May is Better Hearing and Speech Month

May is Better Hearing
and Speech Month

Of the 28 million Americans who have some degree of hearing loss, about one-third can attribute their hearing loss, at least in part, to noise.

People experience a variety of sounds in their environment every day. It's important for people to be aware that noise from things such as television, radio, trucks, motorcycles, leaf blowers, power tools and personal music devices such as MP3 Players, especially those sued with earphones could have a harmful effect on their hearing. When an individual is exposed to sounds that are too loud or loud sounds over a long time, sensitive structures of the inner ear can be damaged and NIHL" (noise-induced hearing loss).

The loudness of sound is measured in united called decibels. Normal conversation is approximately 60 decibels, the humming of a refrigerator is 40 decibels, and heavy city traffic noise can be 85 decibels.

TAKE THIS SIMPLE TEST TO IDENTIFY YOUR HEARING NEEDS:

	Do you have a problem hearing over the telephone?
	Do you have trouble following conversations when two or more people are talking?
	Do people complain that you turn the TV volume up too high?
	Do you have to strain to understand conversations?
	Do you have trouble hearing in a noisy background?
	Do you find yourself asking people to repeat themselves?
	Do many people you talk to seem to mumble or not speak clearly?
	Do you misunderstand what others are saying and respond inappropriately?
	Do you have trouble understanding the speech of women and children"
	Do people get annoyed because you misunderstand what they say?

IF YOU ANSWERED YES TO THREE OR MORE OF THESE QUESTIONS you should see an otolaryngologist (an ear, nose and throat specialist) or an audiologist for a hearing evaluation.