Myself I personally enjoy visiting my current audiologist in Oakville (he is so talkative) and he provides free hearing tests, so even if you buy nothing from him at least you are getting a free hearing test and talking to someone who genuinely cares about people who have hearing loss like myself.
Anywho, back to the article below. I am posting it in the hope that people out there who have noticed they don't hear as well as they used to will be inspired to go get their hearing tested. Just google your local city and the words free hearing test and you should be able to find a place that provides hearing tests for free.
Especially if you work in a place where you are surrounded by loud noises regularly or constantly. Many people have hearing difficulties from working in places that are too noisy and harmful to their ears.
By D. Eze
Hearing loss affects people of all ages for a variety of reasons. Some children are unfortunately born unable to hear very well, some people progressively lose their hearing over time and hearing loss is prone to many people above a certain age. This hearing loss can be a result of many different reasons including degenerative diseases, through the natural degeneration of hearing over time as part of old age or through some sort of traumatic event that severally affects hearing almost in an instant.
Despite the variety of reasons and causes of hearing loss, hearing loss overwhelming affects those at retirement age. Statistics say that one in three people from ages ranging from 64 - 75 will have some sort of hearing loss and one in two individuals over the age of 75 will be dealing with hearing loss. These are overwhelming numbers when one thinks about it. If one were to add that number of baby boomers who are about to be or already are at retirement age, hearing loss is becoming a major issue in our society today. Our mothers, fathers, aunts and uncles are currently dealing with substantial hearing loss and we do not even know it.
Some might say that hearing loss is not that bad of an issue and that people can cope with it by simply asking other to speak louder, but this is misleading. Hearing loss can in and of itself affect ones standard of living. "Especially in the elderly, hearing loss can impair the exchange of information, thus significantly impacting everyday life, causing loneliness, isolation, dependence, and frustration, as well as communication disorders" (Bianchini, Ciorba, Pelucchi and Pastore, 2012). It can also lead to dementia, depression, memory loss and stress. These are all physical and mental states that should be avoided especially for elderly people.
A recent study has looked to see the factors that lead to hearing loss in a varied group of Americans. The results of the study have shown that with people who have moderate hearing loss about 43% actually where hearing aids with those who have mild hearing loss the number drops dramatically to 3.4% (Lin, Thorpe, Gorden-Salant and Ferrucci, 2011). This shows that people only see to seek to get help for their hearing loss when it becomes more progressive as opposed to when it is just starting. More visits to an audiologist after the age of 50 can help to mitigate the issues that come with hearing loss much more quickly and increase the elderly populations quality of life much earlier.
Therefore why suffer when something like hearing loss and it subordinate effects can be dealt with in a relatively easy fashion. A quick visit to the audiologist and spending some time being fitted with a hearing aid can mitigate all of the bad side effects of hearing loss and greatly improve ones standard of living overnight.
To some a visit to the audiologist might be daunting. Most people have not been to a audiologist or do not know what going to an audiologist might entail. But going to the audiologist is very similar to going to the optometrist. It is a very short process where the doctor will test how well you are able to use your hearing against a standard of measurement and using various auditory testing equipment. In the end the audiologist will provide you with an apparatus that will allow you to hear better if need be or provide you with information and suggested equipment that will allow you to prevent further hearing loss. Specifically for an audiology test you will subjected to hearing sounds of different tone, volume and frequency. This is in order to ensure that the audiologist is able to determine the breath of the hearing loss as well as the source of the hearing loss. Depending on your needs, the audiologist will decide on which tests to perform and develop a plan to resolve your hearing loss issues.
Hearing is often the ignored sense. If our ability to see is diminished even slightly we all are very aware of it and often seek to fix the problem immediately, but with hearing it is usually something we consider not important enough to investigate. Additionally, for the elderly, when one ignores their inevitable hearing loss it can lead to very dire consequences. The fact is an hour test can preserve a very important sense and ensure that your quality of life is not unnecessarily diminished. Got get that test, if need be go get that hearing aid. Your ears will thank you.
Sources
C. Bianchini, A. Ciorba, S. Pelucchi, A. Pastore. (2012). The impact of hearing loss on the quality of life of elderly adults. Clinical Interventions in Aging. 7, 159-163. http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3393360/reload=0;jsessionid=AELCaUJ7cNkXolRlK0rx.24
F. Lin, R, Thorpe, S. Gorden-Salant & L. Ferrucci. (2011). Hearing Loss Prevalence and Risk Factors Among Older Adults in the United States. The Journals of Gerontology, 66A(5), 582-590. http://biomedgerontology.oxfordjournals.org/content/66A/5/582.short