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How Quitting Smoking & Lowering Blood Pressure Could Support Healthy Hearing

In Hearing Health, hearing loss, Lifestyle and Leisure, Research by Ed Kocher, ACA, BC-HIS

Hearing health is connected to overall health. This means that different conditions and certain behaviors that affect one’s health can also specifically impact hearing. Though hearing loss is commonly associated with aging, there are several other factors that can cause impaired hearing. This includes smoking and high blood pressure which can both disrupt how sound is absorbed and processed. Quitting …

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How Often Should I Get a Hearing Test?

In Hearing Health, hearing loss, Hearing Loss Treatment, Hearing Testing by Ed Kocher, ACA, BC-HIS

People typically make annual check-up appointments as part of their healthcare routine. This usually includes yearly physicals, vision evaluations, and dental screenings. Hearing health is often missing from these routine check-ins. In a recent study conducted by the American-Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), researchers found that only 2 in 10 adults have had a hearing test in the past 5 years. Whereas …

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A Campaign to Make Listening Safe for All

In Hearing Health by Ed Kocher, ACA, BC-HIS

!While most people associate hearing loss with old age, it is vital to remember that hearing loss can strike anyone at any age. With increasing traffic, construction, and other noise seemingly continually flooding into our ears, it’s more vital than ever to understand the threats to our ears.   The World Health Organization has launched the “Make Listening Safe Workgroup” …

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Prioritize Better Hearing in the New Year!

In Hearing Health, hearing loss by Ed Kocher, ACA, BC-HIS

With January quickly approaching, it’s a great time to focus on your goals and resolutions. What do you hope to do, to ensure that you’ll feel your best in the next year? Many people resolve to work out more or start that project they’ve always dreamed of. There is no time like today to start, however, you’ll be ready for …

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October is Protect Your Hearing Month

In Hearing Health, hearing loss by Ed Kocher, ACA, BC-HIS

October marks National Protect Your Hearing Month, a campaign that raises awareness about hearing loss and ways to protect hearing health. Hearing loss is the third most common, chronic, medical condition that people experience today. Impacting over 48 million people, nearly 1 in 8 people have some degree of impaired hearing. Though it is a pervasive health issue, hearing loss …

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Tips for Cleaning Your Ears

In Care and Maintenance, Hearing Health, Tips and Tricks by Ed Kocher, ACA, BC-HIS

Although many of us are tempted to take drastic measures, very little is necessary to keep a healthy ear clean. Cotton swabs look like the perfect device to clean earwax, but in fact they can do much more harm than good. In order to best clean your ears, it is important to have an understanding of the function of earwax. …

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How Treating Hearing Loss Improves Your Relationships

In Communication, Family and Relationships, Hearing Health, hearing loss, Hearing Loss Treatment by Ed Kocher, ACA, BC-HIS

As time passes, we come to appreciate more and more the love and support of those closest to us. Through life’s ups and downs, we rely on the love and support of friends and family to lend a hand or an ear, and we do the same for them. But if we are having trouble hearing, communicating our support for …

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Importance of Regular Hearing Checks

In hearing, Hearing Health, Hearing Testing, Research, Tips and Tricks by Ed Kocher, ACA, BC-HIS

Nothing is as important as your health and well-being, especially as you get older. It can be difficult to keep up with regular visits to your doctor, but it is imperative to ensure not only your health but also your happiness. There are, of course, different recommended checkups for different stages of life: pelvic exam and pap smear starting at …

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All About Hearing Protection

In Hearing Health, Hearing Protection, Research by Ed Kocher, ACA, BC-HIS

The world we live in is rich with so many diverse noises and sounds.  While sound can often be pleasing, too much sound can begin to irritate our minds and our ears. Some noises can damage our hearing, leading to ringing in the ears referred to as tinnitus, and difficulty communicating. Unfortunately, noise-induced hearing damage is incurable which makes it …