How do you buy hearing aids?

This question has been asked many times and very few people have an idea of how to purchase a good set of hearing aids that will last a long time and receive good service. Hearing aid buyer has broken down the process that is necessary by law and common sense. Here is what we have found.

When purchasing hearing aids, it is important to get a complete and comprehensive understanding of your hearing profile. This includes a thorough medical history especially anything that has to do with hearing loss. The hearing care professional that you are working with should ask if you have had any surgeries to the ear or any history of hearing loss. The items that need to be discussed include any history of dizziness or balance issues, any ringing in your ears, if you have trouble hearing in noisy environments like crowds or restaurants, if you are asking people to repeat themselves often and how well you can hear while on the telephone.

In order to get an accurate hearing profile it is imperative that you get a complete hearing exam by a qualified hearing care professional. This examination includes a detailed explanation of the anatomy of the ear and auditory system of the human body. A diagram of the hear and the auditory system can be very helpful in this explanation.

There are three parts to the ear. The outer ear that includes the carteledge portion that everyone sees on the side of your head. This is called the Pina and helps determine the direction that sounds are coming from. The middle ear is where the ear drum, otherwise known as the Tympanic Membrane lives. It is accompanied by three tiny bones called ossicles. One of these bones is connected to the ear drum and all three are connected in a chain. The inner ear consists of a snail like structure called the Cochlea.

When sound waves enter the outer ear, they are directed down the ear canal to the ear drum. The ear drum fluctuates with the sound waves. This is where the middle ear takes over. As the ear drum fluctuates, it activates the chain of three tiny bones that end up tapping on the cochlea. The cochlea’s job is to translate this tapping into a pulse that is transmitted through the auditory nerve to the brain. In this way your brain does the hearing. Your ears are simply instruments that allow the brain to get the signals from the environment around you. If anything in the chain of events that starts with the outer ear collecting sound waves, the middle ear conducting this energy to the inner ear, and the inner ear or cochlea transmitting that energy to the auditory nerve you will experience a hearing loss.

TYPES OF HEARING LOSS:

There are different types of hearing loss that can be detected by a good hearing examination:

*Conductive hearing loss is a caused by a problem with the middle ear not conducting the sound wave energy from the ear drum to the inner ear or cochlea. Some of the symptoms of a conductive hearing loss include a sudden loss of hearing and a stuffy or muffled sensation in the ears. Another type of hearing loss is a

*Sensorineural hearing loss. Some of the symptoms of this type of hearing loss include trouble hearing sounds when there is background noise and trouble hearing high pitched sounds such as ladies and children’s voices. A sensorineural hearing loss is the most common of the two types and it is caused by a problem in the inner ear or cochlea and/or the auditory nerve that sends the pulse to the brain. This type of loss usually happens gradually as a result of the normal aging process or other causes.

*Mixed Hearing Loss:

This type pf hearing loss is just what it says. With a mixed hearing loss there is some kind of damage to the outer ear that doesn’t allow it to conduct sound to the inner ear. The inner ear has difficulty transmitting the sound signals to the brain to be processed.

*Hearing Exam:

A complete and comprehensive hearing exam consists of several tones of different pitches played into each ear via ear inserts or headphones. The volume of the tones are adjusted until the patient responds to the lowest level by either raising their hand or pushing a response button. These responses are recorded on a graph called an audiogram. At the end of this part of the exam there will be a graphic representation of the patient’s hearing profile. The second part of the exam is called speech testing. During this examination, the hearing care professional will determine how soft the patient can hear and understand words to create the Speech Reception Threshold. Other speech tests will determine the Most Comfortable Listening Level, The speech Discrimination score and the most uncomfortable listening level. These measurements culminate in the Dynamic Range of the patient’s hearing profile. The last test is called bone testing and it is intended to measure the auditory nerve that sends signals to the brain. This is done by placing an oscillator on the boney portion directly behind the ear called the Mastoid Process. By doing this the hearing care professional is playing tones directly on the cochlea and not the middle or outer ear. If the results of this bone test are not within parameters, the patient should be referred to a medical doctor for further evaluation.

Armed with this information, a good Hearing Care Professional will review the results with the patient and discuss any treatment options available including hearing aids. The newer models of hearing aids allow the Hearing Care Professional to program the patient’s hearing profile into a pair of demonstration hearing aids. These hearing aids are then inserted in their ears to get an idea of how well they work. At this point the Hearing Care Professional will make their recommendation to the patient and discuss price as well as possible financing options.

Good hearing aids are not cheap! If you ask any Hearing Care Professional, they will tell you that people continuously come to them after purchasing low priced hearing aids online or in a store. Typically, people find that these hearing aids only make sounds louder but not easier to understand. Quality hearing aids are tuned to the patient’s hearing profile and amplify the pitches and tones that the patient needs to hear better. Depending on the severity of hearing loss a patient can expect to spend anywhere between $5,000-$8,000 for a pair of quality hearing aids. A reputable company should include a multi-year warranty and some type of service program.