Questions may be submitted online to the 'contact
us' section of this website or sent directly to: DigiCare
Hearing Research & Rehabilitation, P.O. Box 706, Rye, CO 81069, or
faxed to (719) 676-6882. Your name, address, and telephone number
along with your request are required in order to receive a reply
from the Digicare team.
The human sense of hearing has been called a 'most precious of
gift'. Indeed, it contributes more to our social, mental,
spiritual, and physical well being than all the other senses
combined. In fact, language and communication would nearly cease
to exist without it. Relationships that bind society together
would evaporate. Intellectual progress would stop, and
technological progress would grind to a halt.
Today, hearing loss is considered to be the most pervasive yet
least treated health condition of all physical handicaps in the
United States. Each year, it drains at least $60 billion in
economic loss from the GDP, and acts as a hidden 'tax' on every
man, woman and child in America, to the tune of over $216 per
capita and growing.
About half of all sufferers are over age 65. Strangely, though,
few--even those suffering from serious hearing impairment—can or
will attribute the very marked communicative and psychosocial
effects of hearing loss to its source.
Instead, hearing loss is often masked over by its very symptoms,
which can be shared by such maladies as depression, anxiety,
hypertension, Alzheimer's disease, attention deficit disorder
(ADD), and social paranoia. Hearing loss can also cause the
breaking of bonds in intimate and personal relationships, poor or
difficult-to-attain academic achievement, diminishing ambitions,
failing income, and a host of language and cognitive disorders.
Yet, when presented with these very symptoms, the last place some
astute health professionals will explore is the hearing health
state of the individual.
Children with delayed auditory and attentional development
resulting from repeated ear infections are too often given
medication and habilitative therapy. Older adults are often over
diagnosed with dementia. Those in-between too often suffer broken
marriages, lost job advancement, and a host of psychosocial
problems because of undiscovered and uncorrected hearing
impairment. Indeed, only about 20% of those who can benefit from
amplification and assistive device technology and counseling have
taken advantage of it.
But this does not have to be. Technology and clinical application
have advanced so remarkably in recent years that now the biggest
barrier keeping hearing impaired individuals from moving forward
is nearly always a lack of understanding about hearing loss and
the marvelous help that is available today.
At DigiCare we work with others in the hearing health field
to change this tragic scenario…through aggressive public and
professional education, through cooperative efforts to make
resources more accessible to everyone, regardless of their
financial situation. We intend to break through this near
'universal denial', and to boldly point the way to better hearing
and quality of life.
Hearing instrument technology has advanced to the point that at
least 90% of all permanent hearing losses can be helped
significantly. Assistive devices fill the situational gaps where
hearing instruments and cochlear implants leave off. And for the
nearly 1 million severe to profoundly impaired children and
adults, multichannel cochlear implants can now provide exceptional
speech understanding and unprecedented communication ability. Add
the exciting and dynamic self-help consumer movement with their
national associations and publications, and good excuses for
putting off hearing help are in fact, no more.
HEARING LOSS DEFINED
Conductive Hearing Loss
Physical obstruction, infection, allergy, deformity, or otherwise
medically treatable hearing loss. Involves the external ear and/or
middle ear structure. Constitutes only about 8% of all hearing
loss. Most prevalent among young children. Rare in adults.
Sensorineural Hearing Loss
Damage or deterioration of the delicate hair cells, ganglia or
neural fibers, and/or the supportive structure of the inner ear.
Constitutes at least 90% of all losses. Most common causes: noise
exposure, ototocity, or disease. Predominant among older adults,
especially in the form of 'presbyacusis' or hearing loss
associated with aging. Rare in children.
Central Auditory Deficit
Deficiency in the neurons or intermediary processes of the central
auditory system (at the brain stem and /or auditory cortex).
Common causes: sensory deprivation (from uncorrected hearing
loss), stroke, and trauma. Frequently overlying with other forms
of loss. Characterized by lack of tonal or language comprehension
than threshold acuity.
Psychogenic Loss
Not an actual hearing loss; of inorganic nature. Formerly known as
'hysterical deafness'
Note: Many hearing losses exhibit one or more of the above
conditions, with varying loudness growth and distortion components
that make each loss unique. This can make hearing loss complicated
to both diagnose and treat.
Current U.S. Hearing Impairment Statistics
(2002, Aural Rehab Concepts):
-A total of 28.76 million Americans with losses greater than 30dB
PTA.
-14.8 million with mild loss (<30-45dB PTA), 450,000 hearing aid
users.
-11.26 million with moderate loss (46-70dB PTA). 3.9 million
hearing aid users.
-2.7 million with severe and profound loss (>70dB PTA), 1.7
million hearing aid and cochlear implant users.
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