Hearing Solutions Blog

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William Luxford, MD, Otolaryngologist
House Ear Clinic, Los Angeles CA

Patients with diabetes are more than twice as likely as those without the disease to have hearing loss, according to a recent National Institutes of Health (NIH) study. Overall, more than 40 percent of people with diabetes in the study had some degree of hearing loss.

People with diabetes should ask their doctors to check their hearing. This routine. A hearing check can be invaluable in identifying diabetic patients with potential hearing loss giving them an opportunity to receive the treatment they need. To facilitate hearing checks, the Better Hearing Institute has designed a Quick Hearing Check to help people quickly assess if they have a hearing loss requiring a comprehensive hearing test by a hearing professional. The quick check is available online at www.hearingcheck.org.

The study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, was conducted by researchers who analyzed data from hearing tests, administered from 1999 to 2004, to 5,140 participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Its findings prompted investigators from the NIH to recommend that physicians encourage their patients with diabetes to have their hearing checked.

For years, physicians who treat people with diabetes have regularly ensured that their patients receive regular vision check-ups. This important study underscores the need for physicians now to encourage each of their patients to get their hearing checked as well. Both vision loss and hearing loss are associated with diabetes.

Studies conducted by BHI and others show that people with untreated hearing loss have a lower quality of life and even earn less income than people with normal hearing or people who have treated their hearing loss by using hearing aids. Modern hearing aids that use digital technology can help most people with hearing loss.

• Excessive noise is the number one reason for hearing loss.
• Experts agree that continued exposure to noise of 85 dB or louder, over time, will eventually harm hearing.
• If you cannot carry on a conversation in the presence of noise, it is too loud for your ears and can potentially cause hearing loss.
• 1 in 4 workers exposed to high levels of noise will develop a hearing loss.
• The number one reason people seek a hearing solution is the recognition that their hearing has worsened. Usually this occurs from making a serious mistake, family pressure or safety concerns.
• Professions at risk of hearing loss include firefighters, police officers, factory workers, farmers, construction workers, military personnel, heavy industry workers, musicians, and entertainment industry professionals.
• The ear has over 25,000 tiny hair cells to help you hear the nuances of sound.

The Audiologists at Hearing Solutions of Northwest Michigan, Dr. Sandra Leahy and Dr. Kathleen Sawhill, are excited about a break though in hearing technology that is now available in northern Michigan, at their clinic. It is called the Lyric.

The Lyric is a small hearing aid that is deeply inserted in the ear by the Audiologist. The patient leaves the hearing aid in their ear 24/7. They can sleep, exercise, talk on the phone and shower with it in. There is no maintenance, no cleaning, and no changing of batteries. It is invisible to others, so no one will even know they are wearing it. The sound quality is very natural due to the deep placement in the ear canal. 96% of Lyric users are more satisfied with Lyric than their previous hearing aids.

Approximately every three months the hearing aid battery will go dead. At that time the hearing aid is removed and a new hearing aid is inserted again by the Audiologist. As the technology is updated, the patient will always have the most up to date technology placed in their ear.

If you would like more information or would like to schedule an appointment call us at 922-1500.

Hearing Solutions of Northwest Michigan is pleased to announce our 3rd Annual “Hear for the Holidays” Contest!

The contest, started by Doctors of Audiology Dr. Sandra Leahy and Dr. Kathleen Sawhill in 2008, is seeking someone in the community who would most benefit from a FREE pair of hearing aids and follow-up services.

To enter the contest please submit an essay, in 1000 words or less, stating whom you would like to nominate for consideration and how that individual would benefit from hearing aids and hearing services. Be sure to include the nominee’s name, address and phone number along with your name, address and phone number.

All entries must be received by Monday, December 6th, 2010 The winner will be selected based on financial need, degree of hearing impairment and the quality of the essay.

Essays may be submitted by mail to:
Hearing Solutions of Northwest Michigan
3241 Racquet Club Dr., Ste. B
Traverse City, MI 49684

or by fax to (231) 922-1502. The winner will be notified on Wednesday, December 8th, 2010.

If you have any questions about the “Hear for the Holidays” Contest, our practice or would like to schedule an immediate appointment please call us at (231)922-1500.

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• Hearing loss can be prevented by using ear plugs or earmuffs when engaging in activities around excessive noise (i.e. construction, disco, shooting a gun).
• If you have pain in your ears after leaving a noisy area or you hear ringing or buzzing (tinnitus) in your ears immediately after exposure to noise consider this as a warning sign that the sounds are TOO LOUD.
• Examples of dangerously loud recreational activities which may cause hearing loss are: video arcades – (110 dB), firecrackers – (125-155 dB at a distance of 10 feet), live music concerts – (120 dB and above) , gunshots – (150-167 dB), movie theatres – (118 dB), health clubs and aerobic studios (120 dB), sporting events (127 dB), motorboats – (85-115 dB), motorcycles – (95-120 dB), snowmobiles – (99 dB) , “boom cars” – (140 dB and above).

• The vast majority of Americans (95%) with hearing loss have their hearing loss treated with hearing aids. Only 5% of hearing loss in adults can be improved through medical or surgical treatment.
• Modern directional hearing aids can now help the hard-of-hearing to hear in noisy situations.
• Amplified telephones are now available to help people with hearing loss. Auditory assistive listening devices when combined with hearing aids are much like binoculars for the ear.
• Most public places (i.e. movie, place of worship, government building, schools) are required under the American with Disabilities Act to provide assistive listening devices for the hard-of-hearing.
• Nearly 90% of hearing aids are digital.
• Telecoils in hearing aids improve the ability to hear in public places and on the telephone.
• 75% of people with hearing loss in both ears use two (binaural) hearing aids.
• One of the key determinants of success with hearing aids are realistic expectations.
• Successful treatment of hearing loss with hearing aids is associated with greater earning power.
• Treatment of hearing loss will improve interpersonal relationships.
• Hard-of-hearing people are less likely to be discriminated against if they use hearing aids.
• The use of hearing aids is associated with reductions in anger, frustration, paranoia, anxiety and overall improvements in emotional stability.
• Most people who use hearing aids have improved social lives.
• The use of hearing aids is associated with improved perceptions of the hard-of-hearing’s mental ability.
• People who use hearing aids report better health than hard-of-hearing people who do not use hearing aids.
• 9 out of 10 hearing aid users report improvements in their quality of life.
• Customer satisfaction with directional hearing aids is 81%.
• A wax protection system on hearing aids reduces hearing aid repairs by 50%.
• Consumers report a 92% satisfaction with hearing healthcare professionals.
• One of the best ways to get a loved one to seek help for their hearing loss is to stop being their hearing helper!
• Only 13% of physicians screen for hearing loss. Ask your doctor for a hearing screening since it is not a routine part of physical exams.
• The majority of people with nerve deafness are helped with hearing aids.
• A large number of people with Tinnitus (ringing in the ears) can be helped with masking devices worn like hearing aids.
• Even people born deaf can learn to hear with cochlear implants.

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• Approximately one in 10 Americans has some degree of hearing loss. It may reach 44 million by 2030.
• Only 14 percent of physicians today ask patients if they have any hearing problems.
• People with untreated hearing loss are more likely to report depression, anxiety, and paranoia and less likely to participate in organized activities, compared to those who wear hearing aids, according to a survey by the National Council on the Aging (NCOA) of 2,300 hearing-impaired adults, age 50 or older.
• Untreated mild to moderate hearing loss is associated with short-term memory loss, according to a Brandeis University study.
• People with untreated hearing loss make, on average, up to $23,000 less per year, depending on the degree of their hearing loss. Wearing hearing aids mitigates the loss in earnings about 50 percent.
• Nine out of ten hearing aid users report improvements in their quality of life, according to a survey by the Better Hearing Institute of more than 2,300 consumers.