STEP
1 | STEP 2 |
STEP 3 |
STEP 4
| STEP 5
STEP
3 - Personal Education: Learn All
I Can About My Problem.
 The
most effective remedy for hearing
loss is personal education.
You need to learn all you can
about your particular loss.
To begin, you will need to know:
- What
is the type of hearing loss I
have?
- What
is the degree of loss in my
left and right ears?
- How
has my brain been affected?
- How
do hearing aids bridge the
gap?
- What
can I do to improve my
hearing?
 What
type of hearing loss do I
have? (Your hearing
professional will provide this
information as indicated by your
hearing test.)
The
types of hearing loss:
- Conductive
hearing loss: Sound
isn't conducted properly from
the outer or middle ear to the
inner ear.
- Sensorineural
hearing loss: The inner
ear is unable to properly
transmit sound to the
brain. The hair cells
inside the inner ear
(especially those for high
frequency hearing) have
withered due to age, noise or
medications, and no longer
pick up sounds properly.
- Mixed
loss: This is a
combination of a conductive
loss and a sensorineural loss.
 How
has my brain been affected?
If you have lost your hearing
gradually over time, then your
brain has been slowly starved from
stimulation in the sound
frequencies you no longer hear at
normal volume.
So,
when you first begin using hearing
aids, your brain will be
startled
to receive signals it has been
missing. Until it becomes
acclimated to these sounds, you
will think to yourself....
-
Everyone's voice sounds odd to me.
-
My
own voice bothers me. It
sounds like I am speaking into
a barrel.
-
The
hearing aids are noisy.
Unless I go into a quiet room,
they pick up all sorts of
distracting noises.
-
Will
this condition improve with
time?
 Here
is a simple example of how your
brain will categorize sound and
acclimate itself over time.
A beautiful house in a wonderful
old neighborhood was for
sale. But what about the
railroad track just beyond the
alley? The prospective
couple was promised by the realtor
that the train came by twice each
day, but that they would never
hear it. "Just ask any
of the other neighbors who had
lived in the neighborhood for
years!!" So the couple
bought the house and moved
in. For the first few nights
they were awakened at 2:15 in the
morning as the train lumbered
by. Then, after several
weeks in their new home, a friend
came for an overnight visit.
At breakfast the guest asked,
"how can you sleep through
the noise of that
train?" "Funny you
should mention it," the
couple said. "We never
hear it anymore." Did
their hearing change? No,
the noise became a familiar part
of their environment and their
brains categorized it and became
acclimated to it.
 Because
you haven't heard normal sounds
and noises for a long time,
wearing hearing aids will be like
moving into a new house. At
first, the sounds amplified by
your hearing aids will sound
tinny, metallic, artificial and
unnatural. But, this is
because you are hearing the high
frequency sounds (like /s/, /f/,
/k/, etc.), you have been missing,
or have heard differently for
years. This unnatural sound
quality will actually improve your
speech comprehension -- but only
if you stick with your new hearing
aids until your brain has a chance
to adjust. And with practice
and time, your brain will
adjust. Hearing and
understanding involve more than
the hearing organ. Your
hearing is a complex function
which requires the cooperation of
the brain and your other senses.
 Understanding
occurs in your brain, not in your
ears. Reacclimating your
brain to true sound is a little
like priming a pump; you've got to
stay with it long enough for the
water to flow. Once it is
flowing - and it will flow - the
hardest part is over.
-
From
early childhood the sounds of
words and noises are conveyed
to the brain to gather visual
images of things. This
information is stored in
memory compartments which are
your "sound
vocabulary."
-
When
you lose part of your hearing,
the corresponding part of your
brain - which now has no input
from your ear - volunteers
that brain-part for another
assignment.
-
After
a time of not hearing, the
brain will need a period of
time to become familiarized
with the high frequency sounds
of speech and environmental
sounds. This is the
hardest time for a person who
begins using hearing aids.
-
When
you begin using hearing aids,
your brain will make little
use of the new sound
information for five to six
weeks, then gradually it will
start to use it.
-
The
ability to make instant
association depends on
repeatedly hearing a
word. If you do not hear
a word for a long period of
time, difficulty connecting
the sound to its
meaning
occurs.
 "Auditory
Confusion" is caused by the
flood of authentic sounds, noises
and voices which suddenly break
into your consciousness after not
being heard for years. These
are sounds which will again become
a part of your subconscious once
your brain hears them on a daily
basis through hearing aids.
For example:
-
The
true pitch of your telephone
ring.
-
The
sound of your clothes rustling
as you walk.
-
The
woosh of your air conditioning
vent or "hum" of
your refrigerator motor.
-
The
crackling and popping of the
pages of the newspaper.
-
The
whir of your computer.
-
Your
ability to hear, then
associate these sounds with
their meaning, will increase
with practice.
STEP
1 | STEP 2 |
STEP 3 | STEP 4
| STEP 5
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copyright Wm. F. Austin - All
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