Our Most Frequently Asked Questions

General Questions

Hearing alone does not mean that a spoken message was understood. The ability to understand an auditory signal depends on the brain’s ability to receive and interpret the message.

  • Let’s be honest, hearing aids are expensive. Also, most people with hearing loss will need two hearing aids. This high price can often be a barrier that prevents people from seeking necessary hearing healthcare. However, hearing aids need to be viewed as a valuable investment and long-term solution, rather than a costly purchase. These devices are worn during all waking hours, seven days a week.
  • A study by the Better Hearing Institute studied 40,000 households and found that untreated hearing loss reduced household income by an average of $12,000 per year, with as much as $30,000 a year. In the same study, they found hearing aids can reduce this effect by 50%, which makes hearing aids a valuable investment!
  • Studies have also linked untreated hearing loss to other health conditions and increased risk of falling. Overall, untreated hearing loss results in higher healthcare costs.
  1. A hearing evaluation includes a thorough case history of your hearing difficulties and a hearing test battery to assess all parts of the peripheral hearing system (outer, middle, and inner ear). Your hearing test results will be plotted on an audiogram, which is a graph of your hearing thresholds across a range of pitches. Your hearing thresholds provide your “hearing prescription”, meaning the hearing aids will be fit to your personal hearing test.
  2. During the hearing aid evaluation, the audiologist will review different hearing aid styles and hearing aid manufacturers. Most importantly, the audiologist will counsel you on realistic expectations of wearing hearing aids. Together with the audiologist, you will decide if you are a hearing aid candidate based on your reported hearing difficulties and type/degree of hearing loss. At this time, your hearing aids will be chosen.
  • Hearing aids cannot restore your hearing back to normal or “cure” your hearing loss. Additionally, they cannot stop the progression of hearing loss. However, there are many things that a hearing aid can do:
    • Hearing aids make soft sounds audible, normal conversation comfortable, and loud sounds loud but not uncomfortable.
    • Depending on the degree of hearing loss, hearing aids improve the ability to understand speech/conversations and to localize sounds in your environment.
  • Hearing aids can improve the ability to understand speech and conversations in noise.
  • Hearing aids can improve your overall quality of life.
  • It is important to recognize the amount of benefit derived from hearing aids will vary from person to person. The benefit will also depend on the amount of motivation you have to improve your hearing healthcare.

An audiologist is a healthcare professional that assesses, treats, and rehabilitates hearing, tinnitus, and balance disorders.

Two ears are always better than one. Wearing hearing aids on both ears decreases listening fatigue, improves the ability to localize sounds, and improves ability to understand speech in background noise.

Pediatric Questions

A hearing aid can help your child. Early language is developed through incidental learning, or “random learning” by picking up on conversational language structure. Additionally, consistent sound input is critical for a child to develop the brain pathways for hearing and speech & language development. If an audiologist recommends hearing aids for your child, it is so important that your child wear the hearing aids continuously and consistently for speech & language development.

When treating a child with hearing loss, there is no one-size-fits-all option. Both communication options and device options must be taken into consideration for your child’s future. Communication options include oral communication, manual communication (sign language), and total communication. Device options may include hearing aids, cochlear implants, bone anchored hearing aids, and hearing assistive technology. Audiologists, support groups, family members, and other healthcare professionals can all provide advice on the best option for your child. Once you have gathered all the necessary information, you will ultimately the best option is for your child—because you know them best!

The NIDCD reports about 2 to 3 out of 1,000 children in the United States are born with a detectable level of hearing loss in one or both ears. Hearing loss in children could be linked to several factors, both genetic and non-genetic. According to the Tennessee Department of Health, the following are risk factors for hearing loss in children:

  1. A prolonged NICU stay of greater than 5 days.
  2. Syndrome associated with progressive or late onset hearing loss and any associated physical findings.
  3. Family history of childhood hearing loss.
  4. Craniofacial anomalies.
  5. In-utero infections such as CMV, Herpes, Rubella, Syphilis, & Toxoplasmosis
  6. Condition at birth requiring use of ECMO
  7. Chemotherapy and other ototoxic medications or loop diuretics (ask your healthcare professional).
  8. Blood transfusions to treat bad jaundice (hyperbilirubinemia).
  9. Postnatal infection associated with hearing loss, such as sepsis or meningitis.

It is important to note that not every child with risk factors has hearing loss. If your child does have one or more of these risk factors, it is important to monitor your child’s hearing and have it tested every 6 months until speech and language has fully developed.

Hearing is critical to the development of oral speech & language. The earlier the hearing loss is identified and intervention begins, the less your child’s oral language and communication skills will be affected.

Genetic testing can be performed to determine this likelihood. If testing does conclude the hearing loss is genetic, specialists can determine the probability your other children will experience hearing loss.