Hearing is one of the most often overlooked aspects of a physical exam. Physicians rarely ask patients about their hearing, and most people never think about getting their hearing checked (at least half of all Americans have not had a hearing exam within the past five years). Enter uHear (TM), a hearing test application for the Apple iPhone. The authors claim that the program can identify potential hearing loss, especially among the predominantly young population that uses the device. This is the group most at risk for hearing loss with 84 percent saying they’ve turned up their MP3 players loud enough to block out noise in everyday situations such as at home, on the street, or while on transportation. This is enough to cause long term hearing loss. Currently, it is believed that there are at least 30 million Americans with hearing loss and a great many of them are under the age of 35. Read more.
Do you have experience with hearing loss? Share your comments here.
Tags: Apple, hearing loss, iPhone, loud, MP3, uHear
Dr. Steven Chang, the author of DailyDose, is a staff physician with Kosmix RightHealth. Dr. Chang practices Family Medicine at the University of California Davis Medical Center, where his medical interests include both pediatric and geriatric care, public health, gay and lesbian health, and sleep medicine. Dr. Chang trained at the Stanford University affiliated O'Connor Hospital, and was a research fellow at the National Institute of Health. He holds an M.D. from McGill University and a BA in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.
May 9th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
Lost my hearing in my left ear about 25 years ago. Never did any thing about it because the hearing aids where large and the sound coming through them was a little strange to say the least. I am now seriously looking for a small to medium aid to help with my hearing. My hearing went out when I was in my garge cuting a board with a dull blade on a circular saw. The noise was loude and there was a high pitch sound coming from the saw. My ear poped like a altitued change but never came back.
May 9th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
Forgive my bad spelling. I must have lost that over the years.
May 9th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
I have known of my hearing loss for over 30 years. I would love hearing aids but they are never covered by insurance and are very expensive (approximately $2,000 per ear). So even though you find that you do have a hearing loss, many people are unable to do anything about it other than asking people to speak up and turning the TV or music up.
May 13th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
Dear Jay, hearing aid are expensive but if you go to a ear,nose and throat specialist they will check your ears and the Insurance usually covers that. They will put you in a booth and see how much hearing loss you have. I went and I been loosing my hearing for a long time. I have nerve damage in my right ear and hearing loss. I have hearing loss in my left ear. I only got one and they put it in your better ear. Mine was $1,700.00. They let you try one and if you don’t like it they’ll give you another one to try. Mine is a Resound ziga, it goes over your ear and in your ear. It has a sound ajustment. I think you can make payments. So far I am very pleased as I can hear things I haven’t heard in a long time. You’re worth it so go get your ears checked. Love in Christ, Grace
May 18th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
I’ve never been asked about my hearing by my physician though I should bring it up since I play Taiko. About 4-8 hours a week, I’m in a room with 20 drummers, and I’m sure that’s effected my hearing.