Hearing Center
The Hearing Center offers all forms of hearing rehabilitation including hearing aid services, theBAHA hearing system, and cochlear implants for children and adults.
Hearing Aid Services
Our hearing aid department is staffed by certified audiologists who have obtained their masters degrees and are experts in the testing and rehabilitation of individuals with hearing loss, whether mild, moderate, or severe. Their goal is to improve your hearing and your ability to communicate with family, friends, and co-workers.
Services include:
Evaluation for hearing aids
Dispensing of a wide variety of hearing aids, featuring digital aids and the new micro-size aids
Computer-aided testing and fitting of hearing aids
Repairs of all makes and models of hearing aids
Provider for union and insurance plans
Assistive listening devices
Batteries and accessories
Noise-protection and swim plugs
Training in communication skills for the hearing impaired
Hearing conservation
The BAHA Hearing System
The Hearing Center now has available the BAHA hearing system. For many people, hearing aids or cochlear implants are not successful treatments for their hearing loss. The BAHA system is a safe, proven, and predictable hearing system which uses bone conduction to provide an improved solution for many people with ear canal problems that cannot be helped by traditional hearing devices or have single-sided deafness.
Who can the system benefit?
The BAHA system benefits individuals who have a hearing loss (one-sided or both-sided) resulting from such problems as chronic middle ear infections or a malformed or damaged middle ear. This is called a conductive loss. It prevents a hearing aid from providing much benefit since the sound cannot travel easily to the inner ear. In addition, the BAHA is effective for individuals who have one-sided nerve deafness as a result of disease or trauma.
How does the BAHA work?
The BAHA system works through bone conduction with a sound processor attached to a small titanium implant, which is placed in the bone behind the ear. The bone acts as a pathway for sound to travel to the inner ear without involving the ear canal. This involves a minor outpatient surgical procedure. After a three month period (six months in children), the titanium implant forms a secure bond with the bone, the sound processor is attached, and the individual hears immediately.
What are the results of BAHA?
For those individuals with conductive loss, this treatment stands apart from hearing aids because it does not rely on amplification, but rather offers wearers the ability to hear normal sound by using bone as a pathway to send sound to the inner ear hearing nerve, bypassing the damaged middle ear. Also, the BAHA system does not include an in-the-ear piece, reducing infections in patients who have lived with them for years.
For those with single-sided nerve deafness, this treatment is a breakthrough. Using bone conduction, the BAHA system transfers sound to the normal hearing ear from the deaf side, enabling the individual to hear and understand sounds from both sides.
Cochlear Implant Clinic
Cochlear implant treatment is now available at the Hearing Center. According to Dr. Kenneth Scott of the Midwest Ear Nose and Throat, a cochlear implant is a hearing option available to those individuals who are unable to benefit from traditional hearing aids. It is approved by the FDA for use in patients even as young as 12 months old with severe to profound hearing loss in both ears. It can be used by patients who have been recently impaired or those who have had a hearing loss since birth. Most medical insurances cover part or all of the cost of the surgery and rehabilitation.
How does a cochlear implant work?
Unlike a hearing aid which amplifies sound entering the ear, a cochlear implant processes sounds and speech and delivers the message directly to the cochlea of the inner via a small surgically implanted electrode stimulating the hearing nerve directly. Each speech processor is programmed to meet individual hearing needs. The brain receives information within microseconds of the microphone picking up sound, so you hear sounds as they happen.
Aural Rehabilitation
For someone who has been without sound for a long period, or a child who has never heard, it takes practice for the brain to get used to the stimulation from the implant. For an adult, a rehabilitation program will involve developing new listening skills through daily activities and skills to recognize speech and environmental sounds. For children, a comprehensive program is developed, which includes speech therapists, family, and teachers, in order for the child to gain the maximum results possible.
Quite simply, a cochlear implant can help overcome severe or profound deafness. Thousands of people, including children and adults, have received cochlear implants, including Rush Limbaugh and Miss America, Heather Whitestone. You can get more information at www.cochlear.com or by calling the Hearing Center.
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