Hearing loss can impede the smooth functioning and flow of your everyday life. It makes navigating life more difficult as we rely on all five of our senses to guide our everyday experiences. Finding the right fit for your ears can be an emotional rollercoaster, one that we sympathise deeply with.
However, the search for answers on your hearing health journey doesn’t have to be stressful. Our experienced team of hearing aid audiologists can provide you with the comfort and support needed to help you transition into a new phase of hearing with the best hearing aid technology for you.
A hearing aid is an assistive device that is designed to make conversations and other sounds clearer and louder. Hearing aids enable you to confidently converse, adjust loud and quiet sounds accordingly, and help you to enjoy sounds produced by technology and entertainment sources. Hearing aids also pick up sounds digitally and project them at a volume that matches your needs. They are programmable for a unique, personalised hearing experience. Our professional team at Hear ClearNI will match your hearing aid to your enhanced hearing test results to ensure you hear better, clearer, and without any discomfort.
Supported by science, hearing aids have shown to provide the host with a variety of advantages. These tiny devices have the potential to transform your quality of hearing and get you back to enjoying the sounds you love. However, the benefits go beyond simply hearing better. Research and user experience shows that hearing aids:
May reduce dementia risks brought on by hearing loss.
Have the capability to reduce background noises so that you can enjoy the sounds that matter most.
Can eliminate requests such as, “can you please speak up?” Or “can you please repeat yourself?”.
Can delay the gradual decay of hearing loss.
Have the potential to strengthen auditory brain pathways, the source of sound processing.
You may have learned to lip read or watch television with subtitles. Hearing aids can help you avoid these extra efforts, as well as reduce listening effort.
Like any medical treatment, adjusting to something new and foreign can take time. While it can take months to fully get used to a hearing aid, wearing them often will speed up the adjustment period. The most important part of the transition is to not get discouraged by the adjustment period. It takes time for your brain to adapt to them. It is completely normal to experience feelings of frustration early on. Many people who try a hearing aid for the first time are relearning how to hear or are hearing sounds they haven’t heard for quite some time. Allow yourself time to adapt to the change and in no time you’ll be enjoying the full hearing health effects.
Call us today to learn more, or fill out our online form to book an appointment for a consultation.
A hearing assessment can identify hearing reduction and diagnose a range of conditions related to conductive or sensorineural hearing loss. This may range from the simple accumulation of ear wax to a perforated eardrum.
A hearing assessment will take about 60-90 mins depending on the patient. As part of the hearing test, we will carry out the following:
Case history (find out more about your hearing issues);
Otoscopy (look in ears to make sure they are ok);
Audiometry (Hearing test);
Counselling ( Discuss hearing test results and options);
First Fit ( This is were we will fit a pair of demo aids for patient if they are keen to trial hearing aids);
Hearing Aid training ( Patient is shown how hearing aids work, inserting into ears, connect to phone were applicable and how to look after aids).
You find it difficult to listen to conversations or the TV when there's background noise. Speaking and hearing people on the phone is difficult, even in a quiet room. You have to ask others to repeat themselves often, or it sounds like they're mumbling. These are all signs that you need a hearing assessment.
Before the hearing assessment the clinician will carry out otoscopy to check your ears and will ask a series of questions to ensure no contra-indications to carry out the hearing test. Hearing tests are very safe tests; complications arising from these tests are extremely rare.
An audiometry evaluation can show the type of loss, severity and will allow the clinician to assess if onward referral to ENT is required.
Types of Hearing Loss
Hearing tests can identify hearing reduction problems, including:
conductive – a sound blockage in the middle or outer ear (or both), usually caused by middle ear infections or by wax build-up in the ear canal
sensorineural – the cochlea or cochlear nerve is damaged
mixed – the hearing loss is caused by a combination of conductive and sensor neural problems.
Hearing loss can also be described as:
congenital – when the hearing loss occurs before or just after birth. Exposure to certain diseases in utero or soon after birth can harm the hearing mechanism of the baby
acquired– when the loss happens later (for example, due to disease or trauma).
Severity of Hearing Loss
Impaired hearing is measured in decibels (dB). Conversational speech is around 65 dB. The degrees of hearing loss include:
mild (21 – 45 dB) – soft sounds may be difficult to distinguish
moderate (46 – 60 dB) – conversational speech is hard to hear, especially if there is background noise (such as a television or radio)
moderately severe (61 – 75 dB) – it is very difficult to hear ordinary speech
severe (76 – 90 dB) – conversational speech cannot be heard
profound (91 dB) – almost all sounds are inaudible. Most people with profound hearing loss benefit from a hearing aid.
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