AB Listening Adventures (iPad only)
Caregivers and therapists will appreciate this app for children with hearing loss ages 4 to 10. The program is designed to guide development of listening and language skills using six different story-based games which focus on listening for multiple elements, plurals, pronouns or minimal pairs.

VocAB Scenes (iPad only)
Children with hearing loss ages 4 to 10 will enjoy learning vocabulary with this app’s fun scenes, featuring outside water fun, beach play, pet store, swimming pool, camping and winter fun. Caregivers or therapist guide the child in listening exercises using three different games for each scene to promote listening and language development.

LACE Auditory Training 
Children and adults can practice listening and communication skills on their personal computer, iPad or Android device with LACE, a daily training program designed to help develop strategies for communicating in difficult hearing situations. Each online training session lasts approximately 20 minutes.

Forbrain®
Forbrain® uses the power of voice to improve attention span, concentration, memory, elocution and pronunciation. Users (both children and adults) wear Forbrain’s unique bone-conduction headphone with a dynamic filter microphone while speaking out loud or to another person. The creators recommend using the program a few minutes each day for at least six weeks.

Since studies link hearing loss to mental conditions such as anxiety and depression, it’s in your best interest to give your brain a good workout. Why not improve your hearing and play games at the same time?

HAPPYneuron
Use games and challenges to stimulate cognitive functions with HAPPYneuron. The brain training program, scientifically developed by a neurologist, is customized to your natural ability with games designed to help you remember more, concentrate better, react quicker, think sharper and increase confidence. To give your brain and ears a workout, play the games specifically focused on sound. A subscription required; however, there is a seven-day free trial.

Lumosity
Try this as a free app on your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch or sign up for a membership and play games online. Either way, you’ll enjoy challenging your brain with daily workouts specifically adapted to your cognitive level with games developed by a team of scientists experienced in neuropsychological research.

While online brain games are fun, you can also do some daily hearing exercises at home. The following activities are best when practiced with a partner.

• Practice having conversations in noisy situations by simulating those environments at home. You can do this easily by turning on the radio or television to a normal volume, then have a conversation with others in the same room. Focus on the conversation while tuning out all other sound.

• Close your eyes and ask your partner to quietly move to different parts of the room and make noise. Can you identify the direction of the sound? How about the distance?

No partner? No problem! Here are a few solo activities to do at your convenience:

• Meditate. Because so much of sound recognition occurs in the brain, finding ways to improve concentration is beneficial for your hearing. Many different types of meditation exist, but perhaps the easiest way to begin is to sit quietly in a comfortable position, relax with your eyes closed and breathe deeply, focusing on the sound of your breath. Like any new activity, meditation takes practice. Begin with a few minutes every morning and increase by one or two minutes as you become comfortable.

• Sound isolation. This active listening exercise helps your brain practice recognizing sounds. Find a comfortable place to sit and close your eyes. Identify as many of the sounds in your environment as you can, then isolate each one and focus your attention on it for a few seconds.

If you’re already a yogi, you understand the health benefits yoga provides. Did you know it can help with your hearing, too? Yoga poses, such as tree pose, lotus pose, cobra pose and triangle pose, increase circulation in your ear and brain.
Good circulation is important for healthy nerve functions and also removes waste and toxins. If you’re not interested in practicing yoga in a studio, look into the many free videos available on YouTube. If your doctor agrees you’re healthy enough, chances are good yoga will help you feel better as well as hear better, too.

No matter how you choose to exercise this year, we want to partner with you to make hearing health a priority. Search our website for articles on hearing health, use our Find a Professional section to locate a trusted hearing center near you, or engage with us online. We believe better hearing is a personal journey — and we're with you every step of the way.

Earwax is a naturally produced substance that protects the ear canal. It is a mixture of skin, sweat, hair, and debris (such as shampoo and dirt) held together with a fluid secreted by glands inside the ear canal. The ear canals are self-cleaning.
Earwax helps filter dust, keeps the ears clean, and protects the ear canal from infection. Normally, earwax is a self-draining liquid that does not cause problems. Children produce a lot of earwax, which tapers off as they grow older.
Earwax will not become deeply impacted unless it is pushed in. The ear canal may become blocked (impacted) when attempts to clean the ear with cotton swabs, bobby pins, or a finger push wax deeply into the ear canal. Impacted earwax may cause some hearing loss or other problems, such as ringing in the ears (tinnitus), a full feeling in the ears, or vertigo. Poking at the wax with cotton swabs, your fingers, or other objects usually only further compacts the wax against the eardrum.
Most earwax problems can be handled with home treatment. Professional help may be needed to remove tightly packed earwax.

Do not try to remove earwax if there is ear pain or a discharge that looks different than earwax if you think there is a ruptured eardrum, if you have had ear surgery, or if there are tubes in the ears.

• Soften and loosen the earwax with warm mineral oil or a mixture of hydrogen peroxide mixed with an equal amount of room temperature water. Place 2 drops of the fluid, warmed to body temperature, in the ear twice a day for up to 5 days. Be sure to warm the fluid because cold fluid can cause pain and dizziness.

• Once the wax is loose and soft, all that is usually needed to remove it from the ear canal is a gentle, warm shower. Direct the water into the ear, then tip the head to let the earwax drain out. Dry the ear thoroughly with a hair dryer set on low. Hold the dryer several inches (centimeters) from the ear.

• If the warm mineral oil and shower don't work, use a nonprescription wax softener followed by gentle flushing with an ear syringe each night for a week or two. Make sure the flushing solution is body temperature. Cool or hot fluids in the ear can cause dizziness.

• Never use cotton swabs, bobby pins, or other objects to clean the ear.

• Do not use a dental irrigation device, such as a Water Pik, to remove earwax. The force of the water injures the ear canal and ruptures the eardrum.

Do not use ear candles. They have no proven benefit in the removal of earwax and can cause serious injury.

Call your doctor if any of the following occur during home treatment:
Other symptoms develop, such as ear pain, hearing loss, ringing in the ears, dizziness, severe itching, or bad smelling discharge from the ear.
Symptoms become more severe or frequent.

Earwax is a protective substance produced in the ear canal. It usually flows out of the ear by itself without problems. In general, the best way to prevent infection or impacted earwax is to leave earwax alone.

But ringing in the ears that does not get better or go away is an ear condition called tinnitus. You may hear a sound, such as a ringing or a roaring nobody else can hear. The sound may be constant, or it may come and go. The most common cause of tinnitus is hearing loss that occurs with aging, but it can also be caused by living or working around loud noises.

Prolonged exposure to loud sounds is the most common cause of tinnitus. Up to 90% of people with tinnitus have some level of noise-induced hearing loss. The noise causes permanent damage to the sound-sensitive cells of the cochlea, a spiral-shaped organ in the inner ear. Carpenters, pilots, rock musicians, street-repair workers, and landscapers are among those whose jobs put them at risk, as are people who work with chain saws, guns, or other loud devices or who repeatedly listen to loud music. A single exposure to a sudden extremely loud noise can also cause tinnitus (firecrackers).

A variety of other conditions and illnesses can lead to tinnitus, including:

• Blockages of the ear due to a buildup of wax or an ear infection

• Certain drugs -- most notably aspirin. Tinnitus is cited as a potential side effect for about 200 prescription and nonprescription drugs.

• Neck or jaw problems, such as temporomandibular joint (TMJ) syndrome

• Injuries to the head and neck

• For reasons not yet entirely clear to researchers, stress and fatigue seem to worsen tinnitus.

Follow the rule of “cant’s” (things to avoid):
CAFFEINE
ASPIRIN or aspirin products in large quantities
NOISE
TOBACCO
STRESS