Fourth of July celebrations are right around the corner, and you’re looking forward to firing up the BBQ, enjoying the parade, and taking your family out to watch the fireworks in the evening. While this is one of the most exciting holidays of the year, don’t forget it’s also one of the loudest and could be affecting you more than you think. Fireworks might dazzle your eyes, but they could be doing irreparable damage to …
For Father’s Day, Improve Family Communication by Treating Hearing Loss
Healthy communication is the bedrock of all healthy relationships. Through deep discussions, jokes, stories, and heated arguments, we share ourselves and learn about our loved ones. For many of us, our familial relationships are among the most important. As we approach Father’s Day, which gathers many generations under one roof, we would like to highlight how hearing loss interferes with communication and the importance of seeking treatment for hearing loss. Understanding Hearing Loss For people …
Is Your Mood Connected to Hearing Loss?
Most people don’t realize how intricately linked your sense of hearing is to other parts of your life. When hearing loss is left untreated it takes a large toll on our total health affecting everything from coordination to quality of life to mental health. Hearing loss has long been linked to increased risk of depression, anxiety and even dementia. Now, research is underway to see if hearing loss is linked to the neurotransmitter dopamine and …
People with Hearing Loss are at Higher Risk for Accidents
Our physical abilities to navigate the world around us greatly depend on the clarity of our hearing. Our awareness of our surroundings diminishes in proportion to the fullness of our hearing. When we lose our hearing, especially when this occurs gradually, we lose our ability to track those small, light, ambient noises that we hear every day, even if we don’t notice that we do. These sounds include the noises our pets make as they …
Communication For All: Better Speech and Hearing Month this May
Every May the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association brings attention to communication issues with Better Speech and Hearing Month. Over the course of four weeks ASHA promotes health awareness initiatives. This year, the motto for Better Speech and Hearing Month is “Communication for All” and at HearCare Rhode Island, we couldn’t agree more. We’re committed to helping people better understand hearing loss and connect with solutions that improve their lives. Let’s focus on one of this year’s …
Acknowledging the Reality of Hearing Loss
Nobody wants to get the news that they have hearing loss. Hearing loss creates challenges in many parts of everyday life. Living with hearing loss means overcoming obstacles at home and at work, with our friends and family and often with our favorite activities and pastimes. While a hearing loss diagnosis can be unwelcome, there is good news. Through acknowledging and treating your hearing loss you can lessen the negative impact it has on your …
Train Your Brain to Stave Off Hearing Loss
As we learn more and more about the human brain, it’s intricacies and processes become even more remarkable. For a very long time, it was believed that our brains were pliant only as children and that their pathways became permanent as we aged. Certainly, we believed that older adults were incapable of changing the ways that their brains functioned. After all, we’ve all heard the saying that “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” …
Hearing Aid Compatible Assistive Listening Devices
As technology continues to advance at seemingly light speeds, a buffet of assistive listening devices continue to appear. Back in the day, the introduction of the digital signal process chip in the 1980s anticipated the many fully digital hearing aid models we take for granted today. It’s hard to believe it was only a few decades ago that digital technology was revolutionary. Today, most hearing aid options are digital and the technology that accompanies and …
A Possible Link Between Exercise & Reduced Risk for Hearing Loss
The benefits of regular exercise have long been trumpeted. Since history has been recorded, humans have understood that physical movement and exertion are of benefit to the mind and body. Marcus Cicero, a Roman politician said that “It is exercise alone that supports the spirits and keeps the mind in vigor” all the way back in 65 BC. And this proves even more powerful of a statement in today’s times, in which so much of …
The Connection Between Hearing Loss & Cognitive Decline
As with all of our senses, hearing is linked to our brain function. When our ears pick up sound waves, they are transmitted through the middle ear where they are amplified, and then they are sent to the inner ear where they are processed into neural signals. These signals make their way through well-worn neural pathways to the auditory processing center in our brains, where they are registered as sounds we recognize. With untreated hearing …