The Miracle Of Hearing Aids
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A hearing aid is in actually a pretty simple device. But when you think of the huge impact it has on the lives of those that benefit from this technology, it could be considered a major medical miracle for thousands if not millions of people who suffer hearing loss.
For those who have never lost their hearing, that sense of isolation as more and more you cannot understand what others are saying can be really devastating. We take so much of what we hear for granted. Little things like being able to hear your favorite TV show and enjoy the jokes or being able to hear a baby laugh or listen to your favorite music are wonderful parts of life. Hearing is one of the greatest joys of life and to lose that can diminish the quality of life for people in ways that is hard to appreciate it until you go through it.
What is tragic is that so many have some degree of hearing loss and never do anything about it. The reason that this is tragic is that hearing amplification technology is well understood, easily accessible and affordable. In fact, many health insurance programs will pay part or all of the costs of getting a hearing aid if the hearing loss can be verified. And yet many people whose hearing is diminished but not gone just struggle along either because they don’t want to deal with the clumsiness of having a hearing aid in their ear or they are too proud to admit that they are having a problem.
Part of the reason for such hesitancy about getting help with hearing comes from a lack of understanding about hearing devices. Many have a picture of someone with a large hearing machine attached to their ear that everyone can see so well, they can see the amplification dials. This image comes from the days when the hearing devices people used were so large that it was the first thing you noticed when you met someone. And when you met someone with a hearing aid like that, you naturally had the urge to shout to make yourself understood. This is particularly silly when the entire purpose of the hearing aid is to keep others from having to shout at you.
Modern hearing devices have moved away from those days of big clumsy boxes attached to the ear. Many modern amplification systems are very small due to the wonders of the digital age and they fit entirely in the ear. Unless you notice the little dot deep in the ear, most people would never know you had on a device to help you hear. In fact, there have been breakthroughs to correct certain types of hearing loss in which the device is implanted deep in the ear through surgery which means no taking the unit out and putting it in again, no fuss about caring for it and nobody needs to know you have one in at all.
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This technology is only likely to continue to become more sophisticated as technology continues to advance. And as that happens, there will really be no excuse for anyone to not be able to hear if they want to. And to eliminate hearing loss entirely would truly be a miracle.
