INTRODUCTION TO AUDIOLOGY (SPHS 1100) WEEK 6 POWER POINT TOPICS  TREATMENT OF CONDUCTIVE HEARING LOSS  TREATMENT OF SENSORINEURAL HEARING LOSS  TECHNOLOGY FOR HEARING IMPAIRED

GOALS and OBJECTIVES GOAL Students will learn about different treatment options available for hearing impaired persons. OBJECTIVES  TLW identify different treatment options based on type of hearing loss. (cognitive)  TLW identify different technology options which can be used with hearing impaired people.( cognitive)

TREATMENT OF CONDUCTIVE HEARING LOSS  Conductive hearing loss due to otitis media can be treated with a course of antibiotics.  Patients with serious otitis media can benefit from myringotomy and removal of fluid in the middle ear.  Hearing loss that results from obstruction of the auditory canal because of foreign body can be treated by removing obstruction.  If the hearing loss continues, person might be benefited with hearing aid.  Speech therapy is rarely necessary.

TREATMENT OF SENSORINEURAL HEARING LOSS  Hearing loss cannot be medically treated.  In mild to moderate hearing loss, amplification with hearing aids and speech therapy might be beneficial.  Severe to profound hearing loss children might be benefited with cochlear implants.

TECHNOLOGY FOR HEARING IMPAIRED Technology does not cure hearing loss but it might help a person with hearing loss to make the most use of their residual hearing. There are many options such as  Hearing aids  Cochlear implants  Bone-conduction hearing aids  Other Assistive devices

HEARING AIDS The purpose of a hearing aid for most people is to increase speech intelligibility by making as much of the speech spectrum as possible audible without making it so loud that it becomes uncomfortable. They can be worn by people of any age. There are different styles of hearing aids such as  Body hearing aids.  Behind-the ear hearing aids.  Eyeglass hearing aids.  In-the-ear hearing aids.  In-the-canal hearing aids.  Completely In-the-Canal hearing aids.

TYPES OF HEARING AIDS BODY HEARING AIDS

TYPES OF HEARING AIDS BODY HEARING AIDS  Body-type hearing aids are rarely used today, for patients with profound hearing loss.  It contains the microphone, amplifier, circuit modifiers, and battery compartment within a case that will be clipped to the wearer’s clothing or worn in a pocket or special pouch.  Electrical signals are carried to a receiver by a cord which is coupled to the patient’s ear through a custom-fitted earmold.

TYPES OF HEARING AIDS BODY HEARING AIDS  Body hearing aids can be worn clipped on to clothing, in a shirt pocket or in a special harness that can be worn over or under clothing.  The microphone, amplifier, battery and controls are located within the case of body aid and the receiver is snapped into a receiver-type earmold and worn at ear level.  A wire connects the receiver to the case of the hearing aid.  Body aids provide considerably more gain and a broader frequency response than other styles of hearing aids.  They might be helpful for people with visual or dexterity problems.  A disadvantage of body hearing aids is microphone location as microphone is worn on the body, it is subject to clothing noise.

TYPES OF HEARING AIDS BEHIND-THE EAR HEARING AIDS

TYPES OF HEARING AIDS BEHIND-THE EAR HEARING AIDS  In BTE hearing aids the microphone, amplifier, battery, and receiver are all contained in a small plastic case that fits on top of and behind the pinna.  Sound is delivered to the ear through a tube connected to an earmold.  They are highly adjustable, rugged and easily serviced.  They are appropriate for any degree of hearing loss and for any age of client.  They are less cosmetically appealing than in the canal and in the ear hearing aids.

TYPES OF HEARING AIDS EYEGLASS HEARING AIDS

TYPES OF HEARING AIDS EYEGLASS HEARING AIDS  In Eyeglass hearing aids the microphone, amplifier, receiver, batteries and controls are located within hollowed-out bows of eyeglass frames.  The sound is delivered to the ear through a tube from the frame to an earmold.  They were popular in the 1960s for cosmetic reasons.  They are convenient for people who wore both glasses and a hearing aid.

TYPES OF HEARING AIDS IN-THE-EAR HEARING AIDS

TYPES OF HEARING AIDS IN-THE-EAR HEARING AIDS  All of the components of hearing aid such as microphone, amplifier and battery are located in a small plastic case made from an impression of the wearer’s concha and ear canal.  The ITE hearing aid is currently the most popular style in market.  The popularity of it is due to its perceived cosmetic appeal.  People with mild to moderate hearing losses are candidates for this type.  People with profound hearing loss wont be able to use this type because of feedback limit.

TYPES OF HEARING AIDS IN-THE-CANAL HEARING AIDS

TYPES OF HEARING AIDS IN-THE-CANAL HEARING AIDS  These hearing aids are the smallest and most cosmetically appealing of all of the hearing aid styles.  The microphone, amplifier, receiver and battery are fit within a small plastic case made from an impression of the user’s ear canal.  Only moderate amounts of gain can be obtained from ITC hearing aids because of limitations imposed by feedback.  They tend to occlude the earcanal, which results in an unnatural sound quality.  The best candidates are people with mild to moderate, flat, or gently sloping hearing losses.

TYPES OF HEARING AIDS COMPLETELY-IN-THE-CANAL HEARING AIDS

TYPES OF HEARING AIDS COMPLETELY-IN-THE-CANAL HEARING AIDS  The smallest instrument among all the hearing aids is the completely-in-the-can hearing aid.  It is deeply inserted in ears in the external auditory canal.  They are designed for mild or moderate hearing losses.  Some of the benefits of these hearing aids are cosmetic appeal, easy use with telephones, lessening of wind-noise problems, increase of the usable gain of the instrument, as the amplified sound is closer to the tympanic membrane.  Some of the disadvantages are they are expensive and manual dexterity required to change the small batteries.

COCHLEAR IMPLANTS

 Watch the following video on how the cochlear implant works by People Productions.

COCHLEAR IMPLANTS  Some people with profound hearing losses receive little benefit from conventional hearing aids because current hearing aid technology does not amplify sound sufficiently to make speech and environmental sounds audible. These people are candidates for receiving cochlear implants.  They are designed to make auditory information audible by converting sounds to electrical signals that stimulate the fibers of the acoustic nerve.  It consists of a microphone, an external digital processor, an internal receiver that is surgically placed under the skin behind the ear, and a set of small electrodes implanted in the cochlea.  The microphone picks up the sounds and converts them in to electrical signals, and a cord carries the electrical signals to the digital processor.  The digital processor extracts selected information from the signals and converts that information into a series of pulses that are carried by another cord to the internal receiver and finally to the electrodes in cochlea.

COCHLEAR IMPLANTS  Children with profound hearing loss will be selected for cochlear implants.  The age range is 18 to 24 months of age.  Active family support is the most important key to the successful habilitation of children with a cochlear implant.  Universal new born hearing screening will help in identifying the potential candidates for cochlear implants.  If the children are implanted before 2 years of age the success rate is high.

BONE-CONDUCTION HEARING AIDS

 Bone conduction hearing aids may be suitable for person unable to wear conventional hearing aids.  This can be considered when a child has either a conductive, mixed or unilateral hearing loss.  They incorporate a special headband to deliver sound through the skull by vibrations.  They can be used with patients who has recurrent ear drainage or hearing loss resulting from congenital anomalies.  The transducer is a vibrating receiver that is pressed firmly against the mastoid process.

BONE-CONDUCTION HEARING AIDS  The transducer can be built within an eyeglass hearing aid or a post-auricular instrument worn with a headband, or coupled to a body-style hearing instrument.  As the skull stimulates both cochlea from a single bone-conduction instrument, true binaural hearing, arising from timing and intensity differences of sounds reaching the two ears, is not attainable.