The Hearing Impaired
Estimates range as high as 28 million Americans who possess difficulties with their hearing around the U.S. An estimated 10 percent of people may have significant hearing loss and it is one of the nation’s most common health problems.
Hearing loss can have a profound impact on a person; in children, the problem may seriously effect proper learning, as well as social interaction and growth. As adults, those with hearing impairments often feel as though they are left out of every day activities. Often these people tend to pull away from friends and family, and withdraw from ordinary dealings with the outside world.
A recent study revealed that while hearing problems can be frustrating for everyone they’re especially devastating for the elderly, who often suffer from depression as a result. Fortunately, there are simple tests to screen for hearing impairment. Hearing loss ranks third among chronic health complaints suffered by America’s older people, just behind high blood pressure and arthritis. In people age 65 and older, as many as 40 percent have some measurable level of hearing loss, and the likelihood of developing hearing problems only increases with age.
Yet most older people choose not to get routine check ups for hearing loss and are not able to receive treatment for their problem. In fact, only one in four adults with hearing loss or hearing impairment gets hearing aids. Primary care doctors, as well as patients, need to remember that hearing loss is a more and more often common occurrence.
Surgery which allows for improved quality of living in hearing-impaired elderly, as well as numerous different hearing aids, are helpful treatments to be had, and the most critical thing is that the diagnosis of loss of hearing must not be ignored. There is currently 1600 articles from the medical literature on screening and management of hearing loss among older adults.
These explain the variety of tests that can be used, like the simple Whispered Voice Test, that can be used to examine hearing loss. Since such tests are impossible to standardize because of variables (you can’t be sure one doctor’s whisper isn’t quieter than that of another)they are difficult to utilize in a systematic screening program.
Standardizing these tests is critically essential for the use of hearing tests, many specialists claim. As every doctor has a different voice, therefore a different level they whisper at, the “Whispering Voice Test” has been concluded as an inaccurate hearing test.
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. There is also a physiological test you can do on yourself that involves and audio scope – you listen to the audio scope and figure out what frequencies you can’t hear anymore, and that determines your level of hearing loss. The accuracy of these methods have been well recorded, and as a result are being used more and more.
After one identifies hearing impairment, it’s usually possible to treat the medical issue which has caused this loss, effectively halting further loss, or repairing it entirely. For the most part, older people just take it in stride and accept their hearing loss, throwing in the towel. No one should accept these diseases as a part of life. There are many possibilities to treat these problems which should not be ignored.
An astounding fact– nearly 30% of senior citizens that have hearing difficulties have a condition known as impacted ear wax; all that is needed to cure their problem is a bit of warm water to eliminate the build up. Of course, there are patients who may need the help of an audiologist that can treat and examine them.
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