We’ve all experienced that phenomena where it sounds like you’re talking in a tunnel. You hear echoing that can make it feel like you have an uncontrollable head cold. What is causing this problem, and why do you experience it when you have your hearing aids in?
Echoing With Hearing Aids
The main reason you may hear echoing when you have your hearing aids in is that they aren’t set the correct way. When your hearing aids are not adjusted, they can create many uncontrollable hiccups. This can make daily communication frustrating for their wearers. When it comes to echoing, the occlusion effect may occur.
This effect happens when the outer ear canal has a solid object creating a clog. At low frequency levels, the hearing aid itself can cause vibrations of noise in the ear. This massive increase in acoustic pressure can make it seem like your voice is louder than it is. It’s best to have an audiological examination to see if you need to adjust your hearing aids. This can help get rid of the unwanted echoing noises.
Most audiologists will be able to assess your situation and determine how to fix the issue. There are four main adjustments that your audiologist can make, which include:
- Increasing their vent size
- Reprogramming your hearing aids
- Shortening the earmold canal
- Getting a completely new ear mold
Hear Echoing Without Hearing Aids?
If you don’t wear hearing aids but experience echoing, it could be an early warning sign of hearing loss. Diplacusis is a hearing loss symptom referred to as double hearing. When your body has trouble with your hearing, it can end up having both ears hear sounds at different rates.
One ear may hear a noise sooner than the other, which results in this echoing effect. Diplacusis binauralis is the technical term used when this happens with both ears. Diplacusis means that someone is experiencing double hearing in one of your ears.
Sometimes double hearing may be due to an underlying condition. This includes overexposure to loud noise, trauma to the head, or certain medications. Autoimmune disorders and ear infections can also cause this to happen. An audiologist will rule out these other factors before diagnosing diplacusis.
In some cases, fixing your double hearing may be as simple as removing excess earwax from your ear canal. In other cases, it could be an early sign of hearing problems that needs hearing aids to help you.
Call Us Today
If you hear echoing, schedule an appointment with our hearing professionals. We will check out any hearing loss problems that you may have. We can also make expert recommendations on what to do to treat the issue.
