Hearing Loss Treatment in Augusta, GA

Are you having trouble hearing conversations while sitting around the dinner table? Do you have your phone at max volume, but you’re still missing parts of conversations?

Hearing loss can make you feel alone and isolated. It often goes unnoticed at first, which can be dangerous because even minor hearing loss can impact your brain’s cognitive function.

How common is hearing loss? Some estimates put the number of people suffering with hearing loss at 466 million globally. Hearing loss, which is one of the most common health concerns worldwide, has diverse causes, comes in numerous types, and has a number of treatment strategies. Public awareness about preventable hearing loss has been growing thanks to educational programs sponsored by health officials. You will be in a better position to protect your own hearing when you understand the facts about hearing loss.

It's Not Uncommon for People to Overlook Some Hearing Loss Symptoms

Maybe you think that you’re just having a difficult time hearing, and that’s the extent of your hearing loss. However, the early signs of hearing loss are frequently unnoticed or even just ignored. Here are a few signs of hearing loss:

It sounds like people’s voices are muffled when they speak
When there is background noise, like crowd noise, hearing becomes a real challenge
Hearing can become quite challenging when there is a lot of background noise, like crowd noise, for example you constantly need to turn up the volume on your devices
You don’t go out to see movies in the theater very much anymore because it’s hard for you to hear quieter dialog
Social situations, especially settings of larger groups and louder environments, are becoming progressively more challenging and you’ve begun to withdraw from them altogether
You’re getting plenty of rest, but you still feel exhausted
Your colleagues are hard for you to hear so you find yourself tuning them out
You are having a difficult time dealing with basic memory and cognitive function

Contact us for a hearing test if you are noticing any of these initial symptoms.

Hearing Loss Causes

In some cases, the cause of hearing loss is fairly apparent. However, it can be difficult for the majority of people to identify a single obvious cause. Hearing loss can be caused by several slight issues working in tandem, for instance.

The following are a few common hearing loss causes:

Congenital Problems

Congenital issues and birth defects are the most prominent causes of hearing loss in infants and children. However, until the person gets older, many of these issues will go undetected.

Physical Blockage

Sound vibrations moving from the outer ear, through the ear canal, and into your middle ear are the basis of your ability to hear. If that passageway gets blocked in any way, the result can be hearing loss. Hearing will usually be improved once the obstruction is cleared.

Infection

Your ears can be impacted by both primary infections and secondary infections. Hearing loss can sometimes be the result of the damage caused by chronic or severe ear infections.

Noise Damage

The most common cause of lasting hearing loss is damage to the ear due to repeated exposure to overly loud sounds. Persistent exposure to sounds louder than 85dB can gradually and irreversibly cause hearing loss.

Age

In some circumstances, the main cause of hearing loss will be age-related. However, it can be challenging to differentiate age-related hearing loss from noise-induced hearing loss. In a lot of circumstances, the two are functionally exactly the same.

Trauma

There are a number of types of trauma that can lead to hearing loss. In some circumstances, that could be trauma to the ear itself. In other situations, short-term and long-term hearing loss can be the result of brain trauma.

Hearing Loss Types

There are two primary forms of hearing loss:

Conductive Hearing Loss

This form of hearing loss is caused by a blockage somewhere along the hearing pathway. The obstruction could be caused by an infection or possibly a non-cancerous growth. A blockage can even be caused by something as common as earwax impaction. Regardless of the specific cause, sound waves won't be able to travel through the hearing pathway if it's blocked.

Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Your hearing ability relies on tiny hair cells in the ear known as stereocilia. After those hairs are exposed to sound waves, they transmit signals to the brain. The brain then converts those signals into recognizable sounds. Exposure to overly loud noise can destroy those hairs, and when they're gone, they never grow back. The result is permanent hearing loss.

For someone dealing with conductive hearing loss, hearing will usually improve once the obstruction is cleared. It’s also not impossible for both types of hearing loss to be simultaneously present.

Hearing Loss Treatments

Even if your hearing loss can’t be cured, most forms can be successfully treated with the help of hearing aids. In less severe cases, routine hearing assessments may be all that’s required. Hearing aids, however, can be a practical treatment in more extreme cases.

A contemporary hearing aid is packed with all kinds of state-of-the-art technology. Advanced features like sound balancing and machine learning make voices sound clearer and sharper. And just a few of the other sophisticated features include step counting, Bluetooth connectivity, and automatic emergency contacting.

It may, at first, seem a bit overboard to have this much technology inside of a hearing aid. However, these technologies can be really helpful for individuals who have hearing loss. Sound balancing favors voices, improving overall communication. Bluetooth connectivity can keep you connected to the outside world and help you maintain essential social bonds. All of these technologies were made to help the person with hearing loss preserve their quality of life.

Why Practically Managing Hearing Loss is so Significant

Hearing aids are probably the most prevalent way to manage hearing loss. It’s really important to get treatment for more than just hearing.

Getting effective treatment is important for the following reasons:

You can delay further hearing loss progression.
A person with hearing loss will avoid doing further damage if they don't need to crank up the volume on their listening devices. If the part of your brain that is responsible for processing sound goes unused, it can atrophy. However, with hearing aids, your improved hearing ability will get your brain re-engaged.

Your social life will have a better chance of remaining intact.
Using hearing aids can alleviate the social isolation that people who have hearing loss often experience.

You reduce your risk of experiencing cognitive problems, like anxiety, depression, and dementia, by using hearing aids to manage hearing loss.
Hearing loss can often lead to social isolation, and that combination can, in turn, cause mental health problems like depression and anxiety. And your risk of experiencing dementia and other cognitive issues increases with neglected hearing loss, according to a substantial body of evidence.

Hearing aids can also be really helpful for people who cope with tinnitus.
Tinnitus causes you to hear phantom sounds in your ears and is often a component of hearing loss. Contemporary hearing aids have features that address tinnitus as well as treating hearing loss.

What Will Hearing Loss Look Like In The Future?

Worldwide, the increase in noise pollution and the prevalent use of personal listening devices like earbuds, is making hearing loss a progressively more urgent issue. Millions of new individuals will clearly be impacted by hearing loss every year.

Getting your hearing loss treated by our hearing professionals is the best way to mitigate any related health concerns. Make an appointment with us right away for a hearing test.