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If you’ve just been diagnosed with hearing loss—or your hearing has gotten worse—you may be feeling anxious. Anxiety is a persistent heightened state of alert. It’s a normal reaction to stressful situations, but for some people it spirals out of control and becomes a disorder in and of itself. Often, that means they can’t stop thinking “what…

Contributed by Joy Victory, managing editor, Healthy HearingDecember 28, 20202020-12-28T00:00:00-06:00 When you have untreated hearing loss, hearing aids can make all the difference in your quality of life, reducing your isolation and improving communication with loved ones. And, as research shows, wearing hearing aids is also good for your physical health. Yet, hearing aids continue to be underused.…

The decision to take hormone therapy (HT) to tame symptoms of menopause can be complex. There are benefits and risks that you must weigh with your healthcare provider. One area of emerging research is the relationship between hearing loss, menopause and hormone therapy.  Researchers are still teasing out how menopause affects hearing. The same is true of…

Doorbells, washing machines, refrigerators, and sound systems have smartphone apps these days. So it should come as no surprise that many hearing aids also have apps associated with them.  Most hearing aids come with smartphone apps to give users more control over their devices. “Apps are how we live our lives now,” says Shannon Basham,…

Negative thoughts are one of the most difficult and pervasive challenges that tinnitus sufferers face on a daily basis. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. When you live with ringing in the ears, stress levels can rise quickly and it’s common to experience anxiety, panic, anger and frustration. Catastrophic thoughts are often the result. In the…

Contributed by Debbie Clason, staff writer, Healthy HearingNovember 23, 20202020-11-23T00:00:00-06:00 What would it be like if you could feel sounds like doorbells ringing, alarm clocks buzzing, and water faucets accidentally left dripping?  The Buzz wearable wristband uses haptic  technology to translate sounds into vibrations. A new device that turns sound into dynamic patterns of vibrations does…

What sounds do we love? Hearing-aid maker Widex did a survey, asking 1,621 adults in the United States and seven other countries to select the sounds that mattered the most to them. Music and voices topped the list. If you’re a nature-lover, the third most popular sound won’t be a surprise: birds. Among the British, bird song was…

Pregnancy is a wonderful time for many women, but most of us would agree the side effects can be exhausting. For some unlucky women, this includes tinnitus and more rarely, hearing loss. Tinnitus, which is a fancy way of saying ringing in the ears, affects roughly 1 in 3 women during pregnancy. It affects approximately 1 in…

When you live with bothersome tinnitus, having the right coping tools close at hand can make a big difference in the quality of your day. But if you have a smartphone, you already own one of the most powerful tinnitus coping toolkits ever created. There are many apps that can help you to better manage tinnitus…

This spring, when I fell ill with COVID-19, I didn’t leave my apartment for six weeks. Neighbors and friends brought me medicine and food and I mostly kept in touch by texting. I spoke to my doctors by phone or video. I didn’t put on my hearing aids while alone or for these calls. I used headphones…