Hidden hearing loss gains more attention day by day. However, most people have never heard of it. How does this curious condition work? And how does it change how we think about hearing?
How does hidden hearing loss differ from traditional hearing loss?
When we think of hearing loss, we’re often thinking of a loss of sound. If you’ve ever observed or taken part in a traditional audiogram, you know the test involves playing sounds at various pitches and volumes. The test subject must then indicate which sounds they heard by raising their hand or pushing a button.
The type of hearing loss revealed by this test happens because of damage to hairlike cells in the inner ear, aptly named hair cells or stereocilia. Here is how those cells come into play:
Sound waves enter the ear canal—the outer ear—and vibrate the eardrum.
In the middle ear, the eardrum creates a chain of vibration through three bones—commonly referred to as the hammer, anvil, and stirrup (or malleus, incus, and stapes)—that then passes into the inner ear, to the snail-shaped cochlea.
These vibrations enter the fluid-filled cochlea, where different frequencies determine which part of the cochlea the fluid vibrates.
The vibrations cause waves in the fluid, which move hair cells lining the cochlea, creating signals that travel through the auditory nerve and into the auditory centers of the brain.
If those cells are damaged, you lose hearing at a certain volume or perhaps just certain pitches, e.g, low tones or higher tones.
With hidden hearing loss, however, it is not the hair cells that are damaged, but cells in the brain itself. Imagine that you are trying to figure out a problem with your computer. After some tinkering, you discover that the fan isn’t working properly, or perhaps some wires have come loose. These are hardware issues, and damage to the outer, middle, or inner ear (where the hair cells are) works much the same way. However, your problem may be related to software. If something has damaged a piece of software on your hard drive, you may lose pieces of the data for that software, and that’s what is happening with hidden hearing loss.
An analysis of music shows that different parts of the brain light up for different aspects of music besides just tone and pitch, such as rhythm, memory, and emotion. Likewise, synapses—cells that bring information to different parts of the brain—are vital to the hearing process. If these synapses become damaged, the information often comes through incomplete, garbling the message.
Ultimately, this means a person might have no problem understanding someone during a conversation in a quiet room, but may struggle to hear in a noisy environment, such as a stadium full of a roaring crowd or even a busy restaurant.
Do I have hidden hearing loss? What can I do about it?
Since the term hidden hearing loss has only been around since 2009, and few people visit audiologists, it is very difficult to know how many people this condition affects. To complicate matters, testing for this kind of loss is still in the early stages. The Associated Press (AP) created a test in 2017; however, this is not a scientifically backed medical tool. Rather, this test provides an interesting look into how background noise affects hearing.
The test itself is a simple audio clip. It starts out with no background noise while a male voice comes on at intervals, telling the listener to repeat the sentences he says. “White” background noise is then introduced and increases every couple of phrases.
At first, the background noise sounds much like the inside of a car as it travels down a highway: soft, muted, and hazy; more an impression of noise than anything else. As the background noise increases, these impressions continue, resembling different environments or types of white noise: television static, rain, and others come to mind.
One assumes that with each increase, it will become more and more difficult to understand the phrases. However, response to the clip showed that people often missed phrases at random intervals—for example, missing one closer to the beginning and then having no trouble until later. This implies that hidden hearing loss is not a linear progression, and damage to these synapses affects very specific parts of the brain while not affecting others. This means testing will have to look for different criteria than traditional hearing tests.
It may be a while before we have effective tests for diagnosing this type of hearing loss, but you can still start managing this issue. Researchers are looking into treatments and you can do your own interventions, such as asking your conversation partners to talk slower (rather than louder), being strategic about where you sit in noisy environments, or getting set up with one of the many new technologies that incorporate background noise canceling and other methods.
Worried about your hearing? Ask an audiologist for a professional opinion.
Your audiologist can help you figure out the best interventions to manage your hearing loss and prevent it from getting worse. Schedule an appointment today!
Ear wax removal is an important part of hearing health, and here at RK Audiology, we’re stepping up our game with the new EarigatorTM from Nupurtech. This new piece of technology is easy to use, and a safer, more comfortable way to clean ears. Clients have even referred to it as an “ear spa.” Here’s a quick breakdown of this new technique.
How the EarigatorTM works
The EarigatorTM nozzle flushes body temperature water into the ear, dislodging impacted cerumen (earwax) that can cause hearing difficulties. The catch basin is shaped to fit snugly under the ear, preventing the removed earwax from getting on clients’ clothes, hair, or body. In addition, a smock is worn by the client during the procedure, which takes as little as five minutes.
Why the EarigatorTM is so effective at earwax removal
The EarigatorTM is part otoscope, part irrigator, allowing your audiologist a more accurate view as they are cleaning your ears. This is also helped by the LED light and magnifying glass attached directly to the nozzle.
The nozzle spray itself can be adjusted for both temperature and pressure, allowing the most comfortable experience for you, the client. It is made more comfortable by its simple and thoughtful design: a trigger nozzle to help the audiologist control the pressure more easily, a shield to reduce splashback, and a well-designed catch basin. These small, simple features make this the safest and most effective earwax removal technology available.
It’s so effective, it’s even used in emergency rooms.
Our new earwax removal procedure
At RK Audiology, we are always looking for the safest and most effective ways to serve our clients. The EarigatorTM has allowed us to create a more streamlined procedure that will continue to keep you safe and comfortable. We love feedback from our clients on how we can improve our services, so let us know what you think!
As always, we start with a sterile environment, following the latest CDC guidelines.
We begin by reviewing your ear health history with you – including discussing any history of pain or discomfort, and/or any previous ear surgeries. This is the perfect time to ask questions.
We use video otoscopy to view your ear canals and eardrums. With our large monitor, you will see what we see during your ear cleaning appointment.
The water is pre-prepped to a comfortable temperature.
We have you wear a smock and the water basin is placed in position under the ear to be cleaned.
The audiologist will check water temperature and begin the procedure, cleaning one ear at a time.
Once the procedure is complete, the audiologist will dry your ears and view both ears again using the video otoscope, giving you and the audiologist a ‘before’ and ‘after’ view.
The new year is already going strong, and to help you have more good things this year, we’re excited to tell you about the latest hearing technology we’ve added to our collection: the Oticon More™, the Phonak Paradise, and Phonak Virto Black. These three new hearing technology options are at the top of our 2021 list of hearing technology for better connections.
Oticon More™
The Oticon More™ was released at the beginning of the year and already shows promise. Since there is a strong link between hearing loss left untreated and a heightened risk of dementia, it’s clear that Oticon has used this knowledge to design a better device. This hearing aid carries 30% more sound to the brain, which means your speech understanding can increase as much as 15%. It also means reduced listening effort, making it easier for you to remember what is said. It has even been shown to reduce tinnitus for some wearers.
These hearing aids are well-connected to today’s technology. You can use them to stream directly from your smartphone or your TV (it comes with an adapter, so your TV doesn’t even have to be a specific type). You can also make hands-free calls through your smartphone.
Maintenance on this device is very user-friendly. It has its own app so you can discreetly adjust the controls on your hearing aids. It also has its own charger that gives you a full 24 hours of life, with an additional 6 hours using the 30-min quick charge feature.
Phonak Audéo™ Paradise
Phonak also understands that better speech understanding is key to designing effective hearing technology for better connections with its new Phonak Audéo™ Paradise. This device focuses on delivering crisper and more natural sound with its Speech Enhancer feature, which “boosts soft-level speech” in quiet environments or from a distance. It also uses a personalized approach with its Dynamic Noise Cancellation feature, which allows you to choose the amount of noise to filter when you are in various environments.
Audéo™ is also user-friendly by connecting to prominent technology like smartphones and Bluetooth® (you can even connect two Bluetooth® devices at the same time). In addition, this device has a voice assistant feature you can access with just a tap, allowing you to answer calls, stream music, and more. It also has its app to give you control over your device and connect with other amazing features.
Phonak Virto Marvel Black
In search of a style that looks just like a wireless earbud? We must mention the Virto Black. This fully connected, in-the-ear (ITE) hearing aid combines Marvel hearing technology with the style of a modern hearable. This 2020 “Best of CES” has a customized fit for your individual ears, a clear sound, connects to all your devices, and has a smart app that gives you quick, personalized, fine-tuning options.
At RK, we are always looking ahead to sharing more advancements in technology, and more ways to serve you better. Check our “Technology” page for more information on the latest technology at RK Audiology. Then check out our 3-minute online hearing test and schedule an appointment today!
Neuroscience is looking at sensory substitution to change the lives of people with varying levels of hearing loss. As we move into a new year, we are looking forward to how those with hearing loss might find other ways to receive information.
We’ve discovered how music can have a healing effect on the body, thanks to the interaction between the many parts of the ear and the brain. So, what happens if the part of the brain set aside for hearing was no longer used because someone has hearing loss?
Sensory Substitution and Reorganizing the Brain
We’ve already noted how the brain can reorganize and reassign areas of the brain from functions such as hearing to other functions such as vision or touch. This research is now being used to help those who are deaf or hard of hearing with a technique called sensory substitution. This technique gets around the loss of one sense, such as hearing, “by feeding its information through another channel, such as touch.”
This is not new. Sign language uses the hands to communicate, create shapes and movements – patterns – that provide input through our sense of sight. This communication method can even incorporate the sense of touch by having a person who is both deaf and blind use their hands to follow the patterns of the signer.
Now, neuroscientists have developed a new kind of technology, a vest loaded with multiple sensors along the torso that transmits information through the body to the brain using a set of spatiotemporal patterns that vibrate and ripple along the skin. These patterns can correspond to varying kinds of input, but they have mostly been used so far to communicate words and ideas, much like sign language does. If someone speaks to a deaf person wearing a vest, the sensors would translate the spoken words to patterns, and those patterns would communicate the information to the deaf person.
The best part about this technique is that it is non-invasive. Even better, this technology would be a fraction of the cost of surgical options such as cochlear implants, making it available to people worldwide.
Using Patterns to Communicate
Much like sign language, the vest uses patterns to communicate information. In this case, a set of sensors are placed along the torso on the back part of the vest. These sensors have been calibrated to make a kind of pattern that is spatiotemporal. This means that instead of each sensor vibrating separately, or sets of sensors vibrating simultaneously, the sensors are instead calibrated to vibrate in a movement, like a ripple or a wave that moves across the skin in various directions. They found this to be far more effective in transmitting the information than the static vibrations, either singular or in groups.
These patterns would work much like braille, which is to say that a person would come to subconsciously relate certain patterns with certain words without having to think about it. Early tests with one deaf person have already shown this to be the case, and the creators of the vest, David Eagleman and Scott Novice, are looking forward to more trials.
Plug-and-Play Organs and Our Limited Sensory Perception
To get a better idea of how this technique is viable, it helps to have an understanding of our sense organs. Sense organs shape the way we perceive the world. They receive and transmit input to the brain, where the input is processed into information that we use to learn, make decisions, and experience life. They are how we know and understand our surrounding reality. However, this reality is not as objective as we think it is.
The first thing to understand about sensory perception is that the organs we most connect to the senses – ears, eyes, nose, tongue, and skin – are incredibly limited in the data our brains receive from them. We cannot see the many types of light, electromagnetic, and radio waves that pass through the air. Some animals can see these but not others, such as snakes that can see some infrared light waves or honeybees that are able to see in the ultraviolet range. Our other sense organs are likewise limited; imagine having the nose of a bloodhound and being able to know there’s a cat somewhere a couple of blocks away or where another person has been all day by taking a deep whiff of the bottoms of their shoes.
So, when a person loses the function of one of these organs, it’s much easier to find a substitute for delivering certain kinds of input to the brain than you might think. They are more like plug-and-play devices for computers and video games, which can be replaced with another device as needed. Some of these devices need a software download, teaching the computer how to work with the new device. This is similar to how these plug-and-play sense organs work. If one of them stops functioning, the brain can reassign that area to something else, like heightening one’s vision or learning to work with this vest through touch.
In addition, sensory substitution, these neuroscientists believe, can eventually become sensory addition, adding new perceptions to our sensory experience. This can help with rehabilitative and assistive processes, as well as other forms of neural plasticity research and technology. That’s information worth sharing with everyone.
For more information on how hearing and the brain are related, follow our blog, follow the research, or make an appointment today. You can get started with understanding your own hearing in a socially distanced way by trying out our new 3-minute online hearing test. Here’s to a Happy New Year! Bring on 2021!!
Invisible Hearing Aids Get a Boost from Phonak with the Lyric4
Phonak Lyric™ invisible hearing aids are best known for their invisibility, comfort, and convenience. Now they’re creating a brand new gold standard with the launch of Lyric4.
If you are looking to level up your hearing aids, Phonak recently released the new Lyric4, and it is better than ever. It was already a 100% invisible hearing device, designed to be worn comfortably 24/7 for months at a time, stands up to showering and challenging environments, and is controlled with the SoundLync™ tool. Here are its newest features:
The smaller size has made this device more viable for people with smaller ear canals so that they can enjoy the convenience of having a 24/7 invisible hearing aid.
The LyricTM design uses the ear canal, rather than an outside device, to capture and process sound for a more natural hearing experience. The new Lyric4 has a more effective design for collecting debris and cerumen that interfere with the receiver. This allows it to prevent clogging between maintenance and fittings.
As you can see, Phonak has taken the Lyric™ invisible hearing aid to the next level. Check out their site for more information, or schedule an appointment today!
Bonus Tip: If you feel that your hearing has changed and/or if you are noticing more difficulties hearing in this day of masks and social distancing, prior to scheduling an appointment, check your hearing now at https://rkaudiology.com/online-hearing-test/
If you have a dog, you want them to be as healthy as you are. Special diets, exercise, and regular trips to the vet are all important, but what about their ears? Just like humans, the state of your dog’s ears affects their overall health and can be an indicator of other health issues. Likewise, methods of safe ear cleaning for dogs are often best left to professionals, but you can still do some at-home maintenance with RK Audiology’s help. Whether those ears stand up or droop, these safe cleaning tips will help make sure man’s best friend has healthy ears and hearing.
Different Breeds Need Different Types of Care
Safe ear cleaning for dogs starts with knowing each dog will have different ear care needs. Depending on who you ask, there are between 200 and 350 different breeds worldwide. Each breed comes with its own unique anatomy, as well as health issues that can affect, or be affected by, ear health. Talking to your veterinarian and dog breeder about breed-specific concerns will make you better able to make good decisions for Fido.
Know When It’s Time for a Cleaning
Even with breed-specific concerns, there are still ways to know whether it’s time for at-home treatment or time for a visit to the vet. Certain breeds need more frequent cleanings than others, such as dogs that spend a lot of time in the water. There are, however, some general rules. Dogs with ears that hang down tend to trap moisture and dirt, while dogs with ears that are open or stand up are prone to infections.
You can also tell a lot by spot inspection. Before you can do one, you will need to know what a healthy ear looks like. The best time to learn this is with your vet but, overall, the inside of dogs’ ears should look pink rather than red. Redness is a sign of inflammation and possible infection. They should also leave no odor. If you do notice a slight odor, or if your best friend is shaking their head or scratching their ears a lot, the American Kennel Club suggests it’s time for a cleaning. If the ear looks red and inflamed or smells yeasty, however, head to the vet.
How to Safely Clean Your Dog’s Ears
If it’s time for a home cleaning, remember that safe ear cleaning for dogs is similar to safe ear cleaning for humans. That means this is not the time to break out the cotton swabs. Nor should you go directly for a bottle of alcohol or hydrogen peroxide. Because of the structure of a dog’s ear, these items can irritate the ear canal. Furthermore, they don’t actually remove all the wax, dirt, and other irritants, and you may possibly damage the ear trying.
Instead of using items that can cause or worsen an infection, try cleaning drops specially formulated for dogs. These drops dissolve ear wax, and some have antifungal or antibacterial properties. We recommend Earwax PETTM
Here are simple steps for using this to effectively clean your dog’s ears:
Lay the dog on their side and gently wipe away any debris from around the outer ear with a cotton ball or facial tissue. This can also be done with the dog in a normal standing position.
For large dogs (greater than 35 pounds), slowly place 1 full dropper into the ear canal. For small dogs (less than 35 pounds), slowly place ½ dropper into the ear canal.
Gently massage the base of the ear for several minutes.
Keep the dog still for 5-15 minutes to allow the wax and debris to dissolve.
Allow the dog to shake its head as needed to remove excess fluid. (This is why we recommend doing this outside!)
Dry outer ear canal with a clean cotton ball or clean tissue.
Repeat immediately if the ear canal is not visibly clean.
Treat ears every month or as directed by your veterinarian.
As you and your veterinarian decide what is the best way to treat your dog, please make sure to always be gentle. Dog ears are easily damaged when proper care is not taken. If you have questions on safe ear cleaning for dogs, contact your vet or the American Kennel Club. You can also contact RK Audiology for more resources and to schedule your next appointment. You are, after all, your dog’s best friend.
