Hearing Aids For Single-sided Deafness and Asymmetric Losses
At the Paisley Hearing Centre, I have recently seen a number of clients that have presented with single-sided deafness.
These types of hearing loss can be very frustrating for the sufferer, as they are unable to obtain easy results through normal hearing aid usage.
LOCALISATION ISSUES
One of the major problems with single-sided deafness is that you lose your ability to LOCALISE – i.e. locate where sounds are originating.
Your brain uses minute differences in sound level timing between both ears to locate the position of a sound source.
In complex environments (e.g. a bar or restaurant), this allows us to work out which sounds we wish to hear, and which we can choose to ignore. We can therefore focus on the relevant sounds, increasing our ability to hear them.
With only one functioning ear, the brain only obtains all sounds on the undamaged side, which means you cannot easily locate the sound sources, and ignore / focus on what you may find relevant.
CROS AIDS
CROS aids try to allow the user to identify sounds from either side.
A CROS solution consists of:
• A transmitter with a microphone that wirelessly transmits the sound from the poorer ear to the better ear.
• A hearing aid that picks up the sound and plays it in the better ear.
Because it picks up sounds on your deaf side, CROS systems help you hear all the sounds around you. That means that you can listen to sounds from your deaf side without turning your head, enabling you to feel part of the full sound picture.
Should you suffer from single-sided deafness, or have an asymmetric hearing loss, why not contact Open Hearing Solutions at our Paisley Hearing Centre, or our Killearn Hearing Clinic, and arrange a consultation and FREE TRIAL.
Either book via https://openhearing.scot/book-now/, or call us on 0800 059 9230 for further information.