Stethoscope Hearing Aids:
Keeping Medical Professionals with Hearing Loss Connected.
Stethoscope and Hearing Loss Issues
Hearing aids amplify certain sounds at certain frequencies. A medical professional might have hearing loss in the higher frequencies, missing the high notes. Or, the hearing loss can be at the lower end of the sound spectrum – low-frequency sounds.
Today's sophisticated digital hearing aids are programmed specifically to address hearing loss at specific frequencies, providing varying levels of amplification across frequencies based on the hearing loss. However when the use of a stethoscope enters the picture, issues can occur.
For stethoscope use and hearing loss, the association identifies two critical aspects of successful stethoscope use in medical professionals:
Proper tuning of the hearing instrument by the hearing professional, with special emphasis on low frequency boost.
Hearing aids programmed to emphasize low frequencies
Cochlear implant maps created to reduce room noise, emphasize low frequencies and lower the threshold for sound detection
Selecting the best stethoscope and/or interface to use with the hearing aids or cochlear implant.
