Qualified & Experienced
Audiologist & Speech Pathologist

At the moment, some hearing losses can be treated by either drugs or surgery. Most people with hearing difficulties find that a hearing aid recommended by a Hearing Aid Audiologist will improve their hearing.

A hearing aid is an electronic, battery-operated device that amplifies sound. Each hearing aid contains a microphone that converts sound into electrical signals. The amplifier increases the loudness of individual frequencies and the speaker sends the sound to the ear.

The loss of the ear’s ‘fine-tuning’ causes many people to have difficulty when there is any kind of background noise such as the rumble of traffic or children playing in the same room. It is not deafness in the accepted sense, but a hearing aid could help improve your hearing. A hearing consultation with a Hearing Aid Audiologist would establish the extent of any hearing loss and they would be able to offer advice on the best hearing solution to meet your needs.

Old analogue types of hearing aid tend to suffer from whistling feedback and distorted noise. Some people who wear this type of aid find that they cannot hear conversations when there is any background noise. With a digital hearing aid, these problems are minimised and in some situations, solved together. Unlike an analogue aid a digital hearing aid contains a tiny computer which processes sound very precisely. This type of aid can continuously modify sound to match the user’s hearing profile, helping improve the ability to understand speech, even in background noise.

Hearing loss occurs to most people as they age. Hearing loss can be due to the aging process, exposure to loud noise, certain medications, infections, head or ear trauma, congenital (birth or prenatal) or hereditary factors, diseases, as well as a number of other causes. In the year 2001, there are some 28 million people in the USA with hearing loss. Hearing loss is the single most common birth “defect” in America. Hearing loss in adults, particularly in seniors, is common.

• You hear people speaking but you have to strain to understand their words.
• You frequently ask people to repeat what they said.
• You don’t laugh at jokes because you miss too much of the story or the punch line.
• You frequently complain that people mumble.
• You need to ask others about the details of a meeting you just attended.
• You play the TV or radio louder than your friends, spouse and relatives.
• You cannot hear the doorbell or the telephone.
• You find that looking at people when they speak to you makes it easier to understand.