Hearing Aid Blog

“We have a sound room set up to be an exact duplication of being in a loud restaurant. It’s real restaurant noise, and it allows us to realistically test hearing aids,” Valente says. “One of the most common complaints I hear from people who wear hearing aids is that they have stopped going to restaurants because they can’t communicate. So we are testing hearing aid technology that might better help people hear in noisy places.”

The study, published in the International Journal of Audiology, was the first to use such a setting to test a new hearing aid technology — open-fit hearing aids with directional microphones. Open-fit means the devices let ambient sounds into the ear canal, unlike more conventional hearing aids, which completely block off the canal. Canal blockage creates an occlusion effect that makes wearers’ own voices sound a little like they are talking from the bottom of a barrel, so open-fit is an attractive new option.

Directional microphones actually aren’t a new development. They have been available for many years on conventional hearing aids, but researchers have questioned whether open-fit aids with directional microphones will be effective. Directional microphones help users distinguish conversation from background noise by partially canceling out low frequency sounds coming from the sides and from behind. Because open-fit aids let sound pass directly to the eardrum, some believe this will lessen their ability to decrease background sounds.

“We found that the open-fit hearing aids with directional microphones on average gave wearers a 20 percent improvement in speech intelligibility in the restaurant setting compared to not having a hearing aid or wearing an open-fit aid without a directional microphone,” Valente says. “We are the first to show that a directional microphone in open-fit can provide improved performance in noise.”

In fact, the aids without directional microphones performed worse in the noisy situation than no aid at all. “That’s not unusual,” Valente says. “People often tell me that when they are in a noisy situation, they take out their hearing aids because they don’t help and sometimes even make it harder to hear.”

Open-fit hearing aids have been available for about three years. They are designed for people who have normal hearing in the low frequency range but have lost hearing in the upper range, where most conversational sounds are. This is a very common type of hearing loss that often comes with aging or prolonged noise exposure. Valente says the open-fit hearing aids are what most new patients are asking for because they are very light and almost invisible, but they are not the best choice for all hearing problems.

Studies such as this help clinicians counsel patients on choosing the type of hearing aid that will work best for them and also what to expect from any hearing device. “I tell patients that a hearing aid will definitely allow you to hear better in a quiet environment, but in a noisy place, it won’t ever work as well as it does in quiet,” Valente says. “I also emphasize that even normal-hearing people have trouble communicating in noise. I say, next time you go to a restaurant with someone, estimate how much of the conversation you hear. Then ask them how much of the conversation they heard. I’ll bet the difference won’t be as large as you think.”

Next Valente will begin a project in collaboration with the National Association of Future Doctors of Audiology (NAFDA) of the Program in Audiology and Communication Sciences (PACS) at Washington University in which they will measure sound levels in restaurants in the St. Louis area. Very often patients when seen by an audiologist in the Audiology Department report they no longer frequent restaurants because communication is impossible. So Valente and his colleagues want to provide patients with a noise rating system that will help them determine whether they will find a restaurant’s environment comfortable.

In this system, similar to programs currently in place in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., a rating of “one bell” would indicate a restaurant where the noise levels are soft enough to allow for easy communication, while a rating of “four bells” would indicate that communication would be very difficult. Valente and his colleagues will soon make this rating system available to the public via the restaurant review section of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper and Web site. In addition, it will be available on the Web site of the Division of Adult Audiology (audiology.wustl.edu).

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080710161821.htm

“Somebody mistook his cochlear implant for a bluetooth device, when they took it, he couldn’t hear anything,” Barbara Hecht with John Tracy Clinic.

Even with the $7,000 implant, it is a struggle for the three-year-old to communicate, but how the theft of his aid makes him feel, is crystal clear, “Sad.”

“Time works against us, because each word he doesn’t hear is a delay for him.”

Replacing the stolen device, could take months, fortunately, the family has a backup device, but if anything happens to it, Jose will be cut off from the sound he’s been trying hard to learn. “That device is worthless to the person who stole it, but it opens up the whole world to Jose,” said Hecht.

This is the second time someone’s tried to steal Jose’s implant. The first time, his mother stopped the would-be thief and got the device back without any damage.

Advocates for the deaf worry as bluetooth headsets become more popular, these types of mistaken identity thefts will keep happening.

http://www.news8.net/news/stories/0708/536041.html

“Most of the children we treated experienced a 40 to 60 percent hearing loss since birth or from

childhood diseases and infections,” said Randy Schoenborn, president of NewSound. “A 40-decibel loss can be demonstrated by plugging both index fingers into the ear canals as tightly as possible. At best, this is how these children were able to hear before we came.”

In total, the group fitted 1,742 hearing aides for 871 people in Ciudad Victoria and San Luis, and another 498 hearing aides for 249 people in Monterrey.

“We have clients who donate old hearing aides, and we take these with us for the impoverished,” Johnson said. “To fit the children is amazing. Mexico is such a family oriented country, the whole family would come to watch. The kids are amazed they can hear, and to see a mother be able to be heard by her child for the first time is life changing.”

The devices normally cost $750 each, but were free to people who received them in Mexico.

Next year, the group is considering adding a trip to India or Africa to expand the program.

“We will see where there is a need and send a team to do the testing and make ear impressions for molds,” Johnson said. “They bring the molds back to us, and we make custom fitted hearing aides from those molds.”

In the United States, all newborns are screened for hearing problems before they leave the hospital, as required by law. However, many poorer regions of other countries don’t do this. Mexican children may not be properly assessed until later in life when learning, speech and social acceptance already have been damaged.

“Hearing is a luxury for the patients we see in our Boerne practice — they are able to afford devices and care,” Schoenborn said. “But, to bring the gift of hearing to those who could never pay, that is the joy of this trip that has changed my life.”

To donate old hearing aides, bring them to the NewSound office in Kerrville at 1006 Junction Highway.

http://web.dailytimes.com/story.lasso?ewcd=ee7dff08b91c482f

The presidency is a noisy job, what with the helicopters, screaming crowds and military bands. But Clinton’s doctors say his problem has developed over several decades. As a teenager, he played sax in a band and hunted ducks with shotguns. Combine those pastimes with a penchant for loud music, and you have a recipe for long- term hearing loss. Any sound louder than 85 decibels can damage the delicate hair cells that line the inner ear. The effects may go unnoticed for long periods, but they accumulate. “”Here’s a guy with a lot of noise exposure that never bothered him when he was young,'’ says Dr. William Clark, senior scientist at the Central Institute for the Deaf, in St. Louis. “”When he got older, it caught him.'’

Clinton’s hearing loss is unusually severe for someone his age–only 10 percent of all 50-year-olds may benefit from hearing aids–but his symptoms are classic. He has no trouble with normal conversation, which occurs at frequencies of 500 to 2,000 herz. But because he falters at frequencies of 3,000 to 8,000 herz, he can’t always understand people in loud rooms or large outdoor spaces. Clinton’s internist, U.S. Navy Capt. Connie Mariano, says the hearing aids are not a medical necessity, just a “”quality-of-life thing'’ that will make it easier to enjoy music and navigate crowded receptions.

Hearing aside, the president’s physical condition has improved in the past year. He has lost 20 pounds since his last checkup (he’s six feet two and now weighs in at 196). His total blood cholesterol has dropped from 191 to 179. And the knee injury that landed him in a wheelchair last winter has healed. Like many other baby boomers, Clinton seems to grow more health-conscious with age. Unfortunately, healthful living can’t fix a damaged ear.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/97142

“If my hearing aids get wet, that’s it, they’re dead and can’t be fixed,” said Steele.

He says just the threat from his own sweat forces him into a world of silence, during long runs with his fiance.

“Here I am, I am engaged to this wonderful woman and if we go swimming, kayaking or running, I want to talk to her,” said Steele.

But now, a clinical trial going on at the California Ear Institute in East Palo Alto is attempting to break down that sound barrier for hearing impaired athletes.

Dr. Joseph Roberson is testing a new kind of hearing aid, which is surgically implanted.

“An incision would happen behind the ear, in the same curve as the ear. The microphone receives sound and it sends signal to central device where it’s decoded, and released through a wire to vibration device that’s attached to middle ear bones,” said Dr. Robertson. “Once it’s done, it’s nicely seating something patient doesn’t feel or see.”

The device, made by a Colorado company called Otologics, isn’t small. Dr. Roberson says it was designed to conform to the curve of the skull.

Once it’s implanted, patients use a remote control to adjust it. A special device recharges the batteries right through the skin and ultimately though, they do have to be replaced by surgery.

“We look at it as a lifetime implant. The battery itself will have to be changed in the 10-year range, but the device is made to last the patient’s lifetime,” said Dr. Robertson.

Back at home in Campbell, David is waiting to become one of the first test patients. If the trials are successful the device could become available as early at the end of next year.

Typically, a set of hearing aids runs anywhere from $1,000 to $6,000.

According to Dr. Roberson, the implantable hearing aids are expected to cost anywhere from $12,000 to $15,000 a piece.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/health&id=6237357

In addition, patients often suffer from sound feedback, ear occlusion and difficulty of sound due to the microphone being placed near the hearing aid speaker. Recognizing the inadequacies of traditional hearing aids and aiming to overcome the negative public perception which can be associated with hearing aids, think/thing designed OSPA, a hearing aid which not only looks stylish, but is highly proficient at improving sound quality using as much of the functioning ear as possible.

OSPA is not designed to be hidden from sight, in fact with its streamlined, elegant, magnesium frame it looks more like a fashion accessory. However there is function within that frame, OSPA uses lasers and optics to read mechanical vibrations and has the potential to provide well-balanced, natural and high resolution sound.

Unlike other hearing aids which use a microphone and speaker to amplify sound, OSPA uses bone conduction to transmit sound to the the inner ear. When a sound signal is received by the external ear, an optical sensor picks up the vibrations of the ear drum, reconstructs the sound and sends it to the ear bud via an optical fiber. A signal is then sent to the laser interferometer which is contained in the bulged section worn at the back of the head. The signal is read using a photodiode or digital camera device. One imaging technique that may be used is the speckle pattern technique which is produced by the mutual interference of coherent wavefronts that are subject to phase differences. The signal is processed and amplified according to each patient’s individual requirements and is then sent back to the ear via a bone conduction transducer placed external to the skull on the mastoid bone. The rich, complex auditory signal is then returned to the cochlea.

OSPA contains a central processor, a laser interferometer, and optical fiber technologies contained within a cast magnesium casing. Traditional hearing aids need to have the battery replaced on average, every 5 days, but the OSPA design has two options for recharging the battery. It has a kinetic energy battery which is recharged through head movement generated by wearing the device and a plug-in, rechargeable lithium ion battery. As it has neither a microphone nor audio speaker, which are commonly damaged in other hearing aids, OSPA should have a longer life in comparison to regular hearing aids.

OSPA is still in the research stage of production and think/thing are seeking partners who “share their interest in hearing aid technology”.

We have previously featured two think/thing inventions; nestt, the egg-shaped car seat and OUiP! the interactive electronic toy powered by play.

http://www.gizmag.com/ospa-hearing-aid-high-fidelity-sound/9415/