that the condition can strike even the youngest among us — more than one in 1,000 babies screened has some form of hearing impairment, per Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data — and it can trigger other health problems, too.

Take cognitive decline, for example, which can lead to Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia. Research has long pointed to links between hearing loss and reduced brain functioning over time, but the statistics may surprise you.

Consider these startling findings:

On average, seniors with hearing loss experience significantly reduced cognitive function 3.2 years before their normal-hearing counterparts. Hearing-impaired seniors experience thinking and memory problems 30 to 40 percent faster than their normal-hearing counterparts. Older adults with a hearing disability may lose over …

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Reverse-Slope Hearing Loss

On March 1st, 2018 | by admin | in Hearing Aids, Hearing Loss

Your Refrigerator Is Running — Can You Hear It?

You’re probably familiar with the many telltale, well-known signs of hearing loss — asking people to repeat themselves frequently, turning up the TV to uncomfortable levels for others in the room, or leaning into a conversation on one side to use your “good ear.”

But what if speech is clear to you and you never turn up the TV — but you can’t hear whether the car you’re standing next to is running? This is an actual type of hearing loss, called reverse-slope hearing loss (RSHL), and people with this type often don’t realize they have a hearing impairment.

What Is Reverse-Slope Hearing Loss?

Hearing Loss Basics

The most common type of hearing loss — the kind most people think of when they think of hearing loss — is characterized by loss of sounds at higher frequencies and is sometimes …

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