How to Help Loved Ones Hear Better

The current pandemic makes people more acutely aware of the importance of good hearing and urgency of managing it. During this lockdown period, many of us can only communicate with our parents through phone calls and if possible, FaceTime. Watching TV or YouTube clips through mobile phone has become the current favourite pastime activity of many, young and old. However, without good hearing, performing these activities can be challenging and stressful at the same time.

Hearing loss affects all age groups. Over the last few months, many start to cope with working from home or home based learning by harnessing online technology such as Zoom online meetings, video calls with colleagues, clients, Teachers. They found it hard to catch the words or hear clearly, even
with headphones on. It is stressful and tiring trying to manage these new norms.

The truth is our seniors have been struggling to hear the caller voice or make out the dialogues from TV dramas or news for a long time till they gave up. Hearing loss operates silently in the background but has a significant impact on communications, quality of lifestyles, relationships and more. The
saying “when someone in the family has a hearing problem, the whole family faces the hearing problem” is so true as many shared with us during the current trying times. We also know this issue is not new and it will not go away until we address it.

The struggle to hear is real. As hearing loss happens gradually over time, affected individuals learnt to get used to hearing less and manage around it.

3 steps towards a successful hearing aid experience

The fear of using hearing aids especially in seniors, whether they can achieve good hearing outcome deters many from coming forward to try. How do we go about choosing the right hearing aid and get it right from the start? Here are three pointers you should know before getting hearing aid.

1. Understand your hearing loss
Undertaking diagnostic hearing test with qualified Audiologist is the first most important step. Test results help individuals understand why they are not hearing certain sounds and correlate them with their daily hearing difficulties. Understanding the degree and type of hearing loss condition will help you identify the appropriate treatment options such as hearing amplification or medical treatment.

Over 75% of hearing loss cases belongs to the sensorineural type, caused mainly due to aging or noise induced. Such damage is often permanent, irreversible and hearing aids remain the most effective solution to improve hearing.

Hearing aid amplification remains the most effective solution for hearing loss. Recent years brought great advances in digital hearing aid technology. Let start by understanding modern hearing aids.

2. Understanding Hearing Aids: styles, technologies and selection criteria

Hearing aids come in various styles and technologies as they are designed for different hearing needs. Selection considerations include the amount of hearing loss, ear canal size/shape/condition, ear drum condition, user’s dexterity level and lifestyle needs.

Advances in hearing aid technologies improve hearing quality and also makes it easier and vomfortable to use. This encourages longer usage duration and helps the brain to relearn
sounds, leading to overall better hearing experience.

Virtually invisible, custom-made hearing aids appeared to be more
attractive because of its small size but the size also limits the amplification power and technologies that can be implemented.

The two most impactful technologies introduced in modern aids are rechargeability and wireless Bluetooth. Both these technologies are often available in behind-the-ear models where its sizes have reduced significantly compared to its predecessors.

a. Rechargeable technology

Rechargeable hearing aid not only delivers clearer, richer sound
experience with new sound processing chip. Easy to use, the key benefit
is it encourages longer usage hours which helps user to retrain their
brain to relearn sounds and noise.
With rechargeable technology, seniors no longer worry about changing or buying battery and are encouraged to
wear aids for longer periods as each full charge can last for over 20 years of usage. The longer they wear, the better their hearing gets. This is especially useful to seniors with dexterity issues.

b. Wireless Bluetooth technology
Wireless Bluetooth technology streams sounds from devices such as handphone, TV, laptop to your hearing aids automatically, after the initial setup. This not only optimised clarity of sounds, it also makes hearing effortless which makes hearing aids easy to use, even for non-tech-savvy users.

Even users with severe hearing loss can once again hear phone calls and watch TV.

Another feature desired by users is using app to personalise their hearing, all thanks to wireless Bluetooth technology. User can adjust the volume and change programs to help
them hear better in different hearing environments e.g. restaurants.

3. Understand the importance of post-hearing aid fitting support

First time hearing aid users often not aware that the post-hearing aid
fitting support is equally important to achieve a good hearing outcome.

Hearing loss usually happens gradually over the years and one often get used to not hearing sounds. Getting an experienced Audiologist involved in your hearing care journey helps optimise hearing aid amplification so you can progressively resume hearing sounds at a normal sensation level that best suit your hearing and lifestyle needs.

Online hearing aid marketing often focuses on the cost and size of the hearing aids. These two factors are likely not the main factors that determine the outcome of the hearing amplification. The following will help individuals better understand how to select suitable hearing aid solution.

The first thing to do is to consult a qualified Audiologist for a proper hearing assessment. An experienced Audiologist will be able to explain the test results in an easy-to-understand manner and help you associate your daily listening difficulties to the test results. It is important to understand the degree of impairment and which
part of the hearing mechanism is responsible for the hearing loss as some hearing impairments are reversible while others are non-reversible and require a hearing aid to improve hearing.

The degree of hearing loss will directly determine the power of the hearing
amplification required and is directly proportional to the size of the hearing aid. In general, the more severe the hearing loss, the bigger the hearing aid(s) that is required.

Discuss with your audiologist:
– your main listening difficulties and concerns
– understand why and how certain technologies are essential to improve your daily hearing needs.

Advanced technologies such as recharge-ability, wireless Bluetooth connectivity are important features in modern digital hearing aids for better hearing and enhance hearing lifestyle. Fortunately, these technologies are also present in basic performance classes of hearing aids which means you may not need to pay a high price for the high-end models to enjoy these features.

For those who prefer completely-in-the-canal invisible hearing aid, the degree of impairment, size, and shape of the ear canal are important deciding factors. An experienced audiologist will be able to advise you on the suitability and limitations. Both physical and acoustic customisation works for individual hearing needs. This is important as it will directly affect the outcome of the amplification experience. An experienced audiologist will help the affected individual and family to understand and provide advice on the customisation works that are required.

Expertise matters and this differentiates the overall hearing amplification experience.