Somehow this bacame a procrastination item for the last week and a half. I think it’s because I cut & paste a source on a word document and it changed the font to some weird, white-highlighted thing that I don’t know how to un-do. So I don’t even want to look at it. But it’s been too much trouble in my crazy week to open a new document and start over–without the cut & paste. There you have it–I guess OCD has been getting in my way. In the interest of NOT procrastinating–> Sidenote: [Which is totally against my usual policy. Writing is all about editing–so the earlier you get a draft the more you can polish it.] <– So I’m not sure what’s happening to me. I just need to start the thing. Here goes, some cut & paste on HERE so I can get a sense of direction.
Assignment 2: Using 75-150 words, explain to teachers, parents, and
students: 1) the differences between a hearing aid and a cochlear implant; and
2) hearing aid troubleshooting to solve the following issues: no amplification, and
feedback.
I will use my class notes and put it in my own words, without jargon for the first part:
A hearing aid amplifies sound and delivers it to the cochlea. Hearing aids can be programmed to compensate for loss in specific frequencies, with or without background noise. In the case of a damaged cochlea, the auditory nerve can be directly stimulated with an electrical signal of a cochlear implant in order to bypass the damaged inner ear structures.
1. A cochlear implant is different from a hearing aid. It bypasses the usual route of sound Instead, it sends an electrical signal directly from an external antenna to the implanted receiver and then to electrodes in the inner ear, which stimulate the auditory nerve.
2. Hearing aids deliver amplifed sound to the damaged cochlea. A hearing aid can be programmed to shape the amplification of sound to match the loss. Sound is still being delivered to damaged nerves, so HAs are limited in ability to aid severe and profound loss beyond environmental sounds and vowels in speech.
But the signal is still processed by the damaged cochlea and sent to the brain with its added distortion. You become tired and strained due to the loud sounds being presented to your ear.
A cochlear implant presents a wide range of frequencies, regardless of the pre-implantation hearing loss.
With hearing aids, a severe or profound hearing loss, this may provide some cues to aid in reading lips and interpolating contextual cues.
Hearing aids, especially those fit for severe and profound loss, are prone to feedback (whistling.) Eating, talking, and chewing gum all affect hearing due to the loosening/tightening of the ear canal around the ear mold. Cochlear implant users do not experience either issue. No ear mold or amplified sound is involved in the process. The lack of an ear mold is a comfort bonus as well.
Advantages of Cochlear Implants:
- Eliminates earmolds, their acoustic feedback issues and irritation of the ear bowl
- Can enable you to hear conversation and thus learn spoken language with relative ease, particularly for those with severe-profound hearing loss
- May enable you to use a regular telephone
- Easier high- frequency speech component perception ( /sh/, /s/, /f/, /t/, /k/, /p/, /h/)
- Better overall hearing at high frequencies
- Distance hearing is likely better than with hearing aids
- May enable you to overhear conversations and other environmental sounds
- Better feedback which may help improve your voice quality
- May be the only option when a hearing aid is insufficient.
- May help with auditory neuropathy
Advantages of Hearing Aids:
- It is easy to try different hearing aids to see which works best for you
- You can take advantage of new technology as it becomes available (improved earmolds, tubing, telecoils, digital/analog programming strategies)
- Retain residual hearing for possible future technology or medical improvements
- May provide better low frequency sounds, such as those in vowels.
- Does not require surgery
For the second:
–acoustical feedback. This is caused when amplified sound produced by the hearing aid speaker is picked up again by the aids microphone creating a sound loop that just gets louder and screechier. [Y]
-Mechanical feedback occurs when physical vibrations are created due to contact between the hearing aid speaker and the hearing aid casing. These vibrations are then transferred through the casing back to the microphone. [Y]
-electronic feedback. This feedback is caused by a malfunction in the devices complex circuitry, requiring the services of a hearing aid tech to fix. [Y]
-Dont tap the device on a table top to see if it stops the noises, dont open the casing to see if you can fix it, you can only lessen one kind of feedback at home–acoustical [Y]
–When the sound pressure leaving an ear mold or hearing aid hits a solid wall of earwax, it also sprays in all directions (like the spray of a hose against the house), including out through the vent or any gaps between the ear mold or shell and the ear canal. This is the most common cause of hearing aid feedback [Z]
-use a wax softener and flush the loose ear wax from the ear canal. If this doesnt solve the problem, do NOT start digging away with a hair pin orcotton swab. Youre almost certain to do more damage and more serious damage. Instead, visit a hearing health care professional to have that nasty earwax excised. [Y]
-Another common cause of feedback is poor and loose fitting ear molds and hearing aids. a) If pressing it in or adjusting the angle stops the feedback, this indicates a fit problem. b) Vaseline around the canal of the hearing aid before inserting it. If it is a small gap, this sometimes helps. c) put a coating of clear finger nail polish on the canal portion of hearing aids to make them fit slightly snugger. d) getting a new ear mold or shell made [Z]
-The sound tube may become damaged over time by aggressive cleaning, the mic may have gotten pushed in, or there could be a crack in the hearing aid casing. In the case of a behind-the-ear device, the tubing tends to harden over time and once more susceptible to cracking. Any of these scenarios could potentially cause the amplified sound to leak and become re-amplified, causing once again feedback. [Y]
-With digital hearing aids, there are automatic feedback controls, and also adjustments that the hearing aid fitter can make to reduce feedback, but these are not always in the best interest of clear hearing. In some (but not all) digital hearing aids, the feedback control methods involve some manner of cutting high frequency amplification. [Z]
[Y] http://www.healthyhearing.com/content/articles/Hearing-aids/Fitting/10142-Guide-to-coping-with
Guide to Coping with Feedback
Monday, March 3rd 2008
Copyright 2013. HealthyHearing
Z] http://www.hearinghaven.com/articles/whistling-hearing-aid-stop-embarrassment/
More Sources (but I think I have enough):
T] http://tia.sagepub.com/content/1/2/45.extract
U] http://jslhr.asha.org/cgi/content/abstract/42/2/497
OK, now I have something to work with at least. Tomorrow, I’ll site appropriately, put it in my own words, and shorten, shorten, edit, edit. Easy. Not overwhelming at all. Break it into smalller, managable steps. I can remember that!
Related articles
- Hearing Aids – What’s in ‘Em? (epicagear.com)
- the difference about Hearing aid and cochlear implant (sadiekindt.wordpress.com)
- What is the Difference Between Hearing Aids and Cochlear Implants? (adriannetodd.wordpress.com)
kit10phish.wordpress.com 
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