A Primer on Wavelength Acoustics for Musical Instruments -- Music (and Speech) for the Audiologist -- Hearing Aids and Musicians: What the Literature Says -- Clinical Approaches to Fitting Hearing Aids for Music -- A Return to Older Technology?
How can you make music with a hearing loss? Musicians with hearing loss from all over the world tell you how. In this engaging and informative book you'll find: * 23 in-depth musician profiles with personal stories and strategies * Advice for professional musicians as well as amateur music lovers * Information on hearing conservation and cochlear implant rehabilitation * Expert guidance by audiologists who love music A must-have for all musicians with hearing loss, audiologists, and music educators. ---
Binaural interference occurs when the speech input to one ear interferes with the input to the other ear during binaural stimulation. The first published study on binaural interference twenty-five years ago demonstrated that some individuals, particularly older individuals, perform more poorly with two hearing aids than with one and/or more poorly with binaural than monaural stimulation on electrophysiologic as well as behavioral measures. Binaural interference is relevant to every audiologist because it impacts the successful use of binaural hearing aids and may explain communicative difficulty in noise or other challenging listening situations in persons with normal-hearing sensitivity as well as persons with hearing loss. This exciting new book written by two highly respected audiologists first traces the history of its study by researchers, then reviews the evidence, both direct and indirect, supporting its reality. This is followed by a discussion of the possible causes of the phenomenon and in-depth analysis of illustrative cases. The authors outline a systematic approach to the clinical detection, evaluation and amelioration of individuals who exhibit binaural interference. Suggestions are furnished on improved techniques for evaluation of the binaural advantage in general and on sensitized detection of the disorder in particular. The book ends with recommendations for future directions. Given the adverse impact of binaural interference on auditory function and its occurrence in a significant subset of the population with hearing loss, as well as in some individuals with normal-hearing sensitivity, research on binaural interference only recently has begun to flourish, and adaptation of audiologic clinical practice to identify, assess, and manage individuals with binaural interference has yet to become widespread. The authors intend for the book to provide impetus for pursuing further research and to encourage audiologists to explore the possibility of binaural interference when patient complaints suggest it and when performing audiologic evaluations. The book is intended for practicing clinical audiologists, audiology students, and hearing scientists.
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.
Music for Children With Hearing Loss: A Resource for Parents and Teachers is a comprehensive and hands-on guide to working with deaf and hard-of-hearing children within and outside of the music classroom, balancing a technical overview of hearing loss with relevant music lessons, teaching practices, resources, and research promoting musical experiences for children who are deaf and hard-of-hearing.
For twenty-two years, Katherine Bouton had a secret that grew harder to keep every day. An editor at The New York Times, at daily editorial meetings she couldn't hear what her colleagues were saying. She had gone profoundly deaf in her left ear; her right was getting worse. As she once put it, she was "the kind of person who might have used an ear trumpet in the nineteenth century." Audiologists agree that we're experiencing a national epidemic of hearing impairment. At present, 50 million Americans suffer some degree of hearing loss—17 percent of the population. And hearing loss is not exclusively a product of growing old. The usual onset is between the ages of nineteen and forty-four, and in many cases the cause is unknown. Shouting Won't Help is a deftly written, deeply felt look at a widespread and misunderstood phenomenon. In the style of Jerome Groopman and Atul Gawande, and using her experience as a guide, Bouton examines the problem personally, psychologically, and physiologically. She speaks with doctors, audiologists, and neurobiologists, and with a variety of people afflicted with midlife hearing loss, braiding their stories with her own to illuminate the startling effects of the condition. The result is a surprisingly engaging account of what it's like to live with an invisible disability—and a robust prescription for our nation's increasing problem with deafness. A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of 2013
This volume will serve as the first Handbook of its kind in the area of hearing aid research, often the least-defined, least-understood, part of the multi-disciplinary research process. Most scientific training is very advanced within the particular disciplines but provides little opportunity for systematic introduction to the issues and obstacles that prevent effective hearing-aid related research. This area has emerged as one of critical importance, as signified by a single specialized meeting (the International Hearing Aid Conference, IHCON) that brings together specialists from the disparate disciplines involved, including both university and industry researchers. Identification of the key steps that enable high-impact basic science to ultimately result in significant clinical advances that improve patient outcome is critical. This volume will provide an overview of current key issues in hearing aid research from the perspective of many different disciplines, not only from the perspective of the key funding agencies, but also from the scientists and clinicians who are currently involved in hearing aid research. It will offer insight into the experience, current technology and future technology that can help improve hearing aids, as scientists and clinicians typically have little or no formal training over the whole range of the individual disciplines that are relevant. The selection and coverage of topics insures that it will have lasting impact, well beyond immediate, short-term, or parochial concerns.
Compression for Clinicians: A Compass for Hearing Aid Fittings, Third Edition explains many developments that have taken place in the world of hearing aid compression, fitting methods, and real ear measurement. The text aims to make difficult concepts easier to understand and to explain in plain language many topics pertaining to compression. Directional microphones and digital features of noise reduction, feedback reduction, and expansion are also covered. The third edition recognizes two distinct clinical populations of sensorineural hearing loss: mild to moderate, on one hand, and more severe, on the other. These two clinical populations are well served by a corresponding pair of compression types: wide dynamic range compression and output limiting compression. Another double distinction held throughout the text is the two-part task for all hearing aids: providing gain and also increasing the signal-to-noise ratio. Gain is addressed by compression, while listening in noise is addressed by directional microphones and digital noise reduction. The Third Edition: Includes new chapters on common clinical encounters (Chapter 1), real ear measurement (Chapter 5), and adaptive dynamic range optimization (Chapter 10)Distinguishes between "sensory" and "neural" hearing loss and devotes a separate chapter to each of these types of sensorineural hearing lossContains updated coverage of digital hearing aids, directional microphones, and digital noise reductionRetains a strong focus on the historical development of compression from yesterday's analog hearing aids to digital hearing aids of today Compression for Clinicians is intended for those studying to become hearing health care professionals, including audiologists and hearing instrument practitioners. It is also intended for practicing clinicians who simply want to refresh their knowledge base concerning hearing loss and hearing aids. Clinically relevant and very thorough, it provides a compass in the world of compression hearing aids.