THE BEGINNING
Brianna Jones has worn a hearing aid in her left ear since she was four years old. Now she was going off to college and wanted to make sure her hearing aid was working perfectly before she left.
This was the first time I had met Brianna and her mom. Testing showed her hearing was stable, but I was confused. More in depth diagnostic analysis indicated that the etiology of the loss was Otosclerosis (an abnormal growth of one of the bones in the ear that prevents the transmission of sound) and could be surgically corrected.
I asked Brianna and her mom, “If I told you that your hearing could be fixed with surgery, would you want to do it?” They were both stunned. Mrs. Jones said that the Ear Nose and Throat specialist, who diagnosed Brianna at the age of three, told her that Brianna could not have surgery. She has been wearing a hearing aid ever since.
I told them I wanted them to see a specialist so they would know if there was another option.
YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP
Several months after I saw Brianna, I took my dog to a new vet. We were getting to know each other and he mentioned he lived in Elmhurst. I was surprised that he traveled to Northbrook every day, where his office is located. Then I said, “Well, it’s no different than me. I have an office in Oakbrook.”
He stopped what he was doing and said, “What’s the name of your practice? I think I just wrote you a check.”
My vet’s name is Dr. Scott Jones. And yes, he is the father of Brianna Jones.
“My wife hasn’t stopped talking about you since she came home from that appointment. My daughter went to the specialist you recommended and we’re waiting for the CT scan results to see if Brianna can have surgery.”
END OF STORY
I stopped at the vet’s to pick up some medication. Dr. Jones came rushing out to the waiting room with a big grin, and hugged me. “My daughter has normal hearing,” he announced.
Doctors of Audiology are the only qualified professionals licensed to prevent, evaluate, diagnose and treat non-medical (95% of all hearing problems) hearing and balance problems. It requires eight years of studying and training in the anatomy and physiology of the auditory and vestibular systems as well as the intricacies and pathways of the brain.
The single most important factor in determining successful patient outcomes and satisfaction is the knowledge and expertise of the provider.
What to do if you suddenly experience hearing loss
As a Patient Care Coordinator, nothing is more alarming then getting a frantic call from a patient in panic mode because they suddenly lost their hearing. Working at the front desk and handling calls from patients at the Chicago office for the last six years, I’ve noticed an increase in these cases of sudden idiopathic hearing loss, or “sudden deafness”. This phenomenon, known as Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SSHL) is often unexplained. Although the exact cause, in many cases, is unknown, some causes for SSHL are barotrauma, certain medications, a viral attack and autoimmune disorders. SSHL is characterized as a rapid loss, usually in one ear, either all at once or over the course of a few days.
It concerns me that patients often do not realize the severity of their sudden hearing loss. Permanent ramifications, such as irreversible hearing impairment and/or constant ringing in the ear, called tinnitus, can result if the loss is not treated immediately.
Working in one of the premier audiology offices in the world, I know what is at stake for these patients, and always find ways to fit them in to see one of our Doctors of Audiology.
The audiologist first determines that the sudden hearing loss is not due to allergies, sinus infection, earwax clogging the ear canal, or other common conditions. If the loss is indeed SSHL, we refer immediately to an ENT (Otolaryngologist), or the nearest ER. Oral steroids or steroid injections into the ear is the standard treatment for SSHL. Steroids can minimize and/or reverse the hearing loss.
Most importantly, know that you are not alone. If you experience sudden deafness, the hearing professionals at the Hearing Health Center will do everything they can to combat the hearing loss and return your hearing back to normal.
Resources:
NIDCD (National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders) Fact Sheet
(1) Sudden Deafness
NIH Pub. No. 00-4757
March 2018
The NIDCD maintains a directory of organizations that provide information on the normal and disordered processes of hearing, balance, taste, smell, voice, speech and language. Visit the NIDCD website at https://nidcd.nih.gov/directory to search the directory.
NIDCD Information Clearinghouse
1 Communication Avenue
Bethesda, MD 20892-3456
Toll Free Voice: 800-241-1044
Toll Free TTY: 800-241-1055
Email: nidcdinfo@nidcd.nih.gov
Web: www.nidcd.nih.gov
Hearing Health Center recently introduced the option to lease hearing aids. It certainly makes sense. After all, we lease our cars, our smart phones, and office equipment. Why not lease our hearing aids?
Although cost isn’t the number one reason for the 80% of Americans who need hearing aids but don’t wear them,* it can certainly be a barrier to getting help.
Why Leasing?
Most people think of cars when they hearing the word leasing. Today, more people lease their cars than actually buy them. Why?
- Because they want to upgrade to the latest model every couple of years
- Because as the car gets older, it will need more maintenance and more repairs.
- Because they can drive a better, more expensive car, with affordable monthly payments.
Leasing quickly spread to other industries, including office equipment, medical and laboratory supplies, computers and IT equipment. The latest leasing trend is our smartphones. By the time we’re done paying for it, in low monthly installments, we are really to trade-in for the latest and greatest phone on the market.
Leasing Hearing Aids
The average life of hearing aids is between 3 and 5 years. Nationally, hearing aid users get new devices every 3.6 years. The reason is not necessarily because their hearing aids are bad. People get new hearing aids because:
- The prescription changed. Hearing never gets better. The hearing aids you got 3 years ago may no longer be appropriate for you.
- Ears change. The size and shape of the ear and the ear canals change with age, and wearing hearing aids often stretch the ear canal. Weight loss and weight gain also have an effect on the ears. Hearing aids may not fit correctly after a while.
- Technology advances and improves. New hearing aids increase clarity, especially in background noise, and enhance ability to communicate and participate in important conversations and activities.
If one of the things holding you back is the expense, leasing is a great solution. Most hearing aids leases are for three years. Monthly payments are as low as $99, for good hearing aid technology. Payments for the best, most advanced, premium hearing aids are approximately $200/month.
At the end of the three year lease, you can buy the hearing aids outright at a discounted price, or better yet, simply sign a new lease and get the newest developments in hearing aid technology. You’ll always have the best hearing and clearest quality of sound.
The Advantages of Leasing Hearing Aids
There are a lot of reasons why a lease may be the right option for your circumstances. Just a few of the benefits of leasing include:
- Affordability
- No large, out-of-pocket expenditure
- Buy-out options
- Flexible payment plans and financing
- No maintenance, repairs, or follow up costs**
Is a Hearing Aid Lease Right for Your Needs?
Only you will be able to answer this question. If you intend to wear your device until it is completely worn out and do not care about having the best possible technology, this may not be the best option. If you are interested in having a technologically advanced device, the ability to upgrade your device and want any potential issues taken care of properly, a lease is the ideal solution.
*The number one reason for not treating hearing problems is that most people don’t think their hearing is “bad enough.”
**Many leasing options include all maintenance, cover routine maintenance, clearings, reprogramming and adjustments, and manufacturer repairs.
Your Voice on a Tape Recorder (or through a Hearing Aid)
Did you ever hear your voice on a recording or through a hearing aid? Bet you didn’t like it. You most likely thought it didn’t sound anything like you. In fact, in a study of subjects listening to recordings of their own voice, along with recordings of 19 unfamiliar voice recordings, only 38% of subjects recognized their own voice.
Whether you liked or hated the sound of your voice on a recording that is the “real” sound of your voice. That is the voice others hear when you speak. It is not however, the voice you hear. The sound waves, created when we talk, create vibrations in our vocal cords, the vibrations of our vocal cords, soft tissue, and bones in our head. This makes us sound richer and deeper to ourselves.
WHAT’S NORMAL? How Your Voice Sounds With a Hearing Aid
Nearly everyone that puts on a hearing aid for the first time hates the sound of their voice. After putting on the hearing aids, every audiologist hears, “Ewww, I hate my own voice.” “I sound hollow and like an echo.” “I sound like I’m in a tunnel.” “I sound so raspy.”
The response of every audiologist is, “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.” That is true. The majority of hearing aid users do quickly get used to, and accept, the sound of their own voice.
“Normal” is what you’re used to. You’re used to hearing yourself with a hearing deficit at many of the pitches of speech. Your hearing changed gradually over 15 to 20 years. You didn’t notice that, little by little, your voice changed subtly along with it. Suddenly, in one minute, you’re hearing all of the pitches that took 20 years to lose.
It’s shocking. You don’t like it. No one likes it. But really, you do get used to the sound of your voice through hearing aids. Your “new” voice becomes your “new” normal. Unfortunately, it doesn’t happen overnight
THE GOOD NEWS. Hearing Aids Deliver
Faster Adaptation and more immediate relief are on their way. By understanding, and then manipulating, the intricacies and dynamics of sound, hearing aid manufacturers have gone to great lengths to reduce the shock of hearing a new you.
Technology really is amazing (when your computer works).
The Link Between Hearing Loss and Dementia
Hearing loss could be an early symptom of Alzheimer’s disease
In 2011, Dr. Ronna Fisher, Au.D., informed her staff about the link between dementia and hearing loss. She said Hearing Health Center, the Company she founded in 1984, has a new mission: To tell and educate everyone they meet about the dangers and risks of hearing loss. Her staff did not believe her. No one did, including the physicians she tried to educate.
That did not stop her. Dr. Fisher is known for being an early adopter in hearing techniques and technology. She knew that poor capacity to process and understand speech is a sign that the brain is shutting down. “When the brain can no longer make sense of the information it receives, cognitive function is in danger,” Said Fisher. She enacted a new diagnostic protocol at all Hearing Health Center offices. The new protocol included testing the brain’s ability to process and understand speech, especially in background noise.
The link between hearing loss and dementia is now definitive.
“The risk of developing dementia doubles for older adults with mild hearing loss, and triples for those with moderate hearing loss. In addition, for those with severe hearing loss, the risk is five times that of someone who does not suffer hearing loss. Notably, the Lancet study also found that of nine potential risk factors for developing dementia, hearing loss was the highest at nine percent.”
By 2060, the proportion of those over 60 will double, and those living with dementia is expected to triple. In addition, recent research has found that shrinkage of brain tissue is fast-tracked for those with hearing loss. The rate of brain tissue atrophy accelerates 40% faster in those with hearing loss when compared to those with normal hearing. Overall, those with hearing loss were found to have lost more than an additional cubic centimeter of brain tissue each year compared with those without impaired hearing.
To date, we do not know the actual causal or correlational link between the two conditions. There are however, several theories.
- Hearing loss and cognitive decline occur in parallel. Hearing loss could be an early symptom of Alzheimer’s disease, causing impaired speech perception, especially in the presence of background noise. “Studies have shown a strong association, and, in addition, we have seen that the severity of cognitive decline is associated with the severity of hearing loss, which shows a compelling connection.”
- Hearing loss increases demands on cognitive resources. The brain has to work a lot harder just to attend and listen with diminished hearing ability. The struggle to understand, and grasp, the conversation requires the brain to “borrow” cognitive tasks from other parts of the brain, especially memory. Basically, the more effort it takes to listen, the less information gets transferred to memory,
- Hearing loss causes brain reorganization and/or social deprivation, resulting in cognitive decline. A decrease in hearing ability often causes withdrawal from social interactions and engagement. In turn, there is a reduction in cognitive function necessary to access and interact with the environment.
Regardless of cause/effect/correlation between hearing loss and dementia, it is definitive that early detection and treatment with hearing aids is critical in preventing and/or slowing cognitive decline. A new study at the University of Manchester claimed wearing hearing aids could slow the process of dementia by up to 75 percent.
Several mechanisms may explain the relationship between hearing aid use and slower cognitive decline.
- Hearing aids reduce depression, promote social engagement, increase both social engagement and physical activity, and improve self-efficacy.
- Hearing aids reduce the adverse impacts of sensory deprivation on brain function.
- Hearing aids stimulate the neural pathways to the brain and increase the critical information the brain needs to process speech.
Audiologists are the only uniquely qualified experts who are skilled in providing diagnostic and rehabilitative care in treating hearing, balance and tinnitus.
Thousands of patients are grateful and thankful to Hearing Health Center. As one patient succinctly stated, “Staying abreast of the latest medical news, pro-actively implementing new techniques, and offering the latest technology from every manufacturer, is why I went there 8 years ago and why I won’t go anywhere else.”
If we seem a little smarter about new hearing technologies next time you come in, here’s why.
Hearing Health Center audiologists learn about new hearing technologies through committed continuing education
Several times a year, we close all five offices and everyone gets together for an intense, idea-filled day of Continuing Education. Friday, August 23, was one of those days—with a full program of expert speakers, demonstrations and hands-on experience with the newest of the new in Audiology.
“We’re in an industry with technical and treatment advances happening continuously and our patients depend on us to be on the cutting-edge of progress at all times,” said Director of Operations Marsela Kole, who was the Event Chairperson.
The “next generation” hearing aids from the world’s leading manufacturers garnered profound interest. They provide benefits to wearers that go far beyond hearing quality and clarity that have exceeded all expectations. Patients who have worn hearing aids for years will discover processing power far beyond anything they’ve experienced, letting them understand speech effortlessly in noisy settings—with unwanted sounds suppressed.
Features of this new hearing technology include many vital functions for health, safety and information never before associated with hearing aids. The revolutionary devices include ones that monitor brain and body activity, can actually sense if the wearer has fallen and automatically send out alerts to three pre-selected contacts. Others can be serviced via an app, avoiding an office visit, and stream telephone, TV, music and messages directly into the patients’ ears.
Marsela Kole said “These days are always a good chance for the teams from each of the offices to get together, compare notes and participate together in group activities. There’s always some fun to be had.”
Over 100,000 people will descend on Chicago’s Grant Park for Lollapalooza this year. The annual festival is already wreaking havoc on traffic, and is sure to kill millions of tiny hair cells in the ears that respond to sound. Many attendees will go home with permanent hearing damage.
In previous years, the level of the music was measured anywhere from 115 to 135 decibels. “At that level,” said Dr.
Ronna Fisher, AuD audiologist, “permanent damage can occur in two minutes.”
“Once it’s gone…it’s gone,” says Fisher. “You will never hear the music, or anything else, clearly again.”
Do not be a martyr…or stupid.
The music is too loud if:
- You experience any buzzing/ringing/noises (tinnitus) in your ears
- Sounds, voices, hearing, is muffled when you leave
- If you have to yell to be heard, it is too loud.
Tips to Protect Whatever Hearing You Have Left
- Try to position yourself away from the speakers (where the sound is loudest)
- Wear earplugs. Almost any kind will protect your ears if you get them in correctly. For frequent concertgoers, get custom, high fidelity earplugs (available at any Audiology office). They will fit your ears perfectly and let you hear the music and the singer while decreasing harmful sounds.
- Take a break. Ears that get a break have time to recover and do not suffer as much damage.
- Drinking and smoking make you less sensitive to sound (ever get into your car in the morning and the radio is blasting from the night before?). Pay attention.
If you still have ringing/buzzing,etc, and voices still sound muffled and unclear, after 48 hours, you need professional help. Now. Call your local Doctor of Audiology, Primary Physician, or ENT specialist.
Tackling Cocktail Parties: The AI Hearing Aids that Read Your Mind
The human brain is unparalleled in its ability to pick out certain phrases and attention-grabbing phrases that pique our interest from the din of everyday life. Hearing aids, on the other hand, are not-so-hot at the so-called “cocktail party effect,” – rather than singling out the center of attention, they amplify all auditory stimuli equally.
However, this past week researchers unveiled a potential solution to this equal-amplification issue: a revolutionary AI (artificial intelligence) hearing aid that is able to read one’s mind. It works by employing artificial intelligence to segment the sounds of different speakers and sources while reading the brain’s activity to select a center of attention. From there, these hearing aids amplify that single voice/stimulus that the brain is focusing on, as explained in Science Advances.
This forward-thinking technology has unlimited potential to disrupt the hearing industry, but there are still significant hurdles to surmount before the consumer is able to benefit from this innovative research. For this AI-powered hearing aid to be widely accessible to all consumers, it cannot require implanting electrodes on the surface of the brain as it currently entails.
This innovative project is led by electrical engineer Nima Mesgarani of Columbia University’s Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, one of many attempting to get hearing aids to mimic the hearing of a healthy individual. For instance, the $500 Bose Hearphone app uses a series of microphones that can be directionally-adjusted from one person to another to focus better on one specific auditory source as well as drowning out ambient noise from the environment. No current device, app or program is able to replicate how a normal brain hears: amplifying selected conversations from multiple different sources in a crowded environment.
“Even the most advanced digital hearing aids don’t know which voices they should suppress and which they should amplify,” Mesgarani states.
If hearing aids were able to unilaterally choose the correct focal point, it would make a major difference in the lives of the hard-of-hearing, says Richard Miller, Director of the Neural Prosthetics Program at the National Institute and Other Communication Disorders which funded the study. “There is real gold to be mined in that hill,” posits Miller.
Building off of his work with a graduate adviser in 2012, Mesgarani started to look for clues in the way that the brain processes stimuli. He found that when people engage in conversation, the listener’s brain waves echo the acoustic attributes of the speaker’s voice, keying in on that voice and filtering out unnecessary auditory provocations.
An individual with healthy hearing is able to focus on the sound of someone speaking through the brain’s secondary auditory cortexes. Found on both sides of the brain behind the ears, these regions amplify one voice over others by the simple means of paying attention. The sound of a friend or loved one, a name, or an emotionally-charged word (secret, confidential) causes a spike in activity in the auditory cortices, resulting in the perceived increase in volume.
This brain-controlled hearing aid will first separate distinct audio signals coming from different sources (people, music, television) and determines the voiceprint of each (frequency). From there, it detects brain waves in the listener’s auditory cortex which indicates where the listener’s attention lies. Finally, the system searches for the source that the brain is focused on and amplifies that incitation. The truly amazing aspect of this technology is that this process repeats every time a new voice is introduced or the attention switches.
This research showcases a growing list of studies that are tapping into the brain’s activity to make up for an output that the body cannot otherwise manage. For there to be widespread adoption of this technology, the mind-reading hearing aids would have to be made to work with using electrodes on the scalp. Luckily, the Columbia team is working on both the scalp version as well as with electrodes surrounding the ears. The earlier iterations of this artificial intelligence-powered hearing aid worked only on familiar voices that individuals had been trained to recognize. It could parse out these voices but couldn’t differentiate between unknown ones. Sounds good right? The next-gen device “can recognize and decode a voice – any voice – right off the bat,” Mesgarani said. To read the full story, click here.
Links:
Every Voice is Too Precious to Miss: Going Above and Beyond
A Patient Care Story
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At Hearing Health Center, going the extra mile is part of our mission statement. We strive to bring our patients the best care in every way we can; it’s written into our foundation. That’s why Dr. Robert Risley made a home visit recently after he had seen all of his patients for the day.
Let’s say this patient’s name is Sarah. Sarah is homebound in an apartment and lives with a care giver. Since her hearing aids are no longer strong enough for her hearing needs, Sarah relies on written notes for her caregiver and subtitles on the television to stay engaged with what is happening around her. Her daughter does not live locally, making assisting her mother a near-impossible task.
The circumstances surrounding our health do not define us. That’s why Dr. Risley brought his portable audiometer in hopes of being able to improve Sarah’s quality of living. We do not realize the divide hearing loss wedges between us and our loved ones. Old hobbies become a challenge, routine life feels much more fast-paced and confusing. Hearing loss is gradual; the average American waits seven years before seeking help. Do yourself and your loved ones the biggest favor and stop in for a hearing check-up. You’ll be glad you did.
I recently came across a story by Alan Felman, a 30 year old writer for Medical News Today. I want to share it with you because it expresses so many of the emotions and behaviors I felt and exhibited before getting my hearing aids…and after.
“The big kicker with gradual-onset hearing loss is that you are not aware of how it’s changing you until the physical symptoms have become moderate to severe,” said Adam.
Hearing ability diminishes so slowly that you don’t realize that one day the sound of the turn signal disappeared. You no longer hear the key in the lock or the footsteps behind you. The “sounds of life” that keep us in touch with our environment, that soothe, reassure, and alert us, are gone.
Then there are the misunderstandings, mistakes, embarrassment. Your hearing is crucial for understanding the world around you. When your ability to hear and understand the spoken word diminishes, so too does your enjoyment of the things you love doing, the people you love being with and your ability to achieve closeness and bond with others. It is a frustrating and isolating feeling to be with those whom you hold dear only to feel left out because you do not understand the conversation and cannot participate in sharing.
Adam writes, “Communication is a huge part of navigating every stage of your life. If any element of communication is lacking, it can have a significant impact on the way our personality develops, and the methods you use to connect with the outside world.”
Even though your friends are probably understanding, and although subtitles exist to significantly improve the viewing experience for people who cannot hear as well as others, it can still be hard to ignore the underlying feeling of being ‘different’ and stigmatized.
“I developed subtle, invisible coping mechanisms to anchor my social interactions. For example, I cycle between a set of 10-15 stock phrases that I wheel out based on the tone of voice and the context.”
“Absolutely!”
“100 percent!”
“I can fully understand that!”
“Tell me about it!”
None of these seems out of place in a conversation. However, once they become a substitute for genuine responses and coherent conversational flow, they develop into a cornerstone of shame and awkwardness in daily encounters. Especially when they are the wrong response.
Socializing becomes too much of a risk. Every pang of guilt or embarrassment after saying “what?” or “huh?” might lead to another night when you don’t risk going out to socialize. You end up distancing softly spoken colleagues, friends, and even family members, simply because the effort it takes to process their speech can become draining.
“I have a lot to learn about life with hearing aids, but my first lesson was that no one close to me sees it as a negative life event. Everyone has been congratulating me as if I’ve just become a parent for the first time. I’ve realized that however self-conscious you might feel about wearing hearing aids, people only see it as a connection with the world, and this is huge.”
Adam’s hearing aids gave him back the intimate details of life: easily hearing and understanding those around him and whispering a joke to a friend helped him close the gap that hearing loss drives between individuals. Our need to socialize with others is innately human.
Adam says his new hearing aids are discreet, nearly invisible, yet powerful. Sometimes, to his underused ears, things sound a little too powerful. A packet of chips opening across the room, wheels of the stroller on the balcony above, even the “cacophony during bathroom breaks sounds like a National Geographic documentary.”
“There are unexpected changes, too. My experience of food has completely altered — the additional frequencies and sounds add a lightness of bite and extra crunch that I was previously unaware of.”
“My hearing no longer feels impaired — that is, until I remove the hearing aids. Those few moments in the day without them, such as going to the gym or grabbing a shower, are now pretty draining by comparison.
“I have a lot to learn about life with hearing aids, but my first lesson was that no one close to me sees it as a negative life event. Everyone has been congratulating me as if I’ve just become a parent for the first time. I’ve realized that however self-conscious you might feel about wearing hearing aids, people only see it as a connection with the world, and this is huge.”