Better hearing can make a big difference in your overall mental fitness.

Last year was a big year for hearing studies, particularly as hearing health relates to mental health.  We saw multiple studies that linked untreated mild hearing loss to disorders such as dementia and brain atrophy.  A new study was just released that offered a bit of positive news: hearing aid use may actually increase self-esteem.

The study, conducted by Hear the World, showed that a majority of hearing aid users experience better overall mental fitness than people who allow their hearing loss to go untreated.  Quality of life, intimacy, personal confidence, even insomnia tend to improve for people who wear hearing aids.  And when you think about it, this makes a lot of sense.  Our hearing is our most important social sense; it’s the principle component of how we communicate with one another.  To quote Helen Keller, hearing loss “means the loss of the most vital stimulus — the sound of the voice that brings language, sets thoughts astir and keeps us in the intellectual company of man.”

One of the most important things that we do at Advanced Hearing is work with our patients to restore their quality of life where their hearing loss interferes.  It isn’t a surprise for us to see the results of this study.  We see the importance of better hearing everyday in our patients.  It’s our biggest passion and our greatest privilege.  To experience the difference better hearing can make, call us today.

As more research is conducted into the impact of hearing loss, the more we learn about exactly how insidious the disorder can be.

Last year was a busy season for hearing research.  These three articles have made particularly interesting reading, and we’d like to pass them along.

• Diabetes Takes Toll on Women’s Hearing – More and more, researchers are finding that other health conditions are related to hearing health in some measurable form.  Heart disease and high blood pressure are among the disorders that have been known to impact hearing, but diabetes is the next disease to make the list.
• Penn Medicine News: Mild Hearing Loss Linked to Brain Atrophy in Older Adults – This study is similar to the John’s Hopkins study that linked mild hearing loss to dementia in February of 2011.  Remember the old adage “If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it”?  Well, here’s one more reason to pursue treatment for mild hearing losses.  It can help keep your brain sharp!
• Hearing Loss Possibly Nation’s Most Damaging and Costly Sensory Handicap – Hearing loss is insidious in its onset.  It gets gradually worse over the years, so slowly that it’s easy to dismiss until serious damage has been done to auditory function.  This article really makes the case for why it’s important to add a hearing test to your yearly check-ups.

To begin to take control of your hearing health, call us today for a comprehensive hearing evaluation.  Don’t wait to hear what you’ve been missing!

AHC at the Show.

Look at that box!

Thank you Bartlesville for making our booth at the Chamber of Commerce Business Show a smashing success last weekend.  It was a wonderful opportunity to get to know the people that we serve.  Our booth was hopping busy!  We were able to schedule several appointments for our upcoming Better Hearing Event.  And congratulations to Virginia Hamilton, the winner of our fabulous box of Valentine chocolates! We hope you enjoy them.

Win this Kindle Fire!

It’s not too late to enter into our drawing for the Kindle Fire!  Just call to schedule an appointment during our Better Hearing Event next week for a chance to win. For the event, we are offering free demonstrations of some of the latest connectivity and streaming options available. Don’t miss this great opportunity to hear the difference that these truly amazing technologies can make.  And, just for coming to the appointment, you’ll get a chance at winning a brand new Kindle Fire tablet.  It doesn’t get better than that!

Tinnitus is the perception of a sound that has no external source.

Washington, DC, December 19, 2011 — People suffering with tinnitus, commonly known as “ringing in the ears,” can find the latest information on their condition and methods for coping with it in the all-new authoritative eGuide, “Your Guide to Tinnitus,” the Better Hearing Insitute (BHI) announced today. Nearly 30 million Americans—or about 10 percent of the U.S. population—suffer from persistent, chronic tinnitus.

Tinnitus is the perception of a sound that has no external source and is commonly described as a ringing, humming, buzzing, and/or cricket-like sound that is either constant or intermittent. Tinnitus can be heard in one ear, both ears, or in the head. Exposure to extreme noise is the leading cause of tinnitus, and people with tinnitus almost always have accompanying hearing loss. Tinnitus is currently the number one service-connected disability of returning military personnel from Iraq and Afghanistan.

“For many who suffer from it, tinnitus can be a source of endless torment and a continual drain on quality-of-life,” says Sergei Kochkin, PhD, BHI’s Executive Director. “Yet most people who suffer from tinnitus don’t seek help. This free, easy-to-download eGuide can provide tinnitus sufferers with accurate, valuable information that will help them better understand and cope with their condition.”

“Your Guide to Tinnitus,” is the latest of seven eGuides for consumers published by  BHI on hearing-related topics. It is written by Richard Tyler, PhD, one of the country’s eminent authorities on tinnitus and the editor of three books on the topic, including The Consumer Handbook on Tinnitus (Auricle Ink Publishers). Dr. Tyler is a professor in both the Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery and the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

“Your Guide to Tinnitus” helps readers understand what tinnitus is; what causes it; different types of tinnitus; the impact tinnitus has on sufferers’ lives; the connection between tinnitus and hearing loss; current treatment options that make tinnitus more manageable; and actions people with tinnitus can take to help themselves.

The incidence of both tinnitus and hearing loss is expected to grow as baby boomers age, people continue to listen to portable music players at high volumes, and more soldiers return from combat.

“We need to raise awareness among people who suffer from tinnitus that there is help,” says Tyler. “Although there currently is no cure to eliminate tinnitus altogether, there are things that sufferers can do about it. This eGuide provides information on tried and proven therapies that have helped innumerable individuals reduce the impact that tinnitus has on their lives. I urge anyone with tinnitus to visit www.BetterHearing.org (under Tinnitus) and download the eGuide so they can begin to regain their quality of life.”

Other eGuides published and provided by BHI include “Your Guide to Better Hearing,” “A Guide to Your Child’s Hearing,” “Your Guide to Hearing Aids,” “Your Guide to Care and Maintenance of Hearing Aids,” “Your Guide to Financial Assistance for Hearing Aids,” and “Your Guide to Buying Hearing Aids.”

More About Tinnitus
According to a recent BHI survey, four in ten people experience their tinnitus more than 80 percent of the time; slightly more than one in four describe their tinnitus as loud; and about one in five describe their tinnitus as disabling or nearly disabling.

The study also found that 13 million people report tinnitus but no hearing loss. According to Kochkin, this finding indicates that the population with hearing loss may be much larger than previously believed because tinnitus almost always co-occurs with hearing loss. It’s very likely that these individuals simply were aware of their tinnitus but not their hearing loss.

According to the study, people with tinnitus report that it most often affects their ability to hear (39%), concentrate (26%), and sleep (20%). Yet for many, tinnitus is even more pervasive. Twelve percent of respondents—or 3.6 million people when extrapolated to the general population—say their tinnitus affects leisure activities, social life, personal relationships, and emotional or mental health. Seven percent of respondents—or an estimated 2.1 million people nationwide—indicate that tinnitus affects their ability to work.

The BHI study findings were published in the November issue of Hearing Review. The findings were derived from a nationwide survey of 46,000 households. It is the largest study of its kind.

About BHI
Founded in 1973, BHI conducts research and engages in hearing health education with the goal of helping people with hearing loss benefit from proper treatment. For more information on hearing loss, visit www.betterhearing.org. To take the BHI Quick Hearing Check, visit www.hearingcheck.org. To participate in the discussion forum, visit www.betterhearing.org, click on “Discussion Forum,” and go to “Welcome!” to register.

Originally posted on the Hearing Care Blog
By: Amit Gosalia, Au.D., FAAA
Board Certified Doctor of Audiology
Audiology Clinic, Inc.
505 NE 87th Ave., #150
Vancouver, WA 98664
(360) 892-9367
Follow Audiology Clinic | Facebook | Twitter
www.audiologyclinic.com 

“Dr. Gosalia, I just bought a pair of $8500 hearing aids from XYZ in Portland. I was told that I would hear normally in all environments, including restaurants and ball-games. I am less than pleased because I still can’t hear or understand in noise. Did I waste my money?”

This was a case I dealt with a few months ago. This patient went to a business to purchase hearing aids, and this franchise/chain location set some lofty expectations for the patient. As hearing instrument technology improves, so do patient expectations. Terms such as noise reduction, noise management & directional hearing (along with many other proprietary terms) give the perception that the end-user will not hear background noise, and only hear the person in front of them. Unfortunately and fortunately, this is not true. Below I’ve touched the surface of noise, noise reduction and directivity.

Let’s start with noise. Noise is any disrupting event (in this case, sound) that impedes one’s ability to sense (in this case, hear) a signal (in this case, speech). For the purpose of this post, we’ll concentrate on hearing speech within a noisy environment. A general term and formula that is used in hearing healthcare is Speech-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) which tells us how loud speech is in relation to noise. For example, average speech is 45-55 decibels (dB) hearing speech in a basketball stadium where the crowd is cheering over 90 dB is difficult because the speech is 35-45 dB lower than the noise. This is considered a very low SNR; now compare this to speaking at a normal volume in a quiet library, the SNR will be high making speech much easier to understand. When someone has a hearing loss things change. Without amplification important parts of speech are not heard well, making understanding the person next to you difficult, if not impossible. The natural ability of any person to hear through noise decreases as hearing loss increases. This is a fact that has been well established in research on the human auditory system. Thus, a hearing aid can help make missing pieces of speech more easily heard but it cannot repair one’s ability to hear through noise and find valuable pieces of speech. For this reason, modern hearing aids focus on managing noise and amplifying clean speech.

Hearing instruments can come with or without venting. Vents are holes that are drilled through either the hearing instrument or the earmold for the purpose of letting air and sound travel in and out of the ear canal. The larger the vent, the closer you get to a more natural, open ear. Newer technology has allowed us to keep the ear open with small hearing instruments that rest behind the ear and even some custom molded devices (please see other postings for detailed descriptions of hearing technology). As cute as they may be, if your hearing is not within or near normal limits in the lower frequencies, an open ear device may not be for you.

One advantage of an open ear hearing aid is to allow low frequency sound to escape the ear canal, keeping the user’s voice more natural. When the user complains of hearing their own voice in their head or sounding as if they are speaking in a barrel, it’s usually a phenomenon called occlusion (or ampclusion). Keeping an ear canal open minimizes this effect but also introduces two detrimental issues. First, low frequency environmental sounds will bypass the hearing aid and travel into the ear naturally through the vent. These sounds that bypass the hearing aid are often heard naturally because most hearing losses are minimal in the low-frequencies and greater in the high-frequencies. This also means that the hearing aid is not able to process the sound before it’s heard, so technologies such as noise reduction do not affect low-frequency sounds in the open ear hearing aid.

Secondly, directional microphones will prove less beneficial in the open-ear fitting.² What this means is that the more open the ear canal, the harder it becomes to hear what’s in front of you. So, theoretically, if our goal is to have the instruments focus more front-facing, the ear canal should not be very open. Note that normal low frequency hearing will be affected by closing the ear canal, and opening the canal with moderate to profound low frequency hearing will result in less hearing in those frequencies.^1,2

So, what does this tell us about hearing in noise with amplification? You will hear background noise in noisy environments. You will most likely hear the kids screaming four tables away. You may still have difficulties hearing the person across the table from you. The good news is that with proper hearing aid selection and the correct technology that meets your lifestyle and budget, you’ll hear much better. Only a well trained hearing care professional can make these choices and help you to establish reasonable expectations for better hearing.

“Ms. XX, although the level of technology you purchased is consistent with an Active Lifestyle (in our clinic approx $7500 – $1000 less than the chain!!), you should know that hearing aids only supplement your hearing in those difficult environments. In fact, with normal hearing, I have difficulty hearing at basketball games and certain restaurants as well. Although we can not restore normal hearing, we can help you hear much better in more environments. You will still have some difficulty hearing and understanding in certain environments, but, with some realistic expectations, expert advice, and some auditory retraining, you will find greater success.”

Footnotes:
1 What is the Effect of Venting on Directivity? Audiology Online 10/2009; Todd A. Ricketts, Ph.D., CCC-A, FAAA
2 Efficacy of an Open-Fitting Hearing Aid; Hearing Review February 2005; Francis Kuk, Phd, et al

SoundVoids™ can cause unnecessary frustration in visiting with your loved ones.

It’s coming.  2011 is almost over and 2012 is on its way.  As the new year approaches, it’s a great time to begin the journey toward better hearing.  Here are four great reasons to start today:

1. If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it. A common phenomenon, especially among those who let their hearing loss go untreated, is called phonemic regression. Simply put, phonemic regression is when we find a loss of speech discrimination that isn’t proportional to the person’s pure tone thresholds. The most common symptom of this is being able to hear that someone is speaking but simply not being able to understand what is being said, something we call a Sound Void. This is a very frustrating situation, as the problem is not a simple matter of volume. In some cases, phonemic regression could have been prevented simply by wearing hearing aids earlier.
2. Keep your brain sharp! In February, John’s Hopkins University released a startling study that linked untreated hearing loss to the development of dementia in elderly populations. While the exact nature of this link remains a bit of a mystery, it is well known that social isolation contributes to dementia.  One of the biggest contributing factors to this kind of isolation is the inability to hear well enough to enjoy getting out and being active.
3. New technology provides superior sound quality and satisfaction.  The king of hearing aids is no longer that big ear plug that your father or grandfather wore (or refused to wear, as the case may have been).  There are many styles available for nearly every budget that are designed to treat nearly every type of hearing loss.  The possibilities are all but endless, and so is our ability to help people with many different kinds of hearing loss.
4. Better hearing has never been easier!  Our ultimate goal as hearing professionals is to reintroduce you to a world of sounds that you haven’t been hearing.  Our Service Excellence Guarantee provides you with peace of mind knowing that we’ll have your back and make sure that you get the full value of your investment in better hearing.  We offer a 75-day trial period, well beyond the 30 days required by state law, with a 100% refund if you’re not completely satisfied.  We also offer extended warranties, in-office repairs and service, manufacturer repair if needed, and a wealth of knowledge to customize hearing solutions for every patient, all as part of our Service Excellence Guarantee.  We will support you every step along your journey to better hearing.

To start your journey toward better hearing, call us to schedule an appointment for a hearing test.  Through our 4-step process, we’ll learn about you and your better hearing goals, examine your ears for any defects or blockages, diagnose your hearing loss, and show you what we can do to help you hear better.  Don’t wait to hear what you’ve been missing!  Early treatment can make all the difference!

In observance of New Year’s Day, Advanced Hearing Care will be closed on Friday, December 31. We will return for normal office hours on Monday, January 2. Have a safe and happy New Year!