Your Hearing and Your Health

Helen Keller said, “Blindness cuts us off from things, but the loss of the most vital stimulus – the sound of the voice – is much worse.” Remaining healthy has become a focus, even an obsession with Americans, particularly with baby boomers. Health issues do not happen in a vacuum; your body needs every sense for it to properly operate. Hearing health is of paramount importance to long term brain and heart health.

Prevention and early detection with regular heart, blood pressure, cholesterol, colon, liver, skin and every type of screening has become near-mandatory in today’s age. We want to live longer and make the most of our lives through remaining active which allows us to stay engaged with friends and loved ones, travel and partake in our favorite pastimes.

Yet we totally disregard our number one form of communication, engagement and way of maintaining relationships. We ignore our hearing. Doctors rarely screen for hearing disorders or even think to ask about a patient’s hearing health. Difficultly with hearing and understanding are rarely a problem, or evident, in quiet environments or when communicating face-to-face. “It’s not that bad” is what every audiologist has heard countless times.

All over the world, the one common element that brings happiness and joy is being with the people you care about and love. All over the world, sharing, laughing, telling stories and relating memories brings the greatest pleasure, warmth and feelings of love.

When your ability to hear and understand the spoken word diminishes, so do yours enjoyment of the things you love doing, the people you love being with and your ability to achieve happiness.

If that is not enough reason to get a hearing checkup immediately, the findings of every study in the last fifteen years should motivate you to run to your nearest audiologist.

Dr. Ronna Fisher, Au.D.
Founder & President
Hearing Health Center, Inc.

Ronna Fisher

Dr. Ronna Fisher, AuD, CCC-A, FAAA is the founder and president of Hearing Health Center, which she established in 1984 in memory of her father, who suffered from untreated hearing loss and died at 53. That personal loss has shaped her entire career. Under her leadership, Hearing Health Center has been voted the best hearing practice in Illinois three years in a row by Hearing Review. In 2005, she expanded her mission by founding the Fisher Foundation for Hearing Health Care, a nonprofit dedicated to making auditory care more accessible. Dr. Fisher earned her doctorate in audiology from the Pennsylvania College of Optometry and holds a Certificate of Clinical Competence in Audiology (CCC-A) from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Audiology and a member of the Academy of Dispensing Audiologists. Today, Dr. Fisher is focused on the growing body of research linking untreated hearing loss to dementia and cognitive decline, and committed to making sure both patients and the medical community understand what is at stake. As she puts it: You can't remember what you didn't hear.

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