Innovative Hearing Solutions

Memory and Hearing Loss

admin — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 07:34:16 +0000

You can’t remember what you can’t hear!

Hearing loss and memory loss are common in Boomers and both can look the same to an outside observer. For example, research has shown that people with mild to moderate hearing loss might spend so much energy trying to understand what is being said that their ability to remember the conversation suffers as a result.

There are very gradual and subtle effects of hearing loss on memory and cognitive functions. However, the strategies for treating hearing loss and memory loss are quite different.

When considering some of the symptoms Alzheimer’s Disease and untreated hearing loss, the correlation is obvious:

Alzheimer’s Disease	Untreated Hearing Loss
Depression, anxiety, disorientation Reduced Language comprehension Impaired memory (esp. short-term memory) Inappropriate psychosocial responses Loss of ability to recognize Denial, defensiveness, negativity Distrust and suspicion regarding other’s motives	Depression, anxiety, feelings of isolation Reduced communication ability Reduced cognitive input Inappropriate psychosocial responses Reduced mental scores Denial, heightened defensiveness, negativity Distrust and paranoia (e.g. belief that others may be talking about them)

Hearing loss up 26% for Boomers

admin — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 07:27:53 +0000

Those of us born between 1946 and 1964, aka baby boomers, have been the most studied generation ever. And the surveys continue as boomers move toward retirement and those long-sought golden years. Every 63 seconds, another baby boomer over 50 will have difficulty hearing this sentence read aloud. People don’t hesitate to turn to eyeglasses for better vision, but the tendency is to take hearing loss less seriously. What’s even more odd is how a tired social stigma of wearing hearing aids or hearing loss still prevails over improved hearing and lifestyle.

Hearing problems have shot up 26 percent among people ages 46 to 64 since the 1970’s. Many people say they are embarrassed about the loss of hearing and the need to wear hearing aids. Even when someone knows that something is wrong, it can take years before he or she finally seeks a proper diagnosis and then opts for treatment. One such recently-released survey, conducted by Energizer® (makers of batteries including hearing aid batteries), indicates that those between the ages of 50 and 70 have apparent contradictory views on hearing loss… In fact, the disconnect is somewhat startling: 67.1% of respondents said they were concerned about hearing loss, however, only 30% felt it was important to actually visit a hearing health professional for a hearing test. Only 11.5% of those surveyed indicated that they’d been screened for hearing loss within the past 12 months. Therefore, 88.5% of boomers are overdue for a hearing check-up. Now, what would Mom say?

A Tale of Two Sisters

admin — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 07:26:20 +0000

It was a typical blustery grey, November afternoon here in Fredericton when a long term client came in to see me. I didn’t think she had an appointment, so I was surprised when I saw her standing at the front desk, shaking off the November cold from her overcoat.

I was a little concerned, because in the 2 years since getting her hearing evaluation and eventually being fitted with her hearing aids; her life had completely been transformed.

Every time she’d come in for her scheduled adjustment, she would tell me about how she so loved talking with her grandchildren on the phone, hearing their giggles and their soft voices saying “ we love you Nana”.

But this visit wasn’t for herself.

You see, about 3 years earlier, both she and her sister had been diagnosed with the exact same type of hearing loss. The problem was that, even though they had the same type of hearing aids, her sister was still un-able to get the same results that she was getting.

Numerous visits over the next few months revealed a common problem I see all the time.

You see, everyone’s hearing loss is different. And even though the two sisters had the exact type of hearing loss, on paper, the remedy for that loss was totally different based on their individual life styles. We fitted her sister with a completely different technology and today she couldn’t be happier.

I look forward to meeting you soon,

Sincerely,
Cheryl Morehouse

Patience and Endurance

admin — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 07:25:06 +0000

A natural part of the aging process is that our hearing worsens as we get older. The loss is so gradual that it may go unnoticed.

The person with the hearing loss and even the family members learn to adapt their behaviour without even realizing it. They speak louder, turn the TV volume up or repeat parts of the conversation. People start giving excuses to cover up the hearing loss, such as saying people mumble or don’t speak clearly.

People in general do not have much patience for the people that ask them to repeat things over and over. Most of us, by the third time, have become a little short with the person that has asked.

Although our short-term patience wears thin, our compassion and long-term endurancetakes over. Most of us have a great deal of endurance because we tolerate hearing loss in our loved ones for an average of 7 years before we finally convince them to get the help they need.

We Sometimes Forget How Important Hearing Is

admin — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 07:24:20 +0000

Coming from a family of hearing loss included a profoundly deaf brother I know all too well what it is like to be at a family function or an event where people cannot hear. One of the most common first complaints is that people notice that they cannot hear in background noise. I see people at social gatherings sit in a corner with a grin on their face and cannot participate in any conversation as they cannot hear so they feel isolated and pretty soon will not bother to go to functions any more as it becomes too hard or embarrassing for them.

Children get frustrated and won’t speak with the older folks that cannot hear them as they find it takes too much energy and no matter how they say it their words will not be understood.

People are raising their voices at each other because if they have hearing loss they usually cannot gauge how loud they are speaking to one another.

Someone says where are your hearing aids and they point to their pocket and they have taken them off as they have not gotten used to the back ground noise yet and say everyone sound like a bunch of bumbling bees.

I think sometimes we forget how important our hearing is to our quality of life. Hearing loss makes people feel isolated and left out, anxious and depressed.