Terrie Ziegler, Audiologist
EENT/Audiology
Eisenhower Army Medical Center
Hearing loss is an increasing health concern in this nation that is often preventable.
Taking time to see an audiologist for regular hearing screenings and knowing the signs of hearing loss can protect your hearing.
The World Health Organization designated March 3 as World Hearing Health Day to raise awareness to the growing numbers of those suffering from hearing loss and the importance of hearing health care.
In 2020, the WHO stated that approximately 466 million people worldwide have disabling hearing loss — 34 million of these are children. It’s estimated that, by 2050, approximately 900 million people worldwide (or 1 in 10) will have disabling hearing loss. The numbers continue to grow annually.
Have you stopped going to restaurants and social gatherings? Do you keep to yourself when in noisy environments? If you answer yes, you may have a hearing problem.
Some signs of hearing loss include trouble hearing conversation in a noisy environment such as restaurants, difficulty or inability to hear people talking to you without looking at them or a constant ringing in your ears.
The first step in treatment of a hearing problem is to get your hearing evaluated by an audiologist. A hearing evaluation will determine the degree of hearing loss you have and what can be done. Although most hearing loss is permanent, an audiologist can determine the best treatment, which may include hearing aids, assistive listening devices and hearing rehabilitation.
Active-duty military personnel generally receive annual hearing conservation testing during their periodic health assessment. A soldier will automatically be referred to the audiology clinic for a hearing evaluation if this testing shows a change in hearing or a change in hearing profile.
Diagnostic hearing evaluations, profiles with duty recommendations and hearing aid services are available at Eisenhower Army Medical Center’s Eye, Ear, and Nose Throat clinic.
Dependent family members of active-duty personnel are eligible for hearing evaluations in the audiology clinic, but are not eligible for hearing aid services through the clinic. They are usually eligible for hearing aids through TRICARE and will be referred to a local network provider for hearing aid services.
The Retiree-At-Cost Hearing Aid Program at EAMC is designed to help military retirees purchase state-of-the-art hearing aids at a significant savings. For example, a set of hearing aids (one of the best available) that retails for about $5,000 costs a retiree as little as $765 or about an 85 percent savings, compared to retail costs.
Services for the hearing evaluation, hearing aid fitting and follow up hearing aid checks are part of the retiree health benefits and are available at no costs to you. The program is open to all military retirees who have hearing loss.
Also, retirees may be eligible to receive hearing aids from the Department of Veterans Affairs and in most cases; there are no costs to the veteran.
The audiology department can provide you with more information about VA services or you may contact the VA directly at 1-877-222-8387 or 1-800-827-1000.
Dependents of retirees are not eligible for hearing aid services from this military treatment facility, including RACHAP, or from TRICARE. The family member is eligible for hearing evaluations and the audiologist can provide them with information about hearing aids.
For information or to schedule an appointment, call 706-787-7822 or 706-787-7155. The audiology clinic is located on the second floor of the hospital in the EENT clinic.
| Date Taken: | 03.07.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 03.08.2022 11:53 |
| Story ID: | 415923 |
| Location: | FORT GORDON, GA, US |
| Web Views: | 32 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Millions of Americans have hearing loss, by David White, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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