Here's some information to help you get ready for your appointment. Your provider might refer you to a hearing specialist, also known as an audiologist. If you think you have hearing loss, call your health care provider. These include TV-listening systems or devices that make phone sounds stronger, smartphone or tablet apps, and closed-circuit systems in public places. Hearing devices can help you hear better while lessening noises around you. In public, choose a place to talk that's away from noisy areas. Don't try to talk to someone in a different room.

Get the other person's attention before speaking.

Most people will be helpful if they know you're having trouble hearing them.

Ask others to speak up, but not too loud, and speak clearly.

For example, noise from a television can make talking and listening harder.

Put yourself in a good position to hear.

Let them know that you've lost some hearing. These tips can help you stay connected with hearing loss: Hogan can help you sort through all the options and create a personal solution for your hearing problem.įor the Mayo Clinic News Network, I'm Jeff Olsen.Įxplore Mayo Clinic studies testing new treatments, interventions and tests as a means to prevent, detect, treat or manage this condition. Hogan: 'They can watch videos or things like that directly from their phone to their hearing aid.'Īn audiologist like Dr.

Some hearing aids can even connect to a person's cellphone.ĭr. One of the benefits of this device is wearers can answer and listen to a phone call as they have their whole life. Hogan: 'This is a full-shell, in-the-ear hearing aid. Important decisions include whether the device will have rechargeable batteries or ones that need to be replaced, and whether the hearing aid will sit behind or in the ear.ĭr. We try to choose a hearing aid that's going to fit the person's needs.' Hogan: 'So there isn't one best hearing aid for older people versus younger people. Cynthia Hogan says with these devices, one-size-fits-all does not apply.ĭr. Hogan: 'Hearing aids, because they're digital, can be adjusted over a wide range of hearing loss.' Instead, a cochlear implant goes around the parts of the inner ear that don't work to spur the hearing nerve.Īn audiologist and a health care provider trained in the ears, nose and throat (ENT) can tell you the risks and benefits.Ĭynthia Hogan, Ph.D., Audiology, Mayo Clinicĭr. A cochlear implant isn't like a hearing aid that makes sound stronger and directs it into the ear canal. When a regular hearing aid isn't likely to help much, a cochlear implant might be an option. Audiologists also can fit you with a hearing aid.Ĭochlear implants. A hearing specialist, known as an audiologist, can talk about how hearing aids can help and what kinds there are. If hearing loss is from damage to the inner ear, a hearing aid can be helpful. For repeated infections that cause fluid in the ear, a care provider might put in small tubes that help ears drain. Some types of hearing loss can be treated with surgery. A health care provider might remove earwax using suction or a small tool with a loop on the end. Earwax blockage is a cause of hearing loss that can be fixed.

Treatment depends on the cause of the hearing loss and how bad it is. Others have these as separate outside parts (upper left and on right). Some types of cochlear implants have one outside unit that has a speech processor, microphone and transmitter combined (lower left).

They stimulate the auditory nerve with electrodes that have been threaded into the cochlea. A transmitter sends sound signals to a receiver and stimulator implanted under the skin. A cochlear implant uses a sound processor that's worn behind the ear.

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