subject: Hearing Impairment [print this page] In the United States, up to 28 million Americans may suffer from measurable hearing problems. It is also estimated that 10 percent of these people have serious hearing loss, and it is becoming one of the highest reported health problems.
Imperfect hearing in children can interfere with social development aand learning, demonstrating how much a loss of hearing can impact people. For adults, not being able to hear can make people feel left out. Such individuals pull back from friends, family, and the world around them.
Studies show that older adults are often frustrated and can become depressed when they suffer a hearing impairment. Those hearing losses can be discovered easily with proper screening methods.
The loss of hearing is one of the most widespread conditions for the older generations within America, right alongside arthritis and high blood pressure. Up to 40 percent of people age 65 and up are hearing impaired, and the prevalence of the condition increases with age.
The strange thing is that most older people do not get the regular screening they need to assess the hearing loss properly. What's more, just a quarter of the adults who have hearing loss get hearing devices. Primary care doctors, as well as patients, need to remember that hearing loss is a more and more often common occurrence.
There are effective treatments available hearing aids, surgery to restore quality of life for hearing-impaired elders, it is really important to make sure that the hearing loss is diagnosed and not overlooked. Much medical literature describes how to manage and detect hearing impairment among older people.
These explain the variety of tests that can be used, like the simple Whispered Voice Test, that can be used to examine hearing loss. Due to the impossibility of having a constant whispering volume from doctor to doctor, there's no way to standardize these tests, and as a result they can be hard to screen consistently.
There are many who agree that a standard test should be implemented so the results can become conclusive. These tests are not considered to be completely accurate, since all doctors whisper differently than the next one.
By taking into account the degree that one's emotional and social well being are affected by auditory loss, one can personally diagnose the scope of their problem with a set of questions.
Helpful in learning the frequency at which an individual is unable to hear a tone, patients work with an audio scope, a machine that rings tones out at different frequencies; this is yet another patient administered test that is physiological. Both of the above methods have been proven to be quite accurate at the detection of hearing loss and have captured the interest of clinicians across the board.
As soon as you determine your level of hearing loss, it's entirely possible that you can get a doctor to treat or reverse your condition.
Many older people believe that losing their hearing is a natural part of the aging process and don't try to fix the problem. There are effective treatments available and these people are allowing an important opportunity to cure their disease to pass them by.
For example, reports show that up to 30 percent of hearing impaired older adults have impacted ear wax, which can be easily treated with gentle warm-water irrigation to loosen and remove the excess ear wax. Sometimes, a patient must visit an audiologist or other hearing expert who is capable of examining and treating these conditions properly.
