If you have noticed that the words of every one you meet seem to blend together, or you can't understand what is being said if there are other sounds in the background, it may be time to get your hearing checked by an audiologist. Having trouble keeping your balance would be another reason to visit. Untreated hearing loss can result in one feeling separated from friends and family and it can eventually lead to depression.
At Hart Hearing and Balance Centers, we provide both audiological and vestibular services. Vestibular disorders are those relating to dizziness, or balance disorders. What’s the connection between vestibular disorders and audiology? Here, we take a look at how hearing aids can help improve your sense of balance.
Understanding the Inner Ear
One reason is that the inner ear contains three main sections, the cochlea, the semicircular canals and the vestibule. The cochlea changes sound waves into nerve signals, but the other two sections affect our balance.
The three semicircular canals in each ear are filled with fluid and lined with fine hairs that pick up body movement as the fluid shifts with head movement. Electrical signals are then sent to the brain which tells the body how to stay balanced. If the body moves too quickly, though, the fluid takes a while to settle causing dizziness.
As stated, the sound we hear is due to the cochlea inside the ear. It looks something like a snail shell which is how it got its name since it means snail in Greek. What basically happens is that when a sound is made or someone speaks, the air gets pushed in a wave-like pattern into the ear making the eardrum vibrate. This in turn moves the three bones commonly referred to as the hammer, anvil and stirrup causing the fluid inside the cochlea to move. As the fluid moves so do the tiny hairs inside resulting in the changing electrical signals being sent to the brain and interpreted as sounds.
What is described here is still a simplification of a complex system, so you can see that there really is quite a bit that could go wrong and result in hearing loss as well as a loss of balance.
Recognizing Hearing Loss
Unfortunately, hearing loss is one of those things that isn't always detected as early as possible. For one thing, sometimes it occurs gradually, and for another it's not something that's visible externally. What is more, many consider hearing loss and balance disorders as a sign of aging and don't want to admit it to themselves – much less to someone else. All of these things could keep one from seeking treatment for hearing loss.
It's not only the elderly that suffer from untreated hearing loss. Loud music and earphones are just a couple of things that have lessened younger one’s ability to hear. But the news isn't all bad. Lives are improved all the time by the use of hearing aids and they've gotten smaller and practically invisible.
For those that are younger, a hearing aid can make the difference between failing and passing grades. It can also make communication with parents and friends more peaceful with less misunderstandings.
For older people, treating hearing loss with the use of hearing aids brings significant benefits to their lives as well. Not having to ask the love of your life to repeat his or her self an infinite number of times could make for a happier marriage. And, being connected to the world around them helps to improve their spatial reasoning.
Hearing Aids and Balance
There are many more benefits in seeking treatment for hearing loss, but one that is rarely thought of is an improvement in balance. This is partly because of the way the mechanism for hearing and balance are both set up in the ear, and partly because we use all the visual and auditory information, we get from every direction in our surroundings to determine where we are and where we will go. If this information is disrupted, for instance, by hearing that better in one ear than in the other or perhaps having hearing cues that are different than our visual cues the result could be confusion, dizziness and perhaps a fall.
Hart Hearing and Balance Centers
Have you been struggling with untreated hearing loss or with unresolved balance issues? There’s no reason to put off treatment. Live life with all of your senses as sharp as they can be! Contact us today to learn more about how our hearing and vestibular specialists can help you.