Are Digital Hearing Aids Worth the Money?

For decades, hearing aids used the same analog technology as radio and television. But when the digital revolution came along, it made sense that you would see a revolution in hearing aid technology in the form of new sophisticated hearing aids as well. The outcome is that when you are shopping for a new hearing aid, you now have a choice. Of course, the digital alterative might be more expensive. But at the same time, there are some real advantages to going digital in this area of your life like we all have in so many other ways.

One reason that new technology like modern hearing aids do come with a high price tag at first is that the research and development effort that goes on behind the scenes when a big breakthrough is brought to market is expensive. In some cases, new designs in hearing aid technology might take years to develop and test and all of that research has to be paid for. So when the hearing aid hits the market, much of that initial cost is there to pay off the tab from all the work it took to discover and test that technology.

For most of us, when we have made the change to digital technology in other areas of our lives, we are glad we did. That will be true when you make the switch to digital design in your hearing aid as the technology becomes more available to the rest of us. For one thing, a word that goes hand in hand with digital technology is miniaturization. So once we get used to hearing aids that take advantage of miniaturization, your hearing aid will get smaller so it is not as cumbersome to wear and not as noticeable as well.

Part of the big expense in developing and distributing these new designs in hearing aid research is that digital technology allows scientists to imbed computer chips right into your hearing aid. This will make your hearing aid a "smart hearing aid" that is able to make small adjustments and notice things about the atmosphere, noise level and other factors that can affect your ability to hear and it can make adjustments to the hearing aid settings to compensate for you.

In this way, the hearing aid of the future will be smart and do a much better job of working in any setting because of digital technology. And that technology isn’t centuries away, it is here right now and soon to become part of your life.

Of course, the price barrier in digital technology in the hearing aid industry will almost certainly come down. Just as has happened in every other area of technology, once competition gets into the market and what might be an "exotic" feature in hearing aids becomes more common, the price will come down and make it possible for everyone to afford all of these nice features. So it might just be a waiting game to let the market catch up with the technology before you make the transition to a digital answer to your hearing loss correction technology.

Allergic Contact Dermatitis

Allergic contact dermatitis is an inflammation resulting from exposure of the skin to a substance to which the individual is allergic. Irritant contact dermatitis, in contrast, is an irritation of the skin caused by a chemical, in which allergy is not a factor. The number and variety of chemicals that can cause allergic contact dermatitis is vast, ranging from the well-known plants of the poison ivy family to obscure chemicals of which the individual may be totally unaware. This problem is distinct from the problem of irritant contact dermatitis, though the rashes may be very similar in appearance.

Only a very small number of individuals are allergic to most chemicals, while as much as 50 percent of the population is allergic to poison ivy. After exposure to some chemicals (e.g. dinitrochlorobenzene), almost everyone will develop an allergy. Infants, children, and old people are generally less suscep­tible to the development of skin allergies.

After the allergenic substance comes in contact with the skin, the rash usually develops one or two days later. If the individual has never before been exposed to the chemical or to a similar sub­stance, it will take a week or more for him to become allergic to it and develop a rash. This is called the latent or incubation period.

Once an allergy of this type is established it tends to persist for many years. If one area of the skin, no matter how small, becomes allergic to a substance, the skin of the entire body will also be allergic to it.

Exposure to the offending chemical or plant may be brief and casual, but all that is required for a rash to develop is that some of the chemical penetrate the superficial layers of the skin. (This takes only about ten minutes in the case of poison ivy oils.) Many people with allergic contact dermatitis have no idea what caused their rash, because of the brevity of exposure and the delay in the development of the rash. Frequently, they fail to notice or iden­tify the substance at the time of exposure.

In milder cases of allergic contact dermatitis, the rash may consist only of redness, bumps, and mild to moderate itching. Severe cases develop swelling, blisters, oozing and crusts, and severe itching. The rash often appears as a haphazard distribution of streaks and patches, especially with plant allergies. In later stages of the rash, the skin becomes thickened, dry, and scaly; cracking and chapping may occur. The rash of allergic contact dermatitis usually lasts about ten to fifteen days, but may last longer if the dermatitis is severe or secondary infection develops.

A common fallacy is that the rash "spreads" via" the fluid that drains from the blisters. Other areas may develop the dermatitis over a period of several days, but this is caused by varying amounts of the chemical on skin sites that have different degrees of sensitivity. For example, bits of the plant or its sap under the nails can spread the rash. The skin around the eyes and the skin of the neck, groin, and genitalia is the most sensitive, while the scalp, palms, and soles are the most resistant to contact derma­titis, whether irritant or allergic.