Hearing Problems and New Technologies
Young people do not often take the time to think about problems that they will face as they begin to age. One of the most common problems the elderly population faces is hearing loss. Hearing loss is the 3rd most reported health problems in the elderly behind arthritis and hypertension (Lesnoff-Caravaglia, 2007). Hearing loss is commonly considered to be a common part of the aging process. As the large baby boomer population begins to age, hearing loss continues to become a growing problem. The main cause of hearing loss is noise exposure over time. The more one is exposed to loud noises over their life time, the more susceptible they are to losing their hearing. Extreme acoustic trauma causes irreversible membrane damage and degeneration of the hair cells in the ear (Lesnoff-Caravaglia, 2007). Hearing loss that is related to a person's age is called presbycusis. The word "presby" means elder and "cusis" means hearing. Presbycusis rarely results in total deafness, but many people experience considerable difficulty in their later years as hearing loss often impairs their ability to communicate. Most instances of presbycusis consist of high frequency sensitivity loss. This can interfere with your speech comprehension and the condition usually gets worse with age (Elderly Hearing Loss).
Treatment for hearing loss has come a long way over the years. Before modern day electric hearing aids were introduced, mechanical devices were used to fight hearing loss. Hearing trumpets were invented by Sir Samuel Moreland in 1670 and were widely available throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Conventional hearing aids were introduced in the twentieth century, basically consisting of a microphone, amplifier, and speaker system (Lesnoff-Caravaglia, 2007). People with profound hearing loss and are not able to benefit from a hearing aid are sometimes able to get a Cochlear Implant. A cochlear implant works...