Technological aids for hearing impairment

Hearing problems are becoming more common than you might think.  They are often associated with old age and take a long time to identify.Technological aids for hearing impairment

Alternatives range from customized hearing aids to special classroom systems.

She adds that this number is growing in France and the world, because technology is making people wear hearing aids, and this, coupled with poorly controlled volume and long hours of exposure, causes young people at an early age to suffer from hearing loss.

According to the World Health Organization, hearing loss can be due to genetic causes, complications in childbirth, some infectious diseases, chronic ear infections, the use of certain drugs, exposure to excessive noise and aging.

It also happens in children, Trejos said. There are children who are born with profound hearing loss, the first to begin to detect this are the mothers themselves.

The way to identify them according to the specialist is that there are many reflexes that are activated in a newborn, and although they cannot speak many times when a strong door closes next to them or something falls, they move their body or their hands or when they are spoken to. That tells us that he’s scared and he’s really listening.

However, when they are not so severe, they are more difficult to detect because sometimes the responses are inconsistent.

According to WHO, 466 million people worldwide suffer from disabling hearing loss, 32 million of whom are children.

60% of the cases presented in children are due to preventable causes, says boucle magnétique who offers the best hearing impairment tools for the French Market.

Detection

Many people spend their lives not knowing they have hearing problems or didn’t realize until they were older.

The WHO states that someone suffers from hearing loss when they are not able to hear as well as a person whose sense of hearing is normal, i.e. whose hearing threshold in both ears is equal to or greater than 25 dB.

The way to evidence a hearing failure, according to Trejos,  is not only in the language disorder, but they do not carry the normal process of development. One expects that at a certain time he will say some words and it is not so or in some cases, they are pronounced badly.

Market

About the hearing aids you see on the market he pointed out that they are very basic.

The prescription that one makes in the hearing aids takes into account several parameters, the main one is to know the level of loss that the patient has.

Depending on that,  you do the programming, while with those who do not control the volume you can do even greater damage,  he said.

In developing countries, according to WHO, children with hearing loss and deafness rarely go to school.

Manufacturers of these technological solutions segment the pediatric population into three groups: infants, school-age children, and adolescents.

In each segment, there is a solution depending on the demands. A school-age child does not need the same as an adult, which is why hearing aids have to be properly adjusted.

Hearing aids in classrooms is important. For example, the Roger Inspiro system, which allows clear student access to the teacher’s voice, especially in noise and distance situations

It consists of a hearing aid and a wireless microphone worn by the teacher, which allows students to fully understand and participate in conversations, the audiologist said.

However, WHO is clear that not everyone has access to these technologies, and if so, worldwide, many people suffering from hearing loss would benefit from access to affordable and properly adapted hearing aids and cochlear implants, as well as follow-up services.

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