am i i'm tom kalil hand welcome to all the seniors the show where we talk about senior living in elder care issues and their answers did you know that approximately thirty one million americans suffer from some hearing loss what did i say i said americans are actually suffering from hearing loss and if you don't think you have it you might want to get it checked because chances are you do my guest today is laura riley from around the strategic communications she's a nationally certified hearing aid fitter in the state of pennsylvania floor welcome to only seniors thank you tom so thirty one million americans suffering from hearing loss that scary it is scary and if they're over the age of sixty five it's it goes up even if the statistics are that it's one in every three people and likely they don't even know that they have it it's impacting everybody in their life but perhaps not them they don't notice true no one things you've mentioned a pre interview is how it can affect you cognitively well what we know about hearing loss is this is that it's all about the brain it's not about the ears as much you are simply transducers so that your takes in the sound of the sound as goes travels through the ear canal hits the ear drum travels through the and then the signal goes up to the brain and that's where all the processing takes place so hearing loss is about your brain not much less about your years and so when the brain is not being stimulated what happens is the brain slowly begins to slow down so we know that people with hearing loss have higher incidence or higher degree of memory loss if you have mild loss which means you're not even aware of it you are two times greater risk of having dementia or alzheimer's and as we move up into moderate los it goes up exponentially to four times as likely and then it goes up again so ever with every degree of hearing loss though that cognitive decline or those risk factors increase so it's so much more than just not being able to hear your spouse tell you that dinner's ready here it's a whole lot more than that what are some of the leading health related problems related to hearing loss well first of all there's depression so be what happens is people can no longer be effectively in the conversation and one of my missions is to get the word out there that everyone deserves to be in the conversation for so when a person has hearing loss what happens is it gets harder and harder to hear harder to understand what's going on it gets hard to go to the grandchild's birthday party because the background noise becomes overwhelming you can hear the conversation people get annoyed with you you become the stereotypical uncle or aunt that oh uncle joe we got to bring him to the party because it's so difficult to communicate with him people now have to yell it becomes too much work for them and they know it so they isolate themselves so depression is one of the biggest issues that we see co morbid or  mobility along with hearing loss are things like if you have hearing loss you always tell people see your cardiologist you could it can be one of the first signs that you've got something going on with a with a cardiovascular problem those tiny little blood vessels in your ears are some of the first to get ahead so if you're have hearing loss it could be you could also have the beginnings of some current of cardiac disease and again i'm not a medical doctor so this is why it's really important when a person has hearing loss or suspicious and even if you're not if you're over the age of fifty five you need to get your hearing checked every three years so we've got to look come back to that but cardiac issues are a problem and that can also be related and seeing it kidney disease and hearing loss because those vessels are so tiny those micro vessels get the damage first so it's pointing to a lot of things that there's hearing loss in addition to the cognitive decline that we mentioned before you get your hearing checked if there is hearing loss you need to see your doctor for those and mention i have hearing loss that we need to look at these other things now i'm going to how many people have just turned up their t v sets to  don't fall overdoing it because if you have hearing loss you're at a greater risk of falling off so the other one so well we know is that people with hearing loss and it is not it not necessarily due to vestibular problems problems with the coakley it's locating your place in the world where am i where is that sound coming from i can't locate it you're disoriented and you're likely to have a phone we know with seniors falls can be devastating so what is the first step to a healthy hearing well the first of the healthy hearing is taken care of you're hearing right from the beginning ok ok so we see the young people walking around with your buds in and all of us over a certain age are saying you should be doing that and they're doing it and we are beginning to see  ravaging effects of that hearing loss is happening at a younger age so that's the first step much hearing loss is for many people it's just a the process of aging so the big factors in hearing loss are going to be aging hereditary or underlying medical conditions so first take care of your hearing then what you want to do is you want to have a checkup your family physician under the affordable care act is supposed to screen for hearing that is not a hearing test ok that's essential to know because all they're doing is a screening which is not going to pick up things like if you're beginning to lose your speech pathways because as you have hearing loss you begin to lose your ability to understand speech the first thing i always the first thing or don't admit it just say i'd like to be checked because if you don't know that you are in the people around you may not even notice it can be that mild and even mild hearing loss again is pointing to some other issues perhaps or it's the kind of the canary in the cave and i would say a somebody who's had a hearing test on it's painless amen to that it is famous and most of us are really friendly people we love to tell you why everyone in this industry loves to help people for that's why we're there now once you once it's a term that you have some hearing loss next step next step is to pick the proper technology work in concert with that expert that expert sitting there with you who's done the test ok so the test should be there are going to look for some red flags at the f d a and they're going to ask you to sign a medical clearance if it isn't a medical doctor things and this is again if you have pain in your ears if you have drainage coming from your ears these are not good signs you need to see a medical doctor before you ever see an audiologist or hearing a fitter don't make the assumption that your hearing loss is something that's just me getting old it could be impacted wax in there that you don't know about so you get that so let's go back now you're going to pick the technology to carry and that's going to be based on a couple of things one is your hearing loss is that a typical high frequency loss is a low frequency loss so the person sitting across room is looking at what is this hearing loss what's the proper technology for it some people are going taken to consideration vanity some people say i happily only want something that goes deep in my ear that no one can see i don't know anybody to know it but actually they're kind of hearing is a kind of becoming a badge of honor nowadays that you know they kind of signify you you know whether the the war's and then the next thing it also is we're going to consider do you have arthritis any kind of issues with your hands that you can't get that tiny piece of technology into your ear and we want to look at if you're one of our younger people oftentimes you want to be able to be connected to your cell phone so you're taking your phone calls for your hearing aid you're listening to your music you're connected to the world in that way so we'll be hearing it actually becomes almost like a bluetooth it has most newer technology has bluetooth in it and you can take your phone calls through your through your hearing aids you can you can have your hearing aids programmed for various settings one of the biggest complaints people used to have about hearing aids  the background noise is overwhelming i don't like wearing my hearing aids because i hear the background noise but i can't hear the conversation so for that out it will now i'm out now you can put it into a program for that kind of setting it'll actually move the microphones will only look in certain places so if i had hearing aids on right now and there was lots of background over here i can actually set it to a program where it moves the microphones looking in this direction rather than a wider direction i reckon i'll be controlled through a smart for most manufacturers do have a level of hearing aid and it will be your most expensive level that can bluetooth with a smartphone ok so it's going to be expensive getting to getting a set of well there's a couple ways to do this so expenses of course relative because it's very expensive to lose your relationships because people can't communicate with you it's very expensive to lose your job because you misunderstood the boss it's very  also know that people with hearing loss earn about thirty thousand dollars less than their counterparts at a more sick time and they lose their jobs more often so expenses relative right hearing aids in general for a new pair of hearing aids and this is something most people also don't know is that you can oftentimes go to a reputable fitter say budget is a big concern do you have anything refurbished or used it won't be the newest technology it won't be the fanciest but of budget is of it is the major concern that should not help hold you back if you are a veteran you should check and see if your hearing loss is associated with your service if it is you may be able to get them that way so cost is now guy off the street women off the street comes in you're looking at about two thousand to six thousand seven thousand dollars for a pair of hearing aids and i say stress here pair because your t ears traveled together your whole life for me from the from before you were born to the day you pass those ears were exposed to the same levels of noise toxins remember there are many medications that cause degradation of hearing so people who have undergone cancer treatment should be aware that often times that will wipe out their hearing or a good portion of it like chemotherapy most therapy will many chemotherapy agents will the good news is very good news in the past about a year and a half two years some insurance companies are now beginning to contribute there's a plus and a minus to that just like anything the insurance companies are involved in there's a plus or minus right so the plus  is that they that brings the cost down the minus is that oftentimes they will tell you who you have to see in order to get your hearing aid or they will limit certain brands or certain technologies and the way they keep the cost down for some of them there's a big provider in the state of pennsylvania the way they're keeping the costs down is they're taking away the follow up care so you get you the hearing aids are dispensed to and then you only get maybe two or three visits for follow up ok can you explain follow up care consists of and how important this is because it sounds like it's something it's very it's very important it is the standard of care and so this is where i say that insurance companies it's a plus and minus when reputable fitter fits you they should be seeing you on an ongoing basis because one we're trying to get your brain accustomed to hearing and remember what i said in the beginning this is about your brain this is not necessarily about these trends do searches so we have to and figures fit differently those different theories about fitting but i always felt that the most compassionate way to fit somebody in is to slowly and some of the hearing aids are actually set up to do this they slowly ramp up over time to get your brain used to hearing again so they need to be making sure that the technology is working that you are adjusting well to it hearing aids are not a one size fit all when we say fit we're not talking only about the physical fit we're talking about the computer chips inside there is being set for your specific experience of hearing you hear the world differently than i hear the world so the fitter at one of the audiologist is working hard to make sure that you are having optimal hearing with the technology that you have so a typical person would be fitted they'd be seen within a week ten days they'd be said you get at the thirty day mark to be then again at the six months mark or three month mark ongoing care now the insurance company says and again this is why hearing aids are expensive you have a professional person who is now responsible for your care for it oftentimes three years would be the warranty period so three years of care the insurance company says no you just take that part out and you pay out of pocket now every time you want to see the professional ok which if it's somebody who doesn't need a lot of follow up care and four brothers with severe loss they were very been young since they have had that they know how to take care of their hearing aids it's managed they don't really need to see someone constantly but they do need to have their hearing aids cleaned checked and managed so that they get the more long this lifetime out of them given that they're an expensive piece of equipment that they had mentioned you know refurbished and used obviously these are ones that have been turned in or returned some way yeah and you know they're obviously sanitized so that's always the one big concern like there's nothing wrong with them there's nothing wrong with them in fact most fitters will have them sent back to the factory refurbished before they sell them though at the very least as you say sanitized and it's a great option and i loved it when somebody was just straight with me so when you're sitting across from somebody and you want to help them and they come up with reasons that they don't want to hearing a is because oh oh i don't really have lost well you've just shown them you have lost they've just done the word testing and we know that they're only getting about thirty percent of the words right and their spouses sitting there saying it it when the when they were straight with me they said look laura i have a budget of x i would frequently call the owners of the company that i work for and said do we have anything that can meet this budget if we did we could fit that person we could help them i guy who was the he was at the towards the end of life he had six months left to live he didn't want to spend eight thousand dollars i get it i get it i was able to find a pair of top of the line technology refurbished paying that in and i got it for him for less than a third the cost his last months of life were spent in conversation with the people he left it's a beautiful thing they had also mentioned veterans there are programs available for veterans yes so veterans of the  is the largest dispenser of hearing aids in the country so they have the buying power right wow yeah so because a back in the day hearing protection was not part of the program so my husband worked on jet engines without hearing protection not a good thing now we get my daughter was at boot camp we see her with a gun and she's got hearing protection on so there's a lot of hearing related hearing loss related to your service if your hearing loss is related to your service the veterans administration you may qualify for the hearing aids my experience has been that they do fit top of the line hearing aids my second oldest brother a vietnam vet he wears hearing aids from the v a they were at the time that he got them and then he gets so those hearing aids should not just be dispensed through the mail they should not be dispensed and then no follow up care because you are going to need follow up care you need to have the mage us did you need to have the right technology on your head depending on where your losses and you must demand it otherwise it'll be like many things that we find with government programs and they obviously have a right to it if the v a has that kind of buying power then the v a is watching out for them to turn around and say this isn't working so well what can we do to fix this absolutely so my second oldest brother i called up my mother sed my mother told on him she said paul's not where his hearing aids and of course i was talking i was a this is not right you need to take care of it why aren't you wearing on me told me he things sounded weird to him and he described what that weirdness was i said paul it's literally a five minute or less adjustment demand to be seen and it was in under five minutes he was rich they adjusted his hearing aids and he's wearing his hearing aids and his wife is happy his kids are happy his grandchildren are happy so this is all part of the follow up care it's all part of the follow up care it's you know think it was kind of like shopping for shoes that you know it's not always one shoe style your size fits all you've got to make sure that it's a proper fit it's comfortable yes i can wear it for a while because you you're going to be wearing these thing all day every day every day all you people sleep with  not unless they have profound loss so my people with profound loss they would want to wear them for safety reasons they want to hear a fire alarm they want to be in even though we have mats on the beds that can wake them up but in general people take them off at night  it's important to wear them all day every day again your brain loves the stimulation it's used to hearing it wants to hear so from the time you get up in the morning and usually what i recommend to people if you don't your morning hygiene put them on as important to remember the activities that are going to be partaking in to get swimming's not an activity you want to do it honestly means not and if you are a heavy sweater that if you're a person who perspires profusely you can get a dehumidifier for your hearing aids so that it's taking the moisture out of the hearing aids because it is a problem my oldest brother he perspires heavily just talk to him two days ago and his inside of his hearing aids were corroded because he was wearing them oh he played pickle ball and i said dan t got to be conscious of that but i will say i also fit people i fit a director of athletics he wore his hearing aids every time all the time and i thought football games everything i fit a gentleman who was a  when the guy's the umpire he was an umpire he were them because he needed to hear what was happening he just there were just certain protocols that i gave him about caring for his hearing aids so that he knew what to do and then he knew what the follow up would be so that we prevented problems down the road again that aftercare is important you know they all i know there's their batteries in them correct there's batteries in them some put some companies and this is another thing to shop for so some companies have little battery packs that go on they can get expensive but those they'll sell them to you as the big selling point is oh oh you know never have to change a battery well until you do until you need that new battery pack which is going to cost you a pretty penny to get and you have to go to the shop and you're going to have to have somebody take it off and put the new one on again take a story from true life my oldest brother were away on a vacation he's trying to get back together with the ex wife the battery pack is only now giving him because it's like any other battery are they do they also sell them that they are over chargeable yes you can do a rechargeable some some of them have rechargeable and i always say to people and this is it's interesting to me because a lot of people make it about the batteries and i never in the years that i was doing this really got it i really didn't because the truth is is you open a door you stick a battery in you close it and you put it back on your head after a while you know your pattern so my mother knows that every thursday her batteries are ologists hopefully we have checked with our insurance and follow up they just go back every three years somebody needs to have their hearing checked while a person who has been told they don't have any hearing was right every three years because it's very slow if you had sudden hearing loss if you wake up tomorrow morning and all of a sudden you're not hearing things you need to go immediately to a doctor because that can signal something that if they get you on medication right away they can solve problems down the road so sudden hearing loss just go see a doctor don't don't don't wait don't ask don't fast pass go don't wait whatever it is look if you have hearing loss your fitter should be testing you every year just to make sure that the way things are programmed that there's not a decline if you have diabetes you for sure want to be checked every year so if you don't have loss you're diabetic you don't have loss you still want to get checked every year diabetics lose their hearing faster and the the saddest part is they lose their speech pathways faster so even with help the lose their speech pathways faster than somebody who doesn't have diabetes  speech pathways so that people understand what that means so their speech pathways of course when you were a baby you just heard sounds they didn't have meaning they weren't words it was just sounds and you were able to distinguish what you'd be got to the point where you c distinguish were at where the separations came and what words meant when you have hearing loss what can happen over time is the pathway is in your brain that signal that that's a word and has meaning begin to disintegrate if you don't address the loss and then becomes kind of mushy is the way people describe it and when we kind of when we try to do show people what it's like the for the person with hearing us it becomes mushy worlds of words garbled together and then it becomes very hard for them to distinguish especially when the environment start to get more and more complex so the speech pathways are it's it's essential that you get help early to keep those speech pathways as clear for as long as you can there's so much your hearing that people don't even realize it you know and one of the biggest things again for me is the ass there i'm not a doctor so yes it's interesting that all those biological process and things pointing to other but the social impact there is no such a loss as an incredible loss and i will say this if you have a spouse or someone you love who you think suspect has hearing loss making them wrong doesn't help saying to them you know why i love you so much that i want to be in communication with you can we go get your hearing checked will go a lot further than making fun of them or shaming them in public or in any way diminishing them they didn't ask for their hearing loss laura how can somebody get in contact with your fish if any questions my phone number is to one of five four seven eight three zero two three and remember i don't longer represent hearing aids other than to be an advocate for people with hearing loss and for the hearing aid technology but i do know people in the who are reputable and as a communications expert my biggest concern is getting out there and getting the messages about the big issues of our day and things that are important to have conversations about no more no more politics let's talk about the important things like people being able to communicate with one another and keeping people healthy exactly well i guess that has been laura riley from the you're right we should teach a communications group  hearing aid experts and leverage people people and advocate for making sure that you're hearing health is healthy or thank you for being part of only seniors and thank you for viewing