December 31, 2008 Issue
HEARING
LOSS HELP E-zine
"The premier e-zine for people with hearing loss"
Volume 3, Number 10 December
31, 2008
Publisher: Neil Bauman
neil@hearinglosshelp.com
http://www.hearinglosshelp.com
Copyright Center for Hearing Loss Help 2008
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"Hearing loss may change your life,
but your life need not be any less
rewarding and fulfilling
because you have a hearing loss."
— Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
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================================================== In this issue ==================================================
1. News Items
— Lip Reader ~ A Novel About One Family's Hearing Loss
Journey
— Are Ear Infections Making You Fat?
— Vitamins A, C & E Combined with Magnesium Help Prevent
Noise-Induced
Hearing Loss
— This New Handset/Headset Amplifier Is One to Die For
2. Beware of (Ototoxic) Drugs That Can Damage Your Ears
— St. John's Wort—A Non-Ototoxic Anti-Depressant
3. Answers to Your Questions
— Lyric Hearing Aids—Don't be Fooled by All the Hype
4. Tinnitus
— Can Taking Esomeprazole (Nexium) Cause Tinnitus?
5. Effective Coping Strategies
— The "Stick It in Your Ear and Hear" Philosophy of Wearing
Hearing Aids—
and Why It Doesn't Work"
— Hearing the TV and People Talking at the Same Time—Another
Perspective
— Help Your Children Accept Their Hearing Losses—Get Them
Dolls That Wear
Hearing Aids Just Like They Do
6. Information on Hearing Aids, Cochlear Implants and/or Assistive
Devices
— Tips Before Buying New Hearing Aids
— Hearing Your Cell Phone Ringing at Night
— The Best Drier for Your Hearing Aids
— What to Do if You Are Having Problems with the Captions on
Your CapTel
Phone
===============================================
1. News Items
===============================================
Lip Reader ~ A Novel About One Family's Hearing Loss Journey
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
Shanna Groves, herself hard of hearing, and one of our HearingLossHelp eZine
readers has just completed her first novel about a hard of hearing family.
Here's your chance to read this brand new novel. (She just finished the final
chapter on December 24th!) You'll find the first chapter grabs you, and before
you know it, you'll have read the entire novel in one sitting—all 30 chapters.
At least, that's what happened to me!
To read the pre-publication version, simply email
Shanna
and ask her for access to her "Lip Reader" blog, because access to this blog is
"by invitation only". She'll gladly send you the invitation link so you can
enjoy it too. Let her know you learned about her novel right here in the HearingLossHelp eZine.
Now, here's the "official" blurb on "Lip Reader".
____________
"Young Woman Shares Hearing Loss Journey in Book, Blog"
OLATHE, KS - Most people don't expect to deal with hearing loss until their old
age, but one person has years of experience and she is in her mid-thirties.
Shanna Bartlett Groves has dealt with hearing loss in online support groups,
speaking engagements, relationships and now in a new novel.
Groves, a freelance writer, completed the novel "Lip Reader" based on her own
experiences with hearing loss. "I wrote 'Lip Reader' to tell the story of a
family dealing with hearing loss. This is a story that not only tells about
their experiences with being hard of hearing in a hearing world, but also some
of the reactions that other people have had with their deafness.
"My own hearing journey inspired the two main characters in the story,
12-year-old Sapphie Traylor and her mother Rea. The extended family—the
grandparents, uncles, aunt and cousins—were inspired by my father's family,
some of whom still live in the Fort Cobb/Anadarko, Oklahoma, area where I was
born."
She has written about her hearing loss journey in Hearing Loss Journal, The
Kansas City Star, MOMSense and the book "A Cup of Comfort For Nurses".
Read the
Full Story
here.
—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—
Are Ear Infections Making You Fat?
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
Here's some interesting information from the Taste Lab at the University of
Florida. Researchers there found that compared to the general population,
overweight people tend to taste their food less intensely. In other words, sweet
foods don't taste as sweet to them.
What's this got to do with ears you ask? Just this. The researchers also found
that "those over 35 who had suffered several ear infections had almost double
the chance of being obese." (1)
One theory why this happens is that middle ear infections can damage the taste
nerve that runs by the middle ear. Thus, people who have had several ear
infections now "have a higher threshold for sensing sweetness and fattiness." As
a result, they eat more to get the same level of satisfaction from their food.
These extra calories each day add up over time, and so do the pounds.
Since most ear infections occur in young children, the key is to avoid these
childhood ear infections in the first place. Such infections are typically
brought on by colds. One thing that significantly reduces the incidence of
childhood colds is avoiding passive smoke. In other words, don't smoke around
your children!
I can identify with this. You see, my dad was a chain smoker. As a young boy, I
breathed in a lot of passive smoke. When my dad died suddenly, my health
improved dramatically. Gone were my colds and ear infections. Since then, I have
never had another ear infection.
However, one thing the above researchers don't seem to have considered is that
eating quantities of sweets suppresses your immune system so you are more
susceptible to any colds going around.
Thus, the typical diet of sweets, candy and junk food paves the way to getting
colds, and the resulting ear infections. It's much better to change your diet
and eat raw fresh fruits and vegetables. You'll be able to say goodbye to most
colds and ear infections, and the excess pounds too!
(1) Ear Infections Can Taint Your Taste Buds. In Reader's Digest. January 2009.
p. 92.
**************************************************
Having trouble hearing your iPod (or MP3 player) in true stereo?
If you wear hearing aids that have t-coils in them, the dual Music-Links will let you hear beautiful, clear, true-stereo sounds in both ears!
Click here to learn more.
**************************************************
Vitamins A, C & E Combined with Magnesium Help Prevent Noise-Induced Hearing
Loss
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
According to an animal study at the University of Michigan, "a combination of
high doses of vitamins A, C and E and magnesium, taken one hour before noise
exposure and continued as a once-daily treatment for five days, was very
effective at preventing permanent noise-induced hearing loss." (1)
Here's why researchers think this works. They feel that one of the major factors
causing hearing loss from loud noise is excessive free radical activity.
"Scientists have learned that noise-induced hearing loss occurs, in part,
because cell mitochondria in the inner ear churn out damaging free radicals in
response to loud sounds."
Think of these free radicals as tiny enemy bullets. If they fatally damage a
cell, it goes into a process called apotosis—in which the cell systematically
shuts itself down and dies. If those cells are the hair cells in your inner
ears, then you lose hearing when those hair cells die. Thus, it is important to
zap the free radicals before they do their dastardly deeds.
The anti-oxidant vitamins are the "good guys". They act as tiny missiles that
shoot down the free radical bullets before they can cause any damage.
In addition to the vitamins A, C and E, your body makes a powerful antioxidant
called glutathione. (This above study didn't include glutathione, but it should
have.) You see, "glutathione is considered the most powerful natural antioxidant
there is. Your body makes this antioxidant naturally from compounds such as
N-acetyl-cysteine and D-methionine which in turn are made from three amino
acids-cysteine, glycine and glutamic acid. When your ears need extra help,
taking N-acetyl-cysteine and D-methionine helps your body quickly make more
glutathione." (2)
"According to the researchers, pre-treatment [with vitamins A, C and E and
magnesium] presumably reduced the free radicals that form during and after noise
exposure, and noise-induced constriction of blood flow to the inner ear, and may
have also reduced neural excitotoxicity, or the damage to auditory neurons that
can occur due to over-stimulation. The post- noise nutrient doses apparently
"scavenged" free radicals that continue to form long after this noise exposure
ends." (1)
That magnesium helps our ears is nothing new. Back in 2005 I wrote, "In
addition, researchers now know that the mineral magnesium plays an important
part in hearing. Scientists have found that a magnesium deficiency increases
susceptibility to noise damage. One of the things that happens is the lack of
magnesium causes the tiny blood vessels in your ears to constrict, thus
depriving them of an adequate supply of oxygen. At the same time, loud noise
depletes your ears of magnesium—so loud noise actually causes a double-whammy.
There is evidence that high doses of magnesium taken soon after a sudden hearing
loss can sometimes help restore hearing." (2)
The University of Michigan has applied for patents covering the use of this
combination of vitamins and minerals. However, you don't have to take their
patented formulation if you don't want to. Just make sure you are taking
adequate daily doses of vitamins A, C and E, and magnesium supplements, and you
will get essentially the same protection.
You can get all of the above in almost any good health food store for a fraction
of what you will likely have to pay for the patented formulations. Furthermore,
when you get your own supplements, you can tailor the amounts you take of each
supplement to fit your own body chemistry and lifestyle.
___________
After having said all this, don't be stupid and deliberately expose your ears to
loud sounds thinking that you can always zap the free radicals with the various
things named above. These nutrients help, but they don't do a perfect job. You
will likely still experience some degree of ear damage.
Thus, If you are around noisy machinery, use loud lawnmowers and leaf blowers,
ride noisy recreational vehicles such as motorcycles and snowmobiles, go to loud
sports venues or loud concerts, in addition to taking your vitamins and
glutathione, etc., Wear ear protectors. The little foam ones available at most
drugstores for a few bucks go a long ways towards protecting your ears from the
results of excessive noise.
(1) "Nutrients
might prevent hearing loss in war zones, concert halls & workplaces, new animal
study suggests" by Anne Reuter, 2007. University of Michigan Health System.
(2) "Loud
Music and Hearing Loss" by Neil Bauman, 2005.
—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—
This New Handset/Headset Amplifier Is One to Die For
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
Serene Innovations has just released what I have been looking for (and longing
for) for a long time, namely a loud in-line amplified binaural hands-free
headset for a standard desk phone.
I have tried all the hands-free headsets I could find, but none of them had the
volume I required. (In their "wisdom" the engineers had limited the maximum
volume to a value well below what I required.) Thus, you can imagine my surprise
and delight when I discovered the new Serene Innovations UA-50 Handset/Headset
amplifier!
Since I do not wear my hearing aids much (my choice), and since I have a severe
loss at 1000 Hz, I need lots of amplification in order to hear on the
phone, and this is where this handset/headset amplifier excels.
Currently I use the most powerful amplified phone there is (the
Clarity XL-50), but I wanted a binaural
headset so I could hear in both ears and have my hands free at the same
time.
Hearing in both ears at the same time has two major advantages. First, you only
need about half the volume when listening with both ears as compared to
listening with only one ear to get the same degree of comprehension. This means
that by turning the volume down a bit, your own voice is not so loud in your
ears. (This has always been a problem for me. I need so much amplification that
my own voice almost deafens me.) Thus this reduced volume requirement helps
preserve my little remaining hearing.
Second, your comprehension goes up when you hear with both ears. In other words,
you now understand more of what the person at the other end is saying. This
means you don't have to strain so much in order to hear/understand them, nor ask
for as many repeats.
When I first put this headset on, I thought I had died and gone to heaven! The
sound was loud and clear in both ears, yet it did not overload my ears as the
phone handset does, and my own voice wasn't deafening me anymore either. Because
of the attached boom mic, I no longer have to try to jam the phone under my chin
while I type on the keyboard.
There's no two ways about it. I love this hands-free, in-line amplifier
and binaural headset. It works with basically any phone with the dial in the
base—home or business phone—since it sits between the phone base and handset.
(You can switch between the phone's handset and the amplified headset at the
push of a button.)
If you are in the same boat as me, you will love it too.
Click
here to get this UA-50 handset/headset amplifier for yourself.
P. S. Don't tell anyone, but I'm using this amplified headset on my amplified
phone (which they say never to do—but it works). With the enormous
amplification available in the XL-50 phone base itself plus the added
amplification in the UA-50 headset amplifier, if I crank them both up, I'll bet
I'll be able to even hear you thinking (and all without any hint of annoying
feedback either)!
===============================================
2. Beware of (Ototoxic) Drugs That Can Damage Your Ears
===============================================
St. John's Wort—A Non-Ototoxic Anti-Depressant
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
A man wrote: "I read an article on Dr. Jeffrey Dach's website referring
to the natural mood improving qualities of St. John's Wort ["Beating
Depression Naturally"], which also should have little
or no side-effects when taking the recommended daily dosage (anywhere from
300mg-900mg).
I have been feeling "down" for the last year and a half, and thought I'd give it
a try (mostly due to my hearing loss and adjusting to the new me). I also suffer
from severe tinnitus and recruitment.
My question is this: "Is St. John's Wort a non-ototoxic drug/herb? Is it safe to
take?" I want to improve my mood, and would prefer to find a natural method; but
don't want to make my hearing loss any worse."
Here's the scoop. Numerous studies have shown that St. John's Wort is at least
as effective as prescription drugs in treating mild to moderate cases of
depression. (Just make sure it says on the label, "standardized to 0.3% (or
0.5%) Hypericin". Hypericin is the active ingredient. If its not standardized to
that amount, you don't have a clue what you are really getting, and are likely
just wasting your money.)
St. John's Wort really works. My wife takes it as needed and has never had any
ototoxic (or other) side effects like she had with prescription drugs. I know a
number of others that have had the same experience.
Now for the really good news. St. John's Wort is not known to be ototoxic
in the least. So you can take it for as long as you need to without fear of
causing hearing loss, aggravating your tinnitus, making your hyperacusis worse
or wrecking your balance.
I've suggested to a good number of people that they ask their doctors to switch
them to St. John's Wort rather than the ototoxic prescription drugs they
originally took in order to prevent further ototoxic damage to their ears.
However, don't just start taking St. John's Wort on your own. It is always wise
to run this past your doctor because St. John's Wort is known to interact with
various medications. You don't want to cause problems due to interactions
between St. John's Wort and any other medications you might be taking.
To learn which drugs and herbs are (or can be) ototoxic, see "Ototoxic Drugs Exposed".
This book contains information on the ototoxicity of 763 drugs, 30 herbs and 148
chemicals.
**************************************************
Having trouble hearing on your cell phone because of lack of volume or interference?
If you wear hearing aids that have t-coils in them, try the dual T-Links and
hear beautiful, clear, interference-free sounds in both ears!
Click here to learn more.
**************************************************
===============================================
3. Answers to Your Questions
===============================================
If you have a question, or if something has been puzzling you
concerning your ears, email it to
mailto:neil@hearinglosshelp.com
and put "e-zine question" as the subject. Suitable questions will be answered here.
Lyric Hearing Aids—Don't be Fooled by All the Hype
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
A man asked: "What do you think of the
new Lyric hearing aid
shown on their website? I'd be interested in your thoughts."
I have mixed feelings about this Lyric hearing aid. Personally, I don't think I
would ever get one—even if my hearing was such that it would help me. (My
hearing is too poor for that hearing aid to be of much use.)
First, I don't like the idea of the hearing aid stuck in my ear canal for 3 or 4
months at a time. I think our eardrums need to breathe, etc.
Second, this is really just a fancy "Songbird" hearing aid—that was already
tried and failed. Both the Songbird and the Lyric were/are disposable hearing
aids. When the battery dies, you throw them away and get new ones.
However, in the case of the Lyric, you can't put the new one hearing aid in your
ear by yourself—so if the battery dies while you are at an important convention
for example, you not only won't hear, but the hearing aid will block any sound
trying to get in to that ear. I'd much rather buy a hearing aid I can put in and
take out myself, and one I can change the batteries on too.
Third, it is a "plain Jane" analog hearing aid. It is not digital so can't do
any fancy digital speech processing that current digital hearing aids do.
Fourth, it does not have a t-coil in it so you couldn't use it to hear via room
loops or neckloops, etc.
Fifth, I don't know the price, but I think you will find that you are paying
much more for it over the years than you would pay for a "conventional" hearing
aid. You will need to purchase at lest 3 a year for each ear. Thus, you need to
compare their "contract" price per year with what conventional hearing aids
would cost you per year. When you amortize the cost of conventional hearing aids
over 5 to 10 years (and I regularly get 10 years with my aids), I think you will
find these Lyrics are VERY expensive—and remember that is for "plain Jane"
aids, not fancy digital conventional aids.
Sixth, if you wanted to go swimming, you could take them out with the gizmo
provided—but then you are deaf until you can go to your audiologist and get
them inserted properly again.
Seventh, any hearing aid that has as its prime selling point, that it is totally
invisible is barking up the wrong tree. The main selling point should be that it
helps you hear ever so much better. Being invisible isn't really a positive
thing. Actually, it is better that the hearing aid IS visible. That way people
know you are hard of hearing and can make allowances for you. When you wear
invisible hearing aids, people just assume you have perfect hearing and treat
you like a boor if you don't move when they say "excuse me" from behind you and
you don't hear them.
I'm sure there are more things I could say, but those are some of the things
that immediately come to mind. As you can tell, I'm not too enamored with them.
However, on the plus side, because the Lyric is inserted so far down the ear
canal, your outer ears should work normally in collecting and filtering sounds
before these sounds reach the microphone. This should make things sound quite
natural.
===============================================
4. Tinnitus
===============================================
Can Taking Esomeprazole (Nexium) Cause Tinnitus?
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
A man wrote: "Is it possible that Nexium has caused my sudden bouts of tinnitus,
first in my left ear, and a week later in my right ear? I was taking 40 mg twice
daily for about 6-8 weeks. Is there a chance that it will go away after I
discontinue the medication? I think I'm going crazy with 2 different tones that
will not stop!"
Yes, it's certainly possible to get tinnitus from taking Esomeprazole (Nexium).
Tinnitus is listed as one of the side effects listed for Nexium, but it doesn't
appear to be all that common.
Although there is not much information on the permanence of tinnitus from this
drug, I think there is a good chance that your tinnitus will go away a week or
two after you stop taking the Esomeprazole. However, a lot depends on you, and
how you are handling your tinnitus now. If you dwell on your tinnitus all the
time, it will be much harder for it to go away, than if you treat it as a
"non-person" and pretend it doesn't exist—in other words remain totally
emotionally neutral to it.
I've had tinnitus for 40 years or so. It never goes away, but I don't let it
bother me either. It is just "there".
"Any advice for a desperate man?"
If I were in your shoes and knew a drug was causing me horrible tinnitus, I'd
dump the drug in a heartbeat. I encourage you to either get your doctor to
prescribe another medication that doesn't cause tinnitus, or investigate
alternate treatments for your condition. Here are a few to get you started.
Sometimes acid reflux is caused by certain vertebrae in your back being "out". A
chiropractic treatment can quickly fix it. (That happened to my brother so I
know it works.) Sometimes acid reflux results because you don't have enough
hydrochloric acid (HCL) in your stomach and thus you need to take HCL
supplements. (I know it seems wrong to treat acid with acid, but this works for
many people). Another thing to consider is what you eat. Some foods cause
problems and others don't. So eating correctly can solve it easily (My wife has
problems at night with acid reflux whenever she eats certain foods for supper—
especially if we have a late supper. The better part of valor is to avoid them
altogether or eat them early in the day.) Finally, being obese can cause such
problems. Simply reducing your weight can fix the problem.
So those are some of the things I'd consider. You might find your problems stem
from a combination of several of the above and possibly others I haven't
mentioned.
If you are interested in learning more about what you can do to
help bring your tinnitus under your control, you would do well
to read my book, "When Your Ears Ring! Cope With Your Tinnitus—Here's How".
===============================================
5. Effective Coping Strategies
===============================================
The 'Stick It in Your Ear and Hear' Philosophy of Wearing Hearing Aids—and
Why It Doesn't Work
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
Many hard of hearing people are not being fair to either themselves or their
audiologists. They go to their audiologists and want "instant hearing" again.
They fail to realize that their brains need to re-learn how to hear
again—and retraining brains takes time.
Audiologists, too, are at fault for not making this rehabilitative process a
priority in their practices. In fact, some don't even see the need for it.
However, there are some good audiologists out there. One such audiologist wrote:
"One common misconception (even amongst audiologists) is that hearing aids are a
"stick it in your ear and hear" thing, whereas cochlear implants (CIs) need
considerable training and reprogramming. This is a very untrue statement
regarding hearing aids.
If audiologists spent as much time fitting hearing aids as they do for CI's,
then there would be much happier hearing aid users. The problem is, insurance
companies pay for much of the retraining for CIs, but usually nothing at all for
hearing aids. Thus, unfortunately, many times the quality of care people get is
dictated by their insurance companies and not their individual needs.
At the same time, many people just want a quick fix—stick something in my ear
so I can hear normally again. Just give me a pill to fix what ails me. You
should have heard some of the comments I have gotten from long term hearing aid
users when I suggested they needed aural rehabilitation, especially when they
got a new hearing aid.
Fitting a hearing aid takes a team of at least two experts with equal
participation. One in the technology expert (audiologist) and the other is the
expert on your unique hearing loss (you)."
Coping with hearing loss is a lifelong process. In order to successfully live
with your hearing loss, you are going to have to work at it. The more you put
in, the more you get out.
At the very minimum there are five areas you need to address:
- Psychologically and emotionally adjust to your hearing loss,
- Learn and practice good hearing loss coping strategies,
- Learn to speechread,
- Wear properly fitted hearing aids, and
- Supplement your hearing aids with assistive devices as needed.
To help you to successfully live with your hearing loss, I have put together a
manual called "Keys to Successfully Living with your Hearing Loss". This manual
covers a lot of what you need to know, but your audiologist doesn't have time to
tell you. Having this manual lets you read and re-read it until it becomes a
natural part of your life. Click the above link to get this invaluable manual
now.
—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—
Hearing the TV and People Talking at the Same Time—Another Perspective
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
In response to last month's article "Room Loops—Hearing the TV and People
Talking at the Same Time", a man wrote: "I am a huge fan of my
Univox room loop amplifier and thought I'd contribute my experience because what
you said about listening to another person while watching TV.
I agree it is futile to try to hear what someone is saying while the Univox is
blasting the TV audio through your t-coil, even with the your hearing aid set in
the combined t-coil + mic setting, which mine is.
The perfect solution for me is a DVR (digital video recorder), like Tivo or one
that comes with most cable or direct TV subscriptions. This way, when my wife
wants to talk to me she just hits "pause" on the live TV. Since my hearing aids
have both the t-coil and microphone on at the same time, my hearing aids'
microphones pick up what she is saying, and then when she's finished talking,
she hits "play" and the loop kicks right back in. It works great!
Unfortunately my wife still attempts to talk to me without pressing pause
sometimes, but after I yell "What" enough times she realizes she needs to pause
it. It's not perfect, but it sure is better than switching the aid out of t coil
mode and muting the TV every time."
To learn more about the beautiful, clear sounds produced by room loops read "Loop
Systems—The Best-Kept Secret in Town". See the wonderful
Univox loop system (mentioned above)
here.
—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—
Help Your Children Accept Their Hearing Losses—Get Them Dolls That Wear
Hearing Aids Just Like They Do
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
Some children are much more accepting of their hearing losses and their need to
wear hearing aids if they have friends or siblings that also wear hearing aids,
or even a doll or teddy bear that is "hard of hearing" and wears hearing aids
just like they do.
The question is, "Where can you get an appropriate doll that wears hearing
aids?" Look no further. I just discovered that Lakeshore Learning Materials
carries a line of dolls that wear hearing aids—just like your son or daughter
does.
To see these dolls, go to
Lakeshore's website.
In the search box at the top type "multi-ethnic school dolls". There are dolls
of 5 ethnicities—black, white, Hispanic, Asian or native American. You can
choose either a girl or boy doll from any ethnic origin.
To find the hearing aids for these dolls, type "hearing aids" in the search box
and then click on the resulting picture. From the various adaptive equipment
sets, choose the set of two hearing aids and two pairs of eyeglasses.
Watch your child's eyes open wide when they discover their new doll is wearing
hearing aids just like them! Bet it will be love at first sight.
**************************************************
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**************************************************
===============================================
6. Information on Hearing Aids, Cochlear Implants
and/or Assistive Devices
===============================================
Tips Before Buying New Hearing Aids
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D. with Steve Barber
Steve Barber is a great hard of hearing guy and a friend of mine. He also knows
his stuff. If you are thinking about getting hearing aids, you would do well to
read the following.
Steve writes: "I get asked a lot about how to shop for hearing aids:
I usually tell people several things:
1. Get all the free hearing screenings you want, but don't buy a hearing aid
based solely on one. Especially, if you don't know what is causing your hearing
loss, then a full audiological exam and consultation with an ENT is a very good
idea. Some losses don't need hearing aids; some can be helped by other means;
and some may be a symptom of another medical problem that you don't want to
ignore.
2. The bigger, and more frequent the advertisement, the more cautious you should
be.
3. The more the ad promises, the less you should be willing to believe it.
4. Never buy an aid that is offered at a "special price" if you must decide
immediately.
5. If the seller's primary selling point is that the aid is "invisible", be very
suspicious; If that's your primary desired feature, then examine your motives.
Hearing better is the real reason to buy a hearing aid, not invisibility.
6. If you can't name and describe possible benefits for at least 3 features of
hearing aids, then do more homework. There are a lot more things to consider,
but at the very least, you should know the benefits of directional mics,
telecoils and vents or open fittings.
7. Make sure you know the terms of the trial period. 30 Days is a minimum with
only a relatively small fitting fee charged if you decide not to buy the
aids—typically around 10% of the total price.
8. If you ask the provider about whether the aid has a telecoil, and the seller
says you don't need one, get a second, unbiased opinion. You may not need or
want one, but you may be missing out on a great feature if it turns out that it
would help you.
9. Unbiased opinions are most readily obtained from people who are successfully
using hearing aids; not from people whose aids are in a drawer! Successful users
can often be found by attending any
Hearing Loss Association of America chapter
meetings. (See their website for the location of the numerous HLAA
chapters throughout the USA.)"
—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—
Hearing Your Cell Phone Ringing at Night
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
A lady wrote: "I thought if anyone had an idea for this problem it would be you.
My husband who is hard of hearing receives calls during the night from work on
his cell phone which does not ring loud enough to wake him up. Any ideas on any
alert systems that work for cell phone? He uses a Sonic Alert alarm clock that
will work with receivers, but everything I have seen only works with corded
phones."
I think you are right—up until now, all alerting systems worked with landline
phones and not with cell phones. However, there is more than one way to skin the
cat, so to speak.
I can think of four ways to accomplish this.
1. You could take on the task of listening for the cell phone ringing and poke
him to wake him up (assuming you can hear the phone ringing yourself). I don't
recommend this as a regular "duty", but it could work in a pinch. It is not a
good idea to have a spouse act as the "ears" for the hard of hearing partner.
This can build resentment in the hearing spouse and doesn't teach the hard of
hearing person to be responsible for his own hearing loss, nor how to use
effective hearing loss coping strategies and assistive devices.
2. If he has call forwarding on his cell phone—before he goes to bed, he could
set it to call forward to your landline phone and then hook the landline phone
into his alerting system if he has such a system.
For example, with
Silent Call's Lamplighter, you could plug in your
landline phone. Then he would be woken up when either phone rings since any cell
phone calls would be automatically forwarded to the landline phone.
One thing I like about the Lamplighter is that you can plug your bed table lamp
into it as well. When the phone rings, the bed table light will blink on and off
in addition to the bed shaker vibrating the fillings out of your teeth! Having a
flashing light is a good idea for when you are already up, but are still in the
bedroom and thus wouldn't feel the bed shaking,
3. He could use a sound module transmitter such as those used for baby's crying.
Put the phone right beside the sound module transmitter and when the cell phone
rings, the sound of the phone ringing should set it off. The sound module would
then transmit an alerting signal to the base station, which in turn would set
off the alarm, flashing lights and bed shaker—enough to waken the dead one way
or another.
To do this, you could use the Silent Call Lamplighter system I mentioned above,
for example. All you'd need in addition to the Lamplighter is the Sound Monitor
module. You can see these
Silent Call system products
here.
4. I've saved the surprise for last. Serene Innovations just released the exact
gizmo your husband is looking for. It's the RF-110 Super Loud Cell/Phone Ring
Alerter. The blurb says, "You'll never miss a telephone call again, day or
night! This ringer has both audible and visual alerts that are activated when
there is an incoming phone call on your landline telephone or your cell phone."
If that is not enough, you can plug in an optional bed shaker for nighttime
alerts. Includes AC adapter.
Get the
RF-110
Super Loud Cell/Phone Ring Alerter here. You can get the optional bed
shaker to plug in to this unit from there as well.
—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—
The Best Drier for Your Hearing Aids
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
A man wrote: "Perhaps I've overlooked it on the www.hearinglosshelp.com site,
but I'm interested in any recommendation you might have about hearing aid
dryers. The local hearing aid office dries mine occasionally, but I must be
running a wet ear season. Both of my digital Oticon aids cut out on a recent
trip to Seattle, and then came back fine after drying. Now, the right aid
drained the battery in one week rather than the usual two weeks. Then, today it
drained a new battery in just three days."
In my opinion, the best device in the industry to look after your hearing aids
is Dry & Store's "Global" model. It dries your hearing aids via several means
all at once. First it has a fan that blows the warm air around, evaporating all
the moisture off your hearing aid. Second, the heating element warms the air to
evaporate any condensed moisture. Third, it has "Dri Briks" that collect the
moisture so it doesn't just get re-circulated back to your hearing aids. The Dri
Briks also reduce the moisture in the air so, at the molecular level, more
moisture is "sucked" off the internal parts in your hearing aid. This triple
whammy really gets the moisture out.
In addition to drying your hearing aids, the Global does even more. For example,
the activated carbon in the Dri Briks collects any odors and neutralizes them.
Also, the Global contains an ultraviolet light that comes one for a few minutes
each time you use it. This kills any germs on your hearing aids and ear
molds—which reduces itching and prevents your ear molds from reinfecting your
ear canals the next morning when you put your hearing aids back on.
Incidentally, the Global is compact. It was designed to go with you on your
travels (hence its name) as well as for home use.
Get a Global drier of your own here.
—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—o—
What to Do if You Are Having Problems with the Captions on Your CapTel
Phone
by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
One of the common complaints CapTel phone users have is garbled captions and
missing words.
Here are some "tricks" to improve your CapTel experience, and information on how
to report problems by Pamela Holmes the Director, Consumer & Regulatory
Affairs/CapTel Customer Service at Ultratec, Inc. She has the inside information
on what you can (and should) do if you have problems with the captions on your
CapTel phone.
"First, users should be aware that the captionist can only hear the person's
voice they are captioning. The captionist cannot hear you if you try to give
him/her any instructions or ask him to repeat something. Thus, if you are having
any problems, here are some alternate ideas.
1. If you have 2-line CapTel, simply press the caption button off (to release
the connection to the current captionist) and then press the caption button back
on again. In 12-15 seconds a new captionist will be connected to your existing
call. The hearing party will remain connected on Line 1 and you can speak to and
"listen" (if you wish to use your residual hearing during this time) to the
other party the whole time. To make this transition transparent to the other
party, press off and on the caption button while you are doing the taking. The
other party will have no idea anything has changed, yet a new captionist will be
brought onto the call.
2. If you only have single line CapTel, and the call is not going well, it is
best to hang up and get a new connection, or ask the other party to repeat what
was said. After the call, jot down the time and date of the call and the CA
number and send an email to CapTel describing briefly the
experience on the call. CapTel Customer Service will follow up with the
Captioning Service management and the CA and their supervisor to be sure the CA
has the quality monitoring and skill set to caption the call at the standards we
expect. You can also call 1-888-269-7477 to speak to a CapTel Customer Service
representative. They answer calls between 8 am and 5 PM Central Time, and are
dedicated to assisting you.
3. If a call is garbled, shows dropped characters or the captions are
nonsensical, then the cause may be due to interference on the phone line, or
using a line that does not support the data connection required to carry the
captions with accuracy. With voice recognition transcription there should be
whole words. CapTel Customer Service can also help troubleshoot and identify the
causes of such problems."
There you have it. If you are having troubles with your CapTel captioning,
follow these tips. You don't have to suffer in silence. The more you report
captioning problems, the sooner the system will be improved.
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HEARING LOSS HELP E-zine
Neil Bauman, Publisher
Center for Hearing Loss Help
49 Piston Court
Stewartstown, PA 17363 USA
Phone: (717) 993-8555
Fax (717) 993-6661
http://www.hearinglosshelp.com
neil@hearinglosshelp.com
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