HearingCoach brochure (English). Everything about preventive hearing care.

1. Preventive
hearing healthcare
I’ll listen to that
Have your hearing checked annually as
a preventive measure
Preventive
hearing healthcare

2. 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 expo­sure
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 damage
Damage 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 life
Loss 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 hours
78 dB: max 4 hours
81 dB: max 2 hours
84 dB: max 1 hours
87 dB: max ½ hour
90 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 dB
Peaks at a
rock concert
130 dB
Jackhammer
140 dB
Firearm
Siren
110 dB
Small aircraft
Rock music
120 dB
Car radio
Jet plane
70 dB
Heavy traffic
Vacuum cleaner
80 dB
Alarm clock
90 dB
Lawnmower
Train
100 dB
Chainsaw
Drill
50 dB
Rain
60 dB
Normal conversation
Dishwasher
30 dB
Whispering
Library
40 dB
Quiet room
Hum of the refrigerator
Preventive
hearing healthcare
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.

3. 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 test
The 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 ear
Otoscopy
Middle ear
Tympanometry
Inner ear
Otoacoustic Emissions (OAEs)
healthy outer
hair cells
tympanic membrane
(eardrum)
auditory
canal
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 measurement
Date: % %
Previous measurement
Date: % %
Present measurement
Date: % %
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 previous
measurements:
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
Preventive
hearing healthcare

4. Safe and Sound Hearing
www.hearingcoach.com - info@hearingcoach.com -
Name
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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 Program
Preventing 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 coaching
The 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.
noise
hearing
hearing protection
behaviour
noise
hearing
hearing protection
behaviour
noise
hearing
hearing protection
behaviour
noise
hearing
hearing protection
behaviour
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.com
In 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)
Preventive
hearing healthcare

5. Preventive
hearing healthcare
HearingCoach International B.V.
Mr. F.J. Haarmanweg 75
4538 AN Terneuzen
Netherlands
T: +31 (0)115 617 230
F: +31 (0)115 621 615
www.hearingcoach.com
info@hearingcoach.com
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