If you are in the market to buy hearing aids, you need to read this book first. This is the only hearing aid book you will ever need. The Little Book of Hearing Aids has been updated to reflect the new hearing aids from the major brands. If you or someone you know is looking to buy hearing aids, well then this book will give them the information they need to do so with confidence.I have updated the book adding new hearing aids from the big brands, and added further sections on the changing face of hearing aid provision and what it could mean for you.
Praise for the first edition: I cannot praise this book too highly it is undoubtedly now the benchmark text in this area, and is an absolute essential for every audiologist and student. Graham Sutton, International Journal of Radiology, Vol. 41, No. 6, 2002 One of the best textbooks I have ever used...written by a researcher with a stellar reputation [who is also] an expert on the clinical aspects of the field...packed with information from both a theoretical and practical perspective...makes difficult concepts comprehensible...from an instructors point of view, it is a sheer delight. Adrienne Rubenstein, PhD, Professor, Department of Speech Communication Arts and Sciences, Brooklyn College, New York Key Features: Completely revised to reflect the research and technological advances of the last decade New chapters on directional microphones and the latest digital signal processing strategies Extensive coverage of all aspects of open-canal, thin-tube hearing aids Practical tips, tables, and procedures designed to be pinned on the walls of clinics Each cross-referenced chapter builds on the previous chapters Hearing Aids, Second Edition, is a book within a book: Each chapter has a one-page synopsis that captures the key concepts of each topic The material that students most need is contained in marked paragraphs that flow after each other to form a coherent thin book inside the larger book Intervening additional paragraphs add satisfying depth Written, comprehensively referenced, and extensively reviewed by leaders in the field, this book is ideal as a core graduate text as well as a standard reference for clinicians.
"Bessie Needs Hearing Aids" is a children's book that will help children with hearing loss understand the process, and that they are not alone. Written and illustrated by a teenage girl who went through this process, so it will resonate with children just learning of hearing issues, or coping with wearing hearing aids. The book received numerous accolades so it was decided to make it available to all, in order to possibly help other children with hearing loss.
Weaving together lyrical history and personal memoir, Virdi powerfully examines society’s—and her own—perception of life as a deaf person in America. At the age of four, Jaipreet Virdi’s world went silent. A severe case of meningitis left her alive but deaf, suddenly treated differently by everyone. Her deafness downplayed by society and doctors, she struggled to “pass” as hearing for most of her life. Countless cures, treatments, and technologies led to dead ends. Never quite deaf enough for the Deaf community or quite hearing enough for the “normal” majority, Virdi was stuck in aural limbo for years. It wasn’t until her thirties, exasperated by problems with new digital hearing aids, that she began to actively assert her deafness and reexamine society’s—and her own—perception of life as a deaf person in America. Through lyrical history and personal memoir, Hearing Happiness raises pivotal questions about deafness in American society and the endless quest for a cure. Taking us from the 1860s up to the present, Virdi combs archives and museums to understand the long history of curious cures: ear trumpets, violet ray apparatuses, vibrating massagers, electrotherapy machines, airplane diving, bloodletting, skull hammering, and many more. Hundreds of procedures and products have promised grand miracles but always failed to deliver a universal cure—a harmful legacy that is still present in contemporary biomedicine. Blending Virdi’s own experiences together with her exploration into the fascinating history of deafness cures, Hearing Happiness is a powerful story that America needs to hear. Praise for Hearing Happiness “In part a critical memoir of her own life, this archival tour de force centers on d/Deafness, and, specifically, the obsessive search for a “cure”. . . . This survey of cure and its politics, framed by disability studies, allows readers—either for the first time or as a stunning example in the field—to think about how notions of remediation are leveraged against the most vulnerable.” —Public Books “Engaging. . . . A sweeping chronology of human deafness fortified with the author’s personal struggles and triumphs.” —Kirkus Reviews “Part memoir, part historical monograph, Virdi’s Hearing Happiness breaks the mold for academic press publications.” —Publishers Weekly “In her insightful book, Virdi probes how society perceives deafness and challenges the idea that a disability is a deficit. . . . [She] powerfully demonstrates how cures for deafness pressure individuals to change, to “be better.” —Washington Post
The surprising science of hearing and the remarkable technologies that can help us hear better Our sense of hearing makes it easy to connect with the world and the people around us. The human system for processing sound is a biological marvel, an intricate assembly of delicate membranes, bones, receptor cells, and neurons. Yet many people take their ears for granted, abusing them with loud restaurants, rock concerts, and Q-tips. And then, eventually, most of us start to go deaf. Millions of Americans suffer from hearing loss. Faced with the cost and stigma of hearing aids, the natural human tendency is to do nothing and hope for the best, usually while pretending that nothing is wrong. In Volume Control, David Owen argues this inaction comes with a huge social cost. He demystifies the science of hearing while encouraging readers to get the treatment they need for hearing loss and protect the hearing they still have. Hearing aids are rapidly improving and becoming more versatile. Inexpensive high-tech substitutes are increasingly available, making it possible for more of us to boost our weakening ears without bankrupting ourselves. Relatively soon, physicians may be able to reverse losses that have always been considered irreversible. Even the insistent buzz of tinnitus may soon yield to relatively simple treatments and techniques. With wit and clarity, Owen explores the incredible possibilities of technologically assisted hearing. And he proves that ears, whether they're working or not, are endlessly interesting.
A step-by-step training program to improve your hearing through enhanced perception with all five senses • Provides detailed instructions for 20 simple, practical exercises you can do at home to improve your hearing and train your senses • Explains the connection between hearing loss and emotional stress and trauma • Shares stories from people who have used this method to compensate for deafness in one ear, others who have been able to ditch their hearing aids completely, as well as the positive effect restored hearing has for patients with dementia and Alzheimer’s Through hearing we are connected with everything that surrounds us. Yet millions of people, young and old, suffer from hearing loss, which disrupts this special connection not only with our surroundings but also with our friends, loved ones, and coworkers. As Anton Stucki reveals, onset hearing loss as well as other conditions of the ear canal, such as tinnitus, industrial hearing loss, and vertigo, are not part of our normal physiological aging process. The brain is naturally able to compensate for hearing loss, even in situations with loud background noise, yet as we age, we lose this adaptive ability. In this step-by-step guide, Stucki explains his revolutionary hearing recovery system, complete with detailed instructions for 20 simple, practical exercises you can do at home to improve your hearing and train your senses. Drawing from physiology, biology, physics, psychology, trauma therapy, and brain research, he goes beyond the mechanical notion that damage in the ear is responsible for hearing loss and shows that hearing recovery is possible in many cases. He shares stories from people who used this method to compensate for deafness in one ear, even after multiple unsuccessful surgeries, and others who have been able to ditch their hearing aids completely as well as the positive effect restored hearing has for patients with dementia and Alzheimer’s. He explains how the program does not regenerate inner ear growth directly--the practices work by developing and training your perceptual system to be able to grasp whole meaning from incomplete or partially understood information. Thus the system also helps you establish contact with your inner self and enhances the brain’s self-regulation of all five senses. Exploring the mind-body role of consciousness and belief on overall health, the author reveals how onset hearing loss can be a manifestation of an inner state of imbalance, driven by emotional causes and stress, and how finding the “triggering event” stored in our bodies and dissolving the trauma surrounding it can help restore your hearing. Offering a way to reconnect with the sound environment around us and enhance our inner and outer senses of perception, Stucki shows how improving your hearing can also restore balance to our overall health physically, emotionally, and mentally.
The third edition of Fitting and Dispensing Hearing Aids provides clinical audiologists, hearing instrument specialists, and graduate students with the latest in practical information reflecting current clinical practice standards. Authored by two of the industry's leading authorities on adult amplification and audiology practice management, the book is sequenced to match the patient's journey through a clinical practice. Its 12 chapters are packed with the latest commercial innovations in hearing aids, basic hearing assessment procedures, patient-related outcome measures, and innovative counseling techniques. Experienced clinicians will also find the updated chapters on help-seeking behavior and hearing aid features and benefits to be valuable to their continued professional development. Hearing aid dispensing always has been a technology-driven profession, heavily dependent on the expertise, thoughtfulness, and good judgment of the licensed professional. Over the past few years, even as technology has continued to evolve at breakneck speed, these skills have become more relevant than ever in the delivery of high-quality patient care, especially to the rapidly aging Baby Boomer population. This bestselling text is required reading for those studying to obtain their hearing aid dispensing license or audiology or speech pathology students looking for the latest in dispensing and fitting hearing aids in a succinct, entertaining format. Because each chapter is written around a specific theme–like wine tasting, travel, baseball, country music, and more–this succinct and entertaining textbook is actually fun to read! New to the Third Edition: * The chapters devoted to fitting modern hearing aids have been thoroughly updated * Thoroughly updated chapter on connectivity * Material on over-the-counter hearing aids and automated real ear measures * Information on newer outcome measures and updated approaches to counseling patients * Information on hearables, self-fitting hearing aids, over-the-counter hearing aids, and personal sound amplification products (PSAPs) * Complete review of all special features with case study examples * Revised appendix with several up-to-date industry resources
Essentials of Modern Hearing Aids: Selection, Fitting, and Verification is a comprehensive textbook, ideal for graduate-level amplification courses in audiology programs. It also is the ultimate go-to reference for anyone fitting and dispensing hearing aids. This is truly an "A to Z" textbook, with topics including audiologic prefitting testing, needs assessment and treatment planning, hearing aid selection, verification, orientation and counseling, post-fitting follow-up, and real-world validation. Moreover, a substantial portion of the book reviews the underlying up-to-date design and function of digital hearing aid components, circuitry and processing, the wide assortment of hearing aid features, and the many algorithms that make these features work successfully. The world-renowned authors have included numerous prefitting and post-fitting tests that can be conducted along with step-by-step protocols for their administration and scoring. They also review the selection of hearing aid styles and fitting arrangements, explain the process of obtaining an ear impression, and making critical decisions regarding earmolds and hearing aid plumbing. Essentials of Modern Hearing Aidsprovides guidance for selecting prescriptive fitting approaches and detailed protocols for the use of behavioral measures and real-ear speech mapping to both verify the fitting and assess special hearing aid features. Follow-up care and validation options also are reviewed, with detailed guidelines for using a wide range of outcome measures. Key Features Included throughout the text are short paragraphs identified as "Technical Tips," "Key Concepts," "Things to Remember," "Points to Ponder," and "Soapbox" for quick reference.The text covers both foundation and direct clinical application.The veteran authors have over 100 years of combined experience in day-to-day patient care and clinical research.The book is infused with humor throughout! Written in an accessible and easy-to-read style, this text includes not only reference information, but also tools supported by research and clinical experience. The information is presented in a way that is both accessible to clinical students with little experience in the field and with enough depth for even the serious hearing aid researcher. The text is also appropriate as a handy companion for busy clinicians - a friendly resource where they can quickly find critical information needed for the next patient. *Disclaimer: Please note that ancillary content (such as documents, audio, and video, etc.) may not be included as published in the original print version of this book.
The loss of hearing - be it gradual or acute, mild or severe, present since birth or acquired in older age - can have significant effects on one's communication abilities, quality of life, social participation, and health. Despite this, many people with hearing loss do not seek or receive hearing health care. The reasons are numerous, complex, and often interconnected. For some, hearing health care is not affordable. For others, the appropriate services are difficult to access, or individuals do not know how or where to access them. Others may not want to deal with the stigma that they and society may associate with needing hearing health care and obtaining that care. Still others do not recognize they need hearing health care, as hearing loss is an invisible health condition that often worsens gradually over time. In the United States, an estimated 30 million individuals (12.7 percent of Americans ages 12 years or older) have hearing loss. Globally, hearing loss has been identified as the fifth leading cause of years lived with disability. Successful hearing health care enables individuals with hearing loss to have the freedom to communicate in their environments in ways that are culturally appropriate and that preserve their dignity and function. Hearing Health Care for Adults focuses on improving the accessibility and affordability of hearing health care for adults of all ages. This study examines the hearing health care system, with a focus on non-surgical technologies and services, and offers recommendations for improving access to, the affordability of, and the quality of hearing health care for adults of all ages.
