Do I Need a Hearing Aid?!

Question: Do I Need a Hearing Aid?

When I was very young (like 2-4 years old) my eardrum ruptured and it left ALOT of scar tissue in my eardrum. I have been noticing that when I'm in a crowd of people, I cannot hear the person talking right infront of and next to me. It just sounds like mumbles. My bad ear feels like it is clogged up and it will never pop. Also, when I am in band class, my ears feel different on either sides when the music is being played.
Do I need a hearing aid or a little microphone for my bad ear?

Answers:

Your eardrum conducts sound to 3 little bones called the ossicular chain, which then presses on your cochlea which is the nerve center where hearing perception occurs. What happens when you have scar tissue on your eardrum, is that the sound does not get delivered to your cochlea as efficiently as in your good ear and things sound distorted and can make it harder to hers in noisy situations. The good news is that in most situations where the eardrum is the problem, amplification can easily help. The signal just needs to be loud enough to get through the scarred eardrum and then sound can be heard by the cochlea. You should visit a licensed Audiologist (not a hearing aid dispenser) who can give you a hearing test and determine how severe your hearing is affected, if it is just the eardrum and/or the cochlea that is affecting your hearing and determine if a hearing aid or a different type of device will work for you.

I am an Audiology doctoral student

Think that the best answer is for you to see an ENT and have your hearing tested. When this has been done then the ENT will be able to tell you if you have a hearing loss and whether hearing aids will help

I'm hard of hearing and wear hearing aids

Only a doctor can tell you, I suggest you go see one.

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Do I Need a Hearing Aid?!

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