PROHIERAN Blog » Hearing Aid

About Cochlear Implants

Prohieran — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:31:48 +0000

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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Real Ear Digital Speech Mapping Lets You See Sounds You Are Missing

Prohieran — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:58:48 +0000

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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Use Your iPhone as a Hearing Aid

Prohieran — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:19:45 +0000

A new application (released June 11, 2009) for the Apple iPhone has been designed to aid people with poor hearing, featuring abilities that not even a hearing aid can boast of. Essentially a volume booster, the app amplifies everything that is being heard by the microphone and allows the user to set which frequencies to boost and which to filter.

The most interesting feature of the application is that it continuously keeps a recorded buffer of what it hears, allowing you to quickly replay the last five to thirty seconds of a misheard conversation. So you can actually rewind whatever was just said the replay it. I can think of a lot of arguments that would have been quickly settled if I’d had this little app around.

The price is $9.99 and it currently has 16 ratings at an average rating of 3.5 stars. iTunes link.

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Hearing Aids Keep Getting Better and Smaller

Prohieran — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:41:50 +0000

If you’re suffering from hearing loss and are either considering a hearing aid or already use one, you may be interested in learning more about what is being touted as the smallest hearing aid on the market. Check out the Lyric hearing aid, which is fitted differently than a traditional hearing aid and is unnoticeable.

Traditional hearing aids go over the ear and expose the microphone to wind and other peripheral noise. They can also be seen by others, which is a source of embarrassment or discomfort for some users.

The Lyric hearing aid is fitting inside the ear canal next to the ear drum. It is smaller than a dime and is essentially a miniature microphone, microchip, and a small speaker wrapped in a small layer of foam. Because it is so deep in the ear, it is unnoticeable, and the aid’s shape takes advantage of the natural shape of the ear in order to collect and then process sound. Another benefit of the Lyric hearing aid is that it is worn 24 hours a day, including while taking a shower, exercising, or any other day-to-day activity. Wearers will need to have appointments every two-to-three months to change out the batteries.

See if the Lyric hearing aid is right for you. Also consider protecting the hearing you have with ProHieran, an all-natural hearing wellness supplement.

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Documentary Explores Decision for Family to Have Cochlear Implants

Prohieran — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:56:43 +0000

Cochlear implant is considered an incredible technology that enables both adults and children with severe to profound hearing loss to hear. It is also considered controversial for many individuals in the deaf community, and in particular for parents who are deaf who have children who are deaf. While the surgery is increasingly being covered by insurance, choosing to be implanted or to have a child implanted is one that is personal and changes the dynamics of going from a non-hearing household to one that is hearing.

A documentary of a Chicago-area family is being made currently and profiles the struggles, decisions, and perceived benefits of eventually having all four members of the family receive Cochlear implants.

You can watch a trailer of the documentary, “Louder Than Words,” below.

LouderThanWordsDoc.com

More information about the potentially life-changing technology is also available on the Cochlear Implant Awareness Foundation website at ciafonline.org

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Hearing aids provide starting point for helping combat tinnitus

Prohieran — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:58:25 +0000

Noises in the head (tinnitus) bother some people to the point where their life is personally affected. If untreated, tinnitus can lead to irritability, fatigue and even depression. But according to the American Tinnitus Association, a successful solution to treating the symptoms of tinnitus is to wear hearing aids.

A study of 230 hearing care professionals indicated that 60 percent of patients in their care experience minor to major relief of tinnitus when wearing hearing aids, and 22 percent receiving major relief. Less than 2 percent experience a worsening of their tinnitus when wearing hearing aids, while 39 percent receive no benefit.

The online study on tinnitus mitigation of the Bear Hearing Institute’s e-newsletter was sent in August 2008 to hearing professionals. Of those who responded about whether hearing aids can help alleviate symptoms of tinnitus, 76 percent were audiologists, 21 percent were hearing instrument specialists, 1 percent were otolaryngologists, and 1 percent were other.

Findings from the researchers were published in The Hearing Review and include these key points:

Nearly everyone with tinnitus also has a hearing loss. While hearing aids are an obvious solution to improve hearing and communication, many sufferers don’t understand that hearing aids can also improve tinnitus.
Improving communication from wearing hearing aids can also reduce stress, making it easier to accept or cope with tinnitus.
Amplifying background sound, or producing background ambient noise, reduces the loudness or prominence of tinnitus.
Nearly 9 million people with hearing loss have not sought the services of a hearing care professional because they have tinnitus and believe nothing can be done about it.
Providing effective treatment for tinnitus can also be instrumental in motivating people to concurrently treat their hearing loss, as many sufferers don’t currently seek solutions for either hearing or tinnitus.

Learn more about the all natural hearing supplement at Prohieran.com.

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