Ask the Audiologist

Q: My husband has difficulty hearing but he refuses to admit it or have his hearing tested. He says that his hearing is fine, but our friends and family members are getting very frustrated with always having to repeat themselves. How could he not realize how much he is missing?

A: Although hearing loss is one of the most common health problems in this country, it often goes unnoticed and the person with the hearing problem is usually the last one to become aware of it.

Described below are some of the early characteristics of hearing loss.
Understanding these may help explain why hearing loss can "sneak up" on someone, even when family and friends are well aware of the problem:

1. Gradual: a loss of hearing typically develops so slowly that you're not aware of any change from year to year.

2. Partial: you can develop a loss of hearing in the speech clarity range, but still have normal hearing sensitivity for background noises and for the loudness of speech. That's why someone with early onset hearing loss may say, "I can hear people talking, I just can't understand them."

3. Painless: although tinnitus (a ringing or buzzing sound in the ear) may accompany hearing loss, usually there is no feeling or sensation that alerts you to a change in hearing.

4. Invisible: the person with a hearing loss doesn't look any different and you can't detect hearing loss by looking into someone's ears. Only a hearing test can determine whether a hearing loss is present.

Keep in mine that because of these characteristics, it's easy for the person with early onset hearing loss to believe there is no problem. It's also very easy for them to blame others, because to them, it really sounds like people are mumbling. If you know of someone who may have an undetected hearing loss, please ask him or her to read this. And remember, the first step is not to get hearing aids, but simply have an audiologic evaluation. We've never heard anyone complain if the results indicate normal hearing!

Do You Have Hearing Loss?

Answering "YES" to any of the following questions should be reason enough to have your hearing evaluated by an audiologist:

Do you have trouble understanding conversation in noisy environments?

Do you notice that you can "hear" but cannot always "understand" what others are saying?

Do you remain quiet in conversations for fear of responding improperly?

Do you often ask others to repeat themselves?

Do you avoid certain social activities because you cannot hear well?

Do you strain to hear soft-sounding voices such as those of women and children?

Do your friends and family members complain that the television volume is too loud?

Do you have a problem hearing on the telephone?

Educational Seminar

We're hosting an educational seminar near our Bowling Green and Wauseon locations in mid-March.  (We're holding off on the Toledo region until our construction is completed. One project at a time people!)

We invite you to join us for lunch:

SATURDAY, MARCH 16 11:30 to 1:30 in WAUSEON

Fulton County Health Center, Conference Facility

725 S Shoop Ave, Wauseon

MONDAY, MARCH 18 - 11:30 TO 1:30 IN BOWLING GREEN

Wood County Hospital, meeting rooms near ER entrance

950 W Wooster, Bowling Green

PLEASE! Save your spot!
RSVP to 419-464-9265

so we have enough lunch to feed everyone who shows up!

"Hear What You've Been Missing" will be presented by Doctor of Audiology, David Lisko, who is the Midwest Clinical Trainer for Oticon Corp.  Come and learn how hearing loss can affect your life and about new developments in hearing care and communication strategies for you and your loved one.

Two Ears ARE Better than One

Being able to hear with both ears is just as important as being able to see with both eyes. If you have difficulty hearing with both ears, you will almost certainly benefit from a binaural fitting - that is, wearing a hearing instrument in each ear.

The most important benefits of wearing two hearing instruments are:

• your ability to localize sounds will improve
• it will be easier to understand speech in noisy surroundings
• the risk of "auditory deprivation" is considerably reduced
• you will experience a fuller, more comfortable sound

Why do people have 2 ears? Because the brain needs input from both ears to tell us which direction sounds are coming from. Think about a car honking its horn, for example. Our ears alert us to the danger, sending sound signals to the brain. Within a split second the brain compares the information received from both ears - such as the power and intensity of the sound wave, and how long it to reach each ear. This tells us instantly which direction the care is coming from, and how far away it is.

Background noise makes it difficult to follow what people are saying. For people who don't hear equally well with both ears, it suddenly becomes much harder to separate individual voices from background noise. The brain needs input from both ears in order to separate sounds effectively.

Another risk that is significantly reduced by wearing two hearing aids is the risk of auditory deprivation. This is when the brain gradually loses some of its ability to process information from the unaided ear because of a continued lack of sound stimulation. Auditory deprivation most often occurs when the ear goes unaided over a long period of time - so the earlier you consider wearing two hearing instruments, the better your chances are of minimizing this risk.

If you hear equally well with both ears, sounds are more comfortable to listen to. You don't have to strain to hear, and sounds have the kind of clarity and depth which give you a sense of space and volume. Imagine listening to your favorite program on the stereo. It has two amplifiers and two speakers, to give music and speech a natural depth. However, if only one amplifier and speaker is working, the sounds become shallow and flat.

Holidays and Hearing Loss: how to help your loved ones

I guess we are officially smack in the middle of the holiday season, right? This is a great time to encourage your loved ones to take control of their hearing problems.

Hearing loss is one of the most common health conditions that people ignore, and yet it is one of the more simple to help.  Affecting more than 31.5 million Americans, I am certain someone you love is affected.  Left untreated, hearing loss can lead to depression and feelings of isolation - feelings that are often more prevalent this time of year as it is.

"The holiday season is meant to be a time of thanks, celebration, and joy," says Sergei Kochkin, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Better Hearing Institute. "But for many people, it is a time of year when unaddressed hearing loss can cause them to feel particularly isolated and depressed. Even when surrounded by loved ones, a family member's impaired ability to hear and actively participate in conversation cuts them off. Oftentimes, they are left with a sense of sadness, inadequacy, and emotional isolation. This is especially true when the hearing loss is either unrecognized or is being 'hidden' by the family member with hearing loss."

Keep a close look on loved ones who you have suspected might have some hearing loss in the past. Help keep them included in your holiday conversations, but also encourage them to start taking the steps toward better hearing.

"When a family member experiences unaddressed hearing loss, it silently erodes the loved one's quality of life—undermining family relationships, interfering with short-term memory, and creeping into virtually every aspect of daily living," says Kochkin. "The good news is there are solutions to help loved ones with hearing loss regain the gift of sound so they don't need to draw back in silence. Hearing loss can be easily diagnosed, and there are modern-day solutions that can help people hear better."

Hearing Loss Simulation: the Flinstones

I just found this video on YouTube. Watch it! (and listen) As the Flinstones and the Rubbles go one playing their boardgame and talking, the audio is changed to simulate how one would be hearing the conversation with various degrees of hearing loss.

How can I tell if I'm losing my hearing?

One morning, you're sitting in a small office, having a very nice conversation with a co-worker. You're functioning fine. You have no problems hearing or understanding Dan tell you about his son's first soccer game and his mom's recent health problems.

That evening, you're in a busy restaurant with your entire family celebrating Grandma's 83rd birthday. Someone at the table tells a joke. Well, you assume it's a joke because everyone else is laughing, but truthfully you didn't hear everything that was said so you just laugh anyway.

So what's going on?

----

This experience is typical of someone whose hearing is starting to decline. Hearing loss most often happens so slowly, so gradually, that we don't actually realize it is happening. And it's very hard to really know if you aren't hearing as well as you used to.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Are you asking friends and family to repeat themselves?
• Do you have difficulty understanding people on the telephone or on TV?
• Is it hard to follow conversations in noisy places like restaurants?
• Do you feel like people often mumble or just don't speak as clearly as they used to?
• Are loved ones getting frustrated because they feel you do not understand them?

Hearing loss is not "all-or-none." We often think that if someone has hearing loss, they have trouble hearing everything. Very commonly, people lose the hearing of higher-frequencies (pitches) first, while their low-frequency hearing might still be fine. This makes people feel like they can hear fine, but people are just mumbling.

The first step for anyone who even just thinks they might be experiencing some hearing loss is to have a hearing evaluation.  Having a full diagnostic test by an audiologist will help you determine why you are experiencing the problems you have been more aware of recently.  Your audiologist will then make recommendations to you - from annual hearing tests to monitor your loss, to a referral to a physician and maybe even hearing aids. But don't be afraid, we don't know what you need (if anything) until we know what is going on.

The Important Stuff

Getting a hearing aid just might be included on the list of "important stuff" to do.

from Hearing Loss Magazine. Written by Penny Allen who lives in Port Orchard, Washington and is president of the Hearing Loss Association of Washington and editor of "Sound Waves," the state association newsletter. She wears a hearing aid and has a cochlear implant.

Desperate people frequently ask my why their parents of spouses won't "do something" about their hearing loss. You'd think I would know. 

What I do know is that people with untreated hearing loss are usually oblivious to what a burden they become to their families. And most families living with someone with untreated hearing loss don't grasp its seriousness. It's either "his problem" or "her problem," but rarely is it "our problem." Yet this apathy takes its toll. Communication barriers trigger psychological stress, confusion, anger, frustration, resentment, helplessness, etc. But it happens to the entire family! 

The longer someone puts off getting a hearing evaluation, the less likely getting hearing aids is going to happen. There are lists of reasons why people don't get hearing aids - fear, vanity, expense, misinformation - any of which might seem justified. But just as the person with a hearing loss adapts, so does the family. They become grudging enablers, taking charge and eventually easing him or her out of the picture for lack of involvement. Its' called marginalization, and it's inevitable. It's much like a family comping with an alcoholic family member who refuses treatment - life goes on. 

I grew up in such a family, and it was my father who refused help. We yelled a lot - at leas, we yelled at him. And hue usually yelled back because he was irritated we yelled at him. Watching TV was not about togetherness. The volume was so loud the rest of us scattered. Conversations were generally one-sided - if father's. If we got the chance to say something, we often had to repeat it even louder. Eventually we tired of the effort. But, ironically, we never discussed the elephant in the room, He was the father, after all. 

After my own hearing loss was diagnosed at the age of 40, I had an "AHA!" moment. I was sure I could convince my father of the merits of hearing aids. I couldn't. Over the years, he just sort of slipped away from me bit by bit. We had necessary talk but no small talk - the stuff that keeps you connected. He was preoccupied with solitary hobbies and had little contact with his children and grandchildren. I suspect we were all a bit lonely for the father and grandfather we should have had. 

Hearing loss requires attention - whether you are the person with the hearing loss of the family member who resides with it. Do something about it, and don't dally. Otherwise, you'll miss the important stuff. But the saddest part is you won't be the only one. 

Hearing Loss and Depression

from Healthy Hearing

Hearing professionals have long believed that there's a relationship between hearing loss and the onset or worsening of depression in some of their patients. A recent study from Australia indicates there may be an increased risk of the life-sapping effects of depression among those who have experienced hearing loss, or seen their hearing loss worsen.

"When left untreated, hearing loss often leads to isolation, depression, and other emotional conditions that can affect both mental health and quality of life," says Sergei Kochkin, PhD, executive director of The Better Hearing Institute. "Yet, hearing loss remains one of the most commonly unaddressed health conditions in America today."

It's Lonely in There

Even people with mild hearing loss begin to experience increasing levels of isolation. As the world fades to a muffle, those with more severe degrees of hearing loss experience even greater degrees of isolation according to the Australian report.

Once-engaged individuals withdraw. The stigma of hearing loss and the choice to not use hearing aids prevents these social people from getting out, seeing friends or even enjoying a nice dinner.

Depression and hearing loss often create a downward spiral. Isolation leads to depression which, in turn, leads to more isolation and so on until the depression is debilitating. Severely depressed people live life day to day. They're less focused, less productive, less engaged in the world and, simply, people with severe depression are unable to enjoy all that life has to offer.

Hearing Loss and the Family

Untreated hearing loss affects not only the individual but the entire family

The psychological effects of hearing loss aren't limited to the person experiencing loss of hearing.

Far from it.

The residual effects of hearing loss spread to all members of the household, to friends, co-workers – the individual's entire "social network." Things just aren't the same when friends have to shout to be heard or have to repeat everything they say. Sometimes twice!

So, many with hearing loss withdraw. They pull back from supportive family members who are "only trying to help." They don't answer the telephone because they can't hear the speaker. Another social outing missed, perhaps.

Hearing loss affects both individuals and their friends and family. It's a stress factor for all, adding strain to even the best, most stable relationships.

Are You Ready For Solutions?

Sure, we all know about hearing aids but not many of us know about hearing aid technology.

Today's hearing aids are low-profile (or totally, tricked-out), they're automated, they provide grade-A sound, they're comfortable to wear and, face it, they put you back in the game.

These are NOT your grand-dad's hearing aids. Hearing aids, today, are tuned by a professional on computer software to address specific hearing loss. They're available in wireless so your hearing aids become receivers for all wireless communications and, voila, you're connected by cell phone again. Linkage is always nice.

If, in fact, you have experienced hearing loss (no one knows better than you) and you feel isolated from family, friends and the TV, are you depressed? Do you spend more and more time "inside" yourself and less and less time engaging life – the external world?

10 simple questions:

• Do you avoid talking on the phone? Let the machine get it?
• Have you had trouble hearing in large, open spaces?
• Do you have trouble hearing in loud restaurants? Do you avoid eating out as a result?
• Do others complain about the loudness of the TV?
• Do you have trouble hearing co-workers on the job?
• Do you still enjoy music the way you once did?
• Do you miss the sounds of life, from birds in the trees to a soft whisper from a loved one?
• Do you become more depressed when hearing loss causes a "problem?"
• Do you think there's a stigma associated with wearing hearing aids?
• Are hearing aids associated with your self-image and self-esteem?

If you answered yes to any of these, you can make things better – and soon. But the first step is yours; the ball is in your court.

If you or a loved one live with untreated hearing loss, call us at 419-534-3111 – and eliminate a common source of stress and depression. You don't have to live with hearing loss anymore.

Energizer recently conducted an "All Ears" survey of 1,065 baby boomers whose spouses suffer from hearing loss. Here's what their survey reveled: 

1. Listen up: Being hard of hearing can cause hard feelings. About half (47.8 percent) of the respondents feel that their marriage has suffered because of their spouse's hearing loss. Nearly seven out of 10 (64.8 percent) respondents feel annoyed when their spouse cannot hear them. In addition, 16.4 percent feel ignored and 8.1 percent feel sad or hurt.

2. Loud talkers: Raised voices become more familiar. More than half (59.8 percent) find themselves in recent years talking louder daily so their spouse can hear them. And 83.4 percent feel that if they talk loud enough, it would help their spouse better understand what they are saying.

3. Sounds like a sandwich: Is it hearing loss, or selective hearing? While 45.3 percent of respondents believe their spouse doesn't hear chore requests, 77.5 percent say their spouse can hear them fix a snack.

4. In denial: Nearly half believe their spouse is in denial about their hearing loss. Of the boomers surveyed, 56.8 percent feel their spouse is reluctant to get his or her hearing checked. Nearly half (46.4 percent) feel that denial is the No. 1 reason their significant other is hesitant to get his or her hearing checked.

5. Time for checkup: Hearing screenings are few and far between. More than a third (35.6 percent) know their spouse hasn't had his or her hearing checked in more than three years. Moreover, 23.4 percent revealed that their spouse has never had his or her hearing checked.

What does hearing loss sound like?

Below you will find a short clip of a Flinstones cartoon.  The audio has been altered to allow you to experience hearing loss. First, you hear a few seconds of "normal hearing."  Then a mild loss, a moderate high-frequency loss and a severe loss. 

Rather eye-opening isn't it?

Does this help you understand how those loved ones with hearing loss experience conversations?

Denial of Hearing Loss

Q:  My husband has difficulty hearing but he refuses to admit it or have his hearing tested.  He says that his "hearing is fine," but our friends and family members are getting very frustrated with always having to repeat themselves. How could he not realize how much he is missing?


A: Although hearing loss is one of the most common health problems in this country, it often goes unnoticed and the person with the hearing problem is usually the last one to become aware of it.  Described below are some of the characteristics of early onset hearing loss.  Understanding theses characteristics may help explain why hearing loss can "sneak up" on someone, even when family and friends are well aware of the problem:


Gradual: A loss of hearing can develop so slowly that you're not aware of any change from year to year.


Partial: You can develop a loss of hearing in the speech clarity range, but still have normal hearing sensitivity for background noises and for the loudness of speech.  That's why someone with early onset hearing loss may say, "I can hear people talking...I just can't understand them."


Painless: Although tinnitus (a ringing or buzzing sound in the ear) may accompany hearing loss, usually there is no feeling or sensation that alerts you to a change in hearing.


Invisible: The person with a hearing loss doesn't look any different and you can't detect hearing loss by looking into someone's ears.  Only a hearing test can determine whether a hearing loss is present.


Keep in mind that because of theses characteristics, it is easy for the person with early onset hearing loss to believe there is no problem.  It's also very easy for them to blame others, because to them, it really sounds like people are mumbling.  If you know of someone who may have an undetected hearing loss, please ask him or her to read this.  And remember, the first step is not to get hearing aids, but simply to have an audiological evaluation.  We've never heard anyone complain if the result indicate normal hearing!