Author: strauch

As we move along into the lazy days of summer, there are a few tips to keep your hearing healthy.  During these fun months there is a natural increase in loud noise exposure that can hurt or damage our hearing.  Fireworks, concerts, driving with the windows down and cranking the radio volume, visiting theme parks with loud attractions, using chain saws, riding motorcycles, are just some of events that can raise the decibel level (the measure in which loudness is measured).  If silence is measured at 0dB, and any sound over 85dB is dangerous, understanding a firecracker can produce sounds starting at 125 dB, we can start to assume that the risk of hearing damage at this range can be irreversible.  Every year people experience some type of hearing loss as a direct result of fireworks.
What’s happening is the noise is overloading the tiny hair cells that are all ready vibrating.  This is causing them to become damaged or die and you quickly develop sensorineural hearing loss and most common tinnitus.  Please visit our site about for more information on tinnitus.
Some of the warning signs of exposure is pain in your ears after exposure to the loud noise, ringing or buzzing immediately after the exposure, difficulty in understanding people around you even though you can hear them.  These warning signs then can lead to constant buzzing, ringing, and crackling, humming which can become bothersome and change your quality of life.
Although fireworks and all the fun sounds of summer are very exciting at the moment you’re in it, remember it can be dangerous to your ears.  Take precautions, stop at the local pharmacy and pick up a pack of disposable ear plugs for the entire family, or for friends.  Look out for others!  Foam or silicone is usually available and you can still hear people and things going on around you.  If you visit your Audiologist they can make custom ear plugs that fit snug and offer amazing protection from loud sounds that you can use over and over.  Remember the importance of hearing health and conservation and celebrate smart!!  Enjoy your summer!

We all love this in some way.  We love it on food, we love it when we have a raw throat and feeling of relief it brings for pain.  We love soaking it for inflamed and painful muscles.  But we love this the most when we add sand, sun and seaweed; it’s like enjoying a free day at the spa.  What we love so much is Salt (NaCl).  A translucent, colorless, odorless, cube shaped crystal that contains sodium and chlorine.  We love this so much that we are willing to travel thousands of miles to soak in it, play in it, swim in it and just feel the natural goodness it brings to our soul.  We are ready to go but are our hearing aids ready for it?  If they could talk they would say they would rather stay home, far far away from that crystalline mineral we just absolutely love to death.
You see, your hearing aids can actually get damaged from the combination of the water and salt.  Salt is corrosive. It can damage, corrode, and destroy the microphone and receiver and clog tubes.  It can cause malfunction by reducing the volume of the hearing aid and compromise the function of the Zinc-Air batteries.  This deadly combination can ruin a nice pair of hearing aids not to mention the trip.  You see salt can not evaporate either so it is carried in the sea spray and on the wind just as if you were swimming in it.
But please do not stress or cancel your get away just yet.  It’s simple and easy to prepare and protect your hearing aids.  Did you know that at least 60% of hearing aids actually offer some type of coating protection called nano-coating?  This nano-covering is pretty cool because it works by lowering an object’s surface energy, this then causes the liquid to adhere to itself and create a bead that just rolls right off instead of being absorbed.  Its true, but to know this about yours or the level of protection you need to visit or call your Audiologist today and ask the right questions.  Some questions to have in mind would be:
*Do my hearing aids have nano-covering, and at what level?
*Is the receiver protected from substances such as moisture?
*Is the amplifier sealed in water-proof material?
*Are your hearing aids labeled “water resistant” or “water-proof?” There is a difference
*Are your tubes made of materials which are resistant to sweat and moisture?”
Even if your hearing aids do not have this technology, there are still things such as sweat bands, portable dehumidifiers or drying kits, hearing aid sleeves made from neoprene, and other water resistant covers to keep them protected.
So go ahead, go get your love of salt, sun and fun. But go with the confidence that you protected your investment, you know the risks and you and your Audiologist have worked closely to make informed decisions about water repellant or water-proof accessories available to you.