Blog: Here’s to Your Legacy of Great Hearing, Lethbridge!

Healthy blood flow, we all know, is key to our overall well-being. Often, however, people tend to associate that well-being with their hearts, lungs and major arteries; those are the areas of health that get a lot of press when it comes to the idea of having an annual physical. That focus isn’t wrong, but it is incomplete. There are blood vessels throughout our bodies that feed even the farthest points from our hearts—even the hidden recesses of the inner ear.

The new year has arrived with a lot to show us and a lot to tell us. Our job at Legacy Hearing Centre is to make sure you hear the new year loud and clear. But we can’t do that if we don’t know the state of your hearing. If it’s been a long time since your last hearing test, and especially if you’ve never had it tested at all, please make an appointment with us. With a simple conversation and a few easy, painless tests, we can determine if hearing loss is an issue for you.

It isn’t just the ability to take in sound that gets more difficult when hearing loss sets in; hearing loss can make it increasingly difficult for a person to socialize, as well. Embarrassment over the need to ask people to repeat things, and the amount of energy one has to expend in trying to understand conversations, can lead to an overwhelming sense of frustration. In the face of such frustration, it can be very easy for someone to simply give up on trying to interact with others.

Hearing loss is never more noticeable to a person than in a group setting. Whenever people are gathered together, there are a number of factors in play that create a “perfect storm” of hindrances to clear hearing.

If you’ve only just begun looking into hearing aids, you may be suffering from a bit of sticker shock just now. People who wear hearing aids already know they’re a significant investment, and they protect that investment with some very simple, but very important habits.

Does it get annoying having to take off your hearing aids anytime you want to put on your earbuds and enjoy some music? Of course it does. Well, here’s some great news. The age of wireless convenience has recognized an important fact: with hearing aids, you already have earbuds in position! There’s a whole new generation of Bluetooth-capable hearing aids out there that enable you to connect to the world around you quickly, conveniently, and with incredible sound quality.

All of us at Legacy Hearing hope your summer is going great and that you had a wonderful Canada Day. Since outdoor grilling season is still in full swing, we thought we’d share a delicious recipe that can also do good things for your hearing.

Everything in our bodies reacts in some way to the food that we take in; that includes the system that allows us to hear. Among the most important parts of your diet, when it comes to healthy hearing, are minerals. The following recipe is rich in Potassium, Zinc and Magnesium, which have all been connected to creating a healthy internal system to support your hearing health.

Summer is here. You’ve got your sunglasses, sunscreen, hat and plenty of water on hand to deal with the sun and heat. You’ve made sure the air conditioning is working at home and in the car. You’ve got plenty of charging cords to keep your smartphone up and running, so you can stay connected to family, friends and your favorite entertainment.

Happy Better Hearing Month!

You won’t find any “Hope You’re Hearing Better” greeting cards at your local card shop, but if you visit a clinic like Legacy Hearing Centre, you’ll find something a lot more important. Every year, during the month of May, those of us in the hearing health profession go all out to raise awareness of what it means to care for your hearing.

The human brain is an amazing thing. It can even make us think we’re hearing something when there’s nothing around to be heard. We’re not talking about hallucinations; we’re talking about something called “tinnitus.” You may know it as “ringing in the ears.”

As with so many things, the secret to supporting a loved one who has hearing loss is to be there, to live their hearing journey with them, understand the new way of life they’re adjusting to and look for ways to make that transition as easy as possible. Yes, that’s a fairly broad way to describe it, so we’ve put together some practical tips for you, as well!

The bad news about cigarettes just seems to keep coming. According to research, the same chemicals that make cigarettes bad for the rest of your body make them bad for your hearing as well.

You’ve probably seen old photographs or movies featuring people using “ear trumpets” in order to hear. Looking a bit more like saxophones than trumpets, those long, curved, conical tubes collected sound at the larger end, funneling it through to a concentrated point at the other end, where the sound entered the ear.

Well! Summer is in the rear-view mirror. You can stop being concerned about overly-loud lawnmowers hurting your hearing, trapped swimming pool water leading to ear infections and sweaty weather getting unwanted moisture into your hearing aids.

Here are some tips on how to prevent it.

Hearing loss isn’t just for “old people.” The ability to hear can be damaged at any age, so it’s never too early to start protecting a child’s hearing. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 34 million children  worldwide have a disabling level of hearing loss, with 60% of those cases being due to preventable causes.

Even given everything we know today about the dangers of cigarettes, 1 out of every 10 Canadians is still smoking. If a loved one of yours is among them, maybe this bit of news will help you convince them to stop: It’s not just their lungs that are at risk; the bad stuff in cigarette smoke is bad for their hearing, as well.

When we hear about diabetes, it’s common to think about nerve damage, especially the kind that affects the feet and legs. Many diabetics develop infections in their lower extremities but aren’t aware of their seriousness, due to the numbing of diabetic nerve damage.

As we see with alarming frequency in various news stories these days, particularly those involving suicide, depression is taking an awful toll on people. Even the wealthy and famous are no match for it.

The roots of hearing loss are many, so doctors and hearing health professionals take a lot of factors into account when treating it.

Hearing loss can range from mild to profound. This graph shows which sounds can or cannot be heard depending on the degree of hearing loss. For example, someone with a severe hearing loss can hear an airplane or a motorbike close-by (very loud, hence lower end of the graph). However, they will not be able to hear normal-level speech or birdsong. A bird’s tweet is a high-pitched tone, therefore it’s on the right of the graph; low-pitched tones are on the left.

Being able to hear is an important part of an active and enjoyable life. Normal hearing allows us to connect with the world around us, to have conversations with friends, enjoy TV and music, and hear warning signals such as fire alarms or approaching traffic.

Sound waves enter the ear canal and cause the eardrum and middle ear bones to vibrate. This sends an electrical signal from the inner ear, via the hearing nerve to the brain.

Varying volumes, pitches, and durations of sounds can harm your hearing in different ways. Loud, close noises such as a rocket launch, ambulance, or airplane can injure your hearing immediately, while a motorcycle may only cause hearing loss after one hour in close proximity. And, if you’ve left your alarm clock blaring continuously for 8 hours — you’re not only late for whatever you had to do today — you’ve also suffered some level of hearing loss. These are just some examples of how volume, pitch, and duration of sounds can affect your hearing health.

Hearing loss means more than simply not hearing well – people with hearing loss have reported a range of problems that have a negative effect on their lives or on the lives of people around them.

Conductive Hearing Loss

Conductive hearing loss occurs when there is an obstruction in the outer or middle ear, impeding the sound waves from passing through the auditory pathway. Ear wax, infections, fluid behind the eardrum, perforations of the eardrum and otosclerosis (a stiffening of the bones in the middle ear) are the most common types of conductive hearing loss. Most outer and middle ear problems can be effectively managed with medical intervention.

Typical warning signs of hearing loss include:

As you have seen, hearing loss can have a potentially devastating effect on life. However, most people wait for years before seeking help to correct hearing loss. Having a hearing test and getting a hearing aid fitted offers multiple benefits, such as: