The World Health Organization projects that approximately 2.5 billion people will experience some degree of hearing loss by 2050. In addition, a significant number of them will require rehabilitation to manage their condition. Currently, over 5% of the world’s population is suffering from some form of hearing loss. However, most of them don’t know the extent of their hearing deficiency and still require a hearing test to ascertain their condition fully.
While most people with hearing loss manage to cope with it, the condition can cause irreversible damage when it starts impacting your lifestyle. This even applies to a mild hearing loss that still bears a profound effect on your life in many ways. For instance, it can change your relationships, impact your work environment, limit how you live your life, and even lead to mental anguish.
How to Live with Hearing Loss Today
Even though most hearing loss is permanent and irreversible, you can still manage it to improve your quality of life. Some top hearing technologies are advancing their research on curbing this condition with the hope for more significant breakthroughs. Furthermore, the potential link of hearing loss to other health concerns such as dementia is also helping to fast-track some of the significant developments made in its treatment.
With hearing loss now ranking as the third most common chronic condition behind cardiac disease and arthritis, it’s essential to learn how to live with it. Here is our in-depth look into some of the best ways you can adopt to improve your hearing ability and generally transform how you function in your daily life.
- Opt For Normal Hearing Aids
Hearing aids offer the easiest option to improve your hearing ability regardless of your age. They work by amplifying sounds you have trouble hearing. While close to 6.5 million people could benefit from hearing aids, hearing loss statistics in the UK reveal that only 2 million people use them.
This means that more needs to be done in sensitising people about hearing aids’ benefits despite their proven efficiency. The continued advancement of hearing aids to suit every functionality demand and comfort also means everyone can find one that serves their hearing needs. Some of the best hearing aids in the market today include;
- Open-fit Hearing Aids
These are worn entirely behind the ear. They come with a narrow tube that goes into the ear canal to enhance your hearing.
- In-the-Ear Hearing Aids
You can wear this inside the outer ear. However, they are effective if your hearing loss is not profound.
- Canal Hearing Aids
Canal hearing aids have a unique design that allows them to fit inside the ear canal. As a result, these aids are ideally suitable if you have severe hearing loss.
- Behind-the-ear Hearing Aids
These are also worn behind the ear. Better yet, they come with an additional ear mold that you can wear in the outer ear.
Hearing aids also come with different capabilities depending on your hearing loss. You’ll find them in categories that offer;
- Noise reduction capabilities
- Feedback cancellation
- Automatic sound control, among other features.
2. Bone-Conducting Hearing Aids
These hearing aids are ideal for people experiencing severe hearing loss on one side. They utilize an implanted component on the damaged ear to conduct sound. This ensures that the vibrations picked up on the affected ear travel through the skull to the normal ear.
Bone conduction hearing aids are available for people of all ages depending on one’s severity of hearing loss.
3. Assistive Listening Devices
These devices have a design that helps you hear clear sounds by separating speech from noise. Ideally, they have noise cancellation features that sieve through every sound to eliminate the background noise.
The good thing with assistive listening devices is that you can use them alongside hearing aids to achieve a better hearing experience. Some of the common ones you can check out include;
- Induction Loop Systems
These can help you hear clear and crisp sounds from public address systems in crowded places such as institutions or stadiums. They have a unique technology that propels sound signals directly to hearing aids. The catch here is that your hearing aids should be specially designed to operate with these systems.
- Infrared Systems
These ultraviolet systems rely on light-based technology to transmit sound. They can also be used to complement hearing aids, especially in a home setting if you struggle to hear the sound of your Radio or Television.
Conclusion
Hearing loss is no longer a problem for older people. It’s now a condition affecting people of all ages. With the condition still spreading to surpass other top ailments like cancer and diabetes, we all need to find ways of living with it for posterity. For instance, we should all embrace taking hearing tests early enough to help ascertain the level of our hearing loss. Better still, you can successfully survive hearing loss by adopting the above-highlighted measures.
