Emergency procedures: Are you in danger?

A warning is being made to hoteliers that they may be risking the lives of some of their hearing impaired guests by not having the correct emergency procedures in place.

Some 232 hotels in London were surveyed by Action on Hearing Loss and they found that one in ten admitted to not having a specific procedure or equipment for deaf or hard of hearing guests in the event of an emergency.

Of those hotels that had modified equipment systems in place, only 13% used flashing alarms specifically designed for people with reduced hearing ability, in addition to acoustic sirens or bells.

Under the Equality Act 2010, hotels as well as other public areas are duty bound to make 'reasonable adjustments' to accessibility for those people with disabilities.

It is not known if these figures are reflected across all areas of the UK but it would be wise for anyone with affected hearing levels to always ask, when staying at a hotel or guest house, what procedures they have in place for guests with impaired hearing.

Did you know? #3

The emperor of Rome, Hadrian 76 to 138 AD who inherited fame for building Hadrian's Wall in Britain, had to cup his ears to hear orders repeated because of hearing difficulties, as recorded in contemporary court descriptions.

A link between hearing loss and dementia?

Researchers in the United States have found a close relationship between losing your hearing and memory loss. The study was carried out at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore. 693 men and women aged between 36-90 years were studied. All participants underwent initial hearing and cognitive testing at the outset of the study between 1990 and 1994; none of the participants had dementia at that point.
These participants were then followed for the development of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia through to 2008 - an average of 12 years.

The study revealed that the risk of dementia increased among participants with at least a mild 25-decibel reduced hearing ability. Participants with more severe hearing loss were most likely to be diagnosed with dementia – and even Alzheimer's. The relationship between Alzheimer's and hearing loss should come as no surprise - After all, how can you remember what someone said if you didn't hear them say it.

Several symptoms are common to both Alzheimer's and untreated hearing loss. These symptoms include depression, anxiety, feelings of isolation and problems with talking and understanding what is being said. In addition, people with either Alzheimer's or unidentified hearing loss may have inappropriate responses to social cues, lower scores on tests of mental function, attitudes of denial, defensiveness, or negativity, and increased distrust of others' motives, even those of family and friends.

Research has shown that hearing loss damages interpersonal and family relationships and may lead to emotional instability, low self-esteem and even depression. Untreated hearing loss not only reduces one's quality of life, but it can also result in the brain losing its capacity to recognise everyday sounds.

Therefore, it is imperative that a hearing loss is dealt with as quickly as possible and using the most appropriate and up to date technology available will significantly ease everyday communication.

Did you know #2

Quintus Pedius was a Roman painter and the first deaf person in recorded history known by name.

He is the first recorded deaf painter and his schooling is the first recorded education of a deaf child.

Fractal tones help tinnitus

Tinnitus is a ringing or buzzing in one or both ears and although many people have experienced this condition temporarily after being in a noisy environment or whilst suffering from a head cold, for over 7 million people in the UK, it never goes away.

Tinnitus has been and still is the object of extensive research in terms of establishing effective treatment methods or management strategies. Tinnitus is for many a distressing noise leading to increased stress and affected quality of life. As stress is one of the highest exacerbating factors involved with tinnitus, stress reduction is a vital element in effective tinnitus management. To this end and inspired by the relaxing effect of certain types of music, Widex, a Danish hearing instrument manufacturing company, developed ‘Zen’ programs to help tinnitus sufferers.

Based on what is known as fractal technology which ensures that the music is predictable without repeating itself, Zen is a unique music program available in some Widex hearing instruments. Zen plays random, chime-like tones that can be used for relaxation and for making tinnitus less noticeable.

An experiment was conducted in 2009 at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) to determine the effectiveness of fractal tones, contained within this hearing instrument, with tinnitus patients. The experiment concluded that fractal tones corrected for hearing loss are effective in relaxing the tinnitus sufferer, as well as reducing the annoyance of tinnitus.

To find out more information on this technology, simply contact us or call us on 0131 220 1220.

The ears have it...

Nature has equipped all mammals with two equally functioning ears as a primary means of survival, both for locating food and for hearing approaching danger. For humans, two-eared hearing is just as necessary to survive in our modern noisy societies; to hear in traffic, in crowds and to understand speech. Hearing properly with two ears means the difference between simply listening to noise and hearing clearly with understanding.

The hearing centre of the brain relies on two independent ‘microphones’- the ears. If only one ear is functioning properly, there will be difficulty in understanding speech in noisy environments and in locating the direction from which the sound is coming. Scientific research as well as individual experience, confirms that most people with a hearing loss in both ears, can benefit greatly from wearing binaural (stereophonic) hearing instruments i.e. a hearing instrument for each ear that responds to sound correction. The major benefits are:-

Better understanding in noisy places – By wearing two hearing aids rather than just one, selective listening is more easily achieved. This means your brain can focus on the conversation you want to hear and reduce the amount of unwanted background noise more easily.

Better identification of sound direction - Sound direction identification is called 'localisation' and is dependent upon two equally functioning ears. The effect can be dramatic if the sound is a warning signal such as an approaching car.

Clearer reception of softly-spoken words - When only one hearing instrument is worn, volume has to be at a higher level to compensate and this exaggerates interfering background noise and can distort these sounds.

Better sound quality - By wearing an instrument in each ear you increase your hearing distance range and this greater range provides a better sense of sound balance and quality.

Smoother tone quality - Amplification from two hearing instruments requires less volume than with one alone. This results in less distortion and better reproduction of amplified sound.

Better feeling of balance - Hearing with both ears results in a feeling of balanced sound reception also known as the "stereo effect". Hearing with one ear often creates an unusual feeling of having a blocked or ‘dead’ ear.

Less tiring - Many binaural hearing instrument wearers report that listening to conversations is both less tiring and stressful because a lower volume is required to hear clearly, compared to hearing with one ear.

Two hearing instruments are not always suitable, but when they are, you can be sure that your hearing aid audiologist has your best hearing interest in mind.

Getting in tune

Scientists believe it is possible to tune the cochlea so that sound bypasses damaged areas of nerve.

The theoretic possibility of restoring hearing in a re-tuned cochlea is described by scientists from Switzerland and South Africa in a scientific journal. The idea is to let functioning parts of the cochlea take over the sound processing from damaged parts. Injury to the cochlea (nerve centre of the ear) is a common cause of hearing loss. The damage may be done by infections, medications, acoustic trauma and ageing. Whatever the cause, the resulting damage affects the ability to detect sounds in certain frequencies, such as the frequencies of human speech. The hearing loss appears as holes in the normal frequency range.

These holes may be closed by re-tuning healthy parts of the cochlea to make them able to receive and process sounds that would normally be processed by the damaged areas.

Hearing loss time bomb!

One in three people with hearing difficulties is too embarrassed to wear a hearing aid and refuses to visit an audiologist for advice, according to a recent study by a UK hearing care company. Of those polled only 16% sought help immediately after recognising a loss of hearing.

Action on Hearing Loss (formerly RNID), which this year celebrates its centenary, has signed a five year agreement with a private hearing aid retailer to work together to remove the stigma of hearing loss and promote hearing health. Together they have pledged to reach one million people nationwide over the next year.

Action on Hearing Loss chief executive, Jackie Ballard says: "Our own research shows that 45% of people who reported hearing problems to their GP were, at first not referred for a hearing test, and that there is, on average, a ten year delay between symptoms and treatment."

According to the charity’s report, Hearing Matters, it is estimated that up to four million people in the UK would benefit from a hearing aid and that this figure will rise as our population ages and noise pollution increases. By 2031 it is predicted that 14.5 million people in the UK will have some form of hearing loss.

People don’t think twice now about having their eyesight checked regularly but they put off having their hearing tested. Anything we can do to remove the stigma and encourage people to take action and seek help as soon as possible will have a huge impact and that is why we offer free hearing screening at all our Centres.

Is Tinnitus an alarm bell?

Tinnitus is a ringing or buzzing in one or both ears and although many people have experienced this after being in a noisy environment or whilst suffering from a head cold, it is thankfully, only a brief intrusion to their hearing.

If it develops into constant tinnitus, this should not be ignored. In these cases, further advice, diagnosis and possible treatment should be sought, as it can be a symptom of other problems and an early warning of more serious underlying hearing loss. It is estimated that over seven million people in the UK are affected by tinnitus, yet only three million people have consulted their GP or a hearing professional with the condition. Many people choose to do nothing and simply resign themselves to live with the problem.

We now know that tinnitus is not a single problem, but can be a common symptom of underlying causes. This can be anything from noise-induced hearing loss from exposure to loud environments; a side effect of certain drugs and medicines; or in some extreme cases, more serious medical conditions.

In many cases, hearing aids have been shown to be helpful in coping with tinnitus. Tinnitus can be commonplace in those who are diagnosed as having a hearing dysfunction, possibly due to the damage to the hearing system, which is associated with its onset. For those people, a hearing aid may not only help to make external sounds more audible but may, in several cases, reduce the level of the tinnitus.