Hearing Resources

This page contains some helpful information for anyone that has experienced hearing loss.

Signs of Hearing Loss

  • The family complains the TV or radio is too loud.
  • People seem to mumble when they speak.
  • You can hear people speaking, but can't quite understand what they are saying.
  • You ask people to repeat what they say more often.
  • You have a hard time understanding conversation in a group or at a party.
  • You have ringing or roaring in your ears.
  • It is hard to hear on the telephone.

Ten Commandments For Living With A Person Who Is Hard Of Hearing

  1. Be Patient Remember that a person who is beginning to suffer hearing loss is like a child beginning to talk, listen, and understand. All conditions of communication are changing.
  2. Accept Reality It changes both of your lives and introduces new elements in your relationship. It isn't going to go away. Reconcile yourself to the fact of your spouse's loss as you would to the loss of a child's arm. It doesn't change your spouse, the one you have learned to live with.
  3. Speak Slowly Consider what it's like for you when you listen to a newscaster on television who rushes through lines, especially when statistics are being quoted.
  4. Don't Shout It doesn't help, and may give the impression that you are angry. Learn to speak distinctly. Careful enunciation is a useful habit to cultivate anyway.
  5. You May Recall the Famous Line In A Broadway Play "You Know I Can't Hear When The Water's Running." Adapt it to include, while the television is on, when the washing machine or the dishwasher is running, or when someone in the room is carrying on an animated conversation on the telephone. People with hearing loss find it hard to block out sounds while they are straining to hear your words.
  6. Don't Talk With Your Back To People With Hearing Loss Even if they can't read your lips accurately when you face them, they will get a better sense of what you are saying.
  7. Don't Start Walking away While You Are Still Talking Your words will come out as "I'm going to see if ..." Frustrating, isn't it!
  8. Agree on a Signal That You Can Use In Company When Your Hard of Hearing Spouse Is Talking Too Loud People with hearing loss often cannot hear their own voices well enough to judge their loudness.
  9. Have a Heart Hearing loss is worse for the afflicted person than for anyone else. Consider that you may also have to learn to live with own hearing loss someday. That's one of the prices we pay in this century for living beyond the biblical three score and ten.
  10. Don't Show Annoyance Because You Must Repeat Or Because The Hard Of Hearing Person Seems To Have Forgotten Something Said A Few Moments Ago. He or she probably did not hear you the first time.

How Sound Travels

  • Sound waves are picked up by the outer ear "Pinna"
  • Sound is channeled to the eardrum, which vibrates when the sound waves touch it.
  • The vibrations are picked up by three tiny little bones known as the Hammer, Anvil and the Stirrup, which create a bridge from the eardrum to the inner ear.
  • The vibrations move on to the cochlea - a spiral shaped capsule housing a system of liquid filled tubes.
  • When the sound waves reach the liquid it begins to move, setting thousands of tiny hair cells in motion.
  • The movements of the hair cells are transformed into electric impulses that travel along the auditory nerve to the brain itself.
  • The brain decodes and interprets the electric impulses, turning a stream of speech sounds into separate, recognizable words.

Please feel free to contact Advantage Hearing Centers for more information at: 605.275.9700 or Toll-Free at 866.428.9701.