A "bit" on hearing loss and such

I haven't made a post in quite awhile. My versatas are great...took me a bit to get used to wearing both hearing aids, but it hasn't been too bad. My voice sounded a bit weird tho..

Anyways I wanted to make a post about hearing loss and good bits of info so here it is:)

The anatomy of the hearing system can be divided into four components for our convenience in remembering the parts and associating these parts with their function. These divisions are the:
1. outer ear:The outer ear is made up of the pinna or auricle and the external auditory canal. The pinna collects and funnels sound down the ear canal. The ear canal is curved, “S” shaped, and about 1 inch long in adults. It has hairs and glands that produce wax called cerumen. Cerumen helps to lubricate the skin and keep it moist.

2. middle ear:The eardrum (tympanic membrane) is a membrane at the inner end of the ear canal. On that inner side of the tympanic membrane is an air-filled space called the middle ear cavity. The vibrations of the tympanic membrane are transmitted through the malleus (hammer) incus (anvil) and stapes (stirrup), also called the ossicles. The stapes footplate transmits the vibrations into the inner ear.

3. inner ear:The inner ear has two divisions: one for hearing, the other for balance. The hearing division consists of the cochlea and the nerve of hearing. The cochlea is snail-shaped, bony structure that contains the sensory organ for hearing called the organ of Corti. The organ of Corti releases chemical messengers when the vibrations from the stapes activate its tiny hair cells. These then excite the nerves of hearing which carry sound to the brain.

4. central auditory pathways:The central auditory system is a complex network of neural pathways in the brain that is responsible for sound localization, speech understanding in noisy listening situations and other complex sounds, including music perception.

Types of hearing loss-

CONDUCTIVE HEARING LOSS
Conductive hearing loss is caused by any condition or disease that blocks or impedes the conveyance of sound through the middle ear. The result is a reduction in the sound intensity (loudness) that reaches the cochlea. Generally, the cause of conductive hearing loss can be treated with a complete or partial improvement in hearing.

SENSORINEURAL HEARING LOSS
Sensorineural hearing loss results from inner ear or auditory nerve dysfunction. Often, the cause cannot be determined. It is typically irreversible and permanent. It, too, reduces the intensity of sound, but it might also result in a lack of clarity even when sounds, particularly speech, are loud enough. The treatment for sensorineural hearing loss is amplification through hearing aids.

MIXED HEARING LOSS
A mixed hearing loss is a combination of a conductive and a sensorineural hearing loss. Hearing aids can be beneficial for persons with a mixed hearing loss, but caution should be exercised.

CAUSES OF HEARING LOSS
The main causes of hearing loss are as follows:
Excessive noise (i.e. construction, rock music, gun shot, etc)
Aging (presbycusis)
Infections (otitis media)
Injury to the head or ear
Birth defects or genetics
Ototoxic reaction to drugs or cancer treatment (i.e. antibiotics, chemotherapy, radiation)

>>>Hearing loss simulator<<<

Tinnitus-
Tinnitus is the perception of a sound that has no external source. Some of the more common sounds reported are ringing, humming, buzzing, and cricket-like. It can be constant or intermittent and is heard in one ear, both ears or in the head. Tinnitus can originate in the middle ear (behind the eardrum) or in the sensorineural auditory system.
THE MOST COMMON CAUSES ARE:
Noise exposure (e.g. from shooting or machines at work)
A natural part of the aging process
Head injury (e.g. from a car accident or fall)
As a side effect of medications (e.g. aspirin)

Info from better hearing institute..

So far so good

So far I love my ONE versata that I have...I will be getting the other one on January 5th. I am still getting used to the automatic program as I am not used to the programs sort of changing by it self. I have had many compliments on the color of my new ha's. I am still nervous about getting the 2nd ha as I was not even used to it when I tried it on for like 20 min in my audi's office, but ah well. It works really well with compressing the not so pleasant sounds...aka my mom yelling for no reason and lil cousins screaming on christmas.

Happy New Years and late Merry Christmas!

they are heree!

Sooo i got my new hearing aids today!! well one today and the other next week since my dad didn't send me money for the first payment. So they gave me the right to wear for now but we programmed both hearing aids and guess what I got the MyPilot too! I didn't even know that the mypilot was worked into the price! So when she told me I was excited, but I hadn't really wanted it because I thought it was an extra few hundred but it was worked into the already good price that I am paying for the left hearing aid since my right was free by phonak. So, we did the real ear measurement first without the ha's on and then with the ha's. My audi was like omg you have such tiny ear canals!!! Lol...I was like ya....I get that a lot...lol Then we started putting the programs on and she set up my programs and I have my automatic program, calm, speech in noise, comfort in noise, music, and fm is with the automatic as well as auto telephone. With my new hearing aids I also got from phonak, a kit with a de-humidifier, lubricant (which i prolly won't use), a battery tester and spray. I also got a battery case, and a phonak case for my hearing aids and mypilot, a iPod sort of case for the myPilot, 2 cases one for each ha, a lil phonak pouch that looks like a change purse i guess for the ha's and I think that's it.

The sound so far is awesome! Not use to the automatic program but I like it. The left did sound weird at first tho but she said i should get used to that.

A sunday...

So, it is snowing out at the moment. I wouldn't mind the snow if it didn't come with very cold weather...and it is VERY windy out. I hate the wind...it always is too loud on my ha when i go outside. My new versatas that I am getting have windblock. Hopefully that will help the problem of all that wind that the mic picks up. I went to the audi to drop of my integrated receiver for my right ha. Phonak is going to re-case it to silver so that it matches my other new one and my new pure translucent versatas:) I also moved my appt to 3 p.m. on the 23rd instead of 1 so that I can just leave work early instead of going back to work and rushing the appt. They said approx. an hour, but they want to do a quick audiogram and real ear measurement for the new hearing aids.

I also talked to the other audi, the guy, ron and he was like how come u didn't want me as an audi! lol I told him i'd rather a girl since I can understand girls better... (my loss is a lower db loss). Anyways he asked what I was taking in school so I told him I'm at college for a law clerk program and then next year I am going into linguistics and then taking either Audiology or Speech Language Pathology. He was like "AUDIOLOGY!!!"..lol I was like ya probably, and then he asked if I would like to go to U of Ottawa cuz he can get me in since he is head of the Dept. there. The only problem is that U of O is a predominant french school although english is offered as well...alot of french ppl go there and currently the SLP and Aud masters programs are ONLY offered in french! Which is really stupid in my opinion as in Canada we speach ENGLISH and french....and considering University of Ottawa is in ONTARIO and our first language here is english I find it stupid that they do not offer it in english and I don't really want to go away for school...at least not yet. Anywho when I finish my undergrad or am part way done I will figure out where I want to go...i'll tell him to pitch to the school that it should be offered in English instead of just french! I also told him I'm going to minor in ASL but that I do know Italian and Spanish, if that helps haha...he was like wow u are an over acheiver like Melanie (my audi). Well at least we have some things in common :p

My new audi

OMG So my new audi is amazingggggg she is absolutely great! When I went in i was expecting to meet her and talk about stuff and when I left I orderd a new pair of hearing aids the new phonak versatas! I ordered the pure translucent "color" and I should be getting them in 3 weeks! We set an appt for Dec 23rd:) I am sooo excited! She also made an ear impression for my left earmold:) woot...I don`t like the feeling tho..blech it just feels so weird..but what can u do! I am excited for my new ha`s. Also my school is paying for my new receiver for the new ha too:) Anyways I will add more updates but I need a nap now today has been so exciting and tiring at the same time:)
Cheers!

Tomorrow

So, I think I mentioned I have an appt with the new audi on December 11th...well they called today and it turns out that they had to re-schedule my appt. She wanted to re-sched for an earlier time on the same day but I have an exam, so that won't work. So, now I have the appt tomorrow at 10:30:)
I'll let you all know how it goes!! :)

Updates...

Hey!

So, I know I haven't posted in a while. I have been busy with boyfriend/now ex, school, work, and cheerleading.

So, I have definitely been having some trouble with my audi. I don't like him, he just doesn't seem efficient and he doesn' explain ANYTHING. I got my left ear re-tested and he also tried something new with competing noises in the background while doing a sentence test, which I did NOT do well on at all. My speech discrimination has gone down as well as my left ear which got re-rested to make sure. So, I went audi "shopping" and I *think* I may have found one. The only reason why I was maybe going to stay with my current audi, that I don't like, was because I could traid in my UNA with them and get better ha's. I went to this place called Advanced Hearing Aid Clinic and the secretaries were SO nice! One of them that helped me the most and booked my appt asked for my ha and said she would call phonak herself to see if they could still trade up for me, she took my ha to write down the serial # on my ha and she actually waited til she gave it back to me to talk to me. The people at my audi office are not that considerate! She called me back around noon the next day and told me that phonak said they are willing to do a FULL refund - the earmold for my current UNA phonak hearing aid and trade up to another phonak aid. I was really looking into the exelias! I'm so excited!

On the hearing front...it was an OK weekend...I turned my ha off a lot this weekend because I was at a cheerleading competition. I did wear it for my 2nd run thru performance but it fell off my ear when I tumbled, which sucked. So, I need to figure out a way for it not to fall off...hmm i dunno. I also dropped alcohol on my ha this weekend by accident! I freaked out! I dried it off tho took the battery out and then after i was sure it was dry i turned it on and it beeped and worked! Thank god! Anywho that's enough babbling from me! I'm so tired from all the driving! Goodnight!