MP3 players should carry warnings that users risk damage to their hearing by having the volume too high, a deafness charity says.

A Royal National Institute for Deaf People poll of 10s of MP3 users at one London station found eight out of 10 had machines at more than 80 decibels.

The charity says young people should be warned that they are risking premature hearing damage.

It said there had been some interest in the idea from industry.

Over 6.3m MP3 players were sold in 2005 in the UK.

The RNID says it is not trying to stop people from listening to MP3 players – or from going to pubs, bars and clubs and enjoying music – but does want to encourage people to protect themselves against the cumulative effects of loud music.

Read more at bbc.co.uk

What hearing aid do you wear?

I have some questions for you, dear reader.

I’m guessing that many of you already wear a hearingaid, so, I’d like to know what model you have and what you think of it. It would be cool to put together some stats to see what aid is most popular and which ones are rated best.

So, if you can spare 5, can you leave a comment and answer these?

• What type of hearingaid do you wear?
• What did you wear before and why did you change?
• How do you rate your current aid? Is it perfect or how could it be better?
• Are you happy with it?
• Where did you get it from and when?
• How much did it cost?
• When do you think you will buy a new aid?

(Go on, you know you want to…..)

• Hearing loss is greater in men.
• Almost 12 percent of men who are 65 to 74 years of age are affected by tinnitus. Tinnitus is identified more frequently in white individuals and the prevalence of tinnitus is almost twice as frequent in the South as in the Northeast.
• Only 1 out of 5 people who could benefit from a hearing aid actually wears one.
• Approximately 28 million Americans have a hearing impairment.
• About 2 to 3 out of every 1,000 children in the United States are born deaf or hard-of-hearing. 9 out of every 10 children who are born deaf are born to parents who can hear.
• Hearing loss affects approximately 17 in 1,000 children under age 18. Incidence increases with age: Approximately 314 in 1,000 people over age 65 have hearing loss and 40 to 50 percent of people 75 and older have a hearing loss.
• Ten million Americans have suffered irreversible noise induced hearing loss, and 30 million more are exposed to dangerous noise levels each day.
• Three out of 4 children experience ear infection (otitis media) by the time they are 3 years old.
• At least 12 million Americans have tinnitus. Of these, at least 1 million experience it so severely that it interferes with their daily activities.
• Approximately 59,000 people worldwide have received cochlear implants. About 250,000 people would be good candidates for a cochlear implant. In the United States, about 13,000 adults and nearly 10,000 children have cochlear implants.
• Approximately 4,000 new cases of sudden deafness occur each year in the United States. Hearing loss affects only 1 ear in 9 out of 10 people who experience sudden deafness. Only 10 to 15 percent of patients with sudden deafness know what caused their loss.
• Approximately 615,000 individuals have been diagnosed with Ménière’s disease in the United States. Another 45,500 are newly diagnosed each year.
• Approximately 3 to 6 percent of all deaf children and perhaps another 3 to 6 percent of hard-of-hearing children have Usher syndrome. In developed countries such as the United States, about 4 babies in every 100,000 births have Usher syndrome.

Know Your Buds is a campaign by the American Speech-language Hearing Association (ASHA) to raise awareness of the dangers of prolonged use of personal audio devices such as iPods and other mp3 players.

Most mp3 players have a maximum range of around 110 decibels. Regular exposure to sounds over 100 decibels for more than one minute can cause permanent hearing loss. Sounds below 85 decibels are considered to be safe.

They are targeting kids who tend to wear their iPods for long periods of time. They recommend:

• Keep the volume down – They say that setting the volume on your player to half way should result in a safe noise level.
• Reduce listening time – Give your ears a break! Take regular breaks from the music.
• Upgrade your headphones – People tend to turn the volume up to drown out unwanted background noise. Upgrading to a high quality set of headphones that drown out the background noise will allow you to listen at a lower volume.

http://www.listentoyourbuds.org/

Pardon? Say what? Come again? Say that again? Eh? Can you repeat that? Sorry? You what? Aye? I missed that? Hmm?
It doesn’t matter how you say it, they all mean the same thing: you didn’t hear what was just said.

I’ve been thinking recently about how often I don’t hear what someone has said and how often I ask them to repeat themselves. In some situations I will ask repeatedly, no matter how many time it takes, until I hear. In others, I will only ask once or twice. And, in others, I will not ask at all.

With family and close friends I am happy to ask repeatedly; most, if not all, of them know I am partially deaf and they are usually happy to repeat themselves until the cows come home. Sometimes, and I guess it depends on their mood, they don’t want to repeat themselves – this annoys me quite a bit, if what they just said is not worth repeating why was it worth saying in the first place?

The people I really struggle with are the quietly and soft spoken ones. Some people just refuse to speak up and it will not matter how many times I ask them to repeat it, I will never hear them properly! I find myself avoiding speaking to people who I know speak really quietly, just to avoid the hassle – I wish I didn’t do this because I’m sure it looks rude to them and I’m no doubt missing out on some good conversation. The obvious answer here is to tell them that I have trouble hearing what they say; I really don’t feel comfortable doing that and I can’t remember a time when I ever have done. I really should make the effort to start in future.

In the opening paragraph I said that in some cases I will never ask the person to repeat themselves. I used to do this a lot – I used to be too embarrassed about my hearing loss, I tried to hide it as much as possible – I would either try and guess what they said based on the odd word I’d heard or the context of the conversation or simply nod, laugh or give a short answer like “yes” or “no”. I realised some years ago that this was a stupid thing to do, I cringe at the amount of times I must have given stupid and meaningless answers. I’m sure a lot of people do this exact thing all the time, it’s an easy way out.

It’s rarely uncomfortable to ask someone to repeat themselves in a one-to-one conversation; a group conversation can, on the other hand, be very difficult. It is a good idea to position yourself somewhere where you will have the best chance of hearing; this is something you can do when you know that one person in the group is going to be doing most of the talking: the teacher at school/college, someone giving a presentation to a group, and so on. It’s not so easy when you don’t have a single person to concentrate on: when you are chatting with friends or in an office meeting, it is particularly difficult if there is also background noise such as backgound chatter or office air-conditioning. It is too easy to loose the conversation when you are having to listen for voices coming from all directions.

How do you cope with not hearing someone say something? Do you ask them to repeat? If you wear hearing-aids, do they have the ability to cope with group situations? What do you do to minimise these problems for yourself?

Different hearingaids use different sizes of battery, they also consume battery power at different rates. A battery may last a week in one aid, but only 3 days in another.

I’ve written before about testing a new hearingaid and making a decision whether you want to buy it – it’s also a good idea to test the batteries to find out how long they will last. During your hearingaid’s trial period, use the same battery until it runs out – did it last long enough? How much are you going to have to spend each week on batteries? The price of a packet is tiny compared to the price of the aids themselves but the weekly cost will mount up over the years.

Once you have visited an audiologist, had a hearing test and picked a hearing aid, you need to try out the aid and make sure it is suitable for you.

Read the first part of this guide: Buying your first hearing aid

You should always be given a trial period when you buy a hearing aid – some time in which you can determine if the aid is right for you and return it if it is not. If you have visited a hearing aid vendor that does not offer you a trial period with a full money back guarantee go somewhere else. It will take you at least two-four weeks to determine if a new hearing aid is suitable for you.

So, you’ve been fitted with your new aids, you’ve paid your money and you have a month to make a decision whether you are going to keep them or not. What do you do?

Make an appointment to see the audiologist again

Make an appointment for a week’s time, make it on the day you get the aid. I’m almost certain you will need it. Why? Digital hearing aids are highly tunable devices, it is possible to set them up to do many different things. Your new aids will have been set to what the audiologist thought was appropriate for you. But they are not you. They can’t hear what you are hearing, you need to be comfortable with the sound – you know what you want to hear and how you want to hear it.

Get some paper and a pen

Write down everything you notice about the new aids. What sounds good? What is too noisy? What can’t you hear that you would like to? Are they comfortable? How long did the batteries last for? Could you change the volume, settings and battery easily?
Write everything down as and when you notice it – when you go back to see the audiologist you won’t be able to remember everything so having notes makes sure all your problems are covered.

Test your new hearing aids

Digital hearing aids try to act like our ears. They try to reduce background noise for us and give us a better chance of hearing voices and other sounds that we really want to hear. Because of this ability to reduce background noise, the aids are going to react differently in different situations. Your new aids may sound great when you are at home watching the television but may be insufficient in a noisier environment like a restaurant.
It is important to make sure your new hearing aids work satisfactorily in all of the situations you find yourself in. So, wear them all the time and keep taking notes. Some situations to try them out in:

• Watching the TV
• At work
• At home
• Alongside a noisy road
• Around a screaming baby/child
• Using a telephone
• At the shops
• and so on…..

When you see the audiologist again

Do not be afraid to ask questions, no matter how silly they might seem. Present them with your notes and go through them. If something was too noisy or too quiet, can the audiologist correct it? If not, can you live with it?

If you have any doubts about the aids, let the audiologist know about them now. You are about to purchase some very expensive equipment – make sure you are 100% happy with it while you still have the option to get your money back.

Rinse and repeat

Keep making appointments, keep making notes and keep getting your aids tweaked until you are happy with them. Pester your audiologist as much as possible during your trial period, that’s what they are getting paid for!

Make the decision

You’ve been back to see the audiologist several times. They have changed settings and tried to fix all your problems. You now need to make that decision: are you keeping these aids? Don’t be afraid to give them back if you are not 100% happy. There are many different aids on the market and you have plenty of options. Whatever you do, do not keep the aids if you are not happy with them – they are far too expensive to be left unworn in a drawer.

If you are not hearing as much as you would like and you think you may benefit from a hearing aid you should seek professional advice. An audiologist will be able to test your hearing, assess the damage and recommend hearing aids that are right for you.

This is a guide to getting getting the most from your first visit to an audiologist.

What to expect

The audiologist will probably ask you some background info. When did you start to notice your were not hearing as much as you used to? What sounds do you struggle to hear? And so on.
You’ll be given a hearing test and then shown a range of hearing aids that would be suitable for you.
If you decide on a particular aid, you normally have to put down a deposit and pay the outstanding balance once the aid arrives back from the manufacturer.

The hearing test

Do not try and cheat in the hearing test! I know I did this a few times when I first started going to the NHS for hearing checkups – I didn’t want to acknowledge my hearing loss and I wanted others to think my hearing was as good as possible. I bet some other people will do this to. The Audiologist will know what you are up to, they are there to help you not to judge you.
For the actual test, you sit in a small sound-proof room and listen to a series of sounds in each ear. No surprises there.
I’ve always found hearing tests to be quite difficult. When I go into the room and get ready to listen I find myself really trying hard to hear and I can never decide if I’m imagining the noise or really hearing it.
An audiogram will be produced from the test results – this is a graph displaying your hearing range.

Taking impressions of your ears

The Audiologist may need to send moulds of your ears to the manufacturer along with your audiogram. The moulds are taken by using a syringe to fill your ear with putty – it’s left in there for five minutes or so until it hardens and is then pulled out. Impressions will not be needed if you are buying Open Fit aids as they do not fill your ear canal fully and are not required to be shaped for each wearer.
I’ve been told that there is a new laser technique for taking impressions. The laser is pointed into the ear, it bounces around inside the ear canal and builds up a 3D picture from that. I’ve never actually seen this technique but I imagine it would produce far more accurate results than putty does.

What are you prepared to wear?

Unless your hearing loss is small enough that you can use a Completely In The Canal (CIC) hearing aid, it is likely that your new aid will be visible to other people. How comfortable are you going to be with this? For most people, the need to hear is the most important aspect, and rightly so, but the look of the aid is worth considering at this point. You don’t want to spend a considerable amount of money on the aid and then not wear it.
The hearing aid vendor may have some empty aid shells that you can put in your ear to see how they look. Ask.

What to ask

Ask the audiologist about your hearing loss. How bad is it? How much difference can you expect the aid to make? Why is a particular aid being recommended? What is good about it? How much range is there in the aid for increasing volume should your hearing get worse?

Before you part with your money

You should always have the option to return your new hearing aid within a set period of time and get a full refund. This is important. Find out how long you have to make up your mind whether you like the aid once you have received it. If there is no trial period offered, go somewhere else. You will need at least four weeks to try out the new aids, you will need to see how they work in different situations – you will almost certainly need to return the the audiologist to get the settings changed, return appointments may take time to organise.

Parting with your money

If you decide to purchase an aid you will most likely have to pay a deposit – probably something like 10% of the full price. The outstanding balance will be paid when your new aid has been built and delivered back to the audiologist from the manufacturer. It normally takes 2 or 3 weeks for the aid to be built.

Read the second part of this guide: Testing your new hearing aid.

15-month old Samantha Collins has Treacher Collins syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that affects the growth of her facial bones. She was also born without ears – she doesn’t even have holes that would lead into the ear canal on the side of her head.

Currently, Samantha has a standard hearing aid that her parents strap to her head using a bandage. This allows her to hear some noises but the bandage doesn’t stay on an active baby’s heard for long. The answer is a Bone Anchored Hearing Aid (BAHA) that would be fixed to Samantha’s head and wouldn’t move.

Unfortunately the Collins family’s medical insurance company, United Healthcare, are willing to pay for the surgery to implant the hearing aid, but are not willing to pay for the device itself.

Without the hearing aid, doctors say Samantha will likely never learn to speak. As it is, the only sounds she makes is the banging together of toys and some petite squeals.

Age-related deafness, and hearing loss caused by loud noise may be reduced by the antioxidants in red wine and aspirin. Scientists are claiming that the compounds they contain could help protect the delicate hairs of the inner ear that are vital to hearing.

Destructive chemical agents called oxygen-free radicals, produced by normal cellular processes and in response to loud noise and exposure to powerful antibiotics, can damage the hairs. But antioxidants such as resveratrol, found in red wine and salicylate, the active ingredient in aspirin, should be able to neutralise them.

To test whether this was the case, scientists in the United States used salicylate to prevent damage to hair cells in patients’ ears caused by the strong antibiotic, gentamicin. Hearing loss affected just 3% of patients who were given gentamicin plus aspirin for acute ear infections, compared with 13% treated with the antibiotic plus a non-active placebo.

Dr Jochen Schacht, of the University of Michigan Medical School, said: “That’s a 75% reduction in toxicity to the ear.”

The evidence suggested that a similar effect could be achieved by including more antioxidant-rich foods in the diet, he added. “I wouldn’t say it is proof for antioxidants, the jury’s still out on that. But it certainly can’t hurt to increase the amount of green vegetables, red wine or green tea that you consume.”