What is Unilateral Hearing Loss?
What is Single Sided Deafness? Sometimes referred to as unilateral hearing loss, single sided deafness is a condition in which an individual experiences hearing loss in only one ear but can hear normally out of the other ear. While most patients with a hearing impairment suffer from bilateral (two-sided) hearing loss, SSD affects approximately 60,000…
What is Sudden Hearing Loss?
For most people who experience hearing loss, the condition comes on gradually over a period of years. In rare cases, an abrupt loss of hearing occurs with little or no warning. This condition is known as sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL). What is Sudden Deafness? Sudden deafness is an unexplained and rapid hearing loss that…
What is Noise Induced Hearing Loss?
How Can Sounds Hurt Your Ears? Background sound is a constant in our busy lives. Normally, background noises are at safe levels that do not negatively impact our hearing. But repeated exposure to noise above 85 decibels (dB) can cause noise induced hearing loss. The louder the sound, the less amount of time it takes…
Social Isolation
With COVID-19 on every TV, laptop, and smart phone we are warned on every side to stay home and stay safe. While this mandate is keeping us from contracting an illness that as of yet has no known cure, it is exposing us to another illness that does have a known and effective cure. That…
Well Hearing is Well Being
I find the cover story in the March issue of “The Hearing Reveiw” — Well-Hearing is Well-Being – to be well timed. Let’s start with this excerpt. “The complexity of hearing loss also relates to its impact. Hearing is in many ways a social sense, and hearing loss can have a fundamental impact on communication…
Exercise and Your Brain
I promise this is not a New Year’s Resolution rehash, but I am going to talk about exercise. We all know that exercise makes us feel better (when we sit down to rest). It gets our blood pumping. It gets our lungs working more effectively. It super-charges our brain chemistry. It makes our clothes fit…
The Human Connection
You’re going to start seeing a lot of advertisements about Other-the-Counter (OTC) hearing aids. The federal government introduced a law in 2015, passed it in 2017, and put it in effect in 2020 that allows hearing aid to be sold directly to consumers without the “inconvenience” of having to see a professional for a hearing…
Happy Holidays!
The holidays are upon us. It seems impossible that it’s time for all the hullabaloo again. Don’t get me wrong, I love hullabaloo! But, it’s not that much fun for everyone. All the noise… all the activity… all the TV’s on all day long… This can really be taxing on those with hearing impairment. In…
Winter is coming!
We were reminded quite abruptly this week that winter is just around the corner. I like winter well enough. I actually missed it when I lived in Southern California. This is the time of year we look around the house and start winterizing. The garden hose has to be hung up. Storm windows replace screens….
“I might as well die…”
National Suicide Awareness Week is in September. So, let me tell you a story. It’s not a happy story but it could very well have a happy ending. Over the past several months I have heard too many elderly people say something like, “I might as well be dead. I’m not much good anymore. I…