September is World Alzheimer’s Month! This year is the 10th year that people from around the globe have come together to raise awareness about Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia. Hearing loss is one of the risk factors of dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease, so every year we join the global conversation about dementia. What is World Alzheimer’s Month? September is a time …
Can Air Pollution Affect Our Hearing Abilities?
Hearing ability is a truly remarkable function of the human body. When sound pressure enters the ear canal, the tiny features of the inner ear are sensitive to even the slightest changes in pressure size and shape. Detecting those differences requires fine-tuned sensory reception, but that same sensitivity makes the parts of the ear prone to damage, as well. Specifically, …
Current & Former Smokers May Be at Higher Risk for Hearing Loss
If there is one lifestyle behavior that is associated with the worst health outcomes, it surely must be smoking. Many think immediately of lung cancer as the health risk associated with smoking, but there are a wide range of other negative health effects associated with the habit. Added to the list it looks like hearing loss might be associated with …
Studies Show that COVID19 Can Affect Tinnitus
As we know, COVID-19 comes with a wide range of rather mysterious symptoms. What was once thought to be a respiratory virus primarily affecting the ability to breathe has now shown symptoms in a wide range of other systems of the body. Not only is the peripheral nervous system affected in some cases, but surprising symptoms such as the inability …
How Virtual Assistants Can Assist Those with Hearing Loss
Our relationships with information have changed dramatically in the past decade or two. Prior to widespread access to the Internet, information retrieval required time, intention, and physical space. Consulting a phone book, encyclopedia, or library took some effort on the part of the person seeking information, and we tended to rely on others to share truths with us. This relationship …
Signs You May Have Tinnitus
If you have ever been to a noisy concert, nightclub, or sporting event, you might have walked out into the relative quiet and heard a loud ringing, buzzing, or humming in your ears. That sound probably went away by the time you woke up the next morning, meaning that you didn’t have tinnitus, exactly. Now, imagine if that sound didn’t …
Studies Show Higher Rates of Hearing Loss for People with Diabetes
Hearing loss is connected to a wide range of other conditions. In some cases, the connection is direct. For instance, those who work in a noisy industrial facility will likely have higher rates of hearing loss among the employees due to noise exposure over time. Other connections are more difficult to parse. Take, for instance, the connection between hearing loss …
Building Connections – May is Better Hearing and Speech Month!
One commonly stated adage is that healthy relationships are built on open communication. Anyone who has sought advice on a relationship issue is likely to encounter this principle. Easy as it may seem, open communication can be quite difficult to achieve, and any number of barriers can get in the way of a clear, honest conversation. Take, for instance, the …
Links between Tinnitus, Hearing Loss & COVID-19
The COVID-19 coronavirus has changed the world in the last year. The scientific community has risen to the challenge of understanding this mysterious condition, and information is pouring in day by day to help fill in the picture. One of the things that makes the condition even more difficult to understand is the wide array of symptoms that are associated. …
A Connection between Hearing Loss, Depression, and Dementia
Verbal communication might be more important than we realize when it comes to our mental, cognitive, and even physical wellbeing. When we have a conversation, much more is happening than simply exchanging information. We are experiencing a social connection, even when it is as fleeting as a quick conversation at the grocery store or bus stop. By sharing our understanding …