Journey1 – Auckland Hearing

Making your decision to get hearing aids

Maree O’Sullivan — Sun, 08 Dec 2019 04:47:31 +0000

Every process begins with a decision.

The key to success with hearing aids is: that you have decided for yourself that you are ready to get help with your hearing.

Have you observed or decided some or all of these:

you’ve have noticed that your hearing is influencing the way you live your life
it is time to improve your communication
you would like to improve your relationships with family, friends and work colleagues

And that you want to do it for you – not to please someone else.

When would it not be YOUR decision to get hearing aids?

Sometimes well-intentioned family members influence people to get hearing aids
you may be influenced by a professional – based on the level of hearing loss (audiogram)
Because you “should” even though you are not quite ready in yourself

Why do you need to make this decision for yourself?

Over the years that your hearing has been gradually changing, so has your brain. The hearing part of your brain has been receiving less sound input, so it has had less information to process. It has forgotten what to do, as it hasn’t had to work so hard. Other parts of your brain have been working harder to try and keep up with the conversation. You need to use context and visual cues to work out what is being said. This can cause auditory fatigue or tiredness at the end of the day.

Luckily, once we provide that missing sound to your hearing system with hearing aids, your brain can begin to use the information again. Brain plasticity means you can relearn and rewire. Just like when we start on a new exercise program; when we get hearing aids, we need to start slowly and rebuild our “hearing muscles”. As long as it hasn’t been too long and your hearing loss is not too severe, your brain plasticity will mean you will relearn to process the sounds you have been missing and usually, we can get most of your hearing functionality back.

It can be hard work at the beginning as you adjust to hearing again.

Luckily, hearing aids now have an excellent sound quality, and you will adjust very quickly as long as you wear them all the time and get used to hearing again. Within half an hour, sounds that seemed strange or new when you first put on the hearing aids will begin to normalise.

The key to real success with hearing aids is continual use. You must be ready in yourself to get hearing aids, so you embrace the process for maximum benefit. We want to create a new normal – Normal to hear.

To create a new normal, we are going to ask you to wear your hearing aids as much as you can, from the time you wake up in the morning until you go to bed at night. At first, you may find it tiring. Your brain will have to work hard to process the extra sound that it had forgotten about over the last few years. By the end of the first two weeks, you should be at the point where you can wear your hearing aids all day every day. By the time you finalise your hearing aids, it will feel normal for you to hear.

Helping you adjust – moving from comfort to clarity

Usually, we begin the hearing aid fitting process by working out how much sound you require to compensate for your hearing loss, then turning the hearing aids down. The goal at the first fitting is to get the sound comfortable. We want you to wear the hearing aids as much as possible, giving your brain time to adjust to the new sounds. We then gradually turn the sound up over time. This process gives your brain time to adapt and change, keeping sound comfortable at the start and increasing the clarity over time.

You must decide that you need hearing aids for yourself. Once you have chosen to improve your hearing, there will be a short adaption process to go through as you adjust to hearing again.

Being ready and in a positive mindset, helps this process run smoothly.

You are about to start on a hearing adventure.

I’d been having hearing problems during conversations and during some lectures that I had been attending. I needed to have the TV and radio turned up rather too loud, and had some difficulty using the telephone. So I finally decided to do something about it. I first contacted Maree for a hearing check about six years ago, after a disappointing experience with a different audiology company. But I found her to be much more helpful and went with her advice on which hearing aids would suit my particular needs. Her diagnostic evaluation was spot-on, and the results were actually better than I had anticipated. I only wish I had contacted her earlier.

Max Ross
Auckland City

What will help you get to the point of readiness for hearing aids?

When you come along for your hearing assessment appointment, we will talk to you about your hearing loss and how it is affecting your life. We will present options to help with your hearing (if required). After this appointment, you will have time to think about and notice those effects as they happen in your everyday life.

You will know when you are ready to take action. You will be ready to:

hear accurately – the first time – not have to ask for repeats
get involved in conversations – rather than quietly sitting back, so you do not feel embarrassed in case you miss something
feel more relaxed – as you will hear the doorbell, the phone ring and the person walking up from behind
be more confident – as you are sure you are responding correctly
communicate easier in your close relationships – because you hear the first time – correctly

Ready Now? Follow this link to book your appointment.

Once you have decided to get hearing aids, please give us a call and we will make you an appointment.

Or read on to the next article to find out more about the process of getting hearing aids.

A bit about Auckland Hearing

Anna and Maree – At Auckland Hearing

Auckland Hearing is an independent hearing aid and audiology clinic set up by Maree O’Sullivan. Maree
has worked in Audiology for nearly 25 years. She started Auckland Hearing so she could focus on the needs of each client (rather than corporate profits).

We provide a full range of hearing services and work with all of the Ministry of Health approved hearing aid brands in New Zealand. This means we can fit the hearing aids that best suit your needs.

Call Anna to book your appointment with Maree now.

The post Making your decision to get hearing aids appeared first on Auckland Hearing.

Do I have hearing loss? Do I need hearing aids?

Maree O’Sullivan — Sun, 10 Feb 2019 20:51:02 +0000

“Perceived need*” is the main reason for the

slow uptake of hearing aids for some people.

*The perception that hearing loss is not severe enough

Why? – because people adjust

Gradually over time, the person with the hearing loss adjusts to not being able to hear, and the people around them change by speaking louder and directly to them. Eventually, as communication as it gets too hard, friends and family start choosing to share less. They stop telling jokes or sharing inconsequential news and discuss only significant matters.

Hearing loss is sneaky…

Hearing loss is “invisible”. It is also sneaky…

Hearing loss is usually gradual: first, you have to concentrate harder to follow the conversation in a cafe, next socialising becomes tiring from all the extra effort you need to use to understand the banter; soon you mis-hear the directions and find yourself asking for repeats.

Eventually, people take one of two paths:

To withdraw into your own world, keep to yourself or stop going out
to become the life of the party because while you are talking, it doesn’t matter if you cannot hear… right?

Do I have a hearing loss?

What brought you to this page?

Have you noticed that you have been missing the details more often?
Are you struggling to follow along in a group conversation?
Or – have other people suggested that you don’t always hear them?

Hearing loss affects people of all ages. There are many reasons for hearing loss including hereditary factors, noise exposure, trauma and ear pathology. Hearing loss does become more common as we age due.

Hearing loss is invisible

Hearing loss is painless

Hearing loss is gradual

Hearing loss is sneaky

In the beginning, the hearing loss takes away…

The beginning of the sentence,
The little details,
The Punchline…

With time hearing loss may…

… increase mental fatigue – as you concentrate harder just to follow along- leaving you feeling exhausted at the end of the day
… begin to erode your confidence – as you are no longer sure about what was said
… cause you to ask for repeats – when you miss the first word
… lead you to feel embarrassed about missing the details or about having to ask for repeats too often
… make you feel less interested in socialising, choosing to stay home as it is easier that way.

The gradual nature of hearing loss means that we adapt over time. We change our behaviour, we choose our environments, and slowly our relationships change as everyone adapts to the change in our hearing.

Hearing loss is invisible and sneaky.

As it changes, we adjust.

Gradually it affects personality and relationships.

Hearing loss changes us over time.

Maree O’Sullivan

Effects of hearing loss on you

Having hearing loss does not usually mean that you stop hearing all sounds equally; the hearing loss pattern will depend on the cause of the hearing loss. In many cases, hearing loss begins in the high pitches leaving the hearing for low tones in the normal range. Words will start to sound dull or become less clear, resulting in a reduced understanding of speech, especially in difficult listening situations. For example, in a group of people, hearing while the TV or radio are on in the background or trying to understand conversation in a large echoey room. Although for some types of hearing loss (conductive) people hear well in noisy environments, where people are speaking loudly but cannot understand quiet speech.

The way you respond to reducing hearing clarity will depend on your personality, the degree and shape of your hearing loss and how long your hearing has been deteriorating. Most people with hearing loss find it tiring to follow the conversation, as their brain has to work harder to fill in all the sound gaps that they miss –

“…now was that See or Tea? Must be Tea – that makes more sense.”

This is called auditory fatigue.

Auditory fatigue

Often people find the tiredness from auditory fatigue gets worse at the end of the day. It can be harder to keep up with fast conversation, especially in a group or if people are facing away.

Many people tell me that they have felt embarrassed by their hearing loss at some point, either because they have misunderstood someone or they felt embarrassed asking for repeats. Some people find it easier to step back from the intense concentration they need to use to stay in the conversation and slip into their own thoughts. Others will talk more, as when you are talking you do not need to hear. Unfortunately, both of these options lead to a change in relationships over time.

Impact of Hearing Loss

Hearing loss impact varies between individuals and is influenced by many factors including degree and cause of hearing disorders, length of untreated hearing loss and personality. We know hearing disorders leads to social isolation, personality change and in some people increases the chance of anxiety and depression. Studies have also found a strong link between hearing disorders and the development of dementia. This US article outlines the effects of untreated hearing disorder in adults.

It takes up to 10 years to seek help with hearing loss

So why do we wait to do something about Hearing disorders?

Hearing loss is invisible
Hearing loss is gradual
People are great at adapting to their situation and change in hearing
Family members help to compensate
There is a history of stigma around hearing aids
There is a history of poor technology in hearing aids
We “just get on with it…”
Change is hard! … and takes motivation
We don’t understand what is involved in getting and using hearing aids…
- What is the process of getting hearing aids?
- What is the cost of hearing aids?
- What is the right hearing solution for me?
- Do I need to wear them all the time?
- How do I look after hearing aids?

Do you think you may have hearing loss?

Are you ready to take the first step?

Hearing test

The first step is to have a full hearing assessment. This will assess your hearing level as well as pinpoint where in the ear the hearing loss originates. Hearing loss may be described as:

Conductive – where there is a blockage stopping the sound from reaching the cochlear (outer or middle ear)
Sensorineural – where the cochlear is not able to detect all the sounds
Retrocochlear – where sound cannot be processed by the brain due to a blockage along the hearing pathway.
An auditory processing disorder (APD) – where the brain cannot process the sound it detects.

The discussion after the hearing assessment will give you knowledge and understanding about your hearing and how it affects your life at the moment. If you are ready and interested, we will talk to you about the options we have for helping you with your hearing and what is involved. We will discuss the hearing aid funding options available for you. We will even fit you with some hearing aids, and you can go next door to the cafe for a cup of coffee while you try them out. From here, it is up to you to decide your next step.

Hearing aids are the most common and effective way to help people with hearing loss (after excluding medical reasons). However, before trialling hearing aids, it is important that you are ready in yourself, to go through the hearing aid process. It must be your decision, not someone else’s…

So… what was it that brought you to this page?

I hope this article helped you gain a greater understanding of hearing loss and its effects. Maybe the subject could be rephrased. Rather than the question being “Do I need hearing aids?”

Perhaps, the question could be “Would I like to communicate easily with the people that matter to me?”

Do you want to converse easily?
Do you want hearing aids?

Do you want to communicate easily?- Do you want hearing aids?

“Do I need hearing aids?”

Well… “Do you need hearing aids?” Do you want to be part of the conversation?

Hearing loss is common. Many people wear hearing aids. Have you noticed them? Click here for more…

A bit about Auckland Hearing

Anna and Maree – At Auckland Hearing

Auckland Hearing is an independent hearing aid and audiology clinic set up by Maree O’Sullivan. Maree
has worked in Audiology for nearly 25 years and started Auckland Hearing so she could focus on the needs of each client (rather than corporate profits).

Call Anna to book your appointment with Maree now.

The post Do I have hearing loss? Do I need hearing aids? appeared first on Auckland Hearing.

Do I need hearing aids? What is the right solution for me?

Maree O’Sullivan — Sun, 10 Feb 2019 04:48:53 +0000

Well… “Do you need hearing aids?”

Hearing loss is common

Many people wear hearing aids

Have you noticed them?

Hearing aids have changed significantly over the last few years and continue to improve at a brisk rate. Like phones, computers and tablets, hearing aids are mini computers that are processing more and more information. Every year or two each of the larger manufacturers brings out new and improved products.

Manufacturers often release the higher end products first, then gradually they release the mid-range and value products. The advantage of this is that there are excellent hearing aids in every technology range and they are continually improving. What great news this is for people with hearing loss, because hearing aids are not only effective at helping you communicate understand conversation in your everyday life, they look good too!

These images show how hearing aids have changed as much as computers, in fact, each hearing aid is a tiny computer. Current hearing aids have sophisticated sound processing, connectivity to your phone and other devices and rechargeability among many of the features.

How will hearing aids help me?

Simply – Hearing aids provide audibility for the sounds that you have been missing

Hearing the sentence correctly the first time means that you will (most likely)* say goodbye to:

Auditory fatigue (less mental gymnastics to work out what was said).
Having to ask for repeats.
Embarrassment from getting something wrong.

After wearing hearing aids for a while, you will notice you are more relaxed and confident in social situations and general conversation:

More confidence – in yourself as you are sure you are responding correctly
More interest – in being involved in social events, as you are confident to join in
More relaxed – as you will no longer need to be on hyper-alert; you know you will hear things around you – like the doorbell, the phone ring or people walking up from behind

*Most likely – because this is hearing loss dependent. People with severe/profound hearing losses or very poor speech discrimination may not receive all of these improvements. If we think this may affect you, will discuss it in detail before choosing hearing aids. The most significant changes happen for people who wear their hearing aids all the time.

Detect sound with your ears

Our ears are designed to collect sound from the environment and amplify it to a level where it can be delivered, via nerves, to the hearing centre in our brain (auditory cortex). The brain uses the electrical signal to recognise the sound from the environment and understand speech.

Hearing loss means the ears are damaged in some way. In most cases, just increasing the volume of the sound to our ears is not helpful to improve hearing clarity.

Hearing aids are small computers that often work together to optimise the signal received by the brain. They are continuously measuring the sound environment and adjusting the way they amplify to maximise hearing comfort and speech understanding and to reduce listening effort.

Higher level hearing aids have more automatic features to modify the sound to help you hear easier and with less effort.

Hear with your brain

This diagram by Oticon shows how sound is used by the brain.

Use it or lose it

Wearing hearing aids more strengthens the auditory system by giving it more practice with listening to various sounds and helping it relearn/learn which sounds are important and which sounds are not.

The ability to understand speech, especially in noisy environments usually improves with increased wearing time.

Regular hearing aid use will help your brain “hear better”

Interpreting sound information requires regular exposure. People who wear their hearing aids “only sometimes” are giving their brain two signals, hearing and not hearing, some sounds.

Their brain does not have as much practice interpreting the sound information and will not be able to use the information so well.

The ability to understand speech reduces over time – especially with a significant hearing loss

When there is hearing loss, the brain is not receiving the signal for all the sounds in the area of hearing loss. As this continues for many years, the brain does not have practice using the sound message and becomes less capable of managing the auditory information. It may even relocate those brain resources to another function (typically the visual system). The sooner you get hearing aids, the sooner you are providing your hearing system with sound and keeping it active.

“I notice an improvement in my client’s ability to repeat back single words, in quiet, with regular hearing aid use.

This effect is most potent for people with more severe hearing losses, who have waited a long time to get hearing aids.

Maree O’Sullivan (Audiologist)

A bit about Hearing Aids

Hearing aids have a lot of technology innovations working together to bring about the outcome of “simply” hearing. Below is a brief description for some of this functionality. There are 9 hearing aid brands that are approved by the Ministry of Health in New Zealand. Each brand has “speciality features” and often they use different terms for some of these:

Programmed for you

All hearing aids (supplied by a qualified professional) are programmed and then fine-tuned specifically for you. Your hearing test (Audiogram) is used to calculate the right amount of sound specifically for your hearing levels.

Adjust to your listening environment

Hearing aids do not amplify all sounds equally; they amplify quiet sounds more than loud sounds; this allows as many sounds as possible to be both audible and comfortable. Hearing aids are not just turning up the volume.

Directional microphones

Directional microphones help you to focus on the sounds in front of you and give less emphasis to sounds behind, these are helpful in background noise environments and are a standard feature in most hearing aids.

Feedback cancellation

Feedback cancellation makes sure that the hearing aids do not feedback (make a loud high-frequency sound). This can happen if the sound from the “loud-speaker” reaches the microphone.

Noise reduction

Noise reduction is a feature in most hearing aids, the way it works varies between brands. Most hearing aids focus more on speech sounds and reduce the loudness on non-speech sounds. Noise reduction also helps you to have a more comfortable listening experience.

Physical comfort

Current technology hearing aids are light and comfortable in your ears.

Cosmetics

Hearing aids no longer look like a medical device. Now they are a piece of technology like a computer or smartphone.

Hearing aids style

Below are examples of the receiver in the canal type technology for some of the brands. There are many other styles of hearing aid as well. The choice of hearing aid style will depend on preference and degree of hearing loss.

Connectivity

Hearing aids can connect to other devices like a phone, TV or remote microphone to take the sound from these devices directly to your hearing aids.

There are many other hearing aid features available from various suppliers, for example, waterproof hearing aids, personalisation, stereo sound and more.

Current hearing aids look like this

Here are examples of the receiver in the canal type technology from some of the brands. As you can see, the terminology used to describe this style varies between manufacturers.

The picture below shows the different styles of hearing aids that are available. The choice of style will depend on your preference and degree of hearing loss.

Bernafon Zerena hearing aids
Oticon opn
Phonak rechargeable hearing aids
ReSound Linx Quattro hearing aids
Signia Silk Nx hearing aids
Starkey Muse IQ
Unitron Moxi Kiss
Widex evoke hearing aids

There are many technologies available now that connect up with your hearing aids. They connect to your phone
(landline or mobile), TV, computer, MP3 player and stereo. You can also get remote microphone technology, where you can give the speaker a microphone or place it on the other end of the table, then hear the conversation directly into your hearing aids.

Watch this video for example of how technology can work with hearing aids.

What is the right solution for me?

Once you have decided to improve your hearing, we will look in depth at your lifestyle and listening needs to make sure we get the best solution for you. The best solution for you may not be hearing aids. We will let you know all the options then you can choose what you think will work best. We will ask you questions about your lifestyle and listening needs, then match the best technology (or other option) for your situation. Learn more about the process of getting hearing aids here.

The post Do I need hearing aids? What is the right solution for me? appeared first on Auckland Hearing.