Important information for Physicians

Chronic kidney Disease: Even moderate kidney Disease is associated with 43% increased risk. Toxins that accumulate in kidney failure can damage nerves, including those in the inner ear, in addition, some of the treatments for kidney disease can further damage the inner ear.

High cholesterol, high blood pressure, and obesity: These have been linked in studies to loss of hearing – in addition to other serious complications, of course, such as heart attacks and strokes.

Cancer: Those who have cancer also experience hearing loss because many chemotherapy drugs are toxic to the hearing organs. These patients should have their hearing check regularly.

Other indications of hearing loss: Depression, sudden hearing loss, sensation of pressure in the ears that won’t go away, difficulty understanding in crowds or noisy places, difficulty on the telephone, academic problems, poor reading skills, those who suffer from dizziness, vertigo, unsteadiness, speech delay, tinnitus, head noises, hissing, whistling, clanging, hyperacusis (abnormal sensitivity to sound), fear of sound, ear infections, and perforated ear drums.

Even patients with mild hearing loss need hearing aids.

Misconceptions of mild hearing loss:

“The term mild hearing loss suggests little or no experienced hearing difficulty resulting in a low priority for rehabilitation and amplification, the consequences of which can be very high. In reality individuals with mild hearing loss often experience difficulties understanding speech especially in the presence of noise and from a distance. Three main reasons individuals with mild hearing loss have problems understanding speech are decreased audibility (can’t hear soft sounds), reduced dynamic range (reduced difference between the softest sound heard and when sounds become too loud and increased listening fatigue. Soft sounds may not be heard especially 'f, s, th, and k'. the reason for this is twofold: these sounds are weaker in loudness and they are higher in frequency (pitch). High frequency is the frequency most commonly affected by hearing loss.”

When someone has a high-frequency hearing loss, they can hear on a one on one basis but they have difficulty understanding speech from a distance or in the presence of noise. This kind of hearing loss is not visible because the patient can still hear. In general, one of the purposes of low frequencies is volume and the high frequencies mainly for clarity. These patients will say, I can hear but sometimes I don’t understand what people say because they talk too low. These patients often times don’t even know that they have hearing loss, their loved ones are the first to notice because they have to keep repeating. Anther misconception is “I can still hear, people just need to speak louder or more clear.” Most of those who need hearing aids do not have difficulty hearing, they have difficulty understanding. One of the most difficult things for an audiologist to say to a patient is “sorry you are not a candidate for hearing aids” These patients can’t hear. For this population, a cochlear implant might be the solution but they still need an evaluation.

When someone needs glasses, even if is a minor correction, the Optometrist still recommends glasses because it will help with clarity; same goes for hearing, mild hearing losses have to be treated to obtain better clarity.   In addition, the sooner the patient gets fitted with hearing aids, the sooner they can get used to them and most importantly enjoy the benefits that come with hearing improvements.  Its also important to start early to help with stimulation of our brain to avoid auditory deprivation.  Auditory deprivation was first reported in 1984 and it’s simply prolonged lack of amplification of auditory stimuli (hearing). In other words, if you don’t use it you lose it.   Most people wait too long to get hearing aids and when they decide to come in to try hearing aids, they struggle getting used to hearing aids, and processing the acoustical stimuli since the brain has been deprived.