HearingCoach brochure (English)

Preventivehearing healthcare I’ll listen to that

Have your hearing checked annually as a preventive measure

Preventive hearing healthcare

Hearing damage caused by noise… the most common occupational disease!

What can your ears handle? The risk of hearing impairment depends on both the volume and the duration of expo sure to noise. A warning sign that you’ve had an overdose of noise is a ringing sound in your ear, or experiencing muffled sound for more than 24 hours.

Music: the louder the better?Loud music during music concerts and festivals or on the iPod is very enjoyable, but at the same time poses major hearing impairment risks*. One out of ten young people between the ages of 16 and 30 have already suffered damage to their hearing. And another 20,000 youngsters are added to the numbers every year – the so-called iPod generation. * Note: Noise is also harmful to unborn babies. The amniotic

fluid and stomach wall only muffle 5 decibels of sound. Sounds

that are harmful to you are harmful to your baby too!

‘Pardon?’One of the first signs of hearing impairment is difficulty with understanding speech. You can hear someone talking, but can’t under-stand what is being said. Initially this is most noticeable in noisy environments such as on trains, in cafés and at nightclubs. As the dam-age worsens, you will also experience difficul-ty in quiet environments. You will notice that you gradually turn up the radio or TV more at home.

Prevent hearing damageDamage to your hearing cannot be cured. You can, however, prevent it. Excessively loud music, noise from machines or environmental noise destroys the outer hair cells in your cochlea. Once they have died, the hearing damage is permanent and irreversible. Even a hearing aid will not resolve the problem.

Serious impact on your lifeLoss of hearing acuity or a permanent whistling sound in your ear means diminished quality of life and impacts your social life. Even your op-portunities in the job market reduce markedly. Normal hearing ability is an increasingly impor-tant job requirement.

75 dB: max 8 hours78 dB: max 4 hours81 dB: max 2 hours84 dB: max 1 hours87 dB: max ½ hour90 dB: max ¼ hour

Hearing damage in a nutshell

Complaints beeping noise in your ear loss of hearing acuity problems understanding speech

Causes loud music noise at work environmental noise

Consequences diminished quality of life dwindling social contact compromised position in the job market

Treatment cannot be cured hearing aid does not help preventive hearing healthcare is the only effective treatment

150 dBPeaks at a

rock concert

130 dBJackhammer

140 dBFirearmSiren

110 dBSmall aircraft

Rock music

120 dBCar radioJet plane

70 dBHeavy traffic

Vacuum cleaner

80 dBAlarm clock

90 dBLawnmower

Train

100 dBChainsawDrill

50 dBRain

60 dBNormal conversationDishwasher

30 dBWhispering

Library

40 dBQuiet roomHum of the refrigerator


In the western world, noise induced hearing loss has become the most common occupational disease. Unfortunately, once hearing damage has occurred, it can never be reversed. Hearing damage is permanent, so make sure you avoid it and have a preventive hearing scan done on a regular basis. This test will show the status of your hearing and whether you need to take preventive measures to avoid (further) damage to your hearing.

HearingCoach developed the preventive hearing scan for detec-tion of hearing impairment as early as possible. Ask about this new examination technique!

Preventive hearing scan early detection of hearing damage

The damage to your hearing is shown as a per-centage: the OHC damage index. The higher this percentage, the more outer hair cells are damaged and the harder it is to understand speech. You can hear someone talking, but can’t understand what is being said. Initially you will notice this mainly in noisy environ-ments, but later even when it is quieter.

The result not in decibels, but in percentages

Not a traditional beep tone testThe traditional beep test we’ve all had at some point only detects hearing impairment when it is already too late. A more effective technique is Otoacoustic Emissions (OAEs). The Hearing-Coach Professional uses this method to test the functioning of the outer hair cells and damage is revealed in a very early stage - even before

Outer earOtoscopy

Middle earTympanometry

Inner earOtoacoustic Emissions (OAEs)

healthy outer hair cells

tympanic membrane(eardrum)

auditorycanal

cochlear nerve

cochlea

damaged outer hair cells

damage to outer hair cells is irreversible

What do these percentages mean?

0-40%

You either have no, or the very early start of, hearing impairment. You have no difficulty un-derstanding others, even in challenging listen-ing conditions.

40-85%

You notice that you sometimes have difficulty following a conversation, especially in noisy sit-uations such as making calls on a bus, during a noisy meeting or in a café or nightclub.

> 85% This does not mean that you are almost deaf, but that you have difficulty understanding speech, even in a quiet environment. You al-ways turn the TV up.

OHC damage index Right ear Left ear

First measurementDate: % %

Previous measurementDate: % % Present measurementDate: % %

you experience any bother yourself or there is any sign of hearing impairment!

During a preventive hearing scan, the outer ear, middle ear and inner ear are successively examined.

Compare your results to previousmeasurements:

If the percentage has stayed the same com-pared to the previous measurement, you are doing the right things!

If the percentage has dropped by more than 10%, it is possible that you had a cold when the previous measurement was taken or per-haps that you were not ‘noise neutral’, which means that you were exposed to noise just prior to the measurement and weren’t wear-ing hearing protection.

If the percentage has increased by more than 10% compared to the previous measure-ment, your ears were inadequately protected in the interim period. Ask your HearingCoach about the preventive measures that can be taken to prevent further damage!

ossicles

vestibular system


Safe and Sound Hearing

www.hearingcoach.com - [email protected] -

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What you can do to prevent hearing damage

Your HearingCoach Card even when you can’t see us, we’re there!

Mapping out your personal exposure to noise, both at work and at home. This al-lows us to compile a risk profile. This will tell you what your chances are of need-ing a hearing aid later in life, should you not take any preventive measures now.

Examining your hearing using a preven-tive hearing scan. Should it show that you are susceptible to hearing damage your HearingCoach will support you with advice and help prevent things getting worse.

Selecting and checking your hearing protectors. Those with a high risk of suf-fering hearing damage would do well to acquire custom made earplugs. They have a perfect fit and offer maximum protection provided they completely seal off your ear canal. For that reason we check custom made hearing protectors for leaktightness as a rule, which ensures that you don’t walk around with a false sense of safety.

Personal coaching. During the individual coaching session you will learn exactly what your risk is, what the situation re-garding your hearing is, what measures you should take and what you should look out for. The value of personal coaching is far beyond that of any other kind of training or support.

If your percentage of damaged hair cells in-creases by more than 10% compared to a pre-vious measurement or is higher than expect-ed, there is a structural problem. It would be wise to start following a preventive hearing healthcare Program. This means that you will automatically be reminded every year to par-ticipate in the Healthy Hearing Program* and you will be coached by a professional to avoid further damage to your hearing.

The Healthy Hearing ProgramPreventing damage to hearing is tricky, as there are 4 different factors at play: Noise, Hearing Protection, Hearing, and Behaviour. The pow-er of the Healthy Hearing Program lies in these factors being systematically mapped out, and where necessary, preventive or corrective meas-ures immediately being implemented. Its mod-ular nature makes the Program flexible enough so that a personalised plan can be created for your needs, while taking into account changing circumstances.

Professional coachingThe Healthy Hearing Program is exclusively of-fered by qualified professionals, called Hear-ingCoaches. Their background as audiologist or hearing aid specialist guarantees quality as-surance on the one hand, and a perfect match between preventive and curative care on the other. They are the kingpins in a successful pre-ventive hearing healthcare Program.

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hearing protection

behaviour

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When you set out on your preventive hearing healthcare program, you will receive a Hear-ingCoach Card. You can use it to check your results on the internet and print them out too. The information could be useful to your doctor or as additional information to your personal medical file.

Your hearing healthcare program online Once logged in, select ‘My Healthy Hearing Pro-gram’ to see when a module was last checked. You can view and print the results by clicking on ‘My report’. Under ‘My measurements’ you will see a chronological list of all the tests that were conducted. This gives you access to all your past results. By clicking on ‘My settings’ you can se-lect or deselect the automatic reminder to go for a check-up, change your e-mail address, and register to receive HearingCoach Alerts (brief newsflashes and/or interesting facts). If you click on ‘My Helpdesk’ you will see the contact details of our customer service department as well as those of your personal HearingCoach.

How do you log in?On the back of your HearingCoach Card you will see a number. Make sure that you always have this number handy.Go to www.hearingcoach.comIn the menu bar, click on ‘My HearingCoach Login’Follow the instructions from there.

* Nominated as Best Practise by the European Agency for

Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA)



HearingCoach International B.V.

Mr. F.J. Haarmanweg 754538 AN TerneuzenNetherlands

T: +31 (0)115 617 230F: +31 (0)115 621 615

[email protected]

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HearingCoach brochure (English)

Healthcare

Transcript of HearingCoach brochure (English)