Forever Young: Five Ways Treating Hearing Loss Can Revitalize Your Life!

The Better Hearing Institute just came out with this article and I think it is very good and enlightening as too the effect of hearing loss on today’s baby boomers.  It certainly hit close to home for me so I wanted to share this with all of you. 

Forever young: 5 ways treating hearing loss can revitalize your life
 
Listen up, boomers: Do you want to stay active? Vibrant? Socially engaged? Professionally successful? Most of us do.

So maybe it’s time to do something about your hearing.

Chances are, if you’re like many baby boomers, you’ve rocked your way through your fair share of concerts, night clubs, and ear-blasting parties. And you’ve enjoyed years of other noisy recreational activities to boot. Simply: You’ve been enjoying life. You’ve spent decades doing it. And it’s been loud.

So now, it’s not always so easy to hear the conversation around the table at the restaurant or dinner party – maybe not even in the conference room at work or on those teleconference calls.

Face it. All that enthusiastic living has been hard on your ears. And now they’re screaming for your attention.

You should give it to them.

In fact, addressing hearing loss is one of the best things you can do to improve your quality of life and keep up a youthful pace.

Fortunately, for most people with hearing loss, today’s state-of-the art hearing aids can help. In fact, eight out of 10 hearing aid users say they’re satisfied with the changes that have occurred in their lives due to their hearing aids.

Many boomers are surprised to learn that dramatic new technological advances have revolutionized hearing aids in recent years. Many hearing aids are virtually invisible, sitting discreetly and comfortably inside the ear canal. And they adjust to all kinds of noise environments, picking up sound from all directions. Some are even waterproof.

Perhaps best of all, seamless connectivity is now the norm. Today’s hearing aids are wireless and stream sound from your smartphone, home entertainment system, and other electronics directly into your hearing aid(s) at volumes just right for you.

Here’s what getting a hearing test and using professionally fitted hearing aids, if recommended by a hearing care professional, may do for you:

1. Unlock your earning potential. Hearing your best at work helps you do your best. One study found that using hearing aids reduced the risk of income loss by 90 to 100 percent for those with milder hearing loss, and from 65 to 77 percent for those with severe to moderate hearing loss. And people with hearing loss who use hearing aids are more likely to be employed than their peers who don’t. 

2. Open the door to greater intimacy. Don’t let those sweet nothings go unheard. Feeling emotionally close to your partner is one of the most satisfying aspects of any intimate relationship. But it rests on good communication. When hearing loss goes unaddressed, it can make even the most loving partner seem remote or unresponsive. Luckily, research shows that using hearing aids can help improve interpersonal relationships – including greater intimacy. 

3. Pull the plug on stress and boost your mood. People with untreated hearing loss often feel angry, frustrated, anxious, isolated, and depressed. But research shows that when they use hearing aids, their mental health often rallies. Many regain emotional stability, become more socially engaged, feel a greater sense of safety and independence, and see a general improvement in their overall quality of life. 

4. Bolster your self-confidence. An important perk of using hearing aids can be enhanced emotional well-being. Research shows that when people with hearing loss use hearing aids, many feel more in control of their lives and less self-critical. One Better Hearing Institute (BHI) study found that the majority of people with mild and severe hearing loss felt better about themselves and life overall as a result of using hearing aids. 

5. Improve cognitive functioning. Studies out of Johns Hopkins linked hearing loss with accelerated cognitive decline in older adults and found that seniors with hearing loss are significantly more likely to develop dementia over time. BHI studies found that many people with hearing loss report improvements in their cognitive skills with the use of hearing aids. 

So go ahead. Revitalize your life. Do something about your hearing. It just may help you feel forever young.

For more information – and to take a free, quick and confidential online hearing check to determine if you need a comprehensive hearing test by a hearing care professional – visit  www.BetterHearing.org

Reactions to ReSound LiNX

The best video I've seen with people talking about the new ReSound LiNX hearing aid and what they like about the system.  Worth watching.

LiNK, the first Made For iPhone heairng aid in the US marketplace

Hi Everyone:

I am so excited about the new ReSound LiNK hearing aids that just came onto the American market the 1st of March.  I've been in this business for 36-years now and as I look back over this time frame it seems that every 7 to 8 years there comes along a change in technology that, simply put, changes the whole field of hearing assistance.  When I first came into this business I helped introduce the first canal aids in 1980.  Next came some of the early analog/digital hybrid hearing aids in the late 1980's, 87-90, from 3-M, Fox and Ensoniq.  Next came fully digital hearing aids first introduced by Widex around 1998/9.  This was followed in 2006/7 by the first Receiver-in Canal (RIC) aids.   Now we have the first “Made For iPhone, iPad & iTouch” hearing aids introduced by ReSound at the European Hearing Conference in Germany in the fall of 2013 and at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in 2014.  Each of these major technology/product introductions has forever how we look at hearing aids and how we address hearing problems.  This last change has now changed our view of how we look at hearing aids, they are no longer just a medical necessity for people with hearing loss but now they are a consumer product that couples an individual to some of our most important communication and entertainment devices on the market today.  The MFi hearing aid can now couple a person to their family and friends through the iPhone, Facetime, their music, movies, driving directions from there GPS unit, and a multiple of other events we can only guess at.

There used to be an old joke in the industry in the early 80’s, when hearing aids sold for around $400 a piece, about a man that went into a hearing aid dispenser’s office and asked what the price of hearing aid were.  The dispenser told him they had hearing aids for $4,000 per aid at the high end and at the low end they had one for $1.50.  The man asked what he got for $4000 and the dispenser told him they put this computer in his ear and programmed it just for his hearing loss to give him the best speech clarity.  It also would change how it amplified when he walked into a noisy listening environment.  In addition if he was going to a foreign country he could come in and they could program the hearing aid to translate from that country’s language in English for him.  He responded great but if he bought the low end what did he get?   The dispenser told him they would give him a button with a string tied to it that he could place in his ear.   The man asked him how that helps him hear.  The dispenser told it doesn’t but when people see the string and button in the ear they all talk louder. 

Back when this joke came out we only had analog technology in hearing aids, I was shown a digital hearing aid by Wayne Staab, developed by Dahlberg Electronics, in 1984 but it filled a large suitcase and weighed about 45 pounds, and the first personal computers were just coming onto the market.  They were big and bulky pieces of iron.   So everyone thought this was truly science fiction.   Today we can do all of the things talked  about in the joke including language translation, there are apps out that will  translate from one language to  another language, and the phone will  send the translation  directly to the hearing aid and into  the ear.   Really does seem like what was talked about as joke, way back when, is now today’s fact. 

Think of it a total connection to the world around them.  Many of my patients need to speech read as well as hear what is being said to fully, or partially, understand what is being said.  For several years now I have been suggesting to these patients that they use Facetime or Skype to carry on conversations with family members and friends.   Now the voices can be delivered directly into both ears while they watch the faces to get all of the visual clues.   This is truly a game changer for the hearing aid industry. 

 Video Reaction to ReSound's Introduction to the new LiNK Hearing Aid at 2014 CES

The Hearing Bone's connect to the WHAT?

Repost from the "Better Hearing Institute" November 12, 2013
Thought this was very good and want more people to see and read this.   Helping people hear is so  much more than just getting people to voices and background noise louder.  It's all about the improvement of a person's life with friends, family and activities they are interested in and living the lifestyle they have dreamed about.

The “hearing bone’s” connected to the what?

BHI - November 12, 2013

Hearing loss isn’t a “stand alone” condition. Not only does it affect virtually every aspect of a person’s life when left unaddressed, but hearing loss has been linked to other health conditions.

* * *

The “Hearing Bone's” Connected to the What?
Studies Show that Hearing Loss is Connected to Other Health Conditions

Once upon a time, before people knew any better, they thought that hearing loss was simply a part of growing older—something not worth doing much about.

They were wrong.

Turns out, hearing loss isn’t fussy about age. More than half of us with hearing loss are still in the workforce. And hearing loss is a much bigger deal than we ever imagined. We need to take it seriously.

As one of the most common chronic health conditions in the United States today, hearing loss affects baby boomers, Gen Xers and every other age group. And, when left unaddressed, hearing loss affects just about every aspect of a person’s life.

The big surprise is that hearing loss has been linked to other health conditions.

Hearing loss can have unwelcome companions—like heart disease; diabetes; chronic kidney disease; depression; cognitive decline, dementia or Alzheimer’s disease; increased risk of falling; increased hospitalizations.

In fact, as studies on the link between hearing loss and other health conditions mount, we’ve begun to see how our ears—and specifically how our hearing—connect to our whole body and health.

Here’s what we know:

The very best thing to do for hearing loss is to find out if you have it as soon as possible. Then take it seriously. If deemed appropriate by a qualified hearing health care professional, treat it. Hearing aids can benefit the vast majority of people with hearing loss.

Cardiovascular and hearing health are connected. Studies show that a healthy cardiovascular system positively affects hearing. Conversely, inadequate blood flow and trauma to the blood vessels of the inner ear can contribute to hearing loss. Some experts even believe that because the inner ear is so sensitive to blood flow, it is possible that abnormalities in the cardiovascular system could be noted here earlier than in other less sensitive parts of the body—making the ear a kind of “window to the heart.”

People with diabetes are about twice as likely to have hearing loss as those without it.

Recent studies show a link between hearing loss and dementia, leading many experts to stress the importance of addressing hearing loss. One study found that seniors with hearing loss are significantly more likely to develop dementia over time than those who retain their hearing. Another found that hearing loss is associated with accelerated cognitive decline in older adults, and that those with hearing loss are more likely to develop problems thinking and remembering than older adults whose hearing is normal.

People who don’t address hearing loss are more prone to depression. Fortunately, studies show that people with hearing loss who use hearing aids often have fewer depressive symptoms, greater social engagement, and improved quality of life.

Hearing loss is tied to a three-fold risk of falling. One study found that even people with mild hearing loss were nearly three times more likely to have a history of falling.

A study of older adults showed that those with moderate chronic kidney disease had a higher prevalence of hearing loss than those of the same age without the disease.

Hospitalization is more likely for older adults with hearing loss than for their peers with normal hearing, according to a study by experts at Johns Hopkins.

A 2013-published study found that older men with hearing loss had a greater risk of dying, particularly from cardiovascular causes. But men and women who used hearing aids—even though they were older and had more severe hearing loss—had a significantly lower mortality risk than those with hearing loss who did not use hearing aids.

Most doctors don’t include hearing health as a routine part of annual exams. So ask to have your hearing tested. Once you reach middle-age, it makes sense to include hearing tests as part of your routine annual care.

It seems that the “hearing bone” may be connected to more than we originally thought.

So the next time you think you might be having trouble hearing something, listen to your ears. They may be telling you something.
For more information on hearing loss, visit www.betterhearing.org.

Why do I have to hear everything instead of only the person I'm interested in listening to?

And that is a very good question.  With today's modern hearing aids we can limit background noise a lot but we never take it all away and we never should take it all  away for a number of reasons.   I will attempt to answer this with the following points in order of importance.  Please remember that this order of importance is mine and while the reasons are valid and can be backed up with research the real reason they are in this order is more practical everyday use in our soundscape of hearing.

1. We hear on three different levels and all of these levels are important to our overall well being.
1. Some of what we hear simply connects us to our environment around us, we call this the Primitive Level of Hearing.
2. Other sounds we hear tell us of events or things going on in the acoustical environment that that let us know if we are either safe or unsafe, this is the Warning Level of hearing. 
3. Some of the sounds we hear are informational in nature, birds chirping, musical notes and speech, this is referred too as the Symbolic Level of hearing

The symbolic level of hearing is what people are most concerned about.  The  reason for this concern is that the loss of hearing acuity on this level separates us from our friends, family and social network.  In reality the symbolic level of hearing is the least of the three levels as far as our body and mind are concerned. 

The warning level of hearing is tied directly into  our limbic system in the brain.  This is our emotional, primitive brain and the action/reaction center of the brain dealing with our safety and well being.   This is the home of our flight or fight responses and is solely responsible for  our survival.  When we are disconnected from this level of hearing we have a tendency to  become paranoid as we don't know what is safe and what is not safe and every noise in the environment becomes a threat.

The primitive level of hearing lets us know we are still alive and connected to  the world around us.  When this level of hearing in interrupted we feel like we have been disconnected from the world around us and this has the greatest impact on us psychologically. 

We need to hear on all of these levels, especially with hearing aids.  To limit any one or more of these levels will cause additional stress and anxiety which the hard of hearing person does not need in their lives.  A good hearing aid fitting should cover all of these levels of hearing and not just the  symbolic level.  Hope this answer some of our original question.

Soundscape Pollution

Almost every day you hear the news shows  talking a lot about some type of pollution, especially about toxic pollution that is harmful to us, that's been found in our environment but you never hear them talking about acoustical or noise pollution.  We live in a noisy world and it is getting noisier all the time. Most of the noise we live in is, at what I consider, toxic levels.  ( Too learn more about noise pollution please click the following link for an "Overview of Noise Pollution" at http://www.healthyhearing.com/report/51541-Overview-of-noise-pollution?utm_source=Healthy+Hearing+Newsletter&utm_campaign=87acc312b6-HH_Update_Oct_16_Issue_A_B&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5239cd6b59-87acc312b6-24269257 )  By this I mean it is loud enough to either damage us physically, by damaging the structures found in the ear, or mentally, by over stimulus of the brain causing higher stress and anxiety levels or by causing us to withdraw from those social or work environments that make us uncomfortable.  This then effects the quality of our lives.   While limiting the noise in our environment would be the best response too the problem it is also the most difficult to accomplish and most likely will not happen in our lifetimes. This leaves two choices available to us.   One choice is focused on preventing or limiting the damage being done by this toxic noise and the other choice focuses on helping to over come the damage done by the toxic noise.  Neither choice is perfect and both involve a fair amount of costs but we are very limited in our options.  The first choice is using Hearing Protection when in louder acoustical environments, defined as noise levels in excess of 85 dBa as referenced by OSHA Standard for hearing protection.  Hearing protection comes in both passive and active protection.  To learn more about hearing protection please visit www.earlink.com or the Earlink blog.  The second choice is to use hearing aids to  help compensate for the damage done by noise pollution.   To learn more about the help available with hearing aids please visit www.hearingresources.com.  

Voices, telling the difference between internal and external.

The more we delve into the functioning of the brain and how we hear the more we seem to find connections to other areas and processes going on that seem so simple yet can have such an impact on how we think and act.  A new study involving how the brain’s wiring quiets the voice inside our head has just been published and I would like to share it with my readers.  If you are interested please follow this link.  http://www.hearingreview.com/news/22006-brain-wiring-quiets-the-voice-inside-your-head/  So this is why we may actually being hearing voices in our heads that we think are coming from someone or think outside our head.   What do you think?