Phonak Audeo Q: For Tinnitus

Optimum hearing and understanding in any situation best describes the quality of hearing that most wearers expect from a hearing device. With Phonak Audeo Q, wearers can enjoy conversations in crowded restaurants or during a walk outside on a windy afternoon. Unique Binaural VoiceStream Technology^TM found in all of the Phonak Quest products makes it possible for wearers to hear and understand in the most challenging listening situations.

Phonak Audeo Q: a simple and discreet solution
Daily activities like conversations in a busy restaurant or on a noisy street can quickly turn into a challenge for people even with mild to moderate hearing loss. Phonak Audeo Q offers a discreet and unobtrusive solution that enables more signal, less noise and better understanding in even more listening situations. The Audeo Q model is extremely small and designed to practically disappear behind the ear.
Tinnitus management
Because four out of five people with tinnitus are also affected by hearing loss, Phonak Audeo Q is now available with a dedicated Phonak tinnitus program that supports a variety of tinnitus management philosophies.
Tinnitus is defined as the perception of sound in the absence of an external sound source. Shorter episodes of ear noise that go away are considered normal and experienced by many people. Tinnitus sounds, however, are described in many various ways including the sound of crickets, wind, dripping water, buzz of fluorescent lights, pulsating tones, hissing, buzzing or ringing in the ear and typically last more than five minutes at a time.
"Approximately 50 million people in the United States have tinnitus and a quarter of those experience depression, loss of concentration, sleep problems and loss of enjoyment of life," explained Ann L. Rhoten, AuD, Owner of Kentucky Audiology and Tinnitus Services. "Historically, people suffering with tinnitus have been told they have to 'learn to live with it.' "While currently there isn't a cure, there are treatments such as the Phonak tinnitus management program that can help.
"The Phonak Audeo Q incorporates a tinnitus management feature in the hearing aid which offers a library of sounds and music specially designed to help manage tinnitus. These tools, combined with experienced counseling can be very effective in treating tinnitus," said Dr. Rhoten.

Source: Phonak

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Prof blows whistle on referees

An American researcher is blowing the whistle on sports referees.

In a recent study, a Western Michigan University psychiatrist revealed that whistle-blowing may be harmful to the health of these rule enforcers.  The study shows that one single whistle blow can reach a mind-blowing 116 decibels, far exceeding safe noise levels.

"I did expect the numbers to be kind of high, but I didn’t expect them to be that high," Greg Flamme told CBC news.

Flamme’s team asked sports officials how well they hear in general and if they ever had tinnitus in their ears after officiating games.

“The rate of tinnitus that was reported was much higher than we might have expected based on national norms,” said Flamme. “The same subjects reported hearing issues at a much higher rate that the norm in most of the Midwestern U.S.”

Researchers also measured the sound outputs of different whistles. They found just one whistle blow, anywhere between six and 90 seconds in length, could reach 100 per cent of what would be considered allowable for human hearing.

 “We know that whistles are potentially a factor, but we can’t rule in or out the factor from exposure to crowd noise or music or other factors that the person may be involved with,” said Flamme. “All we can say from this is that we can’t rule out the whistle as a potential contributor to hearing impairment … stadium and crowd noise is a whole other study.”

For their part, referees interviewed rejected Flamme's calls for preventative measures saying most refs feel using lower decibel whistles would hurt their performance.