by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. February 12, 2017 For decades I’ve wished that doctors, dentists and other health care professionals would wear clear, surgical masks so that I could speechread them. I know many of you with similar severe hearing losses feel the same. In the past, I’ve read about clear masks that had […]
Obstructive Sleep Apnea, CPAP Devices and Hearing Loss
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. February 11, 2017 A man wrote, I have sleep apnea and I use a CPAP machine every night. When I searched the Internet using Google to find out whether there is any link between sleep apnea and sensorineural hearing loss, I found many articles suggesting a link. I would […]
Hidden Hearing Loss
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. February 8, 2017 Perhaps you have heard the relatively-new term “hidden hearing loss” (coined in 2009) and wondered, “What in the world is hidden hearing loss?” After all, aren’t all hearing losses hidden? Since you can’t see a hearing loss, of course it’s hidden. So why are researchers finally […]
Why Don’t My New Hearing Aids Let Me Understand Speech Perfectly?
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. January 21, 2017 A man wrote, I am disappointed with my ability to understand speech with my new hearing aids. My hearing aid dispenser gave me the word recognition test. I scored only 50 – 60% which I don’t think is much of an improvement over my old aids. […]
Zinc-Air Batteries Need Time to Get Ready to Work
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. January 20, 2017 A nurse wrote, I am a nurse at a retirement home and was told by the daughter of one of my residents that her hearing aid batteries must be left out in the air for a few minutes after the tabs are removed before placing them […]
Hypoacusis and Other Words Ending in -acusis
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. January 12, 2017 Doctors, audiologists and other medical professionals use medical jargon that can snow under the average person. When it comes to our ears and our hearing, they may diagnosis us with terms like paracusis, or dysacusis or hypoacusis and we don’t have a clue what they have […]