Your Hearing Health and Medical Care

Falls and Balance

Hospitals and doctors’ offices nationwide might have avoided nearly 2000 patient deaths and thousands more emergency room visits if medical staff and patients communicated better. Those with hearing loss misunderstand over 50% of instructions given by physicians and health providers. According to a recent report published in the journal JAMA, there is a significant breakdown in communication with patients over 60. Patients describe not understanding therapeutic instructions, medication dosages or side effects which can lead to a myriad of other health issues and risks.

THE LINK

In hospitals and many medical care settings there is often competing noise in the background. Patients are often nervous and already stressed about their medical condition and the content is often extremely technical and unfamiliar. Those with hearing loss rely on lip-reading, facial expressions and visual cues when communicating. Hospitals and physician offices now require electronic medical records. Doctors and medical staff spend the majority of time typing notes into a computer thereby eliminating face-to-face doctor-patient communication.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Get a hearing test now. If your hearing is even slightly diminished, get treatment immediately to improve your clarity and ability to understand and communicate. Ask for as many repetitions as needed to comprehend physician instructions. Ask your doctors and care providers to stop typing and look at you when they speak. Your health and life are of paramount importance, protect yourself by being your own best advocate.

Your hearing, processing, clarity and ability to understand speech are vital to your happiness, your relationships and your enjoyment of life.

Your hearing ability and your hearing health are a direct link to your overall health and wellness. Do not wait until you have a problem. By the time you realize you have a problem with your hearing, irreversible damage to your brain has already occurred and may be too late to reverse or repair. Get your hearing checked regularly.

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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