More than 23,000 adults and 15,500 children have received cochlear implants, according to the Food and Drug Administration. These devices can help adults who have lost most or even all of their hearing later in life to learn to associate the signal provided by an implant with sounds they remember. The technology can provide recipients with the ability to understand speech by listening through the implant and without requiring any visual clues such as sign language or lip reading. Children are also able to acquire speech, language and social skills by receiving a cochlear implant along with intensive therapy to learn how to use it. Implanting a cochlear device earlier in a child’s development rather than later can help provide critical learning during key development periods.
The implant requires a surgical procedure and then therapy to learn or relearn the sense of hearing with the device, and not everyone will have the same level of success. While cochlear implants have been considered extremely successful, advancements in technology and continued research is yielding better ways for even greater hearing efficiency and to help with expanded kinds of hearing loss.
The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders is supporting research to improve the benefits provided by cochlear implants. According to their website, it may be possible to use a shortened electrode array, inserted into a portion of the cochlea, for individuals whose hearing loss is limited to higher frequencies. Other studies are currently exploring ways to make an implant convey sounds of speech more clearly. In addition, research is being conducted to determine potential benefits of pairing a cochlear implant in one ear with another cochlear implant or a hearing aid in the other ear.
Give your hearing the best chance for overall continued wellness by taking the all-natural supplement PROHIERAN.
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Good news continues about the benefits of Resveratrol, and how the super-antioxidant not only enhances hearing wellness when optimized through the all-natural supplement PROHIERAN, but can promote heart health, aid in weight loss, help prevent cancer, increase endurance, and protect your body’s overall cellular wellness. Studies are also suggesting that the antioxidant may also help prevent or minimize the effects of Alzheimer’s disease.
According to resveratrol.com, one of the key characteristics of this heartbreaking disease is the deposition of plaques in the brain, which are caused by amyloidal-beta peptides. Research has suggested that adding resveratrol to cells that create amyloidal-beta peptides may result in significantly lower levels of the amyloidal-beta peptides.
While studies are not conclusive, facts are pointing to the ability for Resveratrol to pass through the blood-brain barrier. Blood vessel walls prevent many toxins and other compounds — both the good kinds as well as the bad — from entering the brain. So, this could mean that Resveratrol has the ability to reach, and perhaps even treat, the brain.
PROHIERAN is the only hearing supplement on the market with Resveratrol, designed to protect your hearing, while supporting overall cellular health and wellness. Right now, PROHIERAN dietary supplement is being offered for a limited time of two bottles for $49.95 plus shipping. See how it can help you lead a healthier lifestyle while protecting your hearing wellness.
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When it comes to maintaining health overall, men tend to wait for more serious symptoms to appear before seeking treatment. That’s because men often feel that if they don’t act on a symptom, then they don’t really have a health problem. Health professions are working together to try and overcome that perception by encouraging men to step up and speak out about any concerns or potential health issues so that they can enjoy a full and quality lifestyle for as long as possible.
Hearing loss is an area that many men may give the silent treatment to, ignoring symptoms and denying that there is a problem. They consider hearing loss to be an inevitable part of the aging process, and not admitting to it sometimes makes them feel like they are skirting aging. However, by being aware of some of the most common warning signs, men can detect their hearing loss early on and get treatment as needed, which can have a profound impact on overall wellness. Another way to maintain hearing wellness is to by taking vitamins and a daily supplement that promotes overall cellular vitality, such as PROHIERAN.
The Better Hearing Institute has provided the following signs specifically for men that indicate the presence of a hearing impairment:
- You have trouble understanding the voices of women and small children when they speak
- You feel that people mumble or do not speak clearly
- You seem to hear better from one ear than from the other
- You turn the TV up louder than others need to
- You increasingly have problems following conversations between the front and back seats of cars
If you suspect hearing loss, schedule a hearing test, and then know that there is a wide array of effective and discreet hearing options available on the market today.
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The Journal of Pediatrics recently released a study on how much people understand about hearing loss and the intentional exposure to loud music.
The objective of the study was to compare awareness of music-induced hearing loss to the behavior trends. The article states that they believe that music-induced hearing loss is an unconsciously self-inflicted public health concern and it could evolve into an epidemic because of the appeal of loud music.
The results showed that hearing loss was considered a problem by 32% of the 2500 respondents compared with other health issues such as drug/alcohol use (62%). However, nearly half of the respondents admitted experiencing symptoms such as tinnitus or hearing loss after loud music exposure.
Seventy-five percent of respondents owned an MP3 player, with 24 percent listening to their music player for more than 15 hours a week. Nearly half of the respondents also said they use their player at 75 percent to 100 percent of its maximum volume capacity.
Most respondents could not remember learning about prevention of potential hearing loss, although the media has become the most informative source. Most respondents indicated that they would adopt protective ear behavior if made aware of hearing loss risk, especially if informed by health care professionals, revealing an educational opportunity.
This is an very telling study in that it show two things.
#1 – Respondents could not recall being informed about hearing loss risks.
#2 – Respondents would be in favor of using hearing protection if they were ever educated about the risks.
Help us spread the word about the risk of music-induced hearing loss. Listening to your portable music player is detrimental to your hearing wellness. Take a look at our blog post about putting a limit on your iPod volume.
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New hearing technologies continue to revolutionize the hearing abilities for those who are facing increasing hearing loss due to aging or illness. One of these innovative approaches is Live Speech Mapping for hearing aid fittings — sometimes touted as an MRI of your aid’s setting.
Mapping uses the voices of a patient’s family member or friend or even of the clinician to gain real ear measurements. The mapping process places “real speech” with its continuously fluctuating amplitude and spectral characters in the patient’s preferred listening range. The Live Speech Map is displayed to the patient on a digital speech imaging computer through easily-understood graphics so that patients can actually see sounds that they are missing and be presented with a clear visual sense of hearing loss and aided benefits relating to actual speech.
Once patients view what they are missing, they’ll be able to listen through a digital hearing aid and tune their personal hearing aid until it restores the missing speech patterns and tones. So, not only will you hear the difference a hearing aid makes with your speech, you’ll be able to see the sounds being restored visually as well.
Audiologists have reported that Live Speech Mapping provides patients with an overall great sense of confidence in their hearing aid and in their hearing rehabilitation approach. In other words, when patients can actually see their hearing loss and then see how it is resolved, they are more apt to believe in the benefit of an aid, and as a result, use it as intended.
In addition, they also report a reduction in a reduction of follow-up visits required, lower practice costs, and lower costs for the patient because the Audiologist is able to “get it right the first time.”
Many audiologists offer Live Speech Mapping or Digital Speech Imaging processes. Ask whether it is done when considering a hearing wellness exam. Another way to promote overall hearing wellness is by taking the all-natural supplement, PROHIERAN.
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What could have been a tragedy for an elderly man in the UK turned out to be quite a remarkable story. What is believed to have been the work of an arson, a four story building was set on fire last Saturday. A 64-year-old deaf man lived in that building and would have slept right through the blaze, but thanks to a vibrating alarm from a company called FireAngel, he was woken up in time to put the fire out himself with only minor injuries due to smoke inhalation.
The firefighters believe that flammable material was put through the mail slot in the apartment, but when the blaze set off an in-bed hear impaired fire alarm the elderly man was able to save the entire building. “He actually put the fire out himself” firefighters stated, “only because he was woken up by the pad.”
You can learn more about the vibrating fire alarm for the hearing impaired at fireangel.co.uk
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Athletes who are deaf or hard of hearing but didn’t let the disability get in the way of their love of sports are preparing to compete in the Summer Deaflympics in Taipei, Taiwan, Sept. 5-15. Events that 2009 Team USA athletes will be participating in include athletics (track and field), basketball, beach volleyball, bowling, cycling, martial arts, soccer, swimming, tennis, volleyball, water polo, and wrestling. The USA Deaf Sports Federation is the only national athletic association in the United States that coordinates the participation of American deaf and hard of hearing individuals in international sports competitions. The Federation is affiliated with the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf (ICSD).
All deaf and hard of hearing individuals with a hearing loss of 55dB or greater in the better ear (three frequency pure tone average at 500, 1000, and 2000 Hz) are eligible. The use of hearing aids or cochlear implants are prohibited in competitions. U.S. team participants must be American citizens and members of the Federation in good standing. During the Deaflympics, deaf athletes compete against and interact with each other in sign language.
The International Olympic Committee officially recognizes ICSD as the sole organization responsible for the administration of all sporting events involving the deaf and hard of hearing. Conditions of competition in the Deaflympics are similar to those for the Olympic Games.
While the 2009 games have not yet gotten under way, plans are already in the works for the 2013 Summer Deaflympics, which will take place July 31-August 13, 2013, in Athens, Greece. These international events require tremendous effort and volunteer commitment to be successful. You can track details about the 2009 U.S. team’s success at the 2009 Summer Deaflympics from the website: http://www.usdeafsports.org.
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U.S. Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) has introduced comprehensive legislation to ensure that people with disabilities have access to Internet-based telecommunications and video programming technologies. The bill, the Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2009 (H.R. 3101), is referred to as the COAT bill. Organizations for people with hearing loss are actively supportive of the bill, and are urging people to contact their representatives and urge support of it. The bill’s current status, according to WashingtonWash.com, is that the bill has been referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
As written, the bill would:
- require that mobile and other Internet-based telecommunications devices and equipment be fully hearing aid compatible, have accessible user interfaces, and offer people with disabilities use of a full range of text messaging and other popular services that are currently largely inaccessible;
- provide people who are deaf-blind with vital but costly technologies they need to communicate electronically;
- establish a process and time table for the provision of real-time text capability;
- clarify existing relay-to-relay, Lifeline and Linkup service requirements to ensure their relevance to the real world communications needs of people with disabilities;
- restore the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) modest video description rules and unambiguously establish the FCC’s current and ongoing authority to expand such regulations;
- require emergency announcements and similar information to be accessible to people with disabilities through audible presentation of on-screen alerts;
- ensure that video programming offered via the Internet will be both captioned and described;
- call for all devices that receive and playback video programming to employ accessible user interfaces and allow ready access to captioning and description;
- strengthen consumers’ ability to enforce their rights to communications and video accessibility through the establishment of a clearinghouse of information about service and equipment accessibility and usability, a meaningful FCC complaint process that holds industry accountable for their accessibility obligations, and judicial review of FCC action to ensure FCC accountability.
What are your thoughts about the bill? Let us know the comments below.
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The New Yorker recently published an interesting article about Tinnitus. They quoted some very interesting statistics, which I emphisised in the quotes below.
Tinnitus—the false perception of sound in the absence of an acoustic stimulus, a phantom noise—is one of the most common clinical syndromes in the United States, affecting twelve per cent of men and almost fourteen per cent of women who are sixty-five and older. It only rarely afflicts the young, with one significant exception: those serving in the armed forces. Tinnitus affects nearly half the soldiers exposed to blasts in Iraq and Afghanistan…
…Sitting in the first row of a rock concert exposes you to between a hundred and ten and a hundred and twenty decibels; the screech of the New York subways can reach about a hundred and fifteen decibels…
Read The Mystery of Tinnitus on newyorker.com
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