UMC issued the following story written by Ruth Cummins.
You’re
in a crowded restaurant with a group of friends, it’s pretty noisy and
you’re having trouble hearing well enough to follow the conversation.
You
can hear your coworker speaking to you, but you just can’t make out the
words very well, and that low, persistent buzzing in your ears has been
going on for months – maybe years.
Some might say you’re having trouble hearing. But would you?
A new study
led by Dr. Christopher Spankovich, associate professor of
otolaryngology and communicative sciences at the University of
Mississippi Medical Center, has found that about half of the people
represented in a national hearing health survey report they can hear
just fine – although they actually have at least a mild degree of
hearing loss.
The study was published online June 6 in the Journal of the American Medical Association Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery.
“It’s
easy to blame external factors: That person was mumbling, or it was
really loud in there,” Spankovich said. “But the data showed reports of
self-perceived good hearing is pretty high, even though all of the
people in the study had some level of hearing loss.”
Spankovich,
Dr. Steven Curti, a fourth-year otolaryngology and communicative
sciences resident, and Elliott Taylor, a School of Medicine student,
analyzed data from a group of adults between the ages of 20-69 who took
the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The analysis
was conducted between Sept. 4 and Nov. 30, 2018. Joining them was Dan
Su, a former UMMC biostatistician.
They came to a number of interesting conclusions from the study group:
• Those who didn’t have other health issues, such as diabetes or
obesity, were more likely to report they had good hearing, even if they
actually had hearing loss.
• Women are more likely than men to report they have good hearing despite having mild hearing loss.
• Married couples are more likely to report hearing loss and less likely to report good hearing.
“That’s the ‘nag’ factor,” Spankovich joked.
The study also gave insight into the reported use of hearing aids.
“In
the United States, there’s a fairly low uptake of hearing aids in
people with hearing loss,” Spankovich said. “Only about 30 percent of
people in this country who could benefit from hearing aids actually get
them.
“The
vast majority of those individuals have what’s defined as a mild loss,
but they don’t see their degree of loss as big enough for a hearing
aid.”
And
while some people cite cost as the reason they don’t get a hearing aid,
“even if you look at the countries that have health care that is free
or low cost, the uptake of hearing aids is similar,” Spankovich said.
Being
unaware that you’ve suffered hearing loss “is a big thing, especially
with people who developed hearing loss over a period of time,” said
Curti, who sees patients in the fourth-floor ear, nose and throat clinic
at the University Physicians Lakeland Medical Building in Jackson.
“They may not realize they’re losing their hearing.”
Sometimes,
family members who accompany patients to an appointment can anecdotally
help the patient make the connection that their hearing is not what it
should be, Curti said.
“They might say, ‘We have to turn up the TV really loud for him to be able to hear it,’” Curti said.
Spankovich said the data has greater bearing than just perceived loss of hearing.
“Some
of the other things related to hearing loss are social isolation and
depression, and there are now studies on the relationship between
hearing loss and cognitive decline,” he said. “And eating healthy and
exercising is good for your body, but also good for your ears.”
He
said the conclusions demonstrate that providers need to do a better job
of detecting hearing loss early in hopes of averting further damage or
so that treatment can begin promptly.
“Just because a person self-reports good hearing doesn’t mean there aren’t any issues,” he said.
When
a patient goes to a clinic visit – including to their primary care
provider – “we need to extend the question beyond ‘How’s your hearing?’
We need to ask if they have trouble following a conversation in a loud
environment or if they have a ringing or buzzing in their ears.
“Those are telltale symptoms of hearing loss.”
Spankovich
said a serious medical problem is rarely the cause of hearing loss.
Often, hearing loss reflects a person’s life health history, repeated
exposure to loud sounds or perhaps genetics.
“But
if you have sudden hearing loss, ear pain or drainage or significant
ringing, those are medical concerns and you would want to get a referral
to an ENT,” he said. “As primary care and family physicians see their
aging population is starting to experience small difficulties, it’s a
good time to make referrals for those patients to have their hearing
checked.
“We want to catch those mild issues before they get too severe.”
6 comments:
What?
This is why I wear a "puffy shirt" !
“We want to catch those mild issues before they get too severe.” Translated?
"We want to pathologize you as soon as we can, and as often as possible in order to maximize billing for unnecessary services because we lost our Blue Cross contract. It's substantially hurting our bottom line, but don't tell anybody."
Conversation that may have happened:
WIFE: You need to get your hearing checked!
HUSBAND: No.......I can hear.
WIFE: Beer? I don't want a beer.
I kept telling my husband that he mumbles and he kept telling me that I'm deaf. I'm in my mid-60s so I had my hearing checked and it was BETTER than my 33 year old doctor's hearing. When I mentioned this to my mother-in-law, she said well, of course, your husband mumbles - he had speech therapy as a child for his MUMBLING. LOL
This is a public service announcement by the American Audiology Association. 1-800-hearing-aid
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