Serious deafness in the elderly, what if the hearing aid does not work?

The old man’s deafness is very serious, and the effect of wearing a hearing aid is not good. Is there any way to remedy it?

Hearing aids, like the cochlear implants, are hearing aids. The earliest hearing aids simply amplify the sound. The hearing aids currently used can selectively amplify sounds of different frequencies according to the hearing of each frequency and the needs of the patient. This is also called non-linear amplification. Let the patient feel whispered and loudly loud.

Wearing a hearing aid

If the hearing aid is not working well, first of all, we must look at the quality and power of the hearing aid itself. Secondly, when the elderly wear the hearing aid, evaluate the hearing aid threshold and speech recognition ability. If the hearing of the elderly reaches a severe or very severe sensorineural hearing, the quality and power of the hearing aid are also no problem, but the hearing aid does not achieve the desired effect, which means that the old man’s deafness is really heavy, then you need Consider implanting a cochlear implant to improve hearing.

What are the causes of deafness in the elderly? What is the level of hearing in the elderly, suitable for cochlear implants?

Strictly speaking, senile deafness refers to the decline in hearing as people age and the aging of the auditory system, just like machine parts, aging occurs to a certain extent. But in fact, in addition to age factors, genetics, drugs, noise and otitis media can also lead to hearing loss in the elderly.

Regardless of the cause of old deafness, as long as the degree of deafness reaches severe or very severe sensorineural hearing loss (severe deafness: hearing loss in 71-90 decibels, shouting in the ear to hear; very severe deafness: hearing loss in 90 If you have a decibel or more, you can’t hear it in your ear. If the hearing aid is not ideal or has no effect at all, you can consider cochlear implant. Of course, if the elderly have not worn a hearing aid before, and reached a very severe deafness, it is also conceivable to use a cochlear implant if the benefit of the hearing aid is limited.

Is there a age limit for cochlear implants? If the elderly are 80 years old, can they be implanted with cochlear implants?

Some people worry that parents are older and can do cochlear implants. The maximum age of patients with cochlear implants in our department is 91 years old. 93 years old surgery is reported in foreign literature. Whether it can be used for cochlear implants or not, it is required to evaluate the results of hearing and imaging before surgery, which are in line with the basic standards of cochlear implants, and on the other hand, the physical condition of the elderly.

Cochlear implant surgery requires 1-1.5 hours. In the past, patients with otitis media who had mastoidectomy, trauma, meningitis, and cochlear ossification of fibrosis may have longer operation time. The whole process is in general anesthesia. In the state, if the elderly merge with the basic diseases such as Sangao, coronary heart disease, stroke or cervical spondylosis, the relevant departments should be consulted before surgery to do a comprehensive examination and preoperative evaluation to judge whether the elderly can tolerate 2 hours or so. General anesthesia to ensure safe operation.

Hearing aid wear

How does the cochlear implant work and which patients are not suitable for cochlear implants?

The process of listening to the sound of normal people is like this. After the sound comes, it must pass through the external auditory canal, tympanic membrane, middle ear, and then to the inner ear, and turn the mechanical stimulation of the sound into electrical signals, stimulate the spiral ganglion and the auditory nerve, and transmit it to the hearing. The center causes an auditory response.

The principle of cochlear implant is to directly convert the sound into electrical signals through the speech processor (the part of the cochlear implant outside the body), over the 3 positions of the outer ear, middle ear and inner ear, directly stimulate the spiral ganglion and the auditory nerve, causing The auditory response; the hearing aid is basically still dependent on the normal hearing mode of the person, just to enlarge the sound. Therefore, because the two principles of action are different, the comparability in listening to sound is not very large.

In some special cases, patients are not suitable for cochlear implants:

1) patients have severe inner ear malformations, basically no cochlea, no place to place the electrodes, this situation can not be done;

2) The patient’s cochlear nerve is not developed, and this condition does not work even if the cochlear implant is implanted;

3) Some patients have had a history of trauma, otitis media, and meningitis, leading to complete ossification or fibrosis of the entire cochlea. In other words, the cochlea has become solid and the electrodes have no way to implant;

4) For some special patients, such as mental retardation, cochlear implants cannot be combined with auditory speech rehabilitation, and are not suitable for cochlear implants.

Can you do cochlear implants, is it related to the length of deafness?

Cochlear implant surgery can not be done, and is not directly related to the time of deafness. No matter how long the deafness is, as long as it is a deafness after speaking, there is a certain speech and hearing foundation, and surgery can be considered. However, the longer the deafness, the worse the surgical effect may be. Therefore, if the elderly have severe deafness, it is best to use the hearing aid as soon as possible. Once the hearing aid is not effective, the cochlear implant should be implanted as soon as possible. The sooner the surgery is better.

If the hearing of both ears is basically lost, can the two ears be implanted together with a cochlear implant?

If the patient’s ears are not well to be heard, it is best to have surgery on both sides to ensure the patient’s bilateral hearing. Bilateral hearing has the following advantages:

1) helps patients to more accurately determine the direction of the sound source. For example, someone calls you in your right rear. If only one side of the ear is hearing well, you can’t tell if the sound source is on the left or right. It is good, it will accurately determine which side of the ear the sound reaches, and the intensity is higher, so that the position of the sound source is known.

2) In the noisy environment, the ability of single-ear listening to recognize speech is relatively poor, and the listening sound is very noisy. Both-ear hearing can significantly improve the recognition rate and intelligibility of speech.

3) Single-ear hearing is prone to hearing fatigue. It takes a long time to listen to sound in an environment, and it feels very tired. The fatigue of binaural hearing will be relatively small.

4) reduces the effects of cephalometric effects. It is more difficult for a single-ear hearing patient to hear the sound from the contralateral ear, and there will be a side ear listening sound, and binaural hearing will not be affected.

If one ear loses hearing, the other has residual hearing. Is it a cochlear implant on one side, a hearing aid on the other side, or a cochlear implant on both sides? Why?

When the patient’s hearing loss in both ears is reduced, it is necessary to restore binaural hearing. Hearing aids can be used in both ears, or cochlear implants can be used in both ears, and hearing aids can be worn on one side or cochlear implants on one side. For better hearing results, the specific method should be determined according to the degree of hearing loss of the patient’s ears.

If one ear has better residual hearing (moderate-severe deafness), a hearing aid is suitable, and the ear that is completely inaudible on the other side may be considered for implantation of a cochlear implant; if residual hearing is poor (severe-very severe deafness) It is necessary to consider bilateral cochlear implants.

Jinghao medical hearing aid reminder: hearing aids need to be professionally “fitted”, it is very important to choose a professional hearing aid fitting center and hearing aid fittings! All patients and friends have any hearing problems can call the Jinghao medical consultation, or personally Come to the fitting center experience. Hearing aid free consultation phone: +86-18566295705

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