Do you experience problems with hearing because everything seems to be muffled? Sometimes objects or insects get trapped inside of the ear canal and causes muffled hearing. However, you may simply need to wear a hearing aid to amplify sound waves. Find out below why you are experiencing muffled hearing and why wearing a hearing aid might help.

What Causes Someone to Have Muffled Hearing?

A common cause of muffled hearing is damage to the inner area of the ear. If you are constantly around a lot of loud noise at work and home, it may have led to inner ear damage. Listening to loud music in earphones can also cause hearing problems. It is a good idea to think of your eardrums like speakers, as they can bust when you there is too much noise.

Sound waves must make it to the middle area of your ears in order for you to hear things clearly. The middle ear can stop functioning right and muffle out sound waves if your ears are full of wax or have something lodged inside of them. For instance, you could have cotton from a Q-tip stuck inside of the middle ear if you are in the habit of using them to clean out wax. You can actually clean your ears with warm water and any type of body soap to prevent the risk of cotton from Q-tips getting stuck in them.

Muffled hearing can also be the result of growing old, which will require that you wear a hearing old. If you are still young and don’t have anything trapped inside of your ears causing the problem, you may be suffering from ototoxicity. Consuming anti-malarial drugs is one of the things that ototoxicity, but a hearing aid can improve your hearing if you have it.

What Can a Hearing Aid Do to Improve Muffled Hearing?

A hearing specialist will have to administer an auditory brainstem test to determine if your middle ear is picking up sound waves as it should. If there is a low amount of sound waves detected, a hearing aid can be prescribed. Basically, the hearing aid will make sound waves louder as they pass through the middle ear. You can get a hearing aid that sits inside of your ear if you don’t want it to be too noticeable. The sound on hearing aids can also be adjusted to meet your comfort level. Talk to a specialist to find out if you need to wear a widex hearing aids. 

The idea of bringing your baby into the world in the comfortable surroundings of home is an attractive idea for many moms-to-be, but making the choice as to whether this is the best plan to make can be incredibly difficult for some. If you have been considering a home delivery, you have likely already talked to a nurse midwife about what to expect and what is involved. However, it will be useful if you get to know a few facts and statistics about home birth before you make a definitive decision.

1. The Number of Women Choosing Home Birth Is On the Rise – Even though home deliveries were the norm a long time ago, the advances in medicine and availability of hospitals across the country changed everything, and for many years, the majority of babies were born in medical facilities and offices. However, more and more women are reverting back to tradition for their own reasons. In fact, between 2004 and 2009, there was a 29 percent rise in the number of babies that were delivered at home, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

2. Home Birth When Properly Planned Is Typically Safe and Successful – A study performed by the Midwives Alliance of North America showed that of 17,000 planned home births, only about 10 percent transferred to a hospital or delivery center after the onset of labor. In most cases, the reasons for making the transition were not emergency related, but often caused by slow-progressing labor or even exhaustion of the mother. Therefore, if you are worried about a home birth for safety reasons, it is most likely that you will not have any issues with a good midwife helping you to plan the event.

3. Delivering At Home Could Be More Beneficial to Baby – Some research has suggested that babies born at home are more likely to be healthy. There are several reasons why this could be true, including:

• the baby will stay with the mother continually after birth, eliminating stress due to separation and encouraging an easier bond.
• the baby could be born with natural antibodies from the mother to germs in the home surroundings; whereas in a hospital, the germs present could be foreign and cause health issues.
• less stress during delivery for the mom can often mean a healthier baby at birth.

If you have been considering a home delivery, be sure you talk openly with a professional midwife, like those at Women’s Healthcare Associates LLC, about the downfalls and benefits that you should be aware of in advance. Making the right choice is all about educating yourself about every aspect of home birth and what it could mean for you and your child.