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.

Assistive Devices for Persons with Hearing Impairment

Assistive Devices for Persons with Hearing Impairment
Author: Richard S. Tyler
Publisher: Allyn & Bacon
Total Pages: 310
Release: 1995
Genre: Education
ISBN:

Provides conceptual and technical background for students and practicing audiologists, as well as manufacturers, product designers, and consumers. Discusses the impact of the American with Disabilities Act and the involvement of the FDA with assistive devices. Explains assistive devices' interface w

The Promise of Assistive Technology to Enhance Activity and Work Participation

The Promise of Assistive Technology to Enhance Activity and Work Participation
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 503
Release: 2017-09-01
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 030945784X

The U.S. Census Bureau has reported that 56.7 million Americans had some type of disability in 2010, which represents 18.7 percent of the civilian noninstitutionalized population included in the 2010 Survey of Income and Program Participation. The U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) provides disability benefits through the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program and the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. As of December 2015, approximately 11 million individuals were SSDI beneficiaries, and about 8 million were SSI beneficiaries. SSA currently considers assistive devices in the nonmedical and medical areas of its program guidelines. During determinations of substantial gainful activity and income eligibility for SSI benefits, the reasonable cost of items, devices, or services applicants need to enable them to work with their impairment is subtracted from eligible earnings, even if those items or services are used for activities of daily living in addition to work. In addition, SSA considers assistive devices in its medical disability determination process and assessment of work capacity. The Promise of Assistive Technology to Enhance Activity and Work Participation provides an analysis of selected assistive products and technologies, including wheeled and seated mobility devices, upper-extremity prostheses, and products and technologies selected by the committee that pertain to hearing and to communication and speech in adults.

Assistive Technology for the Hearing-impaired, Deaf and Deafblind

Assistive Technology for the Hearing-impaired, Deaf and Deafblind
Author: Marion A. Hersh
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 332
Release: 2003-07-24
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 1852333820

Affirmative legislative action in many countries now requires that public spaces and services be made accessible to disabled people. Although this is often interpreted as access for people with mobility impairments, such legislation also covers those who are hearing or vision impaired. In these cases, it is often the provision of advanced technological devices and aids which enables people with sensory impairments to enjoy the theatre, cinema or a public meeting to the full. Assistive Technology for the Hearin-impaired, Deaf and Deafblind shows the student of rehabilitation technology how this growing technical provision can be used to support those with varying reductions in auditory ability and the deafblind in modern society. Features: instruction in the physiology of the ear together with methods of measurement of hearing levels and loss; the principles of electrical engineering used in assistive technology for the hearing impaired; description and demonstration of electrical engineering used in hearing aids and other communications enhancement technologies; explanation of many devices designed for every-day living in terms of generic electrical engineering; sections of practical projects and investigations which will give the reader ideas for student work and for self teaching. The contributors are internationally recognised experts from the fields of audiology, electrical engineering, signal processing, telephony and assistive technology. Their combined expertise makes Assistive Technology for the Hearing-impaired, Deaf and Deafblind an excellent text for advanced students in assistive and rehabilitation technology and to professional engineers and medics working in assistive technology who wish to maintain an up-to-date knowledge of current engineering advances.