I hope you had a wonderful weekend. Please take out a pen or pencil and a clipboard or your binder for notes. You DO need your note card today. Please turn your voices off when the bell rings and be ready to work. All phones will be taken up and brought to your house office if you are on it during lecture. I’ll let you know if you need your phone.

Hearing Loss, Hearing Aids and Cochlear Implants

deaf? Deaf? Hard of Hearing? Hearing Impaired? Up until now we have spent time focused on the CULTURAL view of Deafness. Now we will shift and discuss the MEDICAL view of Deafness.

Parts of the Ear When something doesn’t function correctly, it results in hearing loss.

Conductive Sensorineural Mixed

Outer or Middle Ear not working correctly The “Hardware” or “Mechanical” Sound is muffled. You have some experience with this! Deaf for a Day Head cold, infections

Causes Excessive wax perforation of the eardrum Middle Ear bones dislocated or missing foreign object in the ear malformation from birth of outer or middle ear Injury Hereditary (passed down from parents) Tumor Treatment Viewed as a mechanical problem Sometimes can be cured with surgery or medication Can be temporary

Inner Ear not working correctly The “Software” or “Electrical” Sound is distorted. Causes Age related hearing loss Loud noises Disease such as Measles, Meningitis, Maternal Rubella Side effect of medications Hereditary (passed down from parents) Injury Congenital (developed before birth) Treatment Most of the time there is not a medical treatment

Both Conductive and Sensorineural hearing loss Sound is muffled and distorted. Often will have more than one cause. Treatment can vary depending on the cause.

Normal Mild Moderate Severe Profound Let’s take a break and watch cartoons.cartoons

Why some Deaf/Hard of Hearing people speak more intelligibly than others? Why some Deaf/Hard of Hearing people are natural signers? One of the biggest factors is WHEN they lost their hearing.

Hearing Loss that occurs before learning spoken language Usually happens at birth or before age 3 Communication Options American Sign Language Signed English Oral/Spoken Communication More difficult to learn and understand spoken language if there is no experience with it

Hearing Loss that occurs after learning spoken language Usually happens after age 3 Communication options Oral/Spoken Communication Signed English American Sign Language More success adjusting to amplification and spoken language because there is lots of experience with the language

With such a varied ‘background’ Deaf people often ask a new person if they are Deaf, if they were born Deaf, became Deaf later and how, and where they went to school to figure out where they fit in the Deaf community.

Device that analyzes and amplifies sound Parts of a hearing aid Microphone Amplifier Receiver Battery Works with: Conductive loss Sensorineural loss History of Hearing Aid

Amplified sounds increase the chance a Deaf/Hard of hearing person will process sound correctly It is not perfect! Individually programmed to each person’s hearing loss Variety of types for different levels of loss Filters out some extra noise and increase speech comprehension Even with a hearing aid, listening requires the wearer to be ACTIVE to understand

Surgically implanted device that acts as an artificial cochlea Parts of the device microphone, which picks up sound from the environment. speech processor transmitter and receiver electrode array battery Works with: Sensorineural loss ONLY

Replaces some of the function of damaged cochlea Post-lingual adults can benefit immediately Allows brain to process: Music Speech Environmental sounds Gives more support and options to those who don’t want to rely on signed communication only

Cochlear Implant technology is not a cure or equal to normal hearing Example of listening through a CI All residual or “remaining” hearing is destroyed by an implant Requires surgery which can be risky Infection Facial nerve damage Tinnitus (ringing in ears) or dizziness May require second surgery (if it fails or needs an upgrade) Pre-lingual Deaf children require years of specialized therapy to understand speech and speak clearly

Hearing AidsCochlear Implants

Glasses help your eyes focus properly. Similar to adjusting a microscope, telescope, or binoculars Hearing aids and cochlear implants assist the brain with analyzing and filtering sounds. Hearing loss is more complicated with different types and levels