Your Patient’s Hearing
Nearly one out of every four adult Canadians reports having some hearing loss. And approximately four in 1,000 Canadian babies are born with some degree of hearing loss or will develop early progressive childhood hearing loss.
The good news is that with a properly fitted hearing aid, counselling or environmental changes, 90% of people with hearing loss can improve communication.
That’s why it’s so important for physicians to refer patients to CHS Hearing Healthcare. We offer one-stop access to a full range of services from hearing tests using state-of-the-art equipment to hearing aid sales and fitting, support, education, counselling and much more.
Learn more about your patient’s hearing
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Five correlations between hearing loss and health issues +
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There’s more to hearing loss than just “hearing” – it’s also about health. An increasing and emerging body of evidence links hearing loss to other important health issues.
Here are five correlations of hearing loss to other health conditions to be aware of:
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| Dementia
A Johns Hopkins study of older adults found that hearing loss may accelerate brain function decline. Some experts believe that interventions, like hearing aids, could potentially delay or prevent dementia.
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| Diabetes
Studies show that people with diabetes are twice as likely to have hearing loss. One study showed that those 60 and younger are at greater risk.
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| Heart disease
Studies have shown that a healthy cardiovascular system has a positive effect on hearing. Conversely, inadequate blood flow and trauma to the blood vessels of the inner ear can contribute to hearing loss.
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| Falls
A Johns Hopkins study showed that people in middle age (40 to 69) with even just mild hearing loss were nearly three times more likely to have a history of falling. The idea is that hearing loss may affect your awareness of the overall environment, making tripping and falling more likely. Another possible explanation is cognitive load where the brain becomes overwhelmed with its limited resources. Some researchers believe that hearing loss imposes a cognitive load, resulting in fewer cognitive resources to help with overall balance.
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| Chronic kidney disease
Researchers say that structural and functional similarities between tissues in the inner ear and in the kidney may explain the link between moderate chronic kidney disease and hearing loss.
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Identifying and addressing hearing loss can improve your patient’s quality of life in terms of their communication and overall health.
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How to Read an Audiogram +
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A hearing test helps to determine if someone has a hearing loss and the severity of the hearing loss. The results are recorded on a chart called an audiogram. The pure tone audiogram is a graph which shows the pitches (frequencies) across the top, and the loudness (intensity) down the side. In general, the audiogram indicates how loud different sounds must be before they are first heard. The pure tone audiogram is filled out by an audiologist to indicate the degree of hearing loss.
Frequency
We hear across a wide range of sound frequencies or pitches. Notes from a bass drum, a deep male voice or vowel sounds are low-pitched sounds and register at the left side of the audiogram. Conversely, notes played on a flute, women’s and children’s voices and many consonant sounds such as ‘s’, ‘t’, ‘f’, ‘sh’, are high pitched sounds and register at the right side of the audiogram.
250 Hz (Hertz) is a low frequency sound and 8000 Hz is a high frequency sound. In other words, the lower the number, the lower the pitch of the sound.
The range of 250 to 8000 Hz represents the frequencies most useful for listening to speech, which is why audiologists test through this range. The “speech banana” on the audiogram has been added to show where most conversations occur in terms of loudness and pitch.
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