Understanding the Role of a Hearing Specialist in Hearing Loss Management

Hearing loss is a very common condition, affecting over five percent of the world’s population. It typically is more likely to affect us as we get older, but people of any age can experience hearing loss, with exposure to loud noises being a particularly common risk factor. Living with hearing loss and managing it can make a lot easier with the help of a hearing specialist. Here an audiologist will help you manage hearing loss and how you can begin to enlist their help with yours.

What a Hearing Specialist Does

A hearing specialist is medically trained in the diagnosis and treatment in the field of medicine related to hearing, ear and balance health. Audiologists can specialize in a wide range of directions, but they are typically trained in all manner of ear and hearing health-related subjects, including the anatomy of the ear, hearing aids and hearing loss-related counseling. Primarily, the aim of an audiologist, is to improve the quality of life of their patients by treating hearing and balance disorders, including hearing loss.

Diagnosing Hearing Loss

Hearing specialists are trained to not just perform hearing tests but to diagnose hearing loss. This can be done through a range of different tests at their disposal like speech testing or an audiometry, but the basic hearing test typically involves sitting in a specially made booth, where tones, sounds and words can be played back, to see how well you can hear them. From this, your audiologist creates an audiogram, showing your range of hearing, from which they can diagnose any hearing loss.

Treating Hearing Loss

If you are diagnosed with hearing loss, there are a range of different ways that an audiologist can treat it. They will typically inspect the ear canal and eardrum, to see if there are any physical causes, such as an ear infection, fluid buildup or a buildup of earwax, which they can begin to treat. In many of these cases, treating the root cause can cause the hearing loss to cease. Otherwise, audiologists can recommend, fit and program the hearing aid that can improve your quality of life. Alongside this, they can provide information on hearing assistive technology and rehabilitation, such as helping with lip reading, and auditory skill development.

Preventing Further Hearing Loss

Audiologists can also provide helpful information and advice on how to prevent hearing loss, whether you have been diagnosed with it or not. This can include recommendations and suggestions on hearing protection equipment so that you can reduce the level of noise you are exposed to, especially in noisy environments and workplaces. Audiologists can also help make molds for custom earplugs, which are some of the most effective forms of hearing protection on the market.

Treating Tinnitus

Hearing loss is often an underlying issue of tinnitus, meaning that if you experience one, you are more likely to experience the other. A hearing specialist can also treat tinnitus, whether with tinnitus retraining therapy, the help of sound masking devices, or white noise machines.

When Should You Make an Appointment with a Hearing Specialist?

If you have been diagnosed with hearing loss and you want to start taking steps to manage it and improve your quality of life, your audiologist can help you with that. Otherwise, if you are concerned about the risk of developing hearing loss, whether you have it already and want to prevent from further damage to your hearing or you’re concerned that you may develop it, you should also make an appointment with your audiologist then. Finally, you should contact your hearing specialist if you’re experiencing any of the signs of undiagnosed hearing loss, such as:

• Having to frequently ask others to repeat what they say.
• Others tell you to turn down the TV or radio, even when it sounds at an average volume to you.
• Having more trouble hearing people in crowded environments.
• Having more trouble hearing young people or women when they speak.
• Experiencing persistent ringing in the ears or head.

Get the Help You Need with Hearing Loss, Today

If you’re looking to manage your hearing loss and improve your quality of life today, then you should start by getting in touch with The Audiology Offices and call us today at (804) 567-7005. We will be glad to direct you to the assistance you need, whether you have hearing loss and want help with it or you suspect you might have it but aren’t sure.