Hearing Health Care for Adults

Hearing Health Care for Adults
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 325
Release: 2016-10-06
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0309439264

The loss of hearing - be it gradual or acute, mild or severe, present since birth or acquired in older age - can have significant effects on one's communication abilities, quality of life, social participation, and health. Despite this, many people with hearing loss do not seek or receive hearing health care. The reasons are numerous, complex, and often interconnected. For some, hearing health care is not affordable. For others, the appropriate services are difficult to access, or individuals do not know how or where to access them. Others may not want to deal with the stigma that they and society may associate with needing hearing health care and obtaining that care. Still others do not recognize they need hearing health care, as hearing loss is an invisible health condition that often worsens gradually over time. In the United States, an estimated 30 million individuals (12.7 percent of Americans ages 12 years or older) have hearing loss. Globally, hearing loss has been identified as the fifth leading cause of years lived with disability. Successful hearing health care enables individuals with hearing loss to have the freedom to communicate in their environments in ways that are culturally appropriate and that preserve their dignity and function. Hearing Health Care for Adults focuses on improving the accessibility and affordability of hearing health care for adults of all ages. This study examines the hearing health care system, with a focus on non-surgical technologies and services, and offers recommendations for improving access to, the affordability of, and the quality of hearing health care for adults of all ages.

Hearing Loss

Hearing Loss
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2004-12-17
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0309092965

Millions of Americans experience some degree of hearing loss. The Social Security Administration (SSA) operates programs that provide cash disability benefits to people with permanent impairments like hearing loss, if they can show that their impairments meet stringent SSA criteria and their earnings are below an SSA threshold. The National Research Council convened an expert committee at the request of the SSA to study the issues related to disability determination for people with hearing loss. This volume is the product of that study. Hearing Loss: Determining Eligibility for Social Security Benefits reviews current knowledge about hearing loss and its measurement and treatment, and provides an evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of the current processes and criteria. It recommends changes to strengthen the disability determination process and ensure its reliability and fairness. The book addresses criteria for selection of pure tone and speech tests, guidelines for test administration, testing of hearing in noise, special issues related to testing children, and the difficulty of predicting work capacity from clinical hearing test results. It should be useful to audiologists, otolaryngologists, disability advocates, and others who are concerned with people who have hearing loss.

Hearing, Speech, and Communication Disorders

Hearing, Speech, and Communication Disorders
Author: Information Center for Hearing Speech and Disorders
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 779
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 147570626X

Information analysis centers were developed to help the scientist and practitioner cope with the ever increasing mass of published and unpublished information in a specific field. Their establishment resulted from a further extension of those pressures that had brought about the formation of the specialized primary journal and the abstracting services at the turn of the century. The information analysis center concept was greatly advanced by the 1963 report of the President's Science Advisory Committee Panel on Science Information. This report stated: " . . . scientific interpreters who can collect relevant data, review a field, and distill information in a manner that goes to the heart of a technical situation are more help to the overburdened specialist than is a mere pile of relevant docu ments. " Such specialized information centers are operated in closest possible contact with working scientists in the field. These centers not only furnish information about ongoing research and dis seminate and retrieve information but also create new information and develop new methods of infor mation analysis, synthesis, and dissemination. The continually expanding biomedical literature produced by scientists from the world's laboratories, research centers, and medical centers led the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke in 1964 to initiate a National Neurological Information Network of specialized centers for neurological information. The Centers are designed to bring under control and to promote ready access to important segments of the literature.

Fitting and Dispensing Hearing Aids, Third Edition

Fitting and Dispensing Hearing Aids, Third Edition
Author: Brian Taylor
Publisher: Plural Publishing
Total Pages: 582
Release: 2020-09-24
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1635502128

The third edition of Fitting and Dispensing Hearing Aids provides clinical audiologists, hearing instrument specialists, and graduate students with the latest in practical information reflecting current clinical practice standards. Authored by two of the industry's leading authorities on adult amplification and audiology practice management, the book is sequenced to match the patient's journey through a clinical practice. Its 12 chapters are packed with the latest commercial innovations in hearing aids, basic hearing assessment procedures, patient-related outcome measures, and innovative counseling techniques. Experienced clinicians will also find the updated chapters on help-seeking behavior and hearing aid features and benefits to be valuable to their continued professional development. Hearing aid dispensing always has been a technology-driven profession, heavily dependent on the expertise, thoughtfulness, and good judgment of the licensed professional. Over the past few years, even as technology has continued to evolve at breakneck speed, these skills have become more relevant than ever in the delivery of high-quality patient care, especially to the rapidly aging Baby Boomer population. This bestselling text is required reading for those studying to obtain their hearing aid dispensing license or audiology or speech pathology students looking for the latest in dispensing and fitting hearing aids in a succinct, entertaining format. Because each chapter is written around a specific theme–like wine tasting, travel, baseball, country music, and more–this succinct and entertaining textbook is actually fun to read! New to the Third Edition: * The chapters devoted to fitting modern hearing aids have been thoroughly updated * Thoroughly updated chapter on connectivity * Material on over-the-counter hearing aids and automated real ear measures * Information on newer outcome measures and updated approaches to counseling patients * Information on hearables, self-fitting hearing aids, over-the-counter hearing aids, and personal sound amplification products (PSAPs) * Complete review of all special features with case study examples * Revised appendix with several up-to-date industry resources

Binaural Interference: a Guide for Audiologists

Binaural Interference: a Guide for Audiologists
Author: James Jerger
Publisher: Plural Publishing
Total Pages: 137
Release: 2018-02-23
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 163550077X

Binaural interference occurs when the speech input to one ear interferes with the input to the other ear during binaural stimulation. The first published study on binaural interference twenty-five years ago demonstrated that some individuals, particularly older individuals, perform more poorly with two hearing aids than with one and/or more poorly with binaural than monaural stimulation on electrophysiologic as well as behavioral measures. Binaural interference is relevant to every audiologist because it impacts the successful use of binaural hearing aids and may explain communicative difficulty in noise or other challenging listening situations in persons with normal-hearing sensitivity as well as persons with hearing loss. This exciting new book written by two highly respected audiologists first traces the history of its study by researchers, then reviews the evidence, both direct and indirect, supporting its reality. This is followed by a discussion of the possible causes of the phenomenon and in-depth analysis of illustrative cases. The authors outline a systematic approach to the clinical detection, evaluation and amelioration of individuals who exhibit binaural interference. Suggestions are furnished on improved techniques for evaluation of the binaural advantage in general and on sensitized detection of the disorder in particular. The book ends with recommendations for future directions. Given the adverse impact of binaural interference on auditory function and its occurrence in a significant subset of the population with hearing loss, as well as in some individuals with normal-hearing sensitivity, research on binaural interference only recently has begun to flourish, and adaptation of audiologic clinical practice to identify, assess, and manage individuals with binaural interference has yet to become widespread. The authors intend for the book to provide impetus for pursuing further research and to encourage audiologists to explore the possibility of binaural interference when patient complaints suggest it and when performing audiologic evaluations. The book is intended for practicing clinical audiologists, audiology students, and hearing scientists.

Strategies for Selecting and Verifying Hearing Aid Fittings

Strategies for Selecting and Verifying Hearing Aid Fittings
Author: Michael Valente
Publisher: Thieme
Total Pages: 412
Release: 2011-01-01
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 160406613X

This current and expanded edition of a bestselling text is divided into four sections, organized to follow the sequence in which decisions are made regarding hearing aid fittings, and featuring new chapters on middle ear implants, hearing aid counseling, and infection control. Other chapters have been revised to reflect the latest developments in the field, such as: improving speech recognition with directional microphones; changing standards for measuring real-ear performance; and new prescriptive procedures for severe hearing loss. The text features contributions from internationally renowned experts in the field who share their extensive knowledge and clinical experience. It covers the six most common forms of hearing loss practitioners will encounter in their own practice—noise-induced, symmetrical, asymmetrical, unilateral, conductive, and severe hearing loss—with instructions on applying the newest technology to each hearing impaired group. Key features: Addresses the six most common types of hearing loss that comprise 90-95% of the situations audiologists encounter daily Organized to follow the decision-making progress in selecting and verifying hearing aid fittings Fully updated with state-of-the-art technology on implantable hearing aids, directional microphones, and more A valuable glossary of terms at the end of the text—helpful for students and specialists alike Together with its updated companion text, HEARING AIDS: STANDARDS, OPTIONS, AND LIMITATIONS, this book forms the basis of a complete reference library on selecting, ordering, measuring, and verifying hearing aid fittings and performance.