Men Are More Likely to Experience Noise Induced Hearing Loss

For years, we've known that about 60% of our patients are men.  We've come up with a few theories for this, but recently, we discovered a study that confirms one of them:  men are more likely to experience noise-induced hearing loss.

In the first study of the demographics of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), researchers found men are 2.5 times more likely to lose their hearing due to noise than women. Over 5,000 participants between 20 and 69 years of age were analyzed with audiometric testing. More than 13 percent suffered from NIHL. Especially white married men are significantly more at risk than women concludes the report which was presented at the 2009 American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO


NIHL is a preventable and increasingly prevalent disorder that results from exposure to high-intensity sound, especially over a long period of time. Researchers hope this study will put more focus on education and prevention and lead to increased screenings for the common problem.

The authors believe this is the first study of its kind to delve in to the demographics of NIHL using the most recent figures from 1999-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES). They believe this information can allow greater education, preventative, and screening efforts.

Source: Ivanhoe Broadcast News and redOrbit

Seriously First Class Hearing

Every few years, something happens in the hearing technology industry which pushes everything forward by leaps and bounds.  Open fit hearing aids did that a few years ago.  Phonak has just released a new product with some features that promise to push that envelope again.  They call it the Ambra.

The Ambra is a true First Class communication device.  We refuse to call it a hearing aid for the simple reason that, if it works as promised, the Ambra will enable a person with a hearing loss to actually hear in certain situations as well as (and just maybe even better) than a normal hearing person.

You read right.  Better.

Here's how they do it.

This is an illustration of standard, monaural directional microphones.  Monaural directional microphones have a broad forward focus (gray beam) enabling improved audibility for all sounds within the beam.  However, they have always had a problem with one-one-one communication in a noisy environment.

 StereoZoom enables the wearer to narrow the beam further and focus on a single speaker, while suppressing other interfering sounds. Communication, even in situations which were considered impossible, is now possible.

The introduction of ZoomControl revolutionized directional hearing and set a benchmark for binaural
processing.  It automatically tracks and focuses on speech, regardless of the direction, without the need to face the speaker. Once activated, auto ZoomControl automatically selects the direction of the dominant speech source.  For example, when driving in a car, the hearing device will focus on whomever is talking-- regardless if they are in the front seat or in the back.

When focusing to one side, the speech signal is picked up and amplified by the instrument on that side; simultaneously the entire signal is streamed to the other ear. As a result, the desired signal is heard in both ears, dramatically improving the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). This unique feature provides natural binaural listening with all of its advantages.

It is this feature that will allow those wearing the devices (even if they have a hearing loss) to have a significant communication advantage in noisy places over those without the device (even those with perfectly normal hearing.)  You may soon find people with normal hearing wearing these devices in restaurants, at trade shows, and in other noisy environments.

We are just fitting our first of these devices this week, but so far the results are encouraging.  We will definitely keep an eye on this technology and let you know if it really is as good as it says that it is!

People With Untreated Hearing Loss Lose As Much As $30,000 Annually

Hearing loss can mean a lower income and higher prevalence of unemployment in people who do not use hearing aids. Unemployment is, however, not higher among hearing aid users than among those with normal hearing. Hearing aid users’ income is also almost as high as among people without hearing loss. This is shown in a study from the USA. The study also estimates that the loss of income for people with untreated hearing loss in the US is $176 billion.


In the US the MarkeTrak VIII study of more than 40,000 households has demonstrated that hearing loss has a deleterious impact on earnings and unemployment rates.

The study shows that there is a $14,100 income differential between subjects with mild and severe hearing loss. People with untreated hearing loss lose as much as $30,000 annually, depending on their degree of hearing loss.

Hearing aids were shown to mitigate the impact of income loss by 90%–100% for those with milder hearing losses and from 65%–77% for those with severe to moderate hearing loss.

The loss in income for people with untreated hearing loss due to underemployment is estimated at $176 billion, and the cost to society is estimated to be as high as $26 billion in unrealized federal taxes.

There was a strong relationship between degree of hearing loss and unemployment for unaided subjects. Those with severe hearing loss had unemployment rates of 15.6%, double that of the normal-hearing population (7.8%) and nearly double that of their aided peers (8.3%). Thus, one would expect that the cost to society of unemployment benefit payments is double that for normal-hearing households, depending on degree of hearing loss.

Unemployment rates for aided subjects were not significantly related to degree of hearing loss.

Source: The Hearing Journal, October 2010, Volume 63, Issue 10