Hearing - How does hearing work?
Hearing is crucial for one of the most important human senses - hearing. It is also central to the sense of balance. In order to hear, sound transmitted through the air is directed from the auricles into the ear. The sound travels through the external auditory canal via the middle ear to the inner ear. In the inner ear, the sound is converted into electrical nerve impulses. The auditory nerve transmits this newly acquired information to the auditory center of the brain. Hearing processing ultimately takes place in the brain, resulting in an auditory impression.
Hearing structure - How is hearing structured?
The auditory system is made up of the outer, middle and inner ear. The auditory canal can be divided into the inner and outer auditory canal. What is visible from the outside of the ear is the outer ear. If you look inside, you can see the outer ear canal. The inner ear canal, on the other hand, is part of the inner ear. You can find more information on the anatomy of the ear here.
Poor hearing - What to do if you have poor hearing
A healthy ear can perceive even the finest nuances in the environment.The ear distinguishes important from unimportant sound signals and thus enables speech perception even in the presence of ambient noise. This makes it all the more limiting when hearing deteriorates.
Deterioration of hearing can have a variety of causes, including stress, strokes, increasing age, but also excessive noise exposure. If you have the feeling that your hearing has deteriorated, you should definitely have this checked and start treatment with hearing aids if necessary.Dementia hearing - What does dementia have to do with hearing?
Although the connections are not yet fully understood, findings indicate that untreated hearing loss increases the risk of dementia. If the hearing loss is severe, the risk is even assumed to increase fivefold. Accordingly, treatment should be started as soon as possible at the first signs of deteriorating hearing. In this way, you can actively prevent undesirable consequences.
Artificial hearing - cochlear implant
Artificial hearing in the form of a cochlear implant (CI) is a way of restoring hearing ability to a certain degree. A CI is suitable under various conditions. Intensive hearing training is required after implantation, but even with this, hearing will never be "as before".