You do not hear with your ears. Your ears are merely an appendage to collect sound and direct it to your brain, where the sound is processed, sorted, filtered, and deciphered so you can understand the world around you.
As processing, sorting, and filtering become increasingly complex, your ability to understand is negatively correlated with comprehension, which decreases.
Recent studies have revealed that there are clear connections between dementia and hearing loss. The goal of this piece is to help you understand how they are related and what steps you can take right now to lower the risks.
The Brain’s Role in Hearing
While your ears collect sound waves and convert them into electrical signals, they are merely the gateway.
The act of “hearing” unfolds deep within the intricate network of your brain.
Your ears funnel acoustic energy through the auditory canal to the eardrum, and then into the delicate structures of the middle and inner ear.
Here, these vibrations are transformed into neural impulses, electrical messages that travel quickly along the auditory nerve.
These raw electrical signals are meticulously processed, sorted, filtered, and deciphered by various regions of your brain, particularly within the auditory cortex located in the temporal lobe.
It’s here that mere vibrations are transformed into meaningful information: speech, music, environmental cues, and so much more.
All of this action occurs instantly.
This complex neural orchestration allows you to understand directions, appreciate a melody, and interpret the subtle nuances in a loved one’s voice.
However, when the efficiency of this processing, sorting, and filtering within the brain becomes compromised, your ability to understand the world around you is negatively impacted.
You feel less connected; everything is more challenging to navigate.
When hearing loss occurs or cognitive decline is experienced, these factors become interconnected, making life less enjoyable and more challenging.
Hearing Loss and Dementia
The groundbreaking work by Dr. Frank Lin and his colleagues at Johns Hopkins University has transformed the way doctors and audiologists approach dementia and hearing loss.
One of their studies has revealed individuals with hearing loss experience a 30-40% accelerated rate of cognitive decline compared to those with normal hearing.
What’s particularly concerning is the dose-response relationship: the more significant the hearing loss, the greater the likelihood of developing a cognitive disorder and experiencing a steeper decline in mental function.
For instance, research shows that mild hearing loss can double the risk of dementia, moderate loss can triple it, and severe impairment can increase the risk by as much as five times.
Researchers have observed that even very mild hearing loss, often before it becomes noticeable in daily conversations, is associated with accelerated rates of gray matter shrinkage in the brain.
Gray matter is crucial for processing information, and its reduction suggests a significant impact on brain structure and function, not just the auditory pathways but also areas linked to memory and sensory integration.
This underscores the idea that changes occur in the brain long before significant hearing difficulties become apparent.
Hearing Loss as a Leading Modifiable Risk Factor for Dementia
In 2017, a collaboration of twenty-four international researchers identified nine key risk factors for dementia, with hearing loss identified as the highest contributing factor.
Subsequent reports, including the 2020 and 2024 updates, have reaffirmed and further emphasized this critical link, identifying hearing loss as one of 12 (now 14) modifiable risk factors that, if addressed globally, could potentially prevent or delay up to 40% of dementia cases.
This means that, among all the factors we can potentially change in our lives to reduce the risk of dementia, addressing hearing loss holds immense promise.
It highlights a powerful opportunity for preventative measures on both individual and public health levels.
The Social and Emotional Ramifications of Hearing Loss
For individuals with hearing loss, participating in everyday conversations, especially in noisy environments, demands immense concentration.
This constant “effortful listening” consumes a significant amount of brain space, making social interactions exhausting rather than enjoyable.
Activities like family gatherings, group outings, or even phone calls become sources of frustration and embarrassment, leading to increased isolation.
This social withdrawal has serious consequences for mental and emotional health.
Research indicates that untreated hearing loss is associated with higher rates of depression, anxiety, and feelings of loneliness.
Studies show that social isolation itself is a significant risk factor for cognitive decline and dementia, independent of hearing loss.
The lack of regular social interaction can lead to mental stagnation, as the brain receives less varied stimulation from external conversations and activities.
The interconnectedness of these factors creates a challenging cycle. Untreated hearing loss leads to increased listening effort, which fuels social withdrawal and feelings of isolation.
This, in turn, reduces cognitive stimulation and can hurt mental health.
Ultimately, this ongoing cycle contributes to a decline in the overall quality of life.
However, there are ways to lower the risk of cognitive decline by maintaining good hearing health.
Debunking Hearing Loss Myths and Addressing Common Concerns
Is Hearing Loss Just a Sign of Old Age?
Myth: “Hearing loss is just a normal part of getting old, so there’s nothing to do about it.”
Fact: While hearing loss is more prevalent with age, it’s not an inevitable or untreatable consequence of aging.
Many factors, including noise exposure, genetics, and certain health conditions, contribute to hearing loss, which can affect people of all ages.
Are Hearing Aids Only for Severe Hearing Loss?
Myth: “My hearing loss isn’t that bad, so I don’t need hearing aids yet. They’re only for people with severe hearing impairment.”
Fact: This is a significant misconception.
Research, including studies from Johns Hopkins, shows that even mild, often unnoticed, hearing loss can accelerate cognitive decline.
Addressing hearing loss early, even when it’s mild, is critical for preserving brain function and can significantly improve communication.
Do Hearing Aids Make You Look Old or Frail?
Myth: “Wearing hearing aids will make me look old, infirm, or less capable.”
Fact: Modern hearing aids are incredibly discreet, technologically advanced, and often barely visible.
Many are virtually unnoticeable, fitting entirely in the ear canal or behind the ear with thin, transparent wires.
Will My Hearing Get Worse If I Wear Hearing Aids?
Myth: “If I start wearing hearing aids, my ears will become lazy, and my hearing will get worse.”
Fact: This is untrue.
Hearing aids do not make your hearing worse; they provide necessary amplification and clarity to the sounds your brain isn’t receiving adequately.
They help keep your auditory pathways active and stimulated, which is crucial for maintaining speech understanding and overall cognitive function.
Is It Okay to Wait Until My Hearing Loss Is Severe?
Myth: “I’ll wait until my hearing loss is really bad before I do anything about it.”
Fact: Waiting is detrimental to your hearing health.
Hearing loss is one of the most significant modifiable risk factors for dementia.
Addressing it early is a preventative measure.
The longer you wait, the more your brain has to work to compensate, leading to cognitive strain and potentially irreversible changes in the brain’s ability to process sound and other information.
Early intervention preserves more cognitive function and facilitates the adaptation to hearing devices more easily.
Protect Your Hearing Health with Hearing Health Center
At Hearing Health Center, your hearing health is our priority. Schedule a comprehensive baseline hearing test and improve the quality of your life immediately.
Nearly 20% of the world’s population struggles with hearing loss daily. The latest data shows that 1 to 3 of every 1,000 children have hearing loss (other studies have it as high as 2 to 5 in 1,000), and a large portion struggle with speech development as a result.
From the earliest days of our lives, how we hear the world affects how we communicate with it. Muffled sounds, limited feedback, and obstructed ear canals lead to future speech development issues if not addressed quickly.
Hearing is essential to a child’s ability to develop speech and language skills from the earliest stages of life. This includes how they understand sounds, learn languages, and communicate with others.
At Hearing Health Center, your hearing matters no matter your age. This guide helps you better understand the importance of early interventions for young people with hearing loss and how it affects their communication skills.
Early Childhood Language Acquisition
Infants listen to speech patterns and tones almost immediately after birth, which allows them to begin developing their language abilities. Hearing allows infants to recognize and imitate the sounds they hear, laying the groundwork for speech and communication.
However, this process is disrupted when a child experiences hearing loss.
Limited access to sound can delay language milestones, including babbling, first words, and simple sentences. Without early intervention, these delays can worsen, impacting vocabulary growth and the ability to form complete sentences.
Ongoing Speech and Language Skills
It isn’t just what the people around them say, but what the children say themselves.
Auditory feedback, or the ability to hear one’s voice, helps children learn how to pronounce words.
The loss of hearing impairs this feedback loop, making it challenging for children to correct speech errors and develop clear articulation.
The Importance of Early Detection and Intervention
That’s why it is so important to test early and often for signs of hearing loss.
Newborn hearing screenings and regular hearing tests help detect hearing issues early in a child’s life.
When identified early, interventions such as hearing aids and speech therapy can be implemented to support language development.
The goal is to give children early access to sound to naturally gain language skills and speech.
Types of Hearing Loss and Their Impact on Speech
Hearing loss can be categorized into three primary types: conductive, sensorineural, and mixed.
The different types affect your speech perception differently.
Conductive hearing loss occurs when sound waves are obstructed from traveling through the outer or middle ear to the inner ear.
This could be caused by something as simple as earwax buildup, fluid in the middle ear from infections, perforated eardrums, or abnormalities in the ear’s structure.
As an adult, if you’ve ever had too much earwax or fluid in your ear, you understand how difficult it is to hear sounds and conversations. Certain noises or speech frequencies might even be completely impossible to hear, as the low volume makes them difficult to understand.
Children with this conductive hearing loss might exhibit speech and language development delays due to inconsistent auditory input.
Sensorineural hearing loss results from damage to the inner ear (cochlea) or the auditory nerve pathways.
This damage can be due to aging, exposure to loud noises, head trauma, or genetic factors.
Individuals may struggle to distinguish between certain consonant sounds, leading to misunderstandings.
High-frequency hearing loss, a common form of sensorineural loss, can make it particularly challenging to hear sounds like “s,” “f,” and “th,” which are crucial for speech comprehension.
Mixed hearing loss is a combination of both conductive and sensorineural hearing loss.
This indicates issues in the outer or middle ear and the inner ear or auditory nerve.
For instance, a person might have age-related inner ear damage (sensorineural) and a middle ear infection (conductive).
The dual nature of mixed hearing loss means individuals may face compounded challenges: reduced sound volume from the conductive component and diminished sound clarity from the sensorineural aspect, leading to difficulties in both hearing and understanding speech.
Depending on your age, mixed hearing loss could affect your ability to understand and participate in conversations.
How is Speech Affected by Hearing Loss?
The effects of hearing loss depend on factors such as the severity of the hearing impairment, the age at which it occurs, and whether intervention measures are in place.
A few speech characteristics associated with hearing loss include:
Delayed Speech Development in Children
Children with hearing loss may experience delays in reaching speech and language milestones.
You may notice a limited vocabulary, difficulty forming sentences, and challenges with grammatical structures. This includes struggles with plural forms, past tense, and possessives because they cannot hear the subtle differences in sound.
Pronunciation Difficulties
Hearing-impaired individuals often face challenges in articulating certain speech sounds, particularly high-frequency consonants like “s,” “sh,” “f,” “t,” and “k.”
These sounds are typically softer and more complex to hear, leading to omissions or mispronunciations in speech.
Voice Volume
Individuals with hearing loss have difficulty controlling their voice pitch and volume without the ability to hear feedback.
This commonly results in monotone speech or a lack of natural variations in intonation, creating an unusual or less expressive speech pattern.
Simplified Sentence Structures
Individuals with hearing loss might use simpler sentence constructions, often relying heavily on nouns and producing shorter sentences.
This simplification can stem from difficulties in acquiring and using complex grammatical forms.
Challenges with Grammatical Elements
Using grammatical markers such as verb inflections, adverbs, prepositions, and pronouns may cause noticeable difficulties.
These challenges can lead to speech that sounds less fluid and more fragmented.
Strategies for Mitigating Speech Challenges
Early intervention is the most crucial strategy for mitigating speech challenges among young people. From an early age, assistive technology, specialized therapies, and alternative communication methods significantly improve communication abilities and the quality of life for individuals with hearing impairments.
The younger you are, the more significant timeliness is.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) emphasizes that infants diagnosed with hearing loss should receive intervention services as soon as possible, ideally before 6 months.
These services often involve therapists working closely with families to teach communication strategies and integrate learning into daily routines.
On the audiologist’s end, properly-fitting hearing aids improve audio input and speech comprehension. Because every person is different, working with a trusted audiologist allows for personalized care and treatment to ensure optimum results.
Consistent use of well-fitted equipment is a foundational step in developing normal auditory, speech, and language skills.
Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) provide tailored interventions to help individuals with hearing loss build, sustain, or improve their communication abilities. Therapies might focus on articulation, language growth, and auditory training.
Implementing specific strategies in school settings can support students with hearing loss. These range from systematic vocabulary instruction to the use of visual aids. Depending on the need, techniques such as semantic mapping and providing context for new vocabulary words may be used to reinforce language skills.
Is Your Child Struggling with Hearing Loss? Call Hearing Health Center Today.
Early interventions protect long-term hearing health and assist in developing language skills. The trained audiologists at Hearing Health Center are prepared to help you and your family with regular hearing exams, hearing aid fittings, and more.
To get started, schedule an appointment at any of our five locations today!
Struggling with ringing in your ears? Dealing with a constant buzzing sound? If so, you might be among the millions affected by tinnitus, a sometimes debilitating condition that causes ringing, buzzing, or hissing sounds in your ears.
Tinnitus is one of the most common yet difficult conditions to deal with. Symptoms include sleep loss, difficulty concentrating, and even dizziness.
If you’re unsure whether you have tinnitus or want to learn more about it for a loved one, our guide to tinnitus helps you identify the common symptoms, causes, and available relief options to keep your and your loved ones’ hearing health in mind.
What is Tinnitus?
Tinnitus is the perception of sound in one or both ears without an external source. This sound may take different forms, including:
- Ringing
- Buzzing
- Hissing
- Clicking
- Roaring
Tinnitus is most often caused by an underlying ear condition, such as hearing loss, an ear injury, or a problem with the circulatory system.
There are four common types of tinnitus: subjective, objective, pulsatile, and somatic. Each affects people differently; some struggle with daily activities, whereas others’ symptoms fluctuate.
Hearing loss, stress, and anxiety all have the potential to increase the intensity of tinnitus, so it’s best to work with a trained audiologist if you or someone you love is suffering from tinnitus.
How Common is Tinnitus?
Tinnitus is relatively common in the United States. Around 25 million adults reported experiencing tinnitus in the past year, with approximately 14% worldwide suffering from the condition. Around 2% of those cases are severe, resulting in difficulty concentrating and other negative impacts on daily life.
As you get older, you become more likely to experience tinnitus. That’s because of normal age-related hearing loss, and the wear and tear experienced on your inner ears cells. When those cells become damaged, the brain interprets the electrical signals along the nerve from your ear to your brain as sound.
What Causes Tinnitus?
Tinnitus is often linked to hearing loss, but several factors can contribute to its development, including exposure to loud noises, age-related hearing loss, ear infections, ear wax blockages, medications, and other health conditions.
You increase your risk of tinnitus if you work in a noisy environment like a construction site, frequently attend loud concerts, or use headphones for extended periods.
The same goes for ignoring ear infections or ear wax blockages. If left untreated, you will likely experience temporary or permanent tinnitus.
Tinnitus is sometimes linked to other medical conditions, including:
- High blood pressure
- Cardiovascular diseases
- Ménière’s disease
While occasional tinnitus symptoms might not be an immediate concern, please contact your doctor if the ringing persists for more than a day, you’re experiencing hearing loss, or you’ve lost the ability to concentrate during the day due to the noise.
At that point, an expert audiologist can examine your ears and provide the right treatments to protect your hearing and mental health in the long term.
To diagnose tinnitus, an audiologist will perform a series of hearing exams, and if there is a more serious concern, schedule imaging and blood tests to ensure any other underlying problems can be addressed.
How Do You Treat Tinnitus?
Unfortunately, there is no cure for tinnitus. That being said, numerous treatment options are available that can help reduce its impact on everyday life.
The first is hearing aids. Since most tinnitus cases overlap with hearing loss, hearing aids amplify sound to help make tinnitus less noticeable.
Another option is to use white noise machines, nature sounds, or background music to help mask tinnitus and provide relief.
Lifestyle adjustments are also recommended to help with tinnitus treatment. These might include avoiding situations with loud noises, reducing caffeine intake, and maintaining a healthy diet.
Some audiologists might suggest cognitive behavioral therapy to assist with any anxiety, stress, or other reactions to tinnitus symptoms.
The good news is that tinnitus is treatable, and millions of people living with the condition live happy, fulfilling lives.
Ready to Protect Your Hearing Health?
Tinnitus is frustrating, but you don’t have to deal with it alone. If you’re experiencing persistent ringing, buzzing, or phantom sounds, schedule an appointment with Hearing Health Center to help diagnose and manage your tinnitus.
Don’t let tinnitus take over your life; schedule a hearing exam with Hearing Health Center today.
Are you having trouble hearing? You might just have a problem with wax buildup. The best way to find out if you have wax buildup is to come in and have us examine your ears with our video otoscope.
Every one of us secretes wax in our ears. Wax not only serves to protect the skin in our ear canal but also provides lubrication and can protect our ears from bacteria, insects, and fungi. Most of us barely notice the presence of our wax, but for others, it can build up without actually removing itself, causing a blockage in our ear canal.
What is Ear Wax?
Nobody likes ear wax, but it’s essential to protecting your ears.
Ear wax, medically known as cerumen, is a naturally occurring substance produced within the ear canal. While it’s called ear wax, it’s a mixture of ear secretions, shed skin cells, and trapped debris.
Ear wax is the first line of defense for your ears. It traps dust, dirt, and other small particles that could otherwise penetrate deeper into the ear and potentially damage your eardrum. Additionally, ear wax provides lubrication, preventing the ear canal from becoming dry and itchy.
You may have found that ear wax can be in many colors, including off-white, yellow, and brown. If your ear wax is green, it’s time to see a doctor, as you might be fighting off an infection.
The Complications of Ear Wax
Ear wax is generally beneficial, but if it accumulates too much and becomes impacted, it can threaten the health and well-being of your hearing.
Impacted ear wax occurs when the cerumen becomes lodged deep within the ear canal, often blocking it entirely. If that happens, you’ll typically experience the following symptoms:
Hearing Loss
The most common symptom of too much ear wax is when the blockage prevents sound waves from reaching the eardrum effectively, resulting in muffled or diminished hearing.
Ear Ache
Another common symptom of impacted ear wax is ear pain because of the pressure exerted by the ear wax against the eardrum or the ear canal walls.
Tinnitus
You may have tinnitus if you’ve ever experienced ringing, buzzing, or other noises in the ears. There are different causes for tinnitus, but impacted ear wax is one of the more common ones.
Vertigo
Impacted ear wax sometimes causes balance problems because the ear plays a vital role in maintaining equilibrium. If you feel dizzy or have vertigo, it might be from too much ear wax.
Ear Infection
Because areas in the ear canal are blocked, they become breeding grounds for bacteria growth. If that happens, you will end up with a lot of ear pain and an ear infection.
If you experience any of these issues, reaching out to your audiologist before attempting to clean your ears yourself is important.
How Do You Clean Your Ears?
One of the biggest misconceptions is that you should clean your own ears. Most common at-home ear cleaning attempts end in serious, long-term damage to your hearing. Sometimes, the damage is even permanent.
While seen on TV and in movies, the cotton swab is one of the last things you want to stick in your ear. Using them oftentimes pushes the ear wax further into the ear canal, causing more impact on the ear drum.
If you’re not careful, cotton swabs can scratch or puncture your ear drum.
Another common at-home solution is an ear candle. There is no medical proof that ear candles work, but there is evidence that usage causes burns, additional blockages, and perforation.
There is no best home solution for cleaning your ears. Sticking anything in your ear is a recipe for serious and long-term damage, which is why you should always go to a doctor or an audiologist if you are experiencing symptoms of impacted ear wax.
How Do You Prevent Ear Wax Buildup?
While being proactive about protecting your ears might make sense, many at-home remedies are dangerous. The ear canal is self-cleaning, and overdoing it disrupts this process, leading to excess ear wax.
Two methods to prevent impacted ear wax are gentle cleaning after showers and using a humidifier.
After showering or bathing, gently wipe the outer ear with a soft cloth. This helps remove any excess wax that naturally migrated outward.
Dry air sometimes causes dryer ear wax, which can be more prone to impaction. Using a humidifier helps maintain adequate moisture levels.
Of course, the best prevention is scheduling regular appointments with an audiologist who can check and clean your ears. The audiologists at Hearing Health Center are trained in all forms of ear wax removal, including suction, curettes, flushing, and more.
Ear Wax and Hearing Aids
For all of the good ear wax does, its existence complicates things for people wearing hearing aids.
One of the biggest concerns is that wearing hearing aids prompts the glands in the ear canal to produce more wax, preventing it from moving out because of the barrier created by the hearing aid.
Ear wax can accumulate on the hearing aid’s receiver (speaker), blocking sound transmission and causing muffled or distorted sound.
This is a common issue, especially with in-the-ear (ITE) and receiver-in-canal (RIC) hearing aids.
When Ear Wax Becomes a Problem, We Have a Solution: Ear Wax Removal!
As audiologists, we are trained in our academic coursework and through specialized wax removal courses.
Wax removal can take many forms, depending on the wax type, the wax buildup, and what is necessary for the most uncomplicated removal.
Come in, find out if it’s just wax, and get it taken care of at Hearing Health Center with our specialized audiology team!
This is the rallying cry from baby boomers all over the country that ruined their hearing going to concerts and listening to loud music.
Millions of baby boomers are experiencing the foibles of their youth and suffering the consequences.
“My average patient used to be in their late seventies,” said Dr. Ronna Fisher, AuD. Of Hearing Health Center. “Today my average patient is in their early sixties.” Fifty percent of people over the age of sixty have a significant hearing deficit that interferes with their everyday life.
Yet, at the same time, some of these baby boomers still perceive hearing problems as an old person’s issue. “They still think, “hearing = old,” and refuse to recognize and admit they have difficulty hearing and understanding,” said Dr. Fisher.
“Hearing loss runs in my family,” proclaimed Dr. Fisher, who has been wearing hearing aids since she was fifty. “At first, I used to think, ‘I’m too young to wear hearing aids. Then I realized, I’m too young not to wear hearing aids.”
Baby boomers are all about living longer, being more active and communicating their vast knowledge…to their employees, to their children, and anyone else willing to listen to their wisdom.
Astute baby boomers understand that communicating is a two-way street. making the rest of their lives the best of their lives. And they’re realizing that it’s all about communicating.
Age doesn’t matter. Book a FREE hearing test today.
Have you ever experienced a mysterious crackling sound haunting your ear, seemingly attacking you out of the blue? If so, you may be wondering about this irritating sound and if you should be concerned about it. This blog will unveil the secrets behind this peculiar yet annoying sound. Let’s dive into the captivating journey of crackling sounds in the ear, understand what it is, the early signs, and the treatments to explore.
You could be experiencing these crackling sounds, or if this sound has become an unwelcome companion in your daily life, our exploration will feature the knowledge to decode this mystery. Embark on this captivating auditory puzzle – understand what lies beneath the surface.
WHAT IS CRACKLING IN THE EAR?
Crackling in the ear symbolizes a peculiar sound, which sounds similar to the crinkling of paper or the rustling of leaves. It is often referred to as a clicking, popping sound in the ear or snapping noise that occurs persistently. This makes it difficult to focus on the work or their surroundings. Myriad factors, such as Eustachian tube movement, air pressure fluctuation, excessive earwax, and muscle contractions, often cause this auditory sensation. While this is harmless, crackling in the ear can be bothersome and sometimes refer to an underlying issue that warrants further investigation.
FIVE EARLY SIGNS OF A CRACKLING SOUND IN THE EAR
Early signs of crackling in the ear often vary on the underlying cause. Listed below are five common early signs that you must watch out for:
1.Popping & Clicking: You may notice broken popping or irritatingly clicking sounds in one or both ears, similar to bursting bubbles.
2.The sensation of Pressure: You might experience a feeling of pressure affecting the ear as if something is blocking or obstructing it.
3.Mild Discomfort: You may experience slight discomfort in the ear, which can be referred to as a sensation of mild pain or extreme itchiness.
4.Fluctuation in Hearing Sensitivity: You might observe subtle changes in your ability to hear or even a slight reduction in hearing sensitivity, especially in the affected ear.
5.Temporary Hearing Loss: Frequent episodes of temporary hearing loss or experiencing muffled sounds in your affected ear, lasting for short periods, are early signs of crackling in the ear.
It is essential to remember that these signs vary due to underlying causes. If you experience any of these signs or have concerns about crackling signs in your ear, it is advised to consult medical professionals or ENT experts for a proper diagnosis.
HOW TO PRESERVE YOUR EAR FROM CRACKLING SOUNDS?
For ear health preservation and to minimize the occurrence of crackling sounds, consider the measures listed below:
- Practice Good Ear Hygiene: Keep your ears clean and prevent excessive earwax build-up. Excessive ear wax is a key contributor to crackling sound.
- Protect Against Loud Noises: Using earmuffs or earplugs when working in noisy environments or exposed to loud sounds, especially at concerts or construction sites, is advised.
- Changes in Air Pressure: During activities like flying or swimming/scuba diving, it is advised to yawn or swallow to equalize pressure in your ears.
- Avoid Insertion of Foreign Objects: You must refrain from using cotton swabs, car keys, or any other object to clean your ears. Wonder why? They push earwax deeper, causing damage to your delicate structure.
- Stay Hydrated: Drinking enough water to retain proper Eustachian functioning, facilitating equalization of pressure, and minimizing the likelihood of crackling sounds.
HOW TO GET RID OF THE CRACKLING SOUND IN THE EAR?
Treatment for crackling sound in the ear depends on the underlying cause – it is important to look for medical tests to determine the specific reason behind the crackling. Listed below are recommended ear treatments:
1.Earwax Removal: In case of excessive earwax, a healthcare expert may perform ear irrigation or use special tools to remove the build-up in a safe manner.
2.Eustachian Tube Dysfunction Management: Techniques to improve this function help treat crackling sound caused by issues such as blockage, nasal decongestant, auto-insufflation exercises, and improper equalization of pressure.
3.Medication: In case of ear infection or inflammation, antibiotics or anti-inflammatory medications should be prescribed to alleviate symptoms and resolve the underlying problems.
4.Tinnitus Management: If the crackling sound is accompanied by tinnitus, treatments like CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), Sound Therapy, and TRT (Tinnitus Retraining Therapy) are recommended to help manage the symptoms.
5.Muscle Relaxation Exercises: For cases where muscle tension or spasm contributes to the crackling sound, techniques like physical therapy, jaw exercises, and relaxation exercises help eradicate the tension while offering immense relief.
Suppose you are experiencing any of the problems mentioned earlier. In that case, it is integral for healthcare professionals or an ear specialist to receive a proper diagnosis and bespoke treatment plan for specific conditions. They guide you through an accurate course of action to address the underlying cause of the crackling ear and help restore auditory comfort.
HOW TO SAFEGUARD YOUNG KIDS AGAINST LOUD NOISES?
Limit Exposure: Minimize exposure to loud sounds, especially during fireworks, machinery, and TV time.
Hearing Protection: Offer properly fitted ear protection such as earplugs or earmuffs to kids when in a noisy environment.
Set Volume Limit: Ensure that electronic devices, media, and toys have volume limitations. Use them to prevent prolonged exposure to loud volumes.
Create Quiet Spaces: Make separate quiet areas at home for young kids, where they can relax and take a break from the noise.
Be their Role model: It is advised to lead by example, mend your listening habits by keeping the volume reasonable, and practice ear safety.
By practicing these measures, parents can safeguard their kids against damage caused by loud sounds.
CONCLUSION
A crackling sound in the ear can be a bothersome experience. This signals individuals to pay attention to their auditory health. If you experience crackling in the ear with no pain, consult an ENT specialist or medical expert to identify the issue and assign treatment. It could be an earwax build-up, managing Eustachian tube dysfunction, or treating infections.
Consult our professionals at Hearing Health Center to get proper treatment, including ear wax removal. We have a team to help patients find the treatment suitable for their unique hearing needs.
You might think your hearing problem only affects you, but your spouse, family, friends, and co-workers might have already had it up to here.
Untreated hearing problems are a major cause of stress in relationships, especially with those closest to us.
Researchers who conducted a qualitative study of couples, where one partner had hearing loss, found that hearing loss produces feelings of frustration, embarrassment, and distress…especially for the partner without hearing loss.
Day-to-day communication, whether about important matters or trivial, is the cornerstone of a healthy relationship. When communication breaks down, frustration creeps in. Frustration leads to resentment, then to further breakdown in intimacy.
Both partners in the study bemoaned the loss of spontaneity, small talk, and sharing small, unexpected incidents. Those small asides, including jokes and humor, bring about shared companionship and reflection. And relationships, especially marriages, experience a significant loss in the absence of that communication. And both partners agreed there had been a meaningful change in the nature and content of their communication because of hearing problems.
EMOTIONS CONNECTED WITH DECREASED HEARING ABILITY
- Frustration
- Resentment
- Loneliness
- Curtailing social activities
- Decrease in intimacy, joking, interacting with friends and family.
- Decrease in shared activities (even watching TV)
- Loss of companionship
- Less communication (words are kept to a minimum)
TIPS FOR TALKING TO YOUR PARTNER ABOUT THEIR HEARING
- Tell them it is affecting your relationship. Your partner might be concerned about the stigma of wearing hearing aids, but saying, “what,” “huh,” “pardon me,” all the time is often irritating to others and frustrating to have to repeat everything.
- Tell them you are concerned for their health. When hearing loss is left untreated, the speech and language areas of the brain can atrophy, leading to auditory deprivation and putting a person at increased risk of cognitive decline. Early detection and treatment of hearing problems is the number one factor under your control to prevent and delay dementia.
- Tell them you are concerned about your own health. The additional stress of worrying about your other half’s health and safety can take a physical and emotional toll on your own health. Plus, it is no fun to listen to the TV or stereo when it is cranked up too high, and could be damaging your own hearing, or having to shout or constantly repeat yourself.
- Make an appointment to have your own hearing evaluated and ask them to go with you. First, it is something you should do anyway. The Alzheimer’s Association recommends everyone over fifty get a baseline hearing evaluation. Secondly, it’s always good to have another set of ears to hear what the hearing care provider has to say, no matter who that patient is.
HOW HEARING AIDS IMPROVE RELATIONSHIPS
Wearing hearing aids not only improves your hearing, but it also improves your intimate relationships. Opening that extra channel of communication can stimulate conversation and reduce frustration, providing better understanding of one another.
They reduce miscommunication.
What was that? Did you say, “answer the phone” or “Sarah is home?” Hearing loss can result in a lot of confusion for the person experiencing it. Mistakes made from mishearing your partner could result in fighting and a decline in overall happiness. Relationships are enough work as it is without factoring in the added burden of hearing loss. A hearing aid is a simple solution to reducing miscommunication and maximizing your hearing potential.
They lower frustration and tension
Living with hearing loss requires extra effort. But it requires a lot less effort if you take the available options to improve your hearing. Doing so will not only relieve the stress you experience every day but reduce the stress it places on your loved one. Constant communication is necessary in a relationship, and communication comes much easier when you can hear one another.
Hearing aids make it easier to have a real conversation
People with hearing loss tend to withdraw into themselves because conversation becomes embarrassing and difficult. You may not realize it at first, but you are putting distance between yourself and your loved one by avoiding conversation, whether that be in person or on the phone. Hearing aids, which take some getting used to, allow you to engage in conversation and maintain your connection with your partner much better than if you did not wear them.
They allow you to tune in to each other
All the extra communication opportunities hearing aids provide you allow you to become better tuned to your partner’s needs. Cohabitation becomes much easier when a couple’s understanding of each other improves. Plus, when your partner sees you trying to improve your hearing condition, they are more likely to put in an effort also.
It’s been a difficult, trying year – but now the Holidays are here. Hopefully it will be a joyous time to share with your family, and it might be the only time all year you get together with your whole family.
Of course, you want to talk to everyone, get to know new additions (spouses, grandkids, and friends), share stories and memories, and laugh. When you have hearing loss, the holidays can be stressful and worrisome.
Large dining room tables make conversation difficult. Everyone is talking at once and the football game and music in the background makes it almost impossible for you to participate.
You can do several things so you don’t feel left out, and not enjoy yourself.
- Limit background noise. Ask the host to turn down the TV or music.
- Try to sit in the middle of the table.
- Take breaks. Listening and concentrating so intently is exhausting. Go outside, find a quiet spot, and give your ears and your brain a rest. Then you will be ready for more socializing.
- Bring your humor. Forget being embarrassed. So what if you say the wrong thing or answer incorrectly. Laugh at the mis-hearings. They can be hilarious.
- Wear your hearing aids and make the most of them. You have two computers in your ears. They are smart, really smart, with special settings for different situations and environments.
- Hearing aids have special gadgets and accessories to make hard situations easier – tiny microphones to put on the table to pick up voices and deliver them to your ears, chair loops that connect directly to your hearing aids. Don’t be afraid of technology. It’s easier than you think. Experiment.
- Cupping your hand to your ear is a signal for others to talk louder
- Have reasonable expectations. You are not going to hear everything everyone says. That’s ok. With visual cues (facial expressions, lip reading), and context, you can usually get the gist of, and participate in the conversation.
- Don’t fake it. Don’t just nod and pretend you hear or laugh just because everyone else is laughing. It can end up being embarrassing for you or insulting to someone else. Be honest. Be brave. Ask them to repeat. Tell them you have difficulty hearing/understanding.
Enjoy the holidays. Have fun with your family. Every moment is precious, don’t miss it!
The bad news: It’s worse than we previously thought
Early stage hearing loss was formerly considered “mild,” and depending on your lifestyle, would not trigger symptoms of difficulty communicating.
However, studies¹ now show significant changes in the brains of those with early stage hearing loss in comparison with those whose hearing is normal. Specifically, even with minimal auditory deprivation, the brain actually re-organizes itself, which results in poorer speech processing in noise and deterioration of cognitive functioning. This is a problem.
The good news: the decline is reversible.
Following clinical treatment with high-quality, expertly fitted hearing aids, the brain re-organized itself back to the original state.
Just six months after wearing hearing aids, both visual and working memory improved. In addition, processing speed as well as executive cognitive skill* performance were increased
Even better news: You can change the number one risk factor for dementia.
Research shows that about two thirds of the risk for dementia is hereditary or genetic. Therefore, one third of the risk of dementia is from causes that are modifiable. Hearing loss accounts for about 9% of dementia risk, a greater proportion than factors like hypertension, obesity, depression, diabetes and smoking. According to distinguished medical journal The Lancet, “among all of the modifiable risk factors, hearing loss is the most significant modifiable factor leading to dementia.”²
*Executive cognitive functions are the prerequisite to any purposeful and goal-directed action. They allow one to generate plans, solutions to problems, or organizing structures that guide future action. They rely on working memory, mental flexibility, and retrieval of relevant information from memory stores.
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¹Sharma A, Glick, H. Cortical neuroplasticity and cognitive function in early-stage, mild hearing loss: Evidence of neurocognitive benefit from hearing aid use. Front Neurosci. 2020:14(93):1-22 ² Livingston G, Sommerlad A, Ortega V. Dementia prevention, intervention, and care. The Lancet 2017;390(10113):2673-2734
What to do if you suddenly experience hearing loss
As a Patient Care Coordinator, nothing is more alarming then getting a frantic call from a patient in panic mode because they suddenly lost their hearing. Working at the front desk and handling calls from patients at the Chicago office for the last six years, I’ve noticed an increase in these cases of sudden idiopathic hearing loss, or “sudden deafness”. This phenomenon, known as Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SSHL) is often unexplained. Although the exact cause, in many cases, is unknown, some causes for SSHL are barotrauma, certain medications, a viral attack and autoimmune disorders. SSHL is characterized as a rapid loss, usually in one ear, either all at once or over the course of a few days.
It concerns me that patients often do not realize the severity of their sudden hearing loss. Permanent ramifications, such as irreversible hearing impairment and/or constant ringing in the ear, called tinnitus, can result if the loss is not treated immediately.
Working in one of the premier audiology offices in the world, I know what is at stake for these patients, and always find ways to fit them in to see one of our Doctors of Audiology.
The audiologist first determines that the sudden hearing loss is not due to allergies, sinus infection, earwax clogging the ear canal, or other common conditions. If the loss is indeed SSHL, we refer immediately to an ENT (Otolaryngologist), or the nearest ER. Oral steroids or steroid injections into the ear is the standard treatment for SSHL. Steroids can minimize and/or reverse the hearing loss.
Most importantly, know that you are not alone. If you experience sudden deafness, the hearing professionals at the Hearing Health Center will do everything they can to combat the hearing loss and return your hearing back to normal.
Resources:
NIDCD (National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders) Fact Sheet
(1) Sudden Deafness
NIH Pub. No. 00-4757
March 2018
The NIDCD maintains a directory of organizations that provide information on the normal and disordered processes of hearing, balance, taste, smell, voice, speech and language. Visit the NIDCD website at https://nidcd.nih.gov/directory to search the directory.
NIDCD Information Clearinghouse
1 Communication Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20892-3456
Toll Free Voice: 800-241-1044
Toll Free TTY: 800-241-1055
Email: nidcdinfo@nidcd.nih.gov
Web: www.nidcd.nih.gov