We all accept that noise is part of our everyday lives, however, if noise in a workplace reaches a certain level, the employer has a duty, by law, to protect their employees’ hearing. We can prevent hearing loss caused by work but once your hearing has gone, it won’t come back. It is estimated there [...]

The vuvuzela is the noise weapon of choice for fans at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The long, plastic, trumpet-shaped vuvuzela was found to emit an ear-piercing noise of 127 decibel — louder than a lawnmower (90 decibels) and a chainsaw (100 decibels). You only need to expose your ears to this level [...]

Ear infections happen when germs such as bacteria, viruses or fungi cause swelling and irritation of your ear. They are most common in childhood, and are often passed from one child to another, but they can happen at any age. Infections of the middle ear are called otitis media, and infections of the outer ear [...]

Binaural: “Having or relating to two ears” Monaural: “Of, relating to, or designating sound reception by one ear” If you have a binaural hearing loss then you have a problem in both of your ears – if you have Monaural then it’s only one. If you do have a binaural loss then it is very [...]

In the UK, hearing impairment is a common condition. The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) estimates that in the UK there are almost nine million hearing impaired people. Approximately 28% of people who are hearing impaired are between 16-60 years of age, and 72% are over 60 years of age. In terms of [...]

The Royal National Institute for the Deaf (RNID) have simple hearing checks that you can use to help you determine whether you have a hearing problem or not. They are not full hearing tests as you would get if you visited an audiologist – it’s more of a first step to help you judge whether [...]

All digital hearing aids are programmable. Some analogue hearing aids have programmable options too. What does programmable mean? It means that an audiologist can modify a hearing aid’s settings for your personal hearing loss – it also means that they can set the aid up so that you can hear the sounds that you want [...]

Can anyone recommend an Assistive Listening Device for one-to-one use at home? I know next to to nothing about ALDs, I’ve never used one – If you have and can recommend it could you please leave a comment below? Thanks. For anyone interested, there’s a good article on ALDs here.

A Bilateral hearing loss is where a person has a hearing impairment in both ears. When someone has a loss in only one ear, it is known as a Unilateral hearing loss. It is recommended that people with a Bilateral loss wear a hearing aid in both ears. Wearing only one aid will not give [...]

Unilateral hearing loss (UHL) is also known as Single Sided Deafness (SSD) – it is where a person has normal hearing in one ear but an impairment in the other. People suffering UHL will have difficulty hearing and understanding speech in noisy situations and they will find it difficult to localise sound. CROS Hearing Aids [...]