Question: How do I know if I have a hearing loss?

Dr. Mary Adams: Hearing loss is the third most common health problem in the United States, yet many people are reluctant to admit that they have a problem. An easy self-test to see if you might have a hearing deficit is to ask yourself these questions: Do you often feel like people are “mumbling”? Do you find yourself frequently asking “What?” during conversations? Do others complain that you have the TV too loud? Do you have trouble hearing at noisy restaurants or parties? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you should get a hearing exam by a doctor of audiology.

If you have any level of hearing deficit, it is important to properly treat it. Studies have shown that leaving hearing loss untreated can lead to increased levels of anxiety, depression, fatigue, stress and social isolation. Recently, Johns Hopkins and the National Institute on Aging found a link between untreated hearing loss and early onset of dementia and Alzheimer’s.

A doctor of audiology is the health professional who is best qualified to evaluate hearing loss. During your first appointment you can expect a pleasant and comprehensive hearing evaluation during which the audiologist will provide you with complete information about your hearing status and the best treatment options if any are appropriate.

Question: What can hearing aids do for me?

Dr. Alicia Spoor: Hearing aids can help you hear what you have been missing and help you enjoy life again to the fullest! A recent study by the Better Hearing Institute (BHI) showed that properly fit hearing aids, using real ear measurements and evidenced-based protocols, can improve relationships, increase safety and reduce listener stress and fatigue.

A&A Hearing Group offers hearing aids in a variety of styles and sizes, including, but not limited to, invisible hearing devices. Important benefits available in today’s hearing aids include significantly helping the user hear in noise, automatically adjusting the level for comfort and clarity, and digital sound enhancement for crisper speech understanding. There are even easy-to-use remote controls and Bluetooth options available so you can hear your cell phone and TV right through your hearing aids! In addition, for people suffering with tinnitus, there are devices that can help with its management.

A&A Hearing Group
Mary Adams, Au.D.
5530 Wisconsin Avenue; Suite 1540
Chevy Chase, MD 20815
301-907-0002

Alicia D.D. Spoor, Au.D.
11119 Rockville Pike; Suite 210
Rockville, MD 20852
301-468-3977
www.AAHearingGroup.com

Bethesda Magazine Article

Studies have found a strong correlation between untreated hearing loss and the development of Alzheimer’s and Dementia.  Alzheimer’s disease affects memory, thinking, language, perception, and behavior from deteriorated nerve cells in the brain tissue.  Untreated hearing loss also links to depression from the feeling of anxiety and social isolation from one’s family and friends.  Many symptoms of hearing loss are similar to symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and depression, and result in difficulties in communication.  In another study among hearing impaired adults, the researchers concluded that those with treated hearing loss had significant improvements in every dimension measured, such as relations at home, feelings about self, mental health, and social life).

Continue to challenge your brain to keep it healthy with daily exercise, healthy eating, maintaining healthy weight, and solving puzzles like Sudoku or crossword puzzles.

Protect your brain today and call A&A Hearing Group to have your hearing tested at 301-977-6317.

Noise in the workplace may affect quality of sleep. Workers with hearing loss tend to be older individuals with long durations of exposure to loud noise than those without hearing impairments. Many workers with hearing loss reported that they have tinnitus, continual ringing in the ears, and a few workers without hearing impairments also reported tinnitus. Outside of the workplace, tinnitus is the biggest sleep disrupting factor among hearing impaired workers. Prolonged noise exposure and tinnitus can lead to insomnia regardless or age or years of exposure. Various elements of sleep reported include difficulty falling asleep; waking too early or during the night; excessive daytime sleepiness or falling asleep during the daytime; snoring; and excessive sleep movement.

Reduce your risk of hearing loss by using noise eliminating headphones or earmolds. Call us today to check your hearing and be fitted with earmolds at 301-977-6317!

The ACEHearing app will not be able to replace hearing aids, but it could be useful to hearing aid users because it can eliminate the need to wear a hearing device while on the phone. The smartphone will adjust to eradicate annoying and sometimes painful telephone signal interference. For those with a small degree of hearing loss it can ease the frustration of a phone call for a small price. This app will not be available for smartphones until 2012.

The abbreviated hearing test on this app is a great indicator that you should see your audiologist for a full hearing examination and evaluation of your hearing. To schedule an appointment for a hearing exam and free consultation, call us at 301-977-6317.

Remember to change your hearing aid batteries if:
-Sound quality becomes distorted or the volume has to be turned up more than usual
-The hearing aid makes a small beeping sound, indicating that the battery is low
-Be sure to carry an extra set of hearing aid batteries with you at all times

Join the Battery Club offered exclusively at A&A Hearing Group!

How it works:
-You must be a current patient of A&A Hearing Group
-You purchase a battery club membership
-It entitles you to 96 batteries per year
-Each quarter you will automatically receive a shipment of 24 batteries mailed directly to your home

Why it’s good:
-Cost: you will save almost $30.00 per year over what it will cost to buy them individually at the office
-Convenience: The batteries are delivered right to your door! No driving. They ship automatically. No need to remember when to order.

How much does it cost?
$90.00 per Battery Club
(If you use 2 hearing aids, you may want to buy 2 clubs)

What if…
I run out of batteries before the quarter?
-Call and your next quarter’s shipment will be mailed to your home
My four shipments are mailed before the year is up?
-When all shipments have been mailed, your membership is complete- even if it is before the year is out.

The number of batteries is based on the average use of our patients per 1 hearing aid.
*Individual usage may vary*

I want to pick them up at the office?
-If you need/want to pick them up you may. You must take the entire quarterly supply. Your next regularly scheduled shipment will follow on the scheduled date.
I wear 2 hearing aids?
-You may purchase 2 battery club memberships. Your batteries will ship at the same time.

A new study has recently associated secondhand smoke to hearing loss in children. Over a thousand teenagers were given hearing tests in the study and were also tested for cotinine, which is produced when nicotine is metabolized, as a marker for exposure to tobacco smoke. Each participant was interviewed about his or her health status and family medical history, exposure to secondhand smoke, and self-recognition of hearing impairment.

Compared with teens who were not exposed to secondhand smoke, those who were exposed exhibited higher rates or low- and high-frequency hearing loss. Exposed adolescents were 1.83 times more likely to experience a hearing impairment. The higher level of cotinine detected in the participants, the greater the hearing loss among the teenager. The results from the study demonstrated that more than 80% of participants with hearing loss did not realize they had a hearing impairment. Adolescents that are exposed to secondhand smoke may need to be monitored more closely for hearing loss. Hearing loss in children can greatly impact their performance in school and cause them to fall behind in their class. Hearing loss in young children is known to interfere with not only speech and language development, but also cognitive function, academic progress, and social interaction.

There is no known reason why tobacco smoke causes hearing loss in smokers and those exposed to secondhand smoke. Tobacco smoke is known to constrict and eventually weakens blood vessels which may be compromising the blood flow to the inner ear.

Call A&A Hearing Group to have your child tested for any hearing loss at 301-977-6317.

Both the musician and non-musician groups were given four auditory tests. Researchers found similar results when it came to detecting sounds as they steadily grew more quiet between both musician and non-musician groups; however, musicians did have an advantage over non-musicians in hearing speech over background noise, detecting short gaps in sound and detecting differences in frequencies, and typically these gaps only widen with age. Musicians were found to preserve a better level of hearing sensitivity into old age. Based on this study, a 70-year-old lifelong musician will be able to understand speech in a noisy environment as well as an average 50-year-old non-musician. Musicians were better at listening tasks associated with auditory processing in the brain. Both groups reflected normal age-related changes to the inner ear, proposing the idea that playing a musical instrument may have long-lasting neural benefits. Aging impacts the central auditory processing system which causes hearing difficulty in environments with extraneous or background noises.

Musicians are noticeably better at picking out speech against background noise because they use their hearing ability at a high level on a daily basis to hear tones and pitches from their instrument. Practicing music for years can slow or impair age-related brain changes. Built up hearing skills in musicians can also offset some memory deficits of aging. Musicians can extract meaningful sounds, remember sequences of sound, and can separate the harmony from the melody from the music they play. Through these practices, musicians have trained their brain to listen and link connections in the brain to process sound differently than non-musicians.

To protect your hearing ask your A&A Hearing Group audiologist about custom fit ear molds at 301-977-6317!

Pressing the cell phone against the ear increases the risk of developing a malignant form of brain cancer because of the closeness to the brain. Many cell phone manuals note that users should hold the phone an inch away from their entire body, not just their ear. In a study on participants that used a cell phone for 10 years or more and for 30 minutes or more a day had doubled the rate of brain glioma.

Cell phone radiation increases the activity of brain cells. The adult brain is protected by a thick skull, but in children and young adults, whose skulls and scalps are thinner, radiation can penetrate deeper into the brain. The National Institute of Health found that the brain is not fully developed until the age of 25 years. Children are more vulnerable to radiation because of their thin skulls and developing brains; cell phone use around children should be limited. Cell phones emit the most radiation when they are attempting to connect to cellular towers. A phone with a weak signal has to work harder, which creates more radiation.

How do we reduce our risk from brain cancer? Thanks to technology today there are Bluetooth technologies and headsets. Keeping the phone away from the head by using a headset decreases the exposure of radiation to the brain. Bluetooth technology and headsets still emit radiation but at a lower frequency. Don’t have a headset? You can use the speakerphone feature on your cell phone to amplify the speaker while keeping the phone away from your ear. Although there have not been any studies on the effect of cell phone radiation on bone density, it is recommended that you try to keep the phone away from the body and out of pants pockets. The further the phone is from the body, the less radiation is absorbed. Cell phone users can choose to text instead of talk to keep the phone away from the body. Also avoid using cell phones in places with low cellular signals, such as elevators, buildings and rural areas, to reduce exposure. Use a headset to talk on the phone and turn off your cell phone to decrease radiation exposure. Why take the chance of developing brain cancer when you can make one simple adjustment to reduce the risk?

If you don’t maintain your balance you will begin losing it. Physical activities, such as T’ai Chi, gait-training, physical therapy, and dancing, help sustain balance and decrease the risk of falling if it is repeated up to three times a week over four months. These exercises help individuals balance their bodies by increasing body awareness. Balance activities let individuals become more perceptive to where their arms and legs are located in relation to the rest of their body. Physical activity also lowers blood pressure, aids in rheumatoid arthritis, increases breathing efficiency and reduces stress hormones. The body uses visual cues with the eyes to gain information about the environment and see potential dangers and obstacles which can cause falls. The body also uses the inner ear for balance because the fluid-filled semicircular canal gives the brain important information on the position of our head and its movement in space in relation to gravity. To gain better balance and reduce your risk of falling, try activities such as yoga, Pilates, swimming, dancing or lifting weights a few times a week.

Those with early hearing loss also have enlarged neuroretinal rim area in the optic nerve which shows that deaf people have more neurons transmitting visual information than hearing. Experts used a non-invasive technique called ocular coherence tomography (OCT) to scan the retina. With the OCT it is possible to map the depth of the neuron layer and dimensions of the components of the optic nerve. From the study, there is a significant correlation between individuals with hearing loss and better peripheral vision.

Better foresight in individuals with hearing loss can significantly benefit their everyday lives. These individuals can improve their communication with speech-reading (lip reading) and the ability to quickly spot hazards at the boundaries of their view.