Chocolates, candies, and…sound amplifiers

I remember skimming through web pages and pages of delectable chocolates and old-fashioned candies when I was doing some online Christmas shopping this past year.  As I scrolled farther and farther down the webpage, my taste buds could almost taste the marzipan candies.  Then it appeared.  In between the chocolate-peanut butter snowmen and the swirls of peppermint…there was a “sound amplifier”…for under $50.  Talk about good feeling gone.  I just sort of stared at it, wondering what it was doing in the middle of my sugar shopping. 

I never realized (in my bubble) that companies (some not even anywhere related to audiology) sold such amplifiers–that look like hearing aids–targeted to the hard-of-hearing consumer.  To the average lay person who doesn’t know the difference between a custom hearing aid and a very cheap sound amplifier, these companies seem to mislead consumers in to believing they can correct their hearing loss with a simple answer of a Personal Sound Amplification Product (PSAP).

Unfortunately, hearing loss cannot be helped with a “one size fits all” device, just as reading glasses found at the drug store cannot be used for all vision instances.  In the MarkeTrak VIII study by Dr. Sergei Kochkin, he writes that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did issue a guide to differentiate between simple sound amplifiers and true approved hearing aids.  However, Dr. Eric Mann, the deputy director of the FDA’s Division of Ophthalmic, Neurological, and Ear, Nose, and Throat Devices, goes further to cite that in choosing a PSAP as a substitute over a custom hearing aid can actually “lead to more damage.”

Hearing tests can result in such varied audiograms that it’s quite unrealistic to expect a simple “sound amplifier” to meet the unique needs of individuals.  Only a custom hearing aid–fitted by a licensed professional–could achieve that level of quality and integrity in a product.  This brings me back to the very ugly sound amplifier that was hogging up the screen between my chocolates and candies. It was bulky and could not have been very comfortable to wear.  In addition, the piece that is supposed to slide comfortably in to one’s ear looked like it would easily fall out due to its not-so-customized fit.

As a hearing aid wearer myself, I love the fact that I am able to maintain my quality of life while forgetting that I have them on half the time.  This is a sign of a quality fit…with a quality product.

An interesting point was brought up in the MarkeTrak study.  People who purchased direct-mail hearing aids or PSAPs typically only wore the devices for an average of 3 hours a day, as opposed to those hard of hearing who wore custom hearing aids up to 10 hours a day.  What would cause such a contrast?  Have you ever had someone make an annoying noise in your ear for a long time?  The PSAPs have been known to emit static or be too loud, etc., causing  the person to just pull them out after a while.  Remember when Dr. Mann said they could even “lead to damage”?  PSAPs are just not meant to compensate for a person’s hearing loss.

With a custom fit hearing aid, technology has come so far that noise levels are often automatically adjusted depending on the environment in which a person is standing.  Some are even compatible with hearing aid-specific smart phone applications.

So why do some continue to buy PSAPs?  Number one reason:  cost.  I get it…but $50 will not solve the problem–and may in turn make it worse.  A better option would be to contact a licensed hearing care professional who is conscious of both a patient’s needs as well as their budget, offering solutions that would help improve quality of living without breaking the bank.  Hearing is a sense worth the investment.  It’s just as important as sight and touch.  Monitor it annually just as you do your vision.  You’ll be glad you did.

Sources:  http://www.betterhearing.org/hearingpedia/marketrak-publications/marketrak-viii-utilization-psaps-and-direct-mail-hearing-aids

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Kiersten Troutman is the Manager of Marketing and Outreach at HEARINC in Canton, Ohio.  As a wife and mother of four young children, one of her greatest joys in life is being able to hear her children laugh and say, “I love you.”  She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kent State University, and is finishing up her Master of Arts in Composition and Rhetoric from The University of Akron. She suffers severe hearing loss in her left, and mild to moderate in her right, from birth, and has a true appreciation for the audiological advances made in the assistive hearing device industry.  She has a passion for helping others realize that hearing loss does not discriminate with age, and has a vision to educate the public on how quality of life can often be improved simply by taking advantage of the amazing technology available.

HEARINC.  Join the Conversation.

Copyright. Kiersten D. Troutman. 2015.

 

 

 

 

 

What makes an audiologist so great?: meet Shera Kile

There are plenty of choices when it comes to choosing an audiologist.  So to whom do you lend your ears?  As someone who worked full-time, went to college full-time, and had a family with four children, convenient scheduling was an absolute must for me!  Before I came on board with HEARINC, I was a patient for over three years.  I was impressed that they were able to schedule my first appointment after-hours, at 5:15pm.  This was above and beyond my expectation of good service right off the bat.

The first person I met with was audiologist, Shera Kile, who was kind, understanding, and informative of my options on how to best accomplish my objective to hear better.  After understanding which device would serve me the best, we got down to critical questions…like, “What color hearing aid do you prefer?”  Brown (to match my hair), light, soft colors, etc. Me?  No, I went with ocean blue, because this girl is a leader, not a follower.  I almost wish I went with pink, you know, just because it’s “fun.”  I guess it didn’t really matter though; due to hearing aids being so small today, they are rarely noticeable regardless if they are fire engine red or light brown. Whether you admit it or not, you just pictured a fire engine red hearing aid sitting on the back of my ear.

 

 

Three years later, I am now a part of the HEARINC Outreach initiative, and I am proud to share my story with you.  Today though, I want you to know more about Shera.  I sat down with her to capture some of her world outside of audiology.  Here is what I discovered:

The world of Shera Kile, beyond audiology

Shera just celebrated her 47th birthday.  She indicated that she doesn’t “feel 47.”  So naturally I asked…

Q:  What do you want to be when you grow up?

A:  I want to go live in Cinderella’s castle at Disney World, but for now I will be an audiologist.

Q:  What do you miss most about being a kid?

A:  Being carefree

Q:  What is the #1 song played on your iPod, or Pandora, or whatever other platform they have for listening these days?

A:  Luke Bryan’s “My Kind of Night”

Q:  What would you name the autobiography of your life?

A:  The Life and Times of Shera Lin Ater Kile

Q:  Where’s Waldo?

A:  Hiding somewhere in that book, but I can’t find him

Q:  What does your perfect day look like?

A:  Sleeping in, all three of my children at home, and playing with my puppy dogs

Q:  What is a secret talent you have that many may not know?

A:  I used to be a gymnast.  I can still do a handstand and a cartwheel

Q:  Sunrise or sunsets?

A:  Sunsets

Q:  You are a mom of one boy and identical twin girls, all who are now out of high school.  How did you survive?

A:  (laughs) One day at a time…

Q:  Do you sing while driving in the car?

A:  Absolutely!

Q:  What would your superhero power be and why?

A:  I want to fly.  I could get a lot of stuff done if I could fly.

 

We seem to have quite a few superheros at this lair, I mean office, where we are busy saving hearing…and flying.

If you would like to meet this superhero, please stop by our office.  She will be signing autographs all week during her week of published fame.

 

PLEASE SHARE!

Kiersten Troutman is the Manager of Marketing and Outreach at HEARINC. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kent State University, and is finishing up her Master of Arts degree in Composition and Rhetoric from The University of Akron. She suffers unilateral hearing loss from birth and has a true appreciation for the audiological advances made in the assistive hearing device industry.  She has a passion for helping others realize that hearing loss does not discriminate with age, and has a vision to educate the public on how quality of life can often be improved simply by taking advantage of the amazing technology available.

HEARINC.  Join the Conversation.

Copyright. Kiersten D. Troutman. 2014.

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Top 10 signs of hearing loss

We all love a good top ten, so here’s my list on signs of hearing loss, which is typical for almost all who experience hearing difficulty.  Don’t be shy; It’s okay to admit if you didn’t hear the microwave beep a half hour ago.  That’s why we’re here.  Let’s begin:

10) The TV remote control volume indicator doesn’t seem to go beyond 82  

You see your children walk past you in the living room daily—with pilot earmuffs on.  Unless they’re training to be aviators, this may be a good indicator a hearing test is in your future.

9) “I’m sorry, can you repeat that?”

You have gotten used to the very irritated faces of those who are annoyed in having to repeat their long “and my fish was this big” story.

8) Women and children first!

We’re not throwing out life preservers here.  In the world of audiology, the voices of women and children go first in hearing loss.  Now, hubbies out there…please…show some restraint in excitement here.

7) You have gotten pretty good at playing Scrabble

You hear maybe three out of every five words in a conversation.  The rest of the time—while the speaker is busy going off on a tangent about how her hair doesn’t seem to do what she wants it to do anymore—you’re busy trying to fill in the two blanks on what she said that was actually important.

6) You have recently decided to become a hermit

You’ve heard the saying, “silence is golden”, but it’s not precious when you inflict it on yourself, because you know you won’t be able to participate in conversations.  Missing your son’s wedding is out of the question.  You begin to contemplate ways in which to avoid the over-crowded loud reception hall and dodge all the round tables filled with indecipherable chatter.  This may be a good indicator to step in to your audiologist’s office for a test.  You’d be surprised what technology can do.

5) You swear you can read even a ventriloquist’s lips

You’ve been known to browse through Facebook posts and “watch” the video clips without even opening it up to actually listen to the audio.  You’ve just gotten that good at lip-reading.  Everybody reads lips to augment speech understanding.  Those with hearing loss, however, rely more on lip-reading as their primary source of speech understanding.  Nothing gets past you; you put the ventriloquist out of a job.  This may be good; they are a little creepy.

4) If you could pick the word of the year, it would be…”Huh?” or “What?”

“Huh?”….I can still remember my mother correcting me when I was a child that using “huh” in conversation was “rude.”  Nevertheless, “huh” became a staple in my word diet.  Is it in yours?  “Huh” lines right up there in the part of the food pyramid where the doughnuts can be found….What do you mean doughnuts aren’t in the food pyramid?  I’ve been living a lie all these years…

3) You hear Jingle Bells year-round  

Let’s face it:  Jingle Bells should only be heard one month out of the year.  When you hear your ears ringing (buzzing, rushing water, or even motor sounds–all sounds of tinnitus) any other time, it’s time to see your audiologist. Tinnitus is typically found with hearing loss.  Seek out your audiologist to explain the maddening noise in order to find relief.  Over fifty million people experience tinnitus; More than half of them have an associated hearing loss.

2) “Would you like some thighs with that?”

Perhaps it was just subliminal that I heard it that way.  But no, throw in the fries I say! …and then I remember to put in my hearing aids to avoid further misinterpretations.

And last, but never least…

1) Ha ha ha ha ha!….Wait, what am I laughing at? 

You are the last to know the punchline of a joke, but you laugh anyway.  It’s certainly no fun when someone has to repeat it after everyone has already laughed and moved on.

 

PLEASE SHARE!

Kiersten Troutman is the Manager of Marketing and Outreach at HEARINC. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kent State University, and is finishing up her Master of Arts degree in English from The University of Akron. She herself suffers unilateral hearing loss from birth and has a true appreciation for the audiological advances made in the assistive hearing device industry.  She has a passion for helping others realize these advances, and has a vision to educate the public on how quality of life can often be improved by simply taking advantage of the current technology available.

HEARINC.  Join the Conversation.

Copyright. Kiersten D. Troutman. 2014.

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Children with sensorineural hearing loss: impact on education

Minimal sensorineural hearing loss impacts education

FACT: 37% of children with only MINIMAL hearing loss fail at least one grade [source:  National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)]

Getting ready for back to school?  It’s hard to believe August 1st is around the corner.

I feel compelled to share my story:

I remember struggling horribly throughout childhood with single-sided deafness. It was a widely misunderstood condition. Teachers would not enunciate, students were cruel, and I felt as though I poured much of my energy just in to concentrating on what the teachers were saying.  I could hear them for the most part, but speech discrimination was a different story, thus, the misunderstanding between me and those around me.

First grade fears

In first grade, my teacher, Mrs. Hollis–I’ll never forget her–had me wear a sign around my neck that said, “Enunciate.” Of course, it was meant to bolster my confidence in that only I knew what the word meant and others around me would have to ask what it meant.  And so, my mother fashioned a small-rectangled poster sign with itchy yarn looped around a hole on each end of the sign and had me wrap it around my neck like they do the blue papers at the dentist office.  The black Sharpie marker-inked letters were thick and straight:  ENUNCIATE.  I walked around the elementary school that day with the sign only I knew the definition to.  

Granted, this definitely could have set me up for more ridicule, but little me didn’t see it that way.  Rather, I beamed with my newfound intellect.  Kids walked up to me all day asking what it meant.  “It means slow down and speak up,” I replied in my most studious, educated voice.  Duh, I added to myself.  I laugh when I think about it now.  For the most part, it worked; students began to slow down a little and speak more clearly.

Thankfully, we don’t have to wear signs around our necks these days to inform others of hearing loss.  Although, now at 37 years old, I still sometimes feel this pressure to understand everything, it is not as bad, because I wear assistive technology.

So this back-to-school season, prepare your child with supplies…and a hearing screen. There are so many options now. The technology is amazing actually!

…And if anyone knows Mrs. Hollis who used to work with Akron Public Schools, share this with her…

Do you have any amazing teachers that you’ll never forget? What made them amazing?

Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9796643…and my own first grade experience.  Thankfully, no one was traumatized in the making of, or wearing of, the ever-mysterious “Enunciate” sign.  Students and faculty alike, instead, were made aware of hearing loss in their schools, and were educated on it.  Kudos to the illustrious Mrs. Hollis.

Please SHARE!

Kiersten Troutman is the Manager of Marketing and Outreach at HEARINC. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kent State University, and is finishing up her Master of Arts degree in English from The University of Akron. She herself suffers unilateral hearing loss from birth and has a true appreciation for the audiological advances made in the assistive hearing device industry. She has a passion for helping others realize these advances, and has a vision to educate the public on how quality of life can often be improved by simply taking advantage of the current technology available.

Copyright. Kiersten D. Troutman. 2014.

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Jim Morris celebrates birthday

Jim Morris, Owner and Hearing Instrument Specialist of HEARINC, celebrates birthday

This week we are asking owner, Jim Morris, tough questions like, “Do you prefer chocolate cake or crème brûlée?”  Well, maybe not that question. I mean, there is no contest between chocolate cake and crème brûlée. They each possess heaven-like qualities.  Nevertheless, Jim celebrated a birthday yesterday on July 2nd and therefore automatically became the next victim of my shenanigans and very formal interview process.  When not saving and restoring hearing (our superhero capes are on back order), we are eating cake.  That’s just how we roll.

Jim Morris:  adventure awaits

In keeping our promise to help our patients get to know the staff at HEARINC, this week we are featuring Jim Morris, because his birthday was yesterday, and we apparently like putting our jobs on the line as we single him out on this grand occasion.  We may have to forego the mariachi band we had lined up. The festive sombreros with red, fuzzy fuzzballs hanging off the brim may be a little over the top.

By the time we complete our interviews with the rest of the staff over the upcoming weeks, you will not only appreciate their professional qualifications and passion for improving hearing health, but will also know who is the dog lover, who loves snickerdoodles, and who is a writer on the side (no hint needed).

I asked Jim to sit with me a moment to answer some professional questions.

Q:  Since we’re on the topic of birthdays, what is the best/worst gift you ever received?

A:  The best gift ever received for my birthday was a baseball glove when I was 10 years old.

Q:  If you could pick a superhero power, what would it be and why?

A:  The ability to always determine truth

Q:  What is one thing most people do not know about you?

A:  I was a single parent for eight years.

Q:  Name one thing on your bucket list.

A:  As a private pilot, I would like to fly to each of the states in the United States, including Alaska.

Q:  What movie would you say defines your life?

A:  2001 Space Odyssey.  I would say that is one of my favorite movies, because there is always another adventure waiting out there.

Q:  What chore do you absolutely hate doing?

A:  Making the bed

Q:  Last book read?

A:  Dr. Ben Carson’s One Nation

Q:  As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A:  I always wanted to be a pilot.

Q:   If you could learn to do anything, what new thing would you learn?

A:  Astronomy

Q:  If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be?

A:  Prejudice

There you have it, friends:  Jim Morris wrapped in one interview.  Be sure to wish Jim a happy birthday!

 

Professional Qualifications

Jim received his B.S. in aerospace and manufacturing from Kent State University.  He became interested in audiology in 1998, because his father, grandfather, and several uncles who worked in industry and served in World War II suffered hearing loss.  With a corporate background in problem diagnostics and solutions applications, along with computer applications experience, Jim felt he could take a different approach to hearing loss, one that restores patients to the most active lifestyle possible.

 

 

Kiersten Troutman is the Manager of Marketing and Outreach at HEARINC. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kent State University, and is finishing up her Master of Arts degree in English from The University of Akron. She herself suffers unilateral hearing loss from birth and has a true appreciation for the audiological advances made in the assistive hearing device industry. She has a passion for helping others realize these advances, and has a vision to educate the public on how quality of life can often be improved by simply taking advantage of the current technology available.

Copyright. Kiersten D. Troutman. 2014.

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