Deeply understand the signs of hearing loss
Hearing loss may occur gradually and is easy to be ignored. Be alert to the following signs:
“Invisible troubles” in daily life
Loss of high-frequency sounds: Cannot hear birdsong, doorbells, phone rings, or can not distinguish consonants such as “s”, “x”, “f” (such as confusion between “four” and “ten”).
Difficulty understanding conversations: During family dinners or meetings, you can only hear someone talking but cannot hear the content clearly, which is often mistaken for “distracted”.
Over-reliance on visual clues: Observe the other person’s mouth shape or expression to assist in understanding the conversation.
Chain reaction between body and mind
Worsening tinnitus: Hearing loss may be accompanied by persistent tinnitus (such as cicadas, electric current sound), especially in a quiet environment.
Social withdrawal: Reduce friends’ gatherings due to poor hearing, and even develop depression tendencies.
Fatigue: The brain needs to consume more energy to “fill” the missing sound information, resulting in decreased attention and fatigue.
Abnormal performance in special scenarios
Disoriented: Unable to judge the direction of the car, increasing the risk when crossing the road.
Poor environmental adaptability: When entering a noisy place from a quiet environment (such as a shopping mall), hearing “switches” slowly, and conversations are more difficult to capture.
Detailed process of self-testing and professional diagnosis
Home self-testing method (preliminary screening)
“Six-meter test”: In a quiet room, let family members stand 6 meters away and speak softly (such as reading numbers) to observe whether they can hear clearly.
Mobile phone application assistance: Use professional hearing test APP (such as “HearWHO” and “Resound Smart 3D”), which needs to be used with headphones.
Daily record form: Record the number of times and scenes in which you can’t hear the conversation clearly within a week to help doctors determine the hearing loss pattern.
Core items of medical examination
Otoscopic examination: Exclude reversible problems such as earwax embolism, tympanic membrane damage or middle ear effusion.
Pure tone audiometry (key indicators):
Mild loss (26-40 decibels): It is difficult to hear whispers or rain.
Moderate loss (41-60 dB): Normal conversations require increased volume.
Severe loss (61-80 dB): Only loud shouts can be heard clearly.
Extremely severe (above 80 dB): Cochlear implants may need to be considered.
Speech recognition rate test: If the recognition rate is less than 70%, the effect of the hearing aid may be limited and rehabilitation training is required.
Advanced guide to hearing aid selection (subdivided by technology type and applicable scenarios)
1. Digital behind-the-ear hearing aid (BTE)
Applicable people: patients with moderate to severe hearing loss, children, those with narrow ear canals or those prone to inflammation.
Technical features:
Advantages: Strong power, can adapt to a variety of hearing curves; durable body design, suitable for children’s daily activities or frequent sweating; large battery capacity, long battery life.
Limitations: The back of the auricle is obviously exposed, which may affect the appearance; it is easy to produce friction sounds when wearing glasses or masks.
Typical scenarios:
Children need to wear them all day at school, and they need to be drop-proof and waterproof.
Construction workers, drivers and other occupations need high noise reduction performance to cope with noisy environments.
2. Receiver-in-the-canal hearing aids (RIC)
Applicable people: people with mild to moderate hearing loss, professionals, and users who value concealment.
Technical features:
Advantages: The receiver is placed in the ear canal, and the body is smaller and more concealed; the sound quality is natural, and the high-frequency compensation ability is strong; it supports Bluetooth direct connection to mobile phones or computers, which is convenient for conference calls.
Limitations: Ear canal secretions may block the receiver and need to be cleaned regularly; humid environments can easily affect the life of the receiver.
Typical scenarios:
Business negotiations require clear capture of conversation details while maintaining a professional image.
Social activities in moderately noisy environments such as cafes and airports.
3. Completely in-the-canal hearing aids (CIC)
Applicable people: people with mild hearing loss and people who have high requirements for appearance.
Technical features:
Advantages: Completely hidden in the ear canal, almost invisible to the naked eye; comfortable to wear, suitable for use during exercise.
Limitations: The battery is small and the battery life is only 3-5 days; there is no directional microphone and the noise reduction ability is weak in complex environments.
Typical scenarios:
Complete invisibility is required when hosting events and shooting videos.
Slightly sweating scenarios such as gyms and running.
Post time: Mar-26-2025