Frequently Asked Questions about Audiology

An audiologist is a person who has a masters or doctoral degree in audiology. Audiology is the science of hearing. In addition, the audiologist must be licensed or registered by their state (in 47 states) to practice audiology.

There are many styles of hearing aids. The degree of the hearing loss, power and options requirements, manual dexterity abilities, cost factors, and cosmetic concerns are some of the factors that will determine the style the patient will use.

Generally, most patients will not need any medical treatment for their tinnitus. For patients who are greatly bothered by tinnitus, they may use some masking techniques such as listening to a fan or radio which would mask some of their tinnitus.

Hearing loss occurs to most people as they age. Hearing loss can be due to the aging process, exposure to loud noise, certain medications, infections, head or ear trauma, congenital (birth or prenatal) or hereditary factors, diseases, as well as a number of other causes.

Basically, if you have two ears with hearing loss that could benefit from hearing aids, you need two hearing aids. It is important to realize there are no “normal” animals born with only one ear. Simply stated, you have two ears because you need two ears.

When the term “digital” is used while referring to hearing aids, it generally means the hearing aid is 100% digital. In other words, the hearing aid is indeed a “complete computer”.

Generally speaking, cochlear implants are for patients with severe-to-profound, sensorineural hearing loss. There are approximately 500,000 patients in the USA with severe-to-profound hearing loss.