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We brand the year - happy 2017 to all! - with new section in our blog. We have long turned into the topic of urban legends related to audiology and hearing aids, and we have decided to dedicate a space to deny - or confirm - some of these fables. We start today with three of the most classical ones and periodically we will be solving new legends that have been spreading in our sector over the years.

 

"Dogs do not support hearing aids, that's why they eat them"

It is true that some frequencies emitted by the hearing aids are very annoying for dogs, but they do not eat the hearing aids for this reason. At the whistle of a hearing aid, dogs often react by fleeing to stop hearing that noise, not attacking the source of the noise that annoys them. However, the smell of earwax from moulds makes hearing aids a desirable prey for a dog, associating them with something edible. And because they are quite delicate devices, they can rarely be fixed once they have passed through a dog's mouth. So, if you have a dog, we recommend that you get used to leaving your hearing instruments in elevated or closed cases, far from their reach.

 

"Do people with total deafness wear a hearing aid?"

No, total deafness does not require a hearing aid - just as a blind person does not wear glasses. The explanation is very simple: what audiology does is to take advantage of what is known as the "residual hearing" of the person with hearing loss, emitting and amplifying, with the hearing aid, sounds in the frequencies in which the person still hears. That is why, for people who do not hear absolutely nothing, hearing aids no longer serve them.

 

"Any type of hearing aid is compatible with public accessible spaces for hearing aids users"

Another urban legend that we are forced to deny. It is true that there are public spaces, such as theaters, adapted for people with hearing aids - you can detect them because in the entrance they have a blue square logo with a crossed ear and a T, which means that they are equipped with an inductive loop in the ceiling-. And it is also true that, in these spaces, most analogue hearing aids and some of the digital ones that maintain the inductive coils, receive the sound by inductive electromagnetism, which greatly improves the understanding of the sound. But today most hearing aids do not carry a coil because they take up a lot of space, which is incompatible with the current trend of miniaturizing hearing aids. So most digital hearing aids can not receive sound by inductive electromagnetism. Of course, in all ranges there are hearing aids with coil, so if you love the theater and discover that you hear much better with this kind of hearing aids, you will always have the option to buy one, but you also have to know that it will always tend to be a bit bigger than the others that can fit you good.

 

And so far the first edition of urban legends. You know that if you still have doubts about audiology and hearing aids, you can visit your hearing care professional whenever you need it. Or check out 2016 posts from this blog: maybe you can find the answer you are looking for.