There tends to be more confusion when it relates to hearing care than with many 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 often unsure as to what we should do or who we should see.
So what exactly can a local hearing care professional do for you? Many things, actually—things that could turn out making your life better and more convenient.
Here are 6 services you should be familiar with.
1. Evaluation of hearing and balance
Hearing specialists are specifically trained in assessing hearing and balance. If you suspect hearing loss, balance problems, or experience ringing or buzzing in the ears, the local hearing specialist is the go-to expert.
By carrying out professional audiological evaluations, hearing specialists can skillfully establish the cause of your hearing loss or balance problems. And if your hearing loss is triggered by an underlying medical problem, hearing specialists can prepare the appropriate referrals.
In addition, If you have long-term ringing in the ears, known as tinnitus, some hearing specialists can provide targeted therapies.
2. Earwax removal
In certain cases, what is believed to be hearing loss is nothing more than excess earwax buildup. While it’s not the most glamorous component 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 few minutes.
And remember, 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 booking an appointment the hearing specialist.
3. Personalized hearing protection
A great number of individuals make the error of first visiting the hearing specialist after they acquire hearing loss. Don’t commit the same error. If you’re working in a noisy profession (for example as a musician) or take part in loud activities (such as hunting), you should get yourself custom made ear protection to prevent future hearing loss.
You could just purchase some foam earplugs at the convenience store, but they’re ordinarily uncomfortable and create an annoying muffled sound. Custom earplugs fit comfortably in your ear and maintain the sounds you desire to hear while protecting against the sounds that cause damage.
4. Expert hearing tests (audiometry)
Hearing loss is invisible, pain-free, and at times difficult to recognize or accept. The only way to get an accurate diagnosis is with the aid of a professional hearing evaluation known as audiometry.
Making use of leading-edge equipment and practices, the hearing specialist can precisely diagnose hearing loss. Immediately after carrying out the test, the results are printed on a graph known as an audiogram. Just like a fingerprint, everyone’s hearing loss is a little different, which will be visually displayed on the audiogram.
If you can benefit from hearing aids, the audiogram will serve as the blueprint to programming and personalizing the technology.
5. Hearing aid selection and fitting
Hearing aids come in many styles, from a number of manufacturers, 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 a little overwhelming when you need to make a decision.
That’s where hearing professionals can really help. They’ll assist you to 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 need.
Once you come across the ideal hearing aid, your hearing specialist will use your audiogram as the blueprint for personalization. That way, you’ll be sure that your hearing aid optimizes your hearing according to the sounds you primarily have trouble hearing.
6. A lifetime of healthy hearing
The health of your hearing should be preserved as intensely as any other component of your health. We have family physicians, dentists, and optometrists that help maintain several aspects of our health on a continuing basis.
Likewise, we ought to have a dedicated professional looking out for the health of our hearing. Your relationship with your hearing specialist shouldn’t conclude after your hearing test; it should be ongoing. Hearing specialists offer a variety of helpful life-long services, including hearing aid cleaning, maintenance, troubleshooting, and repair, along with advice and guidance on the latest technology.
So although your hearing will undoubtedly change over time, your hearing specialist should not. If you commit to finding a local professional who cares about helping people over all else, you’ll enjoy the advantages of healthy hearing for life.