Should the NHS Do More to Address Hearing Loss?

When NHS England launched its Action Plan on Hearing Loss in 2015, the primary goal was to improve services designed to address hearing loss and its consequences among patients. The Action Plan has done well thus far, but some say more can be done. Action on Hearing Loss chief executive Paul Breckell is among them.

Breckell has publicly stated that his organisation hopes the Action Plan will eventually include more strategies designed to encourage people to address hearing loss as soon as possible, rather than waiting the roughly ten years it now takes for the average person to start looking for help.

The call for the NHS to do more is a direct result of the recent release of World Health Organisation (WHO) data in advance of World Hearing Day. According to the WHO, the global cost of hearing loss is upwards of £750 billion annually. Here in the UK, it is estimated that just diminished access to employment alone affects our economy to the tune of some £25 billion every year.

How We Can Help

Should the NHS do more to address hearing loss? That’s for the charities, think tanks and politicians to decide. In the meantime, we are here to help those who are ready to address their hearing loss. We offer free hearing tests along with earwax removal, tinnitus therapy, occupational audiometry, digital hearing aids, and more.

If you are suffering from any form of hearing loss, do not hesitate to give us a call or stop in for a visit. We want to help you hear better. As the Action on Hearing Loss charity says, don’t wait years to address your hearing loss. The sooner to take action, the more we can do to help you.

The Original article Published at Darroch Hearing Blog

Hidden Hearing Loss: The Unexpected Threat

Are you leaning into a conversation and asking people to repeat what they said when you are in a noisy setting? Do you have a constant ringing in your ears? If so, you may have hidden hearing loss.

This is the news from Harvard researcher M. Charles Liberman. He conducted extensive studies with animals and found that over time when exposed to loud noises, it is possible to lose the ability to hear in noisy environments even though audiogram test normal.

This is due to the hair cells in your ear that transmit the sounds to the brain losing many of their synapses when exposed to loud noises such as rock concerts, lawn mowers, power tools, etc. Although you can lose more than half of these synapses without it affecting a hearing test, you will notice the difference when trying to listen to a conversation in a noisy place.

Liberman’s research included a group of 34 college students aged 18 to 41. He classified them according to their exposure to loud noises. The study showed that the high-risk group (those exposed to loud noises on a regular basis) had difficulty understanding speech in a noisy situation, and they also performed worse on the laboratory tests.

Also Checkout: Hearing Aids & Repairs Clinic Glasgow

The good news, however, is that Liberman is also working on a drug that will help regrow the synapses that are lost as a result of noise. It is still far from completed research, but it gives people with hidden hearing loss cause for hope.

As a precaution, Liberman now also wears earplugs when he is mowing the lawn as he has noticed that his hearing is also deteriorating. His studies are far from complete, and the human testing needs to be repeated and expanded, but the message is loud (pardon the pun) and clear: stay away from loud noises.

The Original article Published at Darroch Hearing Blog

Common Reasons People Stop Wearing Their Hearing Aids

At Darroch Hearing Clinics, our main goal is to help people suffering from hearing loss and tinnitus enjoy better quality of life through digital hearing aids. We are sometimes disappointed to work with a patient to find the perfect hearing aid solution only to discover that the patient is no longer using his or her hearing aids after some time.

There are some very common reasons individuals stop wearing their hearing aids. We can certainly understand all of them, but we also want our readers to know that there are solutions. If you have stopped wearing yours, do any the following reasons apply to you?

Hearing Aids Are Uncomfortable

A lack of comfort is one of the leading reasons for people no longer wearing their hearing aids. Fortunately, this is a problem that can usually be addressed through refitting. If we cannot remove all the discomfort through a refit, we should be able to eliminate most of it.

Hearing Aids Do Not Meet Expectations

From time to time, a patient receives new digital hearing aids only to be disappointed by their performance. This is something we might be able to address with a few adjustments here and there. We urge patients to at least give us a chance to improve hearing aid performance before taking them off for good.

Hearing Aids Are Embarrassing

Many patients find that they are embarrassed by their hearing aids. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do to address this problem. Hearing loss is what it is.

We understand that hearing loss is not the most pleasant thing to deal with. But digital hearing aids can improve quality of life if they fit well and are used properly. Will you allow us to try to help if you’ve decided to stop wearing yours?

The Original article Published at Darroch Hearing Blog