If you’ve been diagnosed with presbycusis, you may be wondering: What is presbycusis and how can it be treated?
Presbycusis is a hearing problem caused by aging. In fact, presbycusis is more commonly known as age-related hearing loss.
It's one of the most common types of sensorineural hearing loss (hearing loss caused by inner ear damage) and according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), presbycusis is one of the most common conditions affecting older and elderly adults.
Since presbycusis develops slowly over time, people who have presbycusis often don’t know they are suffering from the condition until it begins to affect their everyday lives.
It usually occurs in both ears (which is known as bilateral hearing loss) and most often affects a person’s ability to hear high-frequency noises.
The first signs of this condition may be difficulty hearing the doorbell, the beep of the microwave, birds chirping, and other high-pitched sounds.
In addition, people with age-related, high-frequency hearing loss often have a harder time hearing the voices of women and children, which are generally higher-pitched than male voices.
With age-related hearing loss, a first sign may be that communication with women and children becomes more difficult, especially if you are in an area with a lot of background noise.
Why Do We Lose Our Hearing with Age?
There are many health and safety-related issues that have been known to contribute to hearing loss, including:
- Exposure to loud noise, especially on a long-term basis
- Certain ototoxic medications
- Diabetes
- High blood pressure
- Heredity
And a variety of other health-related problems. However, you may also lose your hearing ability due to simple degeneration caused by aging.
Can Presbycusis Be Treated?
There is no known cure for age-related hearing loss. However, patients with presbycusis often use hearing aids successfully to help them hear more clearly again.
If you suspect that you’re suffering from presbycusis but haven’t had an official diagnosis yet, we would recommend seeing a physician for a hearing health exam and hearing test.
If you cannot see a physician, you can use an Online Hearing Check to help ascertain the severity of your hearing loss. An online hearing check is not an official diagnosis and shouldn’t be treated as such.
However, the results can be useful in choosing a hearing device that will work for your degree of hearing loss.
What Hearing Device Works Best for Age-Related Hearing Loss?
There are a variety of hearing aids available for people suffering from presbycusis.
At Advanced Affordable Hearing, our hearing aids are pre-programmed for high-frequency hearing loss, so they are ideal for many of those with age-related hearing loss.
We generally recommend hearing aids based primarily on how well they will help the customer and their specific hearing loss. As stated above, a hearing test or online hearing check is a good way to find out which hearing device will suit you best.
In addition, we consider the customer’s lifestyle when recommending the right hearing aid. The features differ for each hearing aid, and some customers have preferences that will help them make the decision on which device to purchase.
For example, rechargeable hearing aids are currently very popular. Customers love our rechargeable devices—like the HearClear GO, the HCRD, and the HCR3—because they don’t have to worry about buying or replacing tiny hearing aid batteries. Depending on the hearing aid, they can simply plug the devices in or place the devices in the provided charging station and wait for them to charge!
However, other customers prefer to have a battery-operated model because it’s more convenient for their particular lifestyle. Some customers who travel often have mentioned that it’s easier to use battery-operated hearing aids during travel because they can replace the batteries on a plane, in the car, or in other spots where it may not be easy to recharge their hearing aids with a cord or charging station.
There are also design specifics to take into account when choosing the right device. Some hearing aids are designed with a volume rocker while others are designed with a volume wheel. Some hearing aids are designed to be operated with a smartphone app while others are not.
Hearing aids also come in different styles. Popular styles of hearing aids include:
- Behind-the-Ear (BTE), In-the-Ear (ITE)
- In-the-Canal (ITC)
- Completely-in-the-Canal (CIC)
- Invisible-in-the-Canal (IIC)
We will consider your needs first and foremost when helping you pick out a hearing device.
Going Forward with Hearing Loss
Unfortunately, it’s incredibly common for people with hearing loss to leave their condition untreated. In fact, the NIDCD states that about 28.8 million U.S. adults could benefit from using hearing aids.
Don’t be another number in that statistic!
Call 1 (800) 804-0434 today to order your new pair of hearing aids and get started on your HearClear journey!