by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
© July, 2010
Has this ever happened to you? You are outside, perhaps playing golf, or rough-housing with your kids/grandkids when you realize you are not hearing much anymore. One ear seems deaf. You clap your hands to your ears, and to your horror, you discover one of your expensive new hearing aids is missing.
You search for it in vain, but your nearly-invisible hearing aid refuses to be found. Now, not only can you not hear, but you are out big bucks to replace it.
This actually happened to Dennis. He had to pay a $650.00 insurance deductible to replace his lost hearing aid. This got him to thinking—and inventing. The result was a set of hearing aid connectors with the catchy name of “Loopum or Loseum”.
These little gizmos are not only effective and nearly invisible, but they don’t cost and arm and a leg either. Would you believe you can prevent your hearing aids from falling off your ears and getting lost for only $5.95? This has to be one of the best bargains around.
Who loses hearing aids? Think rambunctious kids. Think active adults. Think people with Alzheimer’s. Think people in nursing homes and hospitals where hearing aids regularly get lost. Also, think BTE hearing aids that are so small and light you forget you are even wearing them—such as open-fit aids and receiver in the ear (RITE) aids.
The Loopum connectors have two requirements. First, you must wear behind the ear (BTE) or over the ear (OTE) hearing aids. Second, you must also wear eyeglasses. (The Loopums also work with sunglasses.)
If this describes you, or one of your loved ones, maybe the Loopum connectors are for you.
The Loopums are small flexible plastic rings—imagine tiny clear elastic bands—that slide up the temple pieces of your eyeglasses. Then you pull the tube from the hearing aid body (BTE and open fit aids), or unplug it (RITE aids) and thread the tube through the Loopum ring, then reconnect it to the hearing aid body.
Now if one of your hearing aids falls out of your ear, it is firmly held to the eyeglass temple piece. It just hangs there by the Loopum until you put your aid back in your ear. You no longer have to search for lost aids.
The Loopums have another advantage—they stay with your glasses. Thus when you take your glasses off at night, your hearing aids come off with them—and are right there when you put your glasses on in the morning. You no longer have to wonder which aid goes in which ear either.
The same is true when you step into the shower. No more forgetting you are wearing your hearing aids and drown them. When you take off your glasses, off come your hearing aids too.
The only downside I see is that if you want to take your glasses off for some reason, say to clean them, or to swap your reading or computer glasses for your distance glasses, your hearing aids pop off at the same time. However, if you normally wear the same pair of glasses and your hearing aids all day long, this likely isn’t a problem.
Incidentally, each Loopum or Loseum package contains 3 sets of Loopums in three different sizes. That way you are assured they will fit all your eyeglass frames from glasses with thin wire frames to thick-framed sunglasses.
Click here to learn more about the Loopum connectors. You can order a set for yourself, by clicking on the orders page and placing your order. Dennis will get your Loopums hurrying on their way to you and hopefully losing your hearing aids will become a thing of the past. You’ve been warned—loopum or loseum!
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Update October, 2018: Unfortunately, it seems this product has gone the way of the Dodo bird. Their phone has been disconnected and they don’t answer their emails.
were you aware that the phone # is disconnected? I think they are out of business.
Hi Tracy:
No, I wasn’t. Thanks for the heads up. I fired off an email to them and haven’t received any reply so you may be right they are out of business. I’ve added this information to the bottom of this article to let people know.
Cordially,
Neil