May is Better Hearing Month
There’s no better time to focus on your hearing health. Each May, Better Hearing Month provides an opportunity to raise awareness about hearing disorders and encourage life-altering treatment.
We all care about our health, so we visit our primary care doctor, dentist and eye doctor annually. These checkups serve as necessary preventive measures to ensure sure we’re in good health and to catch any potential problems that may be lurking unnoticed. The same should be done for your hearing. Untreated hearing loss can have negative effects on your well-being and can be the cause of more serious health matters.
Some people may experience sudden hearing loss from a dramatic event, like being close to an explosion. But for most of us, hearing loss is gradual. In fact, most people are not aware of the decline until symptoms become obvious, such as turning up the TV volume or asking people to frequently repeat themselves. Because most hearing decline happens slowly over time, it’s important to get tested early and annually—even before you have symptoms. This allows your hearing professional to establish a baseline and monitor your hearing levels over time.
Even if you’re already using a hearing device, annual hearing assessments will ensure that your device is fitting well, working properly and offering you the highest level of hearing support. Like most things, hearing aids have a finite lifespan. There are several attributes that affect this lifespan including how well the instrument is built and maintained and how much wear and tear it experiences daily.
Naturally, when a hearing device stops working reliably, you could be a candidate for new hearing aids or a significant repair. But there are other reasons you may want to make an appointment with your hearing care professional such as considering an upgrade, even if your current hearing device is working fine.
Age-related hearing loss is a degenerative condition that gets worse as you get older. If you’re not getting top performance from your hearing aids, it may be time to see your hearing care professional. There is a possibility that your hearing could change to the point where it’s beyond the range of help from your current hearing devices. This is likely the time to upgrade to a more powerful instrument, or one with new capabilities that will meet your changing needs.
Oticon Opn™ has made major advances in hearing technology and offer many features that weren’t available just a few years ago. Some of these features include enhancing comprehension, reducing fatigue for the wearer, Bluetooth® and wireless connections to your TV and smartphone, rechargeable capability and specialized applications that work in concert with your hearing device. Additionally, there are more size and design options than ever before; more colors, nearly invisible in-the-ear-canal design and more!
In honor of Better Hearing Month, take this time to ensure that you and your loved ones have the best hearing possible. If you know someone with untreated hearing loss, Audionics and Sutton Hearing & Balance stands ready to help and is offering FREE hearing assessments* throughout the month.
*See office for details.