Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Patients Dealing with Hearing Loss

Sound helps enhance understanding of an object or surroundings – in the case of a forest, a casual chat or a snapped twig may carry dozens of feet. However, hearing can degrade with the passage of time due to age or other circumstances. If this has affected your patients’ regular activities to a major degree, they can file a claim for disability social security benefits. Here are some things you need to understand about this:

Prerequisite tests
There are prerequisites to meet under the Social Security Administration’s Blue Book. Evaluators state that your patients need to undergo a full otologic exam and audiometric tests within two months of each other. A doctor and an otolaryngologist in your team should be on the case, as well as an audiologist who’s trained to administer both procedures mentioned above. The medical practitioners’ records will be appended to your patients’ claim, along with files for the latter’s medical history.
Types of hearing loss
Some experts classify hearing loss in two major types: conductive hearing loss due to ear wax deposits, fluid buildup, or perforated eardrums, among others; and sensorineural hearing loss which may be caused by genetic defects, tumors, and excessive exposure to loud noises. Mixed hearing loss is a combination of the two. Knowing which of these your patients are experiencing can help them decide on possible solutions, and whether or not disability compensation for their condition is an option.

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