Hearing care best practices are the steps that quality hearing care professionals take to ensure their patients have a good experience. These best practices cover everything from how hearing conditions are diagnosed and treated to how patients are treated when they walk in the door, and should always be driven toward ensuring patient comfort, satisfaction, and care. Learn more here!

A HearingLoss.com Certified clinic has proven its commitment to upholding clinical best practices, set by The American Academy of Audiology and patient best practices, ensuring patient satisfaction and providing all individuals with the guidance they need to make informed decisions about their hearing health. Just look for the double check next to the clinic name to find a HearingLoss.com Certified clinic.

Hearing loss can occur at any age and under varying circumstances. When it is present from birth, it is referred to as congenital hearing loss. On the other hand, acquired hearing loss, whether temporary or permanent, can happen at any point from infancy to adulthood due to factors such as illness, head trauma, occupational hazards, noise exposure, genetics, aging, and more.

To learn more about when hearing loss occurs and how to prevent hearing loss, read our latest article.

Hearing loss occurs for several reasons and can be temporary or permanent, partial or complete. A few of the most common reasons why hearing loss occurs include the following:

• Age-related hearing loss
• Noise-induced hearing loss
• Disease or illness
• Trauma/Injury
• Genetics
• Earwax Blockage

Click to learn how each occurs and what you can do for treatment.

Hearing loss impacts nearly 20% of all people around the globe, according to data from the World Health Organization. In the most recent research conducted by the CDC, approximately 7.6% of American adults aged 18-34 experience some difficulty hearing, 9.4% of adults in the age range of 65-74 report hearing challenges, and nearly 16.1% of individuals between the ages of 50 and 64 face issues with hearing. Notably, nearly 31.1% of adults older than 65 encounter difficulties related to hearing.

Early signs of hearing loss include:

• Difficulty understanding what people are saying
• Frequently needing to ask people to repeat what they’ve said
• Not being able to separate speech from background noise
• Struggling to hear high-frequency noises, such as children’s voices or the sound of birds
• Having to turn up the volume regularly
• Tinnitus (a ringing or humming sound in the ears)
• Difficulty hearing what people are saying on the phone
• Hearing muffled sounds

Hearing loss can be subtle. It can also progress gradually, getting worse over time without proper treatment. For that reason, it’s important to be proactive by scheduling annual hearing exams with a hearing care professional.

Yes, hearing loss can be hereditary. Genetic hearing loss can be caused by either a genetic predisposition to hearing loss or by certain genetic conditions that increase the risk of hearing loss. The two main types of genetic hearing loss are syndromic (hearing loss in addition to other health conditions) and non-syndromic (hearing loss without any co-occurring conditions).

Yes, there are three types of hearing loss:

• Conductive hearing loss.
• Sensorineural hearing loss.
• Mixed hearing loss.

Click to learn how each occurs and what you can do for treatment.

Not always. Age-related hearing loss or genetic hearing loss may not be preventable, even with prior knowledge of risk factors. However, some types of hearing loss, such as noise-induced hearing loss, are preventable with proper hearing protection and care.

While you can’t always prevent hearing loss, you can (and should) take steps to protect your hearing, such as:

• Wearing hearing protection when you know you’re going to be exposed to prolonged loud noise
• Practicing other forms of safe listening, like volume control, taking regular breaks during prolonged noise exposure, and choosing quieter environments when possible.
• Properly cleaning and caring for your ears
• Knowing the signs of hearing loss and seeing a hearing care professional if they occur
• Regular hearing evaluations

Learn more about protecting yourself from hearing loss.

Hearing loss is diagnosed through diagnostic hearing evaluations provided by a hearing care professional. If you think that you may have hearing loss, schedule an appointment with a HearingLoss.com certified provider and learn about possible next steps.

Treatment for hearing loss depends on the cause of the problem and the patient’s health status. Common hearing loss treatments include:

• Hearing aids and other assistive hearing devices
• Surgery
• Cochlear implants
• Earwax removal

If there is an underlying medical condition, that condition will be addressed as well as part of comprehensive hearing loss treatment.

Hearing aids, at their core, consist of four components: a microphone, receiver, processor, and power source. To briefly explain the process, a microphone captures sound and converts it into an electrical or digital signal. An amplifier then strengthens this signal while the receiver translates the processed signal back into sound. Once this reaches the inner ear, the brain can comprehend the auditory input as speech.

Modern hearing aid developments, however, have transformed this basic framework. Unlike their predecessors that amplified all sounds uniformly, contemporary devices aim to do more. Digital signal processing, for example, allows for remarkable advancements in customization, speech enhancement, and feedback reduction. Modern hearing aids can also connect wirelessly with devices, like smartphones and other gadgets, for added usability and features.

Learn more about today’s most advanced hearing aid technology!

In short, analog and digital hearing aids employ amplify sounds differently. Analog hearing aids amplify sound waves by converting sound into electrical signals, which are then scaled. Conversely, digital hearing aids utilize advanced digital signal processing technology to convert sound waves into digital signals, which can be manipulated and adjusted to suit the specific needs of the wearer. Overall, digital hearing aids offer improved sound quality, better customization options, and enhanced functionality compared to their analog predecessors.