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The Ontario Infant Hearing Program: A Parent’s Guide to Newborn Hearing Screening

Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash Few things matter more to new parents than knowing their baby is healthy. Among the screening tests offered shortly after birth, the newborn hearing screening is one of the most important yet often overlooked. Hearing plays a critical role in a child’s early development, supporting speech and language acquisition, communication, learning, and social interaction. Identifying any hearing differences as early as possible gives families and healthcare professionals the best opportunity to provide timely support. Ontario has had a universal newborn hearing screening program in place since the early 2000s, delivered through the Infant Hearing Program

What Your Audiologist Needs to Know About Your Health and Daily Life

A hearing test is an important part of understanding your hearing, but it doesn’t tell your audiologist everything. Your health, daily routine, listening environments, and personal goals can all influence the type of hearing care that may work best for you. Knowing what to tell your audiologist helps them see the full picture. A recent health change, a new challenge at work, or difficulty following conversations in restaurants may seem unrelated to your appointment, but these details can provide useful context. The more specific you can be, the easier it is to build a hearing care plan around your real life.

A man holding his ear, showing signs of Tinnitus pain

Understanding Tinnitus And Why It Happens

Tinnitus is often described as ringing in the ears, but it can sound different from person to person. Some people hear buzzing, humming, hissing, clicking, or even a whooshing sound, even when there is no outside noise causing it. For some, it comes and goes. For others, it can become a constant background sound. Tinnitus is also more common than many people realize. More than 40% of Canadians will experience tinnitus at some point in their lives, and for some, it can become bothersome enough to affect sleep, concentration, mood, and daily comfort. Understanding tinnitus means looking at what it is,

Elderly woman with short white hair, wearing a light blue jacket, leans forward with a hand to her ear, struggling with hearing loss.

How Do You Know If You Have Hearing Loss

Have you started asking people to repeat themselves more often? Maybe conversations in busy restaurants feel harder to follow, or you’ve noticed the television volume creeping higher than everyone else prefers. Hearing loss often develops gradually, which can make the early signs easy to dismiss. What feels like occasional mishearing or background noise frustration may actually be the beginning of a change in your hearing. Because hearing loss can happen slowly, many people do not realize how much they have been missing until someone else points it out. Recognizing the signs early can help you take action sooner, making it easier

The Hidden Impact of Headphones: Are You Listening Safely in 2026?

Headphones have become part of daily life. They’re on during commutes, at the gym, through the workday, and well into the evening. For many people, including teenagers and young adults, they’re in use for several hours a day. Yet very few people think about what prolonged listening at high volumes is doing to their hearing over time. This post explains how headphone use can affect your hearing, what the warning signs look like, and what safe listening means in practice. Can Headphones Cause Permanent Hearing Loss? Yes. Repeated exposure to loud sound through headphones can permanently damage the hair cells of

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ECHOES FROM ANCIENT CAVES

Recent research may provide new insights into humans’ closest extinct relative, the Neanderthals. One of the many ways that Neanderthal anatomy differed from our own came to light after a fossilized ear bone from a young Neanderthal child was discovered. The findings included a skull, jaw, vertebrae, ribs, and hand phalanges. But what was most interesting was a very complete left temporal bone with an auditory ossicle inside, including a complete “stapes.” This bone, which lies in the middle ear of humans and other mammals, conducts sound vibrations to the inner ear. In Neanderthals, the stapes was decidedly different in its

HOW HEARING AFFECTS THE BRAIN

Hearing loss has the potential to affect health and well-being in ways some might never have imagined. A recent study indicated that older individuals with hearing loss have accelerated loss of brain tissue as well as a higher risk of dementia, falls, hospitalizations, and poor physical and mental health. The study tracked 126 participants for up to a decade. Each participant underwent yearly magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to trace and monitor brain changes. During that time, researchers found that those with hearing loss at the beginning of the study had a higher rate of brain degeneration than those who experienced normal

OUT OF SIGHT, TOTALLY IN MIND

The greatest advantage of a completely-in-the-canal (CIC) hearing aid is that it can be worn virtually undetected. For this reason alone, CIC instruments are among the most popular choices for those who are in need of their unique properties. Not only do CICs have a cosmetic advantage, they have also been noted to impart the acoustic advantages of greater directional sensitivity and localization. What this means for the wearer is that the unique placement of CICs within the ear help to better locate sounds. This is because the hearing instrument takes advantage of the cup-like shape of the outer ear and

SOME BACKGROUND INFORMATION

In a crowded restaurant, people often blame their inability to hear their conversation partner on loud background noise. While this may be true for most situations, some folks, however, may be deceiving themselves into thinking that they do not have a hearing problem. Until an appointment is scheduled with an audiologist to test hearing levels, there is no way to know whether a person’s hearing challenges are caused by a loud environment or is a direct result of hearing loss. Once someone schedules an appointment to have their hearing tested, a Doctor of Audiology can determine whether a blockage (such as

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