There tends to be more misunderstanding when it involves hearing care than with most other medical specializations. We don’t need to ask, for example, what a dentist or eye doctor can do for us. But when it comes to our hearing, we’re oftentimes unsure as to what action we should take or which professional we should see.
So what exactly can a local hearing care professional do for you? Many things, in fact—things that could turn out making your life better and easier.
The following are 6 services you should be familiar with.
1. Evaluation of hearing and balance
Hearing professionals are specially trained in examining hearing and balance. If you think you have hearing loss, balance problems, or experience ringing in the ears, the local hearing professional is the go-to expert.
By conducting professional audiological evaluations, hearing specialists can adeptly diagnose the cause of your hearing loss or balance problems. And if your hearing loss is triggered by an underlying medical condition, hearing specialists can prepare the appropriate referrals.
Also, If you have chronic ringing in the ears, known as tinnitus, many hearing specialists can provide targeted therapies.
2. Earwax extraction
In certain cases, what is thought to be hearing loss is simply excessive earwax buildup. While it’s not the most glamorous feature of the job, hearing specialists are skilled in professional ear cleaning. If this is the reason for your hearing loss, you could begin hearing better within minutes.
And keep in mind, it’s never safe to insert anything, including cotton swabs, into your ear canal at home. There are several other appropriate ways you can clean your ears, such as with homemade solutions or ideally by visiting the hearing specialist.
3. Personalized hearing protection
Many people make the mistake of first visiting the hearing specialist after they develop hearing loss. Don’t make the same mistake. If you work in a noisy career (for instance as a musician) or take part in loud activities (like hunting), you should invest in custom ear protection to protect against future hearing loss.
You could just pick up some foam earplugs at the convenience store, but they’re in general uncomfortable and create an aggravating muffled sound. Custom earplugs fit comfortably in your ear and preserve the sounds you want to hear while protecting against the sounds that result in damage.
4. Professional hearing tests (audiometry)
Hearing loss is invisible, pain-free, and at times challenging to recognize or accept. The only way to get an accurate diagnosis is with the aid of a professional hearing assessment known as audiometry.
Using sophisticated equipment and practices, the hearing specialist can accurately diagnose hearing loss. Immediately after performing the testing, the final results are printed on a chart referred to as an audiogram. Like a fingerprint, everyone’s hearing loss is a little different, which will be visually displayed on the audiogram.
If you can reap benefits from hearing aids, the audiogram will serve as the blueprint to programming and customizing the technology.
5. Hearing aid selection and fitting
Hearing aids come in many styles, from multiple producers, equipped with numerous capabilities. Considering that everyone’s hearing loss and preferences are a little different, this variety is necessary—but it does make things slightly overwhelming when you need to make a decision.
That’s where hearing professionals can help. They’ll assist you to find the hearing aid that suits your hearing loss while making sure that you don’t throw away cash on features you simply don’t care about or require.
Right after you find the ideal hearing aid, your hearing specialist will use your audiogram as the blueprint for customization. That way, you’ll be sure that your hearing aid maximizes your hearing according to the sounds you primarily have trouble hearing.
6. A lifetime of healthy hearing
The health of your hearing should be sustained as intensely as any other aspect of your health. We have primary care physicians, dentists, and optometrists that help safeguard several aspects of our health on a continuous basis.
Similarly, we ought to have a dedicated professional watching out for the health of our hearing. Your partnership with your hearing specialist shouldn’t end following your hearing test; it should be on-going. Hearing specialists offer a range of important life-long services, including hearing aid cleaning, maintenance, troubleshooting, and repair, together with advice and guidance on the latest technology.
So even though your hearing will inevitably change over time, your hearing specialist should not. If you commit to locating a local professional who cares about helping people above everything else, you’ll enjoy the benefits of healthy hearing for life.