Information For Parents

How do we hear?

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Signs of hearing difficulties

  • Words are often missed
  • The level of the speaker’s voice seems ok but still hard to understand
  • Asking people to speak louder
  • Asking people to repeat what has been said
  • Turning the volume of the TV and radio higher
  • Difficulty hearing noise

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What are the causes of hearing loss?

  • Age
  • Noise exposure
  • Middle ear problem
  • Bacterial and viral diseases
  • Family history of deafness

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What are the degrees and kinds of hearing loss?

Mild - Can hear and understand in most places but have some difficulty
Moderate - Some words are missed in a quiet place. Asking people to speak louder. More difficulty hearing and understanding in noise.
Severe - Speakers will have to shout and come closer to pick up some of what is being said. Definitely, can not hear at normal conversation level.
Profound - These people can only hear very loud sounds such as a car horn, loud bang, etc. Usually speech is not understood even if the speaker is talking very loudly.

Kinds of hearing loss
Conductive - there is a problem in the transmission of sound through the middle ear but the cochlea remains intact.
Sensorineural - the middle ear is clear but the problem lies inside the cochlea where the hearing nerves are.
Mixed - both the middle ear and cochlea have problems.

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What are hearing aids?

Hearing aids make sounds louder for the hard of hearing or deaf people. It consists of a microphone, an amplifier and a receiver that boosts sound in the ear canal. Hearing aids come in different forms, namely:

There are many types of hearing aids depending on their class and features.
3 main types are:

  1. Classic or Analog - These are the conventional type of hearing aids. They are least flexible for finetuning a hearing aid. Usually least expensive.
  2. Digitally programmed - these are programed to match a hearing loss through the use of a computer. This offers more flexibility in programming. They process sound in a similar was as classic hearing aids, however, the control through computer offers more sophisticated sound processing.
  3. Digital - these hearing aids process sound digitally. Sounds are converted into digital bits just like in a CD. They have special circuitry that makes sounds sound better than the 2 types of hearing aids and have more special features that are helpful especially in listening in noisy places.

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Are hearing aids expensive?

the prices of hearing aids vary greatly, depending on the style and feature that you are interested in.

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What do I do if I need a hearing aid?

If you think you need a hearing aid, the first step is to have your hearing evaluated to know what degree and kind of hearing loss you may have. From there, we will guide your way to better hearing. Since 1976, MHA has helped countless Filipinos who are hard of hearing improve their hearing ability. Let the experience of an institution be the basis of your visit.

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Why 2 hearing aids?

To understand these benefits, it is first important to realize that we hear in our brains, not in our ears. Your brain processes the information received from both ears to ‘paint' an ‘auditory picture' of your surroundings. If your brain receives a signal from just one ear not only will it have to work twice as hard, (which is more tiring and stressful for you) but it will have less information.

Another factor to consider is that wearing two hearing aids improves sound quality. Binaural hearing requires less volume, which makes listening more comfortable and less tiring. Secondly, with messages being sent to both ears, the brain is capable of hearing things in ‘stereo'. This gives the listener a natural, balanced ‘3-D' sound which can be understood more clearly.

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