Hear, Here

Approximately one in three people in the United States between the ages of 65 and 74 has hearing loss, and nearly half of those older than 75 have difficulty hearing. Having trouble hearing can make it hard to understand and follow a doctor's advice, respond to warnings, and hear phones, doorbells, and smoke alarms. Hearing loss can also make it hard to enjoy talking with family and friends, leading to feelings of isolation. Age-related hearing loss most often occurs in both ears, affecting them equally. Because the loss is gradual, if you have age-related hearing loss you may not realize that you've lost some of your ability to hear. There are many causes of age-related hearing loss. Most commonly, it arises from changes in the inner ear as we age, but it can also result from changes in the middle ear, or from complex changes along the nerve pathways from the ear to the brain. Certain medical conditions and medications may also play a role. Why do we lose our heari...

I spoke to a Chiropractor friend of mine earlier this week. By 3:30 p.m., his office had already seen 56 patients. I can't imagine seeing 56 patients in one day! But that's a fairly normal day for this doctor. People come to him for relief from pain, among other things. After he adjusts them, they feel better, which is obviously the reason people continue to make their follow-up appointments. Which got me thinking. What would people do if hearing loss was painful? I'm not talking about ear infections and the like. I'm talking about normal (physically) pain-free sensorineural hearing loss that plagues most people with hearing loss. If the treatment involved temporary relief from pain until the next time, would there be more adopters of treatment by way of hearing aids? I'm not saying I wish hearing loss hurt; what I'm saying is I think it would be easier to convince someone with a newly diagnosed hearing loss to take that next step towards amplification if the...