Baby Boomers are slaying the stigma of hearing loss

For part of each week, I work in a building that houses start-up companies. Recently, a middle-aged friend approached me in the communal lunchroom. “You’ve got to see it,” he exclaimed, “I shelled out big bucks for this beauty, but it does everything! Music, telephone, and best of all, I’m hearing the engine hum---something I haven’t heard in years!” “You just bought a Maserati,” I guessed. “Nope,” he said, proudly pointing to his ear, “A hearing aid.” Turns out the engine hum he was talking about was coming from his refrigerator, not a V-8 engine.  That’s when it hit me: Hearing loss is losing its social stigma. Baby Boomers are changing the way that society perceives hearing loss. Whereas their parents, as senior citizens, tended to be resistant to technology and tended to be overly resistant to spending money on themselves, this new generation of seniors is embracing digital technology and the latest developments in hearing technology. Many are not allowing hearing loss to prevent them from leading an otherwise active and youthful lifestyle. It’s a great time to be a healthcare professional. Try clEAR auditory brain training---you’ll be amazed by how it enhances your everyday conversations.EARS train the brain

Hearing healthcare may become more affordable thanks to the Audiology Patient Choice Act

"US Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass) and Rand Paul (R-Ky) have introduced the Audiology Patient Choice Act, a bipartisan bill designed to ensure seniors and people with disabilities on Medicare have access to a full range of hearing and balance health care services provided by licensed audiologists, according to a joint press release......
......The Audiology Patient Choice Act is designed to improve hearing healthcare for Medicare beneficiaries by allowing audiologists to provide all services already covered by Medicare that are also within an audiologist’s scope of practice. The bill includes provisions that would implement the National Academies’ recommendation to allow audiologists to receive Medicare reimbursement for auditory rehabilitation services."
Hearing Review, March, 2018
EARS train the brain with clEAR Auditory Brain Training

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Solutions for the Gourmand with Hearing Loss

Because hearing loss can interfere with a person’s ability to understand waiters and dining companions, many people with listening challenges avoid eating out. The good news is that this may change, thanks to a clever training program initiated by the Baltimore-based Hearing and Speech Agency. This non-profit is training restaurant employees in such eateries as La Cuchara to ask, “Do you need a booster seat, a handicap-accessible table, or do you need accommodations for hearing loss or hearing status?” when taking reservations or when greeting patrons. The Agency’s director, Erin Stauder, notes, “It just starts conversations and starts to destigmatize something that is very much still stigmatized.” Here’s how these smart restaurants make accomodatations: • Show guests 2 or 3 different options for seating, including one with quiet acoustics (not everyone wants a corner booth). • Train restaurant staff to face guests and maintain eye contact when speaking. • Offer menus with daily specials written down. Of course, gourmands can be proactive by engaging in auditory brain training that will help them recognize speech more effectively in noisy restaurants:   www.clearworks4ears.com https://lnkd.in/eCx48Db

That other kind of age-related hearing loss

Most of us know about peripheral presbycusis, but what about that other kind of age-related hearing loss, central presbycusis?

• Who and When: 12.2% of people over the age of 74 years
• What: Hearing loss characterized by normal thresholds (<40 dBHL) and reduced speech discrimination, especially in the presence of background noise
• Why: Weakening of the brainstem and temporal cortex and/or global vascular degeneration
• Implications: Older adults with central presbycusis are twice as likely as adults with normal hearing or adults with peripheral presbycusis (i.e., hearing loss associated with the cochlea or auditory nerve malfunction) to have mild cognitive impairment (MCI)
• Take-home message: "[Treatment of] hearing impairment with hearing aids early on could greatly reduce or delay the onset of cognitive neurodegeneration," so says lead author, Rodolfo Sardone, AuD, The Great Age Study (2018) 

https://lnkd.in/ecChsQ9


EARS train the brain
www.clearworks4ears.com

Taking control of your hearing loss

Are you frustrated because hearing loss is preventing you from easily engaging in conversation? You're not alone. Most people with hearing loss experience frustration and even depression because hearing loss encumbers their ability to engage in the give-and-take of talking with family, friends, and co-workers. Auditory brain training can help.  At Washington University in St Louis, we asked 100 people with hearing loss, "What did you like best about the program?", after they had completed clEAR's auditory brain training sessions. A top answer:
"Playing the clEAR listening games made me feel empowered over my hearing loss."
Take control of your situation and let EARS train the brain.

www.clearworks4ears.com