Hearing Difficulty (HD)

Testing Your Knowledge of Auditory Disorders

Do you remember your days back in graduate school learning about different auditory disorders? Do you want to refresh your knowledge on otitis externa? Are you curious how general practitioners in the United Kingdom make the diagnosis and manage such cases? If so, you may want to check out a brief article by Barry et al (2021).

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New Study Examines How Face Masks Affect Speech Recognition in Background Noise

Researchers at Villanova University found that in low levels of background noise (for the purposes of recognizing spoken sentences immediately after presentation), face masks have a small effect related to speech production without a mask, and some masks have no effect. In high levels of background noise, the effects of different mask types become more apparent.

Homemade cloth masks and N95 respirators had the largest impact on speech recognition while surgical masks had no effect.

Reference

The Masking Dilemma

In recognition of World Hearing Day, March 3, the Academy’s Health-Care Relations Committee wants to share some helpful information and tips to manage wearing a mask and communicating with patients.

By Katharine A. Williams, Rebecca Henning, Jessica Spratt Novak, Margaret Kettler, Brittany Kyzer, and Emily Venskytis

JAAA Table of Contents (November/December 2019)

Vol. 30, No. 10 (November/December 2019) of the Journal of the American Academy of Audiology (JAAA) is now available online.

Holiday Advice for Those with Hearing Loss

The holidays bring together families around the country, young and old alike look forward to these special shared moments. For those with hearing loss, the holidays can be overwhelming. Difficulty following conversations can lead to frustration and stress for both the individual with hearing loss and family.

Here are some simple tips for making the holidays a sound occasion.

Hearing Protection Use Among Adults

During 2011-2012, 21 million U.S. adults who reported no work related no exposure exhibited hearing damage suggestive of noise induced hearing loss and implicated non-occupational noise exposure as a major public health concern (Carroll et al, 2017).

Examining Motivation for Hearing Health Care in those with Self-Reported Hearing Problems and Hearing Thresholds within Normal Limits

At one point or another, you've likely seen a patient in your clinical practice who has reported substantial hearing difficulties but whose traditional audiometric test results are essentially within normal limits. When considering next steps and/or rehabilitation options for these individuals, have you been curious how motivated such individuals are for hearing health-care services? Is it any different than your patients who have had a measurable pure-tone hearing loss?

Can You Hear Me Now?

Hearing difficulty (HD) and tinnitus in the presence of normal audiometric thresholds represent a clinical challenge. So-called, hidden hearing loss (HHL) has captured significant interest from clinicians and researchers in attempts to understand factors that contribute to this phenomenon. Etiologies ranging from cochlear synaptopathy to central auditory processing deficits have been suggested. Most audiologists have come across these patients with complaints of hearing problems (particularly in noise) but normal hearing.