An audiologist is a doctor who diagnoses hearing and helps in the adaptation and rehabilitation of patients. with various hearing impairments, selects and adjusts hearing aids to improve a person’s quality of life.
Indications for visiting an audiologist
Contacting an audiologist is necessary if a person has the following symptoms:
- Pain and noise in the ears.
- Decreased hearing acuity, difficulty perceiving the speech of other people.
- Feeling of ear fullness (as if it were under water).
- Poor coordination when searching for a sound source.
- Dizziness with sudden, loud sounds, etc.
An elderly person’s hearing acuity often decreases, he begins to ask questions more often, asks to speak to him louder. But the cause of the disorder may not be age, and a disease in which only timely treatment can save from complete hearing loss.
The human brain is designed in such a way that if there is a hearing problem in one ear, it tries to compensate for the disorder by reconfiguring the healthy. Therefore, a person does not immediately feel the difference in the perception of sounds by different ears. Hearing loss occurs slowly, and often a visit to the audiology office occurs too late. Due to the lack of impulses reaching the auditory cortex of the brain, it atrophies, and it becomes impossible to restore hearing in such conditions.
Therefore, if you notice that:
- Automatically increase the volume of your TV or player (unlike other people).
- Try to sit closer to the lecturer or to the stage in the theater to hear better.
- You constantly ask questions when someone tells you something, and you don’t understand the words spoken to you.
- You don’t perceive conversations on the phone well.
- Do not immediately respond to sound signals (for example, a doorbell), etc.,
Hurry up and make an appointment with an audiologist. In addition, a number of diseases associated with hearing loss are inherited. If you have close relatives who are hard of hearing, then consulting a specialist will not hurt.
Children, even very young ones, can also have hearing problems. It is important here that parents know in what cases they should seek help from a pediatric audiologist:
- The child does not respond to sounds: when there is a sharp noise, the 3-4 month old baby begins to move actively, open your eyes wide, and the six-month-old toddler is already turning his head towards the source of the sounds.
- After 10 months the baby does not make any sounds.
- A one-year-old baby does not say words such as “mom, dad, give, here.”
- The child does not react to sound if he does not see its source.
- You have to call the child by name several times.
- The student puts the phone to one ear or the other.
- The teenager has difficulties communicating with peers, and his academic performance drops.
Children, unlike adults, cannot correctly assess the level of their hearing, so they need the help of a specialist audiologist.
What diseases does an audiologist treat?
Specialists in this medical field can diagnose and treat the following diseases:
- Hearing impairment associated with chronic diseases of the middle ear of an inflammatory and non-inflammatory nature.
- Some types of congenital or acquired hearing loss and deafness.
- Meniere's disease - the disease is manifested by tinnitus, constantly decreasing hearing levels and regular dizziness, develops due to fluid accumulation and increased pressure.
An audiologist can also treat other diseases, often working in conjunction with an otoneurologist, that affect the level of hearing, for example, helps with rehabilitation after otitis media, provides assistance to patients with sensorineural hearing loss, etc.
