AUDÍFONOS: ¿Qué son?, ¿Qué tipos hay?, ¿Cómo funcionan? — Transcript

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1. 0:00Hello everyone, my name is Daniel de la
2. 0:02Torre Diamante. I am an
3. 0:03otolaryngologist, and in this short
4. 0:05video, we will see what hearing aids
5. 0:06are, what types of hearing aids there
6. 0:08are, what features they have, and when
7. 0:10hearing aids are indicated. If you like
8. 0:12the video, give it a like and subscribe
9. 0:14to my channel. Thank you very much.
10. 0:17Let's start with: What are hearing aids
11. 0:19? Hearing aids are devices that allow
12. 0:21for the amplification of sounds;
13. 0:23therefore, they are a tool for acoustic
14. 0:25stimulation in people who suffer from
15. 0:27hypoacusis, or hearing loss. Broadly
16. 0:29speaking, they consist of a microphone
17. 0:32that captures sound, an electronic
18. 0:34system that decodes it, and a speaker
19. 0:36that amplifies ambient sound, focusing
20. 0:38mainly on speech. How do hearing aids
21. 0:40work? By amplifying sounds, especially
22. 0:44the human voice, hearing aids improve
23. 0:46word discrimination and understanding,
24. 0:48making communication much easier for
25. 0:50people with mild, moderate, or in some
26. 0:52cases, severe hearing loss. In order to
27. 0:56amplify acoustically, the hearing aid
28. 0:57requires some existing hearing to be
29. 0:59able to provide stimulation. Hearing
30. 1:01aids are adapted for both conductive
31. 1:04and sensorineural hearing loss, meaning
32. 1:07those caused by middle or inner ear
33. 1:09issues, respectively, and also for
34. 1:11losses in any frequency spectrum band,
35. 1:14whether low, mid, or high. In cases
36. 1:18where there is practically no residual
37. 1:20hearing, the alternative may be a
38. 1:21cochlear implant, which we will discuss
39. 1:23in future posts. When should a hearing
40. 1:26aid be used? In general, when there is
41. 1:29hearing loss that interferes with
42. 1:31communication, a hearing aid should be
43. 1:33prescribed when the patient has a need
44. 1:34to hear better or, rather, to
45. 1:36discriminate better. For the hearing
46. 1:39aid to perform well, as we said before,
47. 1:41it is necessary for the ear to have
48. 1:43some residual hearing to be able to
49. 1:45amplify acoustically. In general,
50. 1:48hearing aids work very well when good
51. 1:50speech discrimination is maintained at
52. 1:51high intensity, which is common in mild
53. 1:53or moderate hearing loss. What types of
54. 1:56hearing aids exist? Hearing aids can be
55. 1:59broadly divided into intracanal or
56. 2:00behind-the-ear models. The former are
57. 2:03those that integrate all hearing aid
58. 2:05components into a small shell that is
59. 2:07inserted into the external ear canal.
60. 2:10To be able to use these hearing aids,
61. 2:12it is ideal to have a large canal size
62. 2:14and for the hearing loss to be mild or
63. 2:16moderate. Behind-the-ear hearing aids
64. 2:18can be indicated for any type of
65. 2:20hearing loss. There are some more
66. 2:23aesthetic and small ones that seem
67. 2:25invisible, as well as more powerful
68. 2:27ones for greater losses with a slightly
69. 2:29larger size. What are the new features
70. 2:32of hearing aids? Modern hearing aids
71. 2:34have several advantages, including
72. 2:36Bluetooth connectivity with your cell
73. 2:38phone, which allows the patient to
74. 2:40listen to calls or play content from
75. 2:42their phone without needing to hold the
76. 2:44device to their ear. Connectivity can
77. 2:48also extend to other devices, for
78. 2:50example, allowing the user to listen to
79. 2:53another person who is meters away
80. 2:55directly through a device, thereby
81. 2:57avoiding most background noise. What
82. 3:00other functions do hearing aids have?
83. 3:03Hearing aids can also be used for the
84. 3:05treatment of tinnitus, also known as
85. 3:07ringing in the ears. By amplifying the
86. 3:09frequencies with hearing loss, they
87. 3:11generate an improvement in the
88. 3:12sensation of tinnitus. In addition,
89. 3:14modern hearing aids feature maskers
90. 3:17that can diminish the annoying
91. 3:18sensation of tinnitus. There are also
92. 3:21CROS hearing aids, which are used when
93. 3:24there is total hearing loss in one ear
94. 3:26and the other has normal hearing. A
95. 3:29sound receiver is placed in the ear
96. 3:32that does not hear, and it retransmits
97. 3:34the sound from that auditory field via
98. 3:36Bluetooth to the healthy ear, where we
99. 3:38must place a hearing aid that receives
100. 3:40the signal from the opposite side. In
101. 3:43this way, the discomfort caused by
102. 3:45total hearing loss in only one ear can
103. 3:48be considerably improved. What should I
104. 3:51do if I feel I have hearing loss? You
105. 3:53should consult an otolaryngologist, who
106. 3:55must request an audiometry and a speech
107. 3:57audiometry, which is the measurement of
108. 3:59word understanding. If these tests
109. 4:02confirm hearing loss, a hearing aid
110. 4:05trial may be indicated to estimate the
111. 4:07benefit they provide, and based on the
112. 4:09otolaryngologist's recommendation and
113. 4:12the patient's needs, the device will be
114. 4:14prescribed. I made this explanatory
115. 4:17video on one hand to tell you how and
116. 4:18when to use a hearing aid, but also to
117. 4:20demystify that hearing aids are
118. 4:22unsightly, and let's remember that not
119. 4:24hearing is more noticeable. No.