Washington, DC, April 16, 2012 — The Better Hearing Institute (BHI) is urging employers to make hearing health a key aspect of their workplace wellness initiatives, the institute announced today. A growing body of research links hearing loss to several costly chronic diseases; a three-fold risk of falling; increased absenteeism; and reduced productivity in the workplace. In recognition of Better Hearing Month, BHI is urging employers to recognize the financial toll that unaddressed hearing loss takes and to make hearing health a part of their wellness programs. To facilitate a timely hearing test for all American workers, BHI is offering an online hearing check (http://www.hearingcheck.org/) where people can quickly assess if they need a more comprehensive hearing test by a hearing professional. Better Hearing Month takes place each year in May.

“Hearing loss is far more serious than people realize,” says Sergei Kochkin, PhD, BHI’s executive director. “When left unaddressed, hearing loss negatively affects virtually every aspect of an individual’s life. In the workplace especially, this can take a significant toll in terms of stress, dampened morale, lost productivity, weakened performance, and diminished earnings. But in the vast majority of cases, hearing aids do help.”

According to BHI, more than 34 million Americans suffer from hearing loss and roughly 60 percent of them are in the workforce. What’s more, studies show that people with heart disease, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and depression may all have an increased risk of hearing loss—making it all the more urgent for employers to include hearing health as part of their wellness programs and to encourage hearing screenings as part of preventive medical care. Today, more than half (53%) of U.S. employers use wellness programs to reduce their healthcare costs.

Studies show that employees with hearing loss take more sick-days than their colleagues with normal hearing—likely the result of the extra energy expended on overcoming their hearing problem. In fact, a study published in the International Journal of Audiology found that employees with hearing loss are as much as five times more likely than their co-workers with normal hearing to experience stress so severe that they must take more sick-days. One reason may be that only four in ten people with moderate-to-severe hearing loss use hearing aids. Even fewer people with mild hearing loss use them—just one in ten.

By including hearing health in their wellness programs, employers also encourage workers to treat hearing loss rather than hide it. Not only does this help the worker, but it creates a working environment where the loss of hearing does not have to interfere with job performance, productivity, safety, or morale.

In a large national study, BHI found that people with untreated hearing loss lose as much as $30,000 in income annually, depending on their degree of hearing loss; that the aggregate yearly loss in income due to underemployment for people with untreated hearing loss is an estimated $176 billion; and that the fiscal cost to society in unrealized federal taxes is an estimated $26 billion. Use of hearing aids was shown to reduce the risk of income loss by 90 to 100 percent for those with milder hearing loss, and from 65 to 77 percent for those with severe to moderate hearing loss.

A recent study, funded by the National Institutes of Health and published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, found that hearing loss is linked to a three-fold risk of falling among working-aged people (40 to 69) with mild hearing loss. In the United States, the cost of falls and the resulting injuries generate billions in health care costs each year.
Numerous studies have linked untreated hearing loss to a wide range of physical and emotional conditions, including impaired memory and ability to learn new tasks, reduced alertness, increased risk of personal safety, irritability, negativism, anger, fatigue, tension, stress, depression, and diminished psychological and overall health. But the vast majority of people with hearing loss can benefit from hearing aids.

In fact, according to BHI, three out of four hearing aid users report improvements in their quality of life due to wearing hearing aids. And studies show that when people with even mild hearing loss use hearing aids, they improve their job performance, increase their earning potential, enhance their communication skills, improve their professional and interpersonal relationships, and stave off depression.

“I cannot emphasize strongly enough that when hearing loss is appropriately acknowledged and addressed, it does not have to interfere with job performance, earnings, or quality of life,” adds Kochkin. “I urge all employers to make hearing health a routine part of their wellness programs.”

To obtain a copy of “Assisting Employees with Hearing Loss,” visit http://www.betterhearing.org/aural_education_and_counseling/articles_tip_sheets_and_guides/assisting_employees.cfm

There’s no denying headphones contribute to the convenience of our listening pleasure: We can block out the distractions of the world with a slew of downloaded tunes. But there’s also no denying these devices put our aural health, and our very lives, at risk, according to two recent studies. And teens and young adults are those most affected.

Hearing loss
Blaring sound into our ears at close range has long been proven to lead to hearing loss and permanent damage. Now new research by Tel Aviv University finds that the music listening habits of teenagers puts one in four teens at risk of early hearing loss as a direct result of listening to iPods, MP3 players and other music devices at high volume–their preferred acoustical hearing level.

The researchers asked study participants about their preferred volumes, and took those decibel measurements and average time spent plugged into their personal listening devices (PLD) daily, to reach their conclusion. The study was published in the International Journal of Audiology.

“In 10 or 20 years it will be too late to realize that an entire generation of young people is suffering from hearing problems much earlier than expected from natural aging,” wrote Professor Chava Muchnik of TAU’s Department of Communication Disorders in the Stanley Steyer School of Health Professions, in a released statement.

Those teens who misuse PLDs today might find that their hearing begins to deteriorate as early as in their 30s and 40s, much earlier than past generations, warned the researchers. Muchnik recommends that manufacturers adopt European standards that limit the output of PLDs to 100 decibels. Currently some models can reach 129 decibels.

Decibel levels above 90 are considered “extremely loud” by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, which offers resources on noise and what decibel levels are dangerous and safe and what you can do to protect your hearing.

Pedestrian injury
Since 2004, serious injuries to pedestrians listening to headphones have more than tripled, according to research from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore.

Initiated after reviewing the death of a local Maryland teen, wearing headphones, who died crossing railroad tracks despite the oncoming train’s auditory alarms, the study reviewed 116 cases in other states of accidents and injuries involving pedestrians wearing headphones that tune out warning sounds and other aural clues. Seventy percent of those cases ended in fatalities when the pedestrian failed to hear the sound of car or train horns. Young adult males under age 30 accounted for more than two-thirds of the victims.

“Everybody is aware of the risk of cell phones and texting in automobiles, but I see more and more teens distracted with the latest devices and headphones in their ears,” wrote lead author Richard Lichenstein, M.D., associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and director of pediatric emergency medicine at the University of Maryland Medical Center in a released statement.

Two phenomena are likely occurring simultaneously during these accidents, noted the researchers: “Inattentional blindness,” caused by electronic devices such as headphones, in which multiple stimuli divide the brain’s mental resource allocation; and intensified sensory deprivation, where the ability to hear the warning signals are masked by the sounds produced by the headphones and portable electronic devices.

All the more reason to give your ears a rest.

From The Better Hearing Institute

Sergei Kochkin, Ph.D. – Better Hearing Institute, Washington, DC

If you have hearing loss in both ears (bilateral hearing loss), then you are most likely a candidate for two hearing aids. While a hearing healthcare professional can best determine if you are a candidate for two hearing aids, the ultimate decision-maker concerning binaural instruments is the person who will wear them. It is important that the person with the hearing loss be given the chance to experience binaural (two hearing aids) amplification, before a decision on one or two hearing aids is made. Similar to the way refractory problems in both eyes are treated with a pair of glasses, it makes sense that bilateral hearing loss should be treated with binaural hearing aids. Let me share with you why two hearing aids are better than one.

Better understanding of speech. By wearing two hearing aids rather than one, selective listening is more easily achieved. This means your brain can focus on the conversation you want to hear. Research shows that people wearing two hearing aids routinely understand speech and conversation significantly better than people wearing one hearing aid.

Better understanding in group and noisy situations. Speech intelligibility is improved in difficult listening situations when wearing two hearing aids.

Better ability to tell the direction of sound. This is called localization. In a social gathering, for example, localization allows you to hear from which direction someone is speaking to you. Also, localization helps you determine from which direction traffic is coming or where your children or grandchildren are playing. Simply put, with binaural hearing, you will better detect where sounds are coming from in every situation.

Better sound quality. When you listen to a stereo system, you use both speakers to get the smoothest, sharpest, most natural sound quality. The same can be said of hearing aids. By wearing two hearing aids, you increase your hearing range from 180 degrees reception with just one instrument, to 360 degrees. This greater range provides a better sense of balance and sound quality.

Smoother tone quality. Wearing two hearing aids generally requires less volume than one. The need for less volume results in less distortion and better reproduction of amplified sounds.

Wider hearing range. A person can hear sounds from a further distance with two ears, rather than just one. A voice that’s barely heard at 10 feet with one ear can be heard up to 40 feet with two ears.

Better sound identification. Often, with just one hearing aid, many noises and words sound alike. But with two hearing aids, as with two ears, sounds are more easily distinguishable.

Keeps both ears active resulting in potentially less hearing loss deterioration. Research has shown that when only one hearing aid is worn, the unaided ear tends to lose its ability to hear and understand. This is clinically called the auditory deprivation effect. Wearing two hearing aids keeps both ears active.

Hearing is less tiring and listening more pleasant. More binaural hearing aid wearers report that listening and participating in conversation is more enjoyable with two instruments, instead of just one. This is because they do not have to strain to hear with the better ear. Thus, binaural hearing can help make life more relaxing.

Feeling of balanced hearing. Two-eared hearing results in a feeling of balanced reception of sound, also known as the stereo effect, whereas monaural hearing creates an unusual feeling of sounds being heard in one ear.

Greater comfort when loud noises occur. A lower volume control setting is required with two hearing aids than is required with one hearing aid. The result is a better tolerance of loud sounds.

Reduced feedback and whistling. With a lower volume control setting the chances of hearing aid feedback is reduced.

Tinnitus Masking. About 50% of people with ringing in their ears report improvement when wearing hearing aids. If a person with tinnitus wears a hearing aid in only one ear, there will still be ringing in the ear that does not have a hearing aid.

Consumer preference. An overwhelming majority of consumers who have hearing loss in both ears, choose two hearing aids over one, when given the choice to hear binaurally.

Customer satisfaction. Research with more than 5,000 consumers with hearing loss in both ears demonstrated that binaurally fit subjects are more satisfied than people fit with one hearing aid.

Logically, just as you use both eyes to see clearly, you need two healthy ears to hear clearly. Before you decide on one hearing aid, try two. Your hearing healthcare professional can demonstrate to you the binaural advantage experience either through headphones (during testing), probe microphones, master hearing aids, or during your trial fitting. Decide for yourself.

From the Better Hearing Institute

If the screening process is unclear to you, ask the Security Officer to write the information down.

If you can read lips or are hard of hearing, ask the Security Officer to look directly at you and repeat the information slowly.

If you need to communicate with the Security Officer, inform her/him of your disability and the way in which you can communicate. TSA Security Officers are trained to provide whatever assistance they can to persons with hearing disabilities.

It is not necessary to remove hearing aids or the exterior component of a cochlear implant at security checkpoints.

It is best if you wear your hearing device while going through the metal detector.

According to Otolaryngologist and Otolaryngology surgeons, hearing devices such as hearing aids, cochlear implants, external component of cochlear implants, and middle ear implants are not affected by X-ray inspection, the walk-through metal detector, or the hand-held metal detector.

If you are concerned or uncomfortable with going through the walk-thorough metal detector, or are uneasy with having your external component of your cochlear implant X-rayed, you can ask for a full body pat-down of your person and a visual and physical inspection of the exterior component while it remains on your body.

If you use a hearing dog, you and the dog will remain together at all times while going through the security checkpoint. See the “Service Animal” section for more tips on service animals in the screening process.

Source: http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/specialneeds/editorial_1380.shtm

13 February 2012

By Dr Rebecca Hill Appeared in BioNews 644

US researchers have received approval to test whether cord blood stem cells could be used to reverse hearing loss in children.

The phase I clinical trial, the first cord blood trial to be given the go-ahead by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), will determine the safety of the treatment. The team from the Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston will recruit ten children, aged six weeks to 18 months, who developed hearing loss after birth.

In 2008 a European team used human cord blood stem cells to reverse a kind of hearing loss – called sensorineural hearing loss - in mice. Dr Samer Fakhri, the principal investigator for the clinical trial, told the Winnipeg Free Press that these animal studies had been successful; after only two months the mice’s ‘inner ear organization and structure were basically restored’.

The majority of sensorineural hearing loss in humans is due to damaged hair cells in part of the inner ear called the cochlea. They are responsible for picking up and transferring signals to the brain to interpret.

It is not known how the stem cells repaired the damaged tissue in the mice – it could be that they regenerate these hair cells or that they initiate the body’s own repair mechanisms.

‘Currently, the only treatment options for sensorineural hearing loss are hearing aids or cochlear implants. We hope that this study will open avenues to additional treatment options for hearing loss in children’, said Dr Fakhri.

The therapy will use stem cells taken from the patients’ own cord blood, which has been banked at birth. At the start of the study the patients will have a brain scan, as well as blood, hearing and speech tests. Follow-up will be over the course of a year, with tests at one, six and twelve months post-treatment and a brain scan at six months.

It is stressed that the trial is primarily to assess the safety of injecting the stem cells into the children, and other researchers are treating the trial with care.

‘We’re a long way from looking at the possible therapeutic value of this in terms of restoring some sort of hearing’, Dr Robert Harrison, a director of the Hearing Foundation of Canada, told the Winnipeg Free Press. ‘It’s a very theoretical concept, and in my opinion it’s not going to happen soon’.

The study is being funded by the Cord Blood Registry and will take place at separate medical institutions in Texas and Georgia.

‘If both of them can reproduce the same results then I would say it has some validity to it’, Dr Stephen Epstein, an otolaryngologist in Maryland who is not involved in the study, told the AFP. ‘This is certainly a welcome, acceptable experiment, but it should be looked at with caution and time will tell’.

SOURCES & REFERENCES

First FDA-Approved Study of Stem Cells to Treat Hearing Loss Begins at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital
Cord Blood Registry | 12 January 2012

Study looks at whether stem cells in cord blood might repair hearing loss in kids
Winnipeg Free Press | 09 February 2012

US begins stem cell trial for hearing loss
AFP | 08 February 2012

Hearing health contributes to relationship health, overall well-being

WARRENVILLE, Ill., Feb. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – In honor of Self-Esteem Awareness Month, Hear the World, a global initiative to build awareness about the importance of good hearing by leading Swiss hearing instrument manufacturer Phonak, announced the results of its “Hearing is Living” study, illustrating the connection between good hearing health and good self-esteem.

Good Hearing = Good Mood
Investing in your hearing health is worth every penny and has self-esteem benefits. As many as 72 percent of U.S.-based respondents agree that getting a hearing aid was definitely worth it, and that their hearing aids are worth every cent. An overwhelming majority – 83 percent – of all hearing aid users surveyed agreed that their quality of life changed for the better once their hearing improved. Among all U.S.-based respondents, 76 percent with hearing aids said their devices have a positive influence on their general mood, and 68 percent report an improvement in their mental fitness, evidenced by heightened receptiveness and improved concentration.

People with untreated hearing loss also reveal the importance of good hearing for good mental health. Globally, respondents affected by moderate to severe hearing loss who did not wear a hearing aid reported feeling sad or depressed more frequently than hearing aid owners (22 percent without a hearing aid versus 15 percent with a hearing aid).  Additionally, these individuals were more likely to feel insecure and anxious (21 percent without a hearing aid versus 13 percent with a hearing aid) and suffer from insomnia more often (31 percent without a hearing aid versus 24 percent with a hearing aid). These symptoms are often regarded as possible first indicators of depressive disorders.

“People with hearing loss lack some important opportunities for human contact,” said Gail B. Brenner, AuD., Hearing Technology Associates LLC, Philadelphia, PA. “The consequences of this isolation can be the development of depression and increased anxiety, but also increasing mistrust of others. While the tendency for depression among people with untreated hearing loss is significantly higher, differences between people who use hearing aids and people who have no hearing loss are marginal.  This shows that a hearing aid can support the prevention of depression for people who experience hearing difficulties.”

Better Hearing = Better Love Life
Of all U.S.-based respondents who have hearing aids, 68 percent confirmed that their personal relationships improved since they started wearing hearing aids. Furthermore, almost half (44 percent) of U.S.-based respondents surveyed said that their love life had changed for the better since wearing a hearing aid.

What You Can Do
Take a free online hearing screening at www.hear-the-world.com. While this is not intended to replace a professional hearing evaluation, it will help bring awareness to your hearing health. If you wish to consult a hearing health professional, we can help you find an expert near you. Also on the site, you can see how loud your city is via the Global Sound Map, recognize symptoms of hearing loss and access experts for questions. To follow the Hear the World initiative, become a Facebook fan and follow the Twitter handle.

About the Study
The “Hearing is Living” study surveyed more than 4,300 people in the United States, Germany, France, Switzerland and Great Britain to examine the significance of hearing on a person’s quality of life. The survey, conducted by the Swiss market research and strategy consultants Zehnvier, included people with hearing aids, people with untreated hearing loss, relatives of people with hearing loss and people not affected by hearing loss, directly or indirectly.

For more on the complex and fascinating significance of hearing on self-esteem and general well-being you can find the complete study online at: www.hear-the-world.com. You can also order a hard copy of the study free of charge via info@hear-the-world.com.

About Hear the World

Hear the World is a global initiative launched in 2006 by leading hearing system manufacturer Phonak to raise awareness about the importance of hearing. The initiative calls attention to the social and emotional impact of hearing loss and addresses prevention of and solutions to a problem that affects more than 16 percent of the world’s population. Bryan Adams, Annie Lennox, Lenny Kravitz, Placido Domingo and other renowned personalities support the Hear the World initiative as ambassadors. In the context of the Hear the World initiative, Phonak has established the non-profit Hear the World Foundation to improve the quality of life of people with hearing loss through financial and technical assistance. The foundation is committed to the prevention of hearing loss as well as the support of people with hearing loss and their families.

Visit www.hear-the-world.com for more information. Become a fan of the initiative on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/CanYouHearTheWorld or follow the Twitter channel at www.Twitter.com/Hear_The_World.

SOURCE Hear the World

Washington, DC, February 6, 2012 People with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and other diseases of the kidney should make hearing checks a routine part of their medical care, according to the Better Hearing Institute (BHI), which is offering a free, quick, and confidential online hearing check at www.hearingcheck.org. BHI is offering the online convenience as part of its effort to raise awareness of the link between kidney disease and hearing loss during National Kidney Month in March, and in recognition of World Kidney Day on March 8. The online hearing check will help people determine if they need a comprehensive hearing test by a hearing healthcare professional.

Unaddressed hearing loss can have very significant consequences on a person’s day-to-day living and greatly undermine quality of life,” said Sergei Kochkin, PhD, BHI’s executive director. “We need to include hearing screenings as a routine part of the medical care for people with kidney disease to help optimize their quality of life.”

As published in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases and highlighted on the National Kidney Foundation web site, a team of Australian researchers found that older adults with moderate chronic kidney disease (CKD) have a higher prevalence of hearing loss than those of the same age without CKD.

According to the National Kidney Foundation, an Australian research team assessed more than 2,900 individuals aged 50 and older, including 513 with moderate chronic kidney disease. Of those with CKD, more than 54 percent reported some level of hearing loss compared to only 28 percent of the rest of the group. Nearly 30 percent of the CKD participants showed severe hearing loss compared with only 10 percent of the non-CKD participants.

Referencing the Australian study, Dr. Kerry Willis, Senior Vice President of Scientific Activities at the National Kidney Foundation stated:  “These findings could lead to a modification of the usual care of people with CKD. Earlier clinical hearing assessments and fitting of hearing aids in CKD patients can improve quality of life and lead to better management of underlying conditions which could, in turn, potentially preserve hearing function.”

About Chronic Kidney Disease
(Source: National Kidney Foundation)

According to the National Kidney Foundation, more than 26 million Americans over age 20 have CKD—roughly 13 percent of the adult population. And people with high blood pressure, diabetes, and/or a family history of kidney disease are at risk for developing CKD. The good news is that there are things that people can do to help prevent or delay the progression of CKD.

The National Kidney Foundation offers these top five tips for keeping both the kidneys and heart healthy.

1. Don’t smoke. The strongest modifiable risk fact for both kidney and heart disease is smoking. There is nothing you can do that is more important in the prevention of both heart and kidney disease as stopping smoking.
2. Control your blood pressure.  High blood pressure causes both kidney and heart disease.
3. Eat a proper diet. This should be patterned after the DASH diet.
4. Maintain a healthy body weight, which requires balancing calorie intake with exercise and activity.
5. Have your physician test you for both heart and kidney disease. It turns out that heart disease is a risk factor for kidney disease and kidney disease is a known risk factor for heart disease. Hence, if you know you have one, you should have yourself tested for the other.

About Hearing Loss
Approximately one in 10 Americans, or 34 million people, have some degree of hearing loss. Yet, fewer than 15 percent of physicians today screen for hearing loss during annual physical exams.

Numerous studies have linked untreated hearing loss to a wide range of physical and emotional conditions, including impaired memory and ability to learn new tasks, reduced alertness, increased risk to personal safety, irritability, negativism, anger, fatigue, tension, stress, depression, and diminished psychological and overall health.
Fortunately, the vast majority of people with hearing loss can be helped with hearing aids. And three out of four hearing aid users report improvements in their quality of life due to wearing hearing aids.

About the Better Hearing Institute
Founded in 1973, BHI conducts research and engages in hearing health education with the goal of helping people with hearing loss benefit from proper treatment. For more information on hearing loss, visit www.betterhearing.org. To take the BHI Quick Hearing Check, visit www.hearingcheck.org. To participate in the discussion forum, visit www.betterhearing.org, click on “Discussion Forum,” and go to “Welcome!” to register.

Sergei Kochkin, Ph.D. – Better Hearing Institute, Washington, DC

Here are some issues you should keep in mind as you develop appropriate expectations about what your hearing aids can and cannot do for you:

• Restore hearing. No matter how technically advanced, in most cases hearing aids cannot restore your hearing to normal, except in some very mild hearing losses.
• Types of hearing aids. Not all hearing aids perform the same with every type of hearing loss.
• Hearing in noise. No hearing aid has been designed that will filter out all background noise. Some hearing aids can reduce amplification of some types of background noise or make you more comfortable in the presence of noise. The most effective solution for improving speech intelligibility in noisy situations is hearing aids with directional microphones. When directional hearing aids are coupled with digital signal processing, you can be assured that your hearing aids are optimized for improving your quality of life in noisy environments.



• Fit and comfort. Since you are purchasing custom hearing aids, you should expect the fit to be comfortable; ideally you should not even know they are in your ears. There should not be any soreness, bleeding, or rashes associated with your wearing hearing aids. If there is go back to your hearing healthcare provider.
• Sounds. Hearing aids should allow you to: (1) hear soft sounds (e.g. child’s voice, soft speech) that you could not hear without amplification; this is part of the enjoyment of hearing aids; (2) prevent loud sounds from becoming uncomfortably loud for you-but very loud sounds that are uncomfortable to normal hearing people may also be uncomfortable for you.
• Whistling and feedback. It is normal for hearing aids to squeal or whistle when you are inserting them into your ear (if you do not have a volume control to shut it off). If it squeals after the initial insertion, then most likely you have an inadequate fit, and should tell your hearing healthcare provider.
• Your friend’s hearing aid. Do not expect your friend’s hearing aid brand or style to work for you.
• Your family doctor. Do not expect your family doctor to be knowledgeable about hearing loss, brands of hearing aids and whether or not you need them. Data shows that only 13% of physicians screen for hearing loss.
• Expect benefit. Expect your hearing aids to provide benefit to you during the trial period. By benefit, I mean that your ability to understand speech has demonstrably improved in the listening situations important to you (within realistic expectations though). This is what you hoped for, and you should expect benefit. If you do not experience an improvement, then work with your hearing healthcare professional to see if the instrument can be adjusted to meet your specific needs. Never purchase a hearing aid that does not give you sufficient benefit.
• Satisfaction guarantee. Expect to be satisfied with your hearing aids; expect the quality of your life to improve due to your hearing aids.
• Trial period. Expect a 30-day trial period with a money-back guarantee if your hearing aids do not give you benefit (there might be a small nonrefundable portion for some services rendered).
• Adjustment period. Give your hearing aids a chance, being sure to follow the instructions of the hearing healthcare provider. Most people need a period of adjustment (called acclimatization) before deriving the maximum benefit from their hearing aids (even up to four months).

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 should be 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.

For information about diabetes visit the American Diabetes Association website.

From The Better Hearing Institute.

Patricia B. Kricos, Ph.D. – University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida

Early in my career, I engaged in several research projects to try to determine why some people were excellent lipreaders while others did not benefit as much from watching the speaker’s lips. Were the better lipreaders smarter, better at visual discrimination, able to pay closer attention? One of my research projects involved a task in which the research participants had to predict what a written sentence was, when some of the letters were missing. I thought that better lipreaders might be better at “filling in the blanks” when they were trying to use the visual cues of speech to understand conversation. The results of my research project showed that there was no correlation between letter prediction ability and lipreading.

After doing the sentence prediction task, one of my research participants, a late-deafened individual, told me I was going about my lipreading research the wrong way. “What you need to study,” she said, “is the talker, not the lipreader. If the talker speaks clearly, I’m a great lipreader. If they mumble, I’m a terrible lipreader.” I took her advice and ended up publishing a number of articles on how the talker affects lipreading success. As my research participant had predicted, people vary considerably in how easy or difficult they are to lipread.

In recent years, researchers have found that:

• simply asking a person to speak more clearly results in approximately a 20% increase in how much is understood by listeners who are hearing impaired.
• in less than an hour, partners of people with a hearing loss can learn to improve their ability to be understood by 40% or more, even in noisy backgrounds.

What are the characteristics of clear speech? It involves speaking slightly slower, with more precise pronunciation, a little more volume, and most importantly, frequent pauses between key phrases. It is these pauses that seem to provide considerable help to listeners because they give them the chance to process what has been said before the talker says more. For example, saying the following sentence, word by word, with no pauses in between, would be much more difficult than if the phrases were chunked into meaningful pieces:

My husband’s sister is coming to visit us in Florida in April.

Instead, pausing in the manner shown below might be very helpful:

My husband’s sister (pause) is coming to visit us (pause) in April.

Here is another example of normal speech:

I’m going to run in the Chicago Marathon this year so I can qualify for the Boston Marathon.

And now let’s apply the clear speech method:

I’m going to run (pause) in the Chicago Marathon (pause) this year (pause) so I can qualify (pause) for the Boston Marathon.

These pauses are not so long that they disrupt the natural flow of the conversation, but just long enough to give listeners a better chance of processing what is said. Pauses are especially helpful for listeners, who often feel like they have difficulty understanding everything the talker is saying. This is especially true in noisy situations. The pauses help the listener figure out what the talker is saying before more information is added. In the second example above, if the talker does not pause, the listener may be so busy trying to understand the words “Chicago” and “Marathon” that it will be difficult to tune in to the last part of the sentence.

How helpful can clear speech be to the listener who is hearing impaired? Recent research at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia showed that after minimal training, the husband of a woman with hearing loss was over 40% easier to understand in noise by listeners with a hearing loss when he made an effort to speak clearly.

How can you help your loved ones learn to speak more clearly? Simply ask them to do four things when communicating with you:

• slow down a bit,
• speak a tiny bit louder,
• say things as clearly as possible without exaggerating their mouth movements,
• pause at meaningful places so that your ears can catch up with their mouths.

You will probably find that most of your family and friends will be able and willing to produce clear speech because it not only helps you, it benefits them. They will probably be happy to not need to repeat things as much. But be forewarned: most people will probably speak clearly for about three sentences, maybe even four or five. After that, they may slip back into their typical speedy, mumbled, soft mode of talking. It may help you and your frequent communication partners to work out a reminder system. You could agree, for example, that when you gently tap your chin, it is a reminder that means, “Don’t forget to speak clearly to me.” If you have grandchildren, you might even have a secret code to use with them to remind them, “Slow down and speak clearly.” Fun for them, and possibly a huge help for you!

Here’s a little poem you may want to send to your closest family members and dearest friends. “If you would say it slowly and clear, I would probably understand you much better, my dear. If you speak a bit louder and take time to pause, I will be happy to shower you with applause. Thanks for using your best clear speech for me.”

From The Better Hearing Institute