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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nA person with untreated hearing loss experiences greater stress and anxiety as the cognitive effort required for communication increases. If the problem persists, it can lead to negative emotional consequences as shown in a 2003 clinical study. The researchers found that hearing loss contributed to a poorer quality of life due to isolation, depression and confusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fortunately, these problems can be reversed. That process begins when the individual is fitted with hearing instruments. By enhancing audibility, the demands on memory, cognition and processing ability are reduced. In addition, nerves in the hearing centers of the brain begin to remap themselves in response to the increased auditory input. These changes are not immediate, but occur gradually over time. With this in mind, it makes sense to keep your hearing functioning at its maximum capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hearing With Your Brain<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The common belief is that hearing occurs in the ear, but this is an oversimplification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ear is an important sensory component of the auditory system, yet it alone does not produce hearing. Only when the ear interacts with the auditory nerve and the auditory cortex of the brain, can you interpret the sounds of your environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Your brain is responsible for making sense of everything you hear, from detecting the simplest sounds to performing the most complex listening activities. People have an amazing ability to sort through rapidly changing information and automatically make sense of it. How does this occur?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Receiving and Processing Speech<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Sounds are coded in the ear. The brain receives, identifies and recognizes meaningful patterns of the sound information your ears provide. Ears with hearing loss have a reduced ability to code the sounds, so the brain has less information to process and utilize. Small differences in sound patterns can produce large differences in understanding (for example, \u201ctin\u201d vs \u201cthin\u201d). These differences give meaning to speech and help avoid confusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hearing aids increase the loudness of sound to overcome the sensitivity loss in hearing-impaired ears, but the effectiveness of the microchips that perform this task varies considerably. Older hearing aids have sound processors that are not efficient at sampling and reproducing sounds. Since the brain receives less information from the ear, it cannot differentiate the speech sounds as effectively. This results in limited understanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Acoustic research scientists at Oticon have developed new hearing aid computers that mirror the neural processes used by the brain to analyze sound. In addition, these microchips are able to process 30 percent more information each second when compared to previous generations. This faster speed enables better coding and separation of speech sounds, resulting in more complete replication of speech at the level of the brain. Hence, speech understanding is improved significantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why You Hear Better with Two Hearing Aids<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Subtle but important differences in sound cues on each side of the head help people hear sounds and locate them. While traditional hearing instrument technology often disturbs these cues, the new Oticon wireless technology works to maintain them by supporting the natural interaction between the ears and brain. This is called binaural processing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hearing instruments with binaural processing offer a clearer picture of where you are in relation to people and objects around you. When you wear two instruments designed to work as a system, both ears can give the brain more accurate information. Locating sound helps keep you in touch with your surroundings, lets you understand speech with less effort, and restores the natural interaction between your ears and your brain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Benefits of BrainHearing\u2122 Technology<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s look at an example using the statement below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n