In terms of our ability to communicate with others, hearing is our most critical sense.
Hearing Loss Treatment in Kansas City, MO
Even relatively mild hearing loss can seriously disrupt how we interact and connect with others. Without healthy hearing, our social, mental, and physical health can plummet. Hearing loss also has significant implications on overall quality of life. Healthy hearing requires several processes in the ear and brain to work properly in order to correctly interpret the sounds you hear. Hearing loss can prevent crucial pieces of sound information from reaching the brain, leading to confusion and an inability to understand what is being said. Commonly, an ear problem in the outer or middle ear is referred to as a conductive hearing loss, while inner-ear problems or brain-processing difficulties are referred to as sensorineural hearing loss. These are two distinct types of hearing loss with differing treatment methods.
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Binaural Hearing refers to the brain’s ability to integrate information from both ears at once, which greatly improves overall communication and the ability to understand where sounds come from in relation to your body’s position. Hearing with both ears helps us to listen in noisy, complex environments.
It’s difficult to get by with only one healthy ear (unilateral hearing loss), particularly in educational settings. For example, children with unilateral hearing loss are far more likely to be forced to repeat a grade. Additionally, individuals with unilateral hearing loss find that speech comprehension suffers greatly, falling to only about 30 to 35 percent of what can be heard with two healthy ears.