Category Archives: AUDIO BM

Sometimes parents find themselves in a situation when they cant really be sure about their childs hearing. We all know kids tend to ignore us from time to time, but what if there actually is a problem there? How would you know? If you feel like the problems became more obvious and need to be a evaluated by the doctor look no further.

American speech-language-hearing association released a list of skills a child should be able to complete for couple of age groups. Follow the list for the age group your child belongs to and answer with a YES or NO. Any negative answers are the missed out skills that could be mentioned to the childs doctor so the evaluation of problem can be done easier. Allthough keep in mind that some tasks might be reachable at the upper age limit. 

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Age 0 – 3 months

Reacts to loud noises.

Calms down or smiles when spoken to.

Recognizes your voice and calms down if crying.

When feeding starts or stopes sucking in response to sound.

Coos and makes pleasure sounds.

Has a special way of crying for different needs.

Smiles when he or she sees you.

Age 4 – 6 months

Follows sounds with eyes.

Responds to changes in the tone of your voice.

Notices toys make sounds.

Pays attention to music.

Babbles in a speech-like way and uses many different sounds, including those that begin with p, b, and m.

Laughs.

Babbles when excited or unhappy.

Makes gurgling sounds when alone or playing with you.

Ages 7 months – 1 yeah

Enjoys playing peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake.

Turns and looks in the direction of sounds.

Listens when spoken to.

Understand words for common items such as »cup«, »shoe« or »juice«.

Responds to requests (»come here«).

Babbles to get and keep attention.

Communicates using gestures such as waving or holding up arms.

Imitates different speech sounds.

Has one or two words (»hi«, »dog«, »mama« or »dada«) by first birthday.

Age 1 – 2 years

Knows a few parts of the body and can point to them when asked.

Follows simple commands (»roll the ball«) and understands simple questions (»where is your shoe?«).

Enjoys simple stories, songs and rhymes.

Points to pictures, when names, in books.

Acquires new words on a regular basis.

Uses some one- or two-word questions (»Where kitty?« or »go bye-bye?«).

Puts two words together (»more cookie«).

Uses many different consonant sounds at the begining of words.

Age 2 – 3 years

Has a word for almost everything.

Uses two- or three-word phrases to talk about and ask for things.

Uses k, g, f, t, d and n sounds.

Speaks in a way that is understood by family and friends.

Names objects to ask for them or to direct attention to them.

Age 3 – 4 years

Hears you when you call from another room.

Hears the television or radio at the same sound level as other family members.

Answers simple »who?« »what?« »where?« and »why?« questions.

Talks about activities at daycare, preschool or friends homes.

Uses sentences with four or more words.

Speaks easily without having to repeat syllables or words.

Age 4-5 years

Pays attention to a short story and answers simple questions about it.

Hears and understands most of what is said at home and in school.

Uses sentences that give many details.

Tells stories that stay on topic.

Communicates easily with other children and adults.

Says most sounds correctedly except for a few (l, s, v, r, z, ch, sh, th).

Uses rhyming words.

Names some letters and numbers.

Uses adult grammar.

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Keep in mind that even if you checked some with a »no« it does not mean that your child is having some sort of hearing loss. This list will only help your doctor to understand the scale of the problem that you have noticed. If your pedietrician agrees with a possible hearing loss and if it happens to be confirmed by a specialist call one of AUDIO BM hearing centers, our acousticians have a lot of experiences with children and hearing loss, some of us also attended special pediatric hearing loss educational courses and we will be glad to help you and your child when you will need it the most.

When fluids build up behind the eardrum the middle ear gets an infection caused by bacteria that entered the environment which is unfortunately perfect for them to live in.

Children might not always mention having earache, they could have fever or the erea around the ear could can be swollen. Then the symptoms might also be trouble hearing, balance problems, a child might get fussy or the most obvious, fluid coming from the ear canal.

As we mentioned the dark, moisturized and warm environment in the ear canal is perfect for bacteria to end up in after some other illnesses such as sore throat, cold, etc. But why is it that adults don’t get their ears infected as often as children? The answer is nose.

Nose and ears are connected by the tube and because kids don’t know how to properly clean their nose, along with their small fallopian tubes that are much more in line with the ears than the adults, they have the perfect combination for the inevitable ear infection.

What happens when the ear infections, despite the treatments and percautions, keep returning? In these cases a small ventilation tube is inserted to prevent fluids from building up behind the eardrum. Tubes fall out on their own, before that it is important to stop water from entering the ear canal. From our products we recommend in the very beginning a special ear band that comes along with silicone ear plugs and when the three week period after the surgery pass it is safe to take the ear canal print and create a special custom made earplugs for which we can guarantee no water will come through.

To avoid ear infections it is best to use protection while swimming, don’t let your children get their head under the water, avoid public swimming pools, children souldn’t drink while laying down and if you are using saline solution for nose cleaning do it only when your child is sitting up, if the child is laying down it might all flow from the nose along the tubes directly to the middle ear and cause more trouble.

Any health percautions are great but keeping hands clean is by far most important. Also limit time on public playgrounds, specially the indoor ones and keep your children away from those who are showing signs of illness. Another important fact has recently been discovored, children who have been exposed to cigarette smoke are much more likely to get multiple ear infections in their childhood than those who hasnt been exposed to it, so keep them away from smoke and don’t let anyone light up a cigarette inside your house.

We have several products to help you keep your childs ears safe, stop by our nearest AUDIO BM hearing center or give us a call and we will be glad to give you the best advice.

Hearing aids consist of several important parts which can’t work properly without a quality set of batteries. Does it really make a difference? Are they really the best on the market? Will you get more for your money?

Yes! You will receive the best batteries in our hearing centers and yes, you will get more for your money. Not only more working time but also more clarity and intelligibility.

Each hearing aid requires it’s own type of batteries, some last 2-3 days while others 20-22 days. It all depends on the size of the hearing aid or the space left fort he battery. We also have to mention rechargeable batteries which might be ok but even those have to be replaced and the cost of those is bit over the price of single use batteries you would have to buy in the same period of time.

So how can you ensure taht the batteries will perform at their maximum? Follow these few steps.

– Keep the dead batteries away from the new ones. Dispose the properly. (Also important, don’t keep them close to any other metal objects, so they don’t became a danger to anyone who touches them after they start to leak).

– Keep the surface and hands clean when you change the batteries.

– Dont keep the batteries on direct sun, heat, moisture or in the refrigerator. Room temperature is perfect.

– While not using the hearing aid, open the battery door. That way batteries use less power and the moisture can be drawn out.

– Keep in mind that not all batteries perform the same. Try out different series and find wich ones are best for you.

– Remove the sticker right before the battery will be used.

– Remember to remove the battery if you have no intention of wearing the hearing aid any time soon. Leaving it in for too long would be dangerous since it might start leaking.

You are wellcome to check the battery offer at our hearing centers. You’ll find hearing aid batteries 10, 13, 312, 675 from a few different manufacturers and special 675 batteries designed for implants, last month we added a new series of batteries which have allready been tested by some of our customers and the feedback is great. Batteries last longer nad their performance is great.

For regular customers we offer special prices, get more information at AUDIO BM hearing centers.

Living with hearing loss is more or less  mistery to those with normal hearing, on the other hand living with an individual who doesn’t hear is daily challenging.

Individuals might not notice the hearing loss or think it’s not noticable, because it doesn’t happen over night, it occurs gradually. Because the loss gives us time, people get used to the changes withouth even realising they happened.

That’s when you step in. You might notice the hearing loss sooner than others. The time is crucial, normally individuals take as much as 7 to 10 years before they seek for help, after such long period of time people have trouble adjusting to hearing aids because the brain got used to the loss. That would be the only problem if you’de be lucky. Normally people experience other health issues linked to hearing loss.

So how can we get our loved ones to get help? Why don’t they listen? Mostly because we tend to be frustrated and annoyed by their condition. And with all that even our speech changes and becames unintelligible. We should make some adjustements to our speech. Slow down, use simple and fewer words. Let them see your face while you are talking. Never communicate with anger or other strong negative emotions, they might cause resistance towards the solution or directlly to hearing aids.

Compassion is the most important. Our employees know how grateful customers are if you show compassion. They feel understood and accepted. They should feel how much you care fort hem. Mention how the family and friends miss they company ever since they stopped socializing. Explain why the symptoms cause so much negative energy around them. Try not to scare them but don’t forget to mention other heatlh issues that are linked to hearing loss, most known demetia and depression.

Finding a happy hearing aids user might also be effective. Get them together and talk about getting help and how beneficial it was. Hearing aid users might get some answers to questions you could never imagine existed.

Last but not least is patience. It wont only take time to get help, it might even take time to get used to wearing hearing aids. Couple trips to doctors and hearing centers are inevitable. Let your loved one know you are there and will be helping druing the process. You might be into for a rollercoaster experience but in the end it’ll all be worth it.

If you need some more information or material to get the conversation about hearing loss started stop by the nearest hearing center. Acoustician will provide the information and material you’ll need to get prepared. While there you can also book an appointment to test your loved ones hearing and more detailed talk about hearing aids.

Can’t get a break from »go get your hearing checked?« You’ve come to the right place. We know it can be difficult to deal with hearing loss and mostly people don’t realize how bad it is until others start to point out the problems that it’s causing. Because of the slow progression of the hearing loss caused by aging people tend to notice the loss years after it should be noticed. Along with it also comes fear or shame, we normally hear claims that it’s not so bad. But how bad is it? Do you want to know if you should get checked?

We have prepared 10 questions about hearing. You should keep track to how many of these you answered with “yes”. At the end you will find out how many affirmative answers is a minimum indicator to get your hearing checked.

Question no. 1

Is your TV volume higher than it is for the rest of your family (more than half scale up)?

Question no. 2

Are you reading peoples lips to understand the words?

Question no. 3

Do you hear but not always understand the words?

Question no. 4

Do you often ask people to repeat themselves?

Question no. 5

Do people ever inform you about your loud telephone conversations?

Question no. 6

Did others mention you might be experiencing hearing loss?

Question no. 7

Do you hear ringing or buzzing in your ears?

Question no. 8

Does it happen that you miss a phone, alarm or door-bell ringing?

Question no. 9

Do you notice troubles comunicationg in a group of three or more people?

Question no. 10

Do you often misunterstand what has been said to you?

If you have answered »yes« to at least three of the questions above it is time to give a nearby AUDIO BM hearing center a call and book a hearing test apointment. Reading these lines is also a sign that something might be happening with your hearing so make a first step to better & more audible life and let us help you.

Many of hearing tests done for young people end with a discovery that they are experiencing hearing loss. They never worked in a noisy environment, don’t remember having ear infections as a child. So what happend to their hearing? There are some other reasons but mostly in a conclusion the reason behind it is music.

Speaking of music, concerts and other events are normally really loud. Sometimes organizer try to and pays less for the sound system or thesound technician and if they fail to understand how much can they contribute to hearing loss, the danger is even greater. As an individual attending these events you need to take action before it is too late.

Hearing protection is also important for us, therefore we offer some solutions to protect your hearing and still be able to enjoy the music. There are two options, first are the silicone uni-size ear plug specially designed for music events, these are suitable for an occasional concert visitor. But if you live for concerts, spend most of your free time listening to music blasting out od concert speakers we recomend a professionall earplugs with fiolters made by the measures of your ears.

Concerts might bve dangerous, but still not as much as headphones. Young people tend to put the volume dangerously high to the point where permanent hearing loss could occur. By doing so, they lock themselves in their own careless and safe world by being unable to hear any outside sounds. But what they fail to realise is that such intense vibrations might permanently damage their hair cells and consequently cause hearing loss. Studies show that listening to music at max. volume for only 5 minutes per day will damage your hearing over short period of time.

Listening to music is what makes young people happy but not withouth some advice. First and most important is never turn the volume up to 100%. Keep in mind of the 60/60 rule. It means you should listen to music over headphones for not more than 60 minutes per day at top volume of 60%. Another important fact is also the design of the headphones. Avoid the earphones that are positioned straight into the ear canal, headphones that cover the entire ear are a lot safer.

Listen to your music with quality sound. It might be a bit more expensive at a time but can you really put a price on hearing?

Signs of hearing loss may vary. Individuals notice several different changes, first is normally the volume at which the sound is perceived, then there might be some changes with understanding speech. Individual experiencing hearing loss might hear speech but isn´t able to understand or clear it out from the background noise.

Some signs of hearing loss stand out as more common than others. We gathered some that are frequently noticed. Most common is watching TV or listening to music at really high volume that is too loud for others in the same room or if the hearing loss is worse the volume might disturb even people located on other floor in the building.

Hearing speech when there are three or more people talking in a noisy environment is practically impossible for an individual with hearing loss.

Individuals noticed increased need for repetition of the words said to them while speaker isn´t showing his mouth or if the speech is faster or more quiet than normal.

One of the most common complaints is that speech is heard but misunderstood. Therefore words that sound similar might be heard wrong and individuals fail to understand even simpler sentences.

If you notice any of these signs or your close ones warn you about your hearing book a visit at one of AUDIO BM hearing centers. Alongside with hearing aids we offer free hearing tests and counseling. See the contact information above.

Vibrations travelling through an elastic medium in a form of sound waves enter our ear canal with a little help of pinna, the outer part of the ear that directs the sound in the right way.

At some point the sound crashes into the eardrum which passes the vibrations through the bones into the inner ear. The vibrations are transformed into electrical signals and transfered by nerves directlly to our brain. And the music of life happens.

The outer ear consists of pinna and the external auditory canal, here the sound is caught and directed into the ear. Moving further there is eardrum and behind it the three ossicles (hammer, anvil and stirrup) and all these particles form the middle ear.

Eardrum is a membrane that vibrates when the soundwaves meets it, the vibrations are then sent from the membrane to ossicles and further into the inner ear or to be exact, to the snail-shaped, fluid-filled strucutre called cochlea which transforms the vibrations into the electrical signal and sends them by the auditory nerve into the brain.

Every single part of the hearing process needs to work perfectly if not, we experience hearing loss, when it happens, we are here for you.

Our acousticians are experts in their field, understanding hearing loss and pacients needs, visit us at our hearing centers and find best & more for your hearing.

We are hearing aid and hearing solutions distributor, offering excellent customer service and high quality hearing aids such as UNITRON (Canada) and SONIC (USA). Located in many towns across Slovenia, AUDIO BM Hearing Centers present an EXCELENT CHOICE for the hearing impaired as we provide hearing aids, comprehensive and professional hearing aid fitting, free hearing assessments and many other hearing solutions in one spot.

AN EXCELLENT CHOICE FOR BETTER HEARING!

We are aware that our work can influence your life in the future and that is why we try our best to provide excellent customer service and offer the latest hearing technology available, including the most modern hearing aids on the market and other professional hearing solutions at an affordable price.

Our mission is to provide life-changing support to the hearing impaired.

We deliver client – centered services and comprehensive solutions for better hearing and always assist our clients to achieve their highest potential, as they gain confidence and required knowledge to improve their communication with the world around them. We are truly committed to continuous learning and improvement, so we can always deliver excellent personal customer service and fulfil our clients’ needs and meet their expectations.

High quality batteries ensure good hearing aids and cochlear implant performance. We offer hearing aid and cochlear implant batteries made by German manufacturer PowerOne (VARTA group) and English/American manufacturer Rayovac (PRO LINE and EXTRA advanced series).

Cleaning and taking care hearing aids is very important and also very simple as we offer a variety of cleaning and care products made by French manufacturer MG Développment.

We offer a wide range of diverse EAR SAFE hearing protections and safety products. To avoid hearing loss in the first place, we recommend using custom made hearing protection earplugs. AUDIO BM is a certified manufacturer of DREVE hearing protection that meets the highest standards. Our custom hearing protection products are made using the latest 3D printing technology.

Custom made Voda X soft earplugs and headbands EAR BAND-IT provide great protection and will stop water from entering your ear. We also offer immediately available hearing protection made by Dutch manufacturer Alpine, which includes high quality soft earplugs that will protect your hearing against noise or water.  Special Alpine earplugs for children are also available.

We have to point out that we offer really affordable hearing solution in each and every AUDIO BM hearing center. You can take a free hearing assessment or try using hearing aids free of charge. We offer Unitron Flex:Trial trial period hearing aids that you can take home and try on different locations (unique in Slovenia). Our individual personal counseling will assure that you will choose the most appropriate hearing aid that will fulfil your hearing needs and meet your every expectation.

In AUDIO BM we blend youth with tradition of the world known manufacturers. We are a certified distributor and service for Unitron hearing aids (Canada), which is a part of Sonova group (Swiss) and Sonic hearing aids (USA), which are a part of Demant (Denmark).

People are always the main focus of our work. That goes for our customers – hearing aid users, coworkers and also our business partners. Because we want to keep our focus, we are extremely devoted to continuous professional and personal growth and development.

AUDIO BM, BEST & MORE for your hearing

Affordable high quality solutions for better hearing and better life!