Can anyone with hearing loss benefit from using hearing aids?
Most individuals with hearing loss can be helped with hearing aids and devices. It is important, however, to understand that hearing aids can help an individual hear, but that they do not restore hearing loss to normal hearing. Many individuals wear eyeglasses due to some problems with the lenses of the eyes (near- or farsightedness, etc.), They may experience normal vision while wearing them. However, individuals with optic (visual) nerve involvement may derive some benefit from using glasses, yet still experience some vision problems because of nerve damage or pathology in the visual system. By comparison, the majority of individuals with hearing loss have some sensorineural (nerve) involvement. This type of hearing loss is, for the most part, permanent and may not respond to nor require medical intervention. Yet individuals with nerve hearing loss usually experience improvement in communication when using amplification.
