There tends to be more confusion when it concerns hearing care than with most other medical specialties. We don’t have to ask, for instance, what a dentist or eye doctor can do for us. But when it comes to our hearing, we’re many times uncertain as to what we should do or which professional we should visit.
So what exactly can a local hearing care professional do for you? Several things, in fact—things that could end up making your life better and more convenient.
The following are 6 services you should be familiar with.
1. Evaluation of hearing and balance
Hearing professionals are specifically trained in examining hearing and balance. If you think you have hearing loss, balance problems, or experience ringing in the ears, the local hearing specialist is the go-to expert.
By conducting professional audiological evaluations, hearing specialists can skillfully diagnose the cause of your hearing loss or balance problems. And if your hearing loss is induced by an underlying medical problem, hearing specialists can prepare the suitable referrals.
In addition, If you have chronic ringing in the ears, known as tinnitus, many hearing specialists can furnish focused therapies.
2. Earwax extraction
In certain cases, what is thought to be hearing loss is nothing more than excessive earwax buildup. While it’s not the most glamorous aspect of the job, hearing specialists are skilled in professional ear cleaning. If this is the cause of your hearing loss, you could begin hearing better within a matter of minutes.
And always remember, it’s never safe to insert anything, including cotton swabs, into your ear canal at home. There are other proper ways to clean your ears, such as with homemade solutions or ideally by visiting the hearing specialist.
3. Personalized hearing protection
A great number of individuals make the mistake of first visiting the hearing specialist after they develop hearing loss. Don’t commit the same error. If you work in a noisy profession (for example as a musician) or participate in loud activities (like hunting), you should pick up custom made ear protection to prevent future hearing loss.
You could just pick up some foam earplugs at the convenience store, but they’re almost always uncomfortable and generate an aggravating muffled sound. Custom earplugs fit comfortably in your ear and preserve the sounds you desire to hear while protecting against the sounds that result in damage.
4. Professional hearing tests (audiometry)
Hearing loss is imperceptible, pain-free, and oftentimes hard to recognize or accept. The only way to attain an accurate diagnosis is through a professional hearing assessment known as audiometry.
Utilizing leading-edge equipment and techniques, the hearing specialist can accurately diagnose hearing loss. Immediately after performing the test, the final results are printed on a diagram called an audiogram. Like a fingerprint, everyone’s hearing loss is slightly different, which will be visually depicted on the audiogram.
If you can benefit from hearing aids, the audiogram will function as the blueprint to programming and customizing the technology.
5. Hearing aid selection and adjustment
Hearing aids come in many styles, from multiple manufacturers, equipped with numerous features. Since everyone’s hearing loss and preferences are different, this wide variety is necessary—but it does make things slightly overwhelming when you need to make a decision.
That’s where hearing specialists can help you. They’ll help you find the hearing aid that corresponds to your hearing loss while making sure that you don’t throw away money on features you simply don’t care about or require.
Once you discover the right hearing aid, your hearing specialist will use your audiogram as the blueprint for customization. That way, you’ll be sure that your hearing aid optimizes your hearing based on the sounds you primarily have trouble hearing.
6. A lifetime of healthy hearing
The health of your hearing should be maintained as intensely as any other aspect of your health. We have family physicians, dentists, and optometrists that help maintain various aspects of our health on a continuous basis.
Similarly, we should have a specific professional looking out for the health of our hearing. Your partnership with your hearing specialist shouldn’t conclude following your hearing test; it should be ongoing. Hearing specialists provide a variety of beneficial life-long services, including hearing aid cleaning, upkeep, troubleshooting, and repair, along with advice and direction on the latest technology.
So even though your hearing will undoubtedly change over time, your hearing specialist should not. If you agree to finding a local professional who cares about helping people over everything else, you’ll enjoy the benefits of healthy hearing for life.