Hearing problems are very common among the elderly, The causes of senile hearing loss are various. At present, there is a relatively consistent view that it is related to the natural aging of the auditory system, the gradual accumulation of noise exposure, genetic factors, etc. The elderly not only show that they cannot hear some sounds, It is also manifested in the inability to understand each other’s words, which is even more prominent in the environment where children and grandchildren gather together and laugh. So does it mean that people are old and can’t hear, forget it? Or is it clear that your ears do not listen? Many studies have suggested that the elderly with hearing loss, As it becomes more difficult to communicate with peers and younger generation in daily life, social communication ability decreases. Loneliness increases, self-recognition decreases, and one always feels that one is old and useless, eventually leading to a decline in quality of life. Therefore, one cannot let inability to hear become a habit. Hearing aids can do what for the elderly with hearing impairment? Hearing aids are amplification tools, It can make the soft voice (low voice) louder, help the hearing impaired elderly to regain some of the lost sounds, help them communicate and rebuild self-confidence. Moreover, many reports on the use of hearing aids in the elderly and quality of life research show that hearing aids can play a positive role. What types of hearing aids are there? The following figure shows the hearing aids of the back of the ear type, the inside of the ear type, the ear canal type and the complete ear canal type respectively. This is the classification of hearing aids in appearance. From the signal processing mode, it can be divided into analog hearing aids and digital hearing aids. At present, commercial hearing aids generally adopt digital signal processing. How to preliminarily judge whether the elderly need hearing aids or not. Telephone is used more frequently to communicate with their parents. If you find that they are not answering the question during the call, or often ask you to repeat what you are saying; In the case of face-to-face communication, There may be face-to-face communication, but calling them behind their backs is often slower than before. If the above situation occurs, you can consider taking your parents to the local otolaryngology department or hearing center for hearing testing. After confirming the existence of senile hearing loss, actively fitting hearing aids is a positive treatment. How to choose hearing aids for the elderly? The price range of hearing aids is wide, From millions to tens of thousands. Brands are imported, There are domestic ones. From the aspect of sound processing, There are several key points to be grasped. As the old man could not hear part of the sound, There is also a problem of incomprehension. This requires increasing the clarity of the signal as much as possible. In addition to choosing technologies that are slow to respond to sound changes (slow compression), Try to choose hearing aids with directional microphones and noise reduction functions. As for the appearance of hearing aids, According to the requirements of the elderly, Flexibility of hand movement to choose, Compared with the back-of-the-ear hearing aid, Ear-type and ear-canal hearing aids are more commonly selected. Of course, the most important one is, Before selection, Be sure to audition more, try on hearing aids, Compare the sound quality of different hearing aids for the elderly. Whether they can get used to wearing them. Reasonable expectation is the key to success in selecting and matching hearing aids. Consultation provided by audiologists is the key to the success of wearing hearing aids for the elderly. Hearing aids are used as auxiliary electronic products. Its ability to process sound is not up to the function of the normal auditory system. Therefore, It cannot be taken for granted that wearing a hearing aid can achieve the same listening and communication skills (especially in noisy environment) as normal hearing people or when they are young. It is very important for the elderly to understand the effect that hearing aids can achieve and to establish reasonable expectations for the selection of hearing aids and later use of hearing aids.
