COVID-19 and Hearing Health

 During this challenging time we're in, hearing health is also experiencing difficulty with muffled voices behind mask wearing.

It seems like every business and health issue is under new restrictions since the Coronaviris hit us this year. 2020 has become the most difficult year for people who have a hard time hearing conversations - especially in noise.

Hearing Health has been hit harder than most other ailments since people are wearing masks which muffles their voice; this makes hearing loss patients struggle since most of their hearing aids were not programmed for muffled voices behind masks.

Since this is a problem with so many patients, we have implemented plans to give a little more boost in the voice range to offset this new hearing challenge. Of course it must be noted how low-level hearing aids (usually costing $3,000.00 or less) cannot handle our custom "voice boost" since they are not capable of advanced programming for this new problem.

But all the mid-level to top-of-the-line hearing aids have much better features (you still get what you pay for) to handle voice boosting for extra muffled sound behind the masks. This goes for social distancing too since it's obvious how a distant voice is harder to hear than a close up conversation.

In our office, we have designed this approach to be permanent or temporary since no one knows when this virus will subside enough to eliminate this new hearing challenge. Our custom programming software is designed to save every programming appointment so we can go back in time to upload a patient's former settings or even set it to something in between. So we can go back to pre-COVID programming at any time.

Feel free to call us if you'd like to set an appointment for this great remedy to today's muffled voice problem. If you have purchased your hearing aids from us directly, there is no charge for this custom service.

Common Questions about Hearing Aids

Got Hearing Aid Questions?

There are so many questions about the vast hearing aid market - especially - Which hearing aid is best for me? And what's the best price for Hearing Aids? We just uploaded many answers to those common questions on our website. If you don’t see the answers your looking for, please call or email us.

For these answers, click here:
CrystalClearHearingAids.com

Hearing Better in Noise Lately?

Since most people had still struggled to understand speech in noise, we went to Florida (and soon to Las Vegas) to learn more about new technology to hear better in noise:

While we're not "Vegas people" per say, or normally gravitate to the heat in Florida, one of the perks of owning a professional medical office is having our Hearing Aid manufacturers regularly send us all over the country (all expenses paid) to learn about the latest and greatest in Hearing Aid Technologies.

We recently enjoyed a 5-Star resort in Florida and a great side-trip-tour to the Everglades. Our next destination is Las Vegas for Sept/2019. (Of course we can't resist a show to see The Blue Man Group since were already there).

On this next trip (after a nice swim at the resort pool) we will be focusing on the advances of rechargeable Hearing Aids and new exciting developments on Hearing better in noise, which has been an ongoing struggle with many hearing loss patients.

Recently, hearing aids have finally become better at separating noise from speech in busy restaurants etc. Previous hearing aids have had some level of noise reduction, but not enough intelligent noise reduction without impairing the sound of the person talking with you, while in those environments. Thus, they did take down a little noise, but they also made the person speaking with you sound a bit muddy; like they were under water.

The key to noise reduction (and this takes incredible processing) is to reduce noise without reducing the person's voice who's speaking with you.

As mentioned earlier, most hearing aids have not been doing a good job at this demanding task; the top manufacturers like ReSound have been getting our past concerns, and thus spending millions on figuring out just how to make a hearing aid so smart, that is "knows" the difference between noise and the human voice. And not just a any human voice, but the voice that is speaking with you.

It's very difficult for a Hearing Aid processor to actually take out the distant human voices of those who are not speaking with you, while retaining the voice of those who are talking with you. After all, those distant voices are a large part of the noise that's hindering your understanding of speech.

One of the many things that impressed me as a professional audio engineer of 35 years, was this new ability of the ReSound Linx Quattro series to record the actual noise environment that you enter, analyze it, and then reduce it so you can understand the companions who are speaking to you.

So this new advancement is not just analyzing any noise, but the actual noise you are presently in. This is huge since environmental noise can vary from one place to another. So thanks to this modern technique, you can now have the actual noise you would had been struggling with be reduced as you enter into it; and at the same time, have your companion's voice enhanced for ease of understanding their words.

So when you hear of someone complaining that their hearing aids amplify all the noise and voices together (making it very hard to understand words) now you can tell them there is new technology that has transformed the way people comprehend speech in noisy areas.

This new "wow" factor has taken our hearing aids to a whole new level of listening enjoyment and speech understanding...

We look forward to the next learning experience as part of our commitment to help people hear better in noise!

My Head Aches and I'm Stressed out!

Two Ways to Potentially Rid Headaches & Stress

Of course having your vision checked to reduce headaches is something most people already know. But what about your ears? Can hearing loss and/or ringing in your ears cause fatigue and headaches? The short answer is yes, according professional medical experts.

One patient of a local hearing health clinic owned and operated a recording studio for over thirty years; mixing loud music on a day-to-day basis took it’s toll and caused a mild hearing loss and significant tinnitus.

Loud sounds can cause hearing loss and tinnitus: So can certain medications, accidents (especially head trauma) and of course aging can cause hearing problems. If you’re curious as to which medications that can cause hearing loss, you can Google “medications that can cause hearing loss”.

So if you get a little blurry vision, you make an appointment for an optometrist; If your not hearing well, you should also have your ears checked since your hearing health is just as important to wellness as your eyes. And according to a John Hopkins study, hearing loss can actually cause more significant health issues than vision loss.

Most doctors do not address three important aspects of you daily health: Eyes, teeth and hearing. That’s because most medical offices do not have adequate eye, dental and hearing test equipment nor the licensed staff to conduct those tests. This is why you should regularly see an optometrist, a dentist and a hearing health professional. Each of these offices specialize in improving your overall health in those respective areas.

Most persons don’t know that hearing loss (even a mild ones) can cause significant “straining” to hear people talk. They are also likely to exert some effort just to hear the T.V. and speech in noisy environments like restaurants, churches and social gatherings. Any strain on the body can cause unnecessary fatigue and in some persons that fatigue and strain can cause headaches and stress: most medical experts agree how these factors usually cause more illnesses.

There’s a deeper issue with Hearing Loss that affects your brain too. Since your brain does the actual hearing and understanding, when you have hearing loss, you’re starving your memory because your hearing and your memory are directly tied together.

To prove this point, most people with hearing loss are struggling to fully understand their favorite movies and T.V. shows. They get half way into the show and don’t understand why a certain character is acting up or why a certain event just took place - it’s because in the beginning of every show there are clues and things that set up the plot and if you’re not hearing well, you are not going to understand that plot. Thus, the hearing loss person is asking their loved ones to explain things in the movie they are watching.

Any constant strain on the body or especially missed information is not good for one’s health.

Treating hearing loss will also alleviate frustration in communicating with others; Especially loved ones. One way to detect hearing loss is when people are constantly having to repeat themselves or when a person has to turn the T.V. up to loud levels. Another common miscommunication is a loved one may state “I’m going shopping at the store” and the hearing loss person will reply: “Why are you mopping the floor?”
Hearing loss causing social and physical problems have been a major subject of study by doctors and researchers for decades. As mentioned in a previous article, some forms of Dementia have been clinically proven to be linked to hearing loss, according to a John Hopkins University study; readers can Google the search words “Hearing loss and dementia” to learn more about the extensive study; the study claims that untreated hearing loss can bring a five times greater chance of developing dementia compared to those with no hearing loss.

According to the National Council on Aging (NCOA)

“One out of every four older Americans has undetected or untreated hearing loss. Older adults with hearing loss don’t realize how much the quality of their lives has been affected,” said Jim Firman, president and CEO of NCOA. “As someone with significant hearing loss, I can personally attest to how the right hearing aids have dramatically improved my ability to work and play, my relationships with family and friends, and my self-esteem.  We encourage all adults and their families to take a hearing test and find out what they’ve been missing.”

A 1999 NCOA survey on hearing loss and older adults found that when people began to treat their hearing loss, many saw improvements in their lives, including their family relationships (66%), mental health (36%), sense of independence (34%), social life (34%), and even sex life (8%).

Read more at: http://www.ncoa.org/improve-health/community-education/hearing-loss-its-a-family.html

Can a Hearing Aid be too small?

Many individuals insist on wearing the smallest hearing aid they can get, but will that really benefit their entire hearing experience?

If a person has a mild to moderate hearing loss than the answer is probably yes; probably is used here because only a licensed/qualified hearing care professional can answer that question properly after a hearing test and evaluation has been completed.

If someone's hearing loss is more significant than mild to moderate, then the answer is more than likely no, but again, this answer can only be addressed after a hearing test. There is still a possibility (but lessor of one) that the new small and discrete hearing aids may address all of a person's needs even if they have a more significant hearing loss.

Today, small and discrete means CIC, which stands for Completely in the Canal, so the hearing aid is totally invisible, unless someone was to get close and peak inside your ear canal.

Fortunately, at Crystal Clear Hearing Aids, our hearing tests and evaluations are free of charge and we can give expert advice if these tiny marvels of technology are right for you or not.

Even if they are not right for you, there are new generations of Hearing Aids that are almost completely invisible, that will suit any hearing loss as long as there is some hearing left in your test results. The above photo is called a RIC (Receiver in the Canal) which has a lot more power and capability than it's mini counterpart.

I wear this style of hearing aid and even when I see an old friend that I haven't seen in awhile, they don't see my hearing aids; I have to tell them I'm wearing them...I always get the same reaction: "Wow! I didn't even see them. I had no idea you were wearing hearing aids."

If you're considering small discrete hearing aids like the one's in the first photo above, it's important to know the basic rule of hearing loss and hearing aids. A significant loss requires more power and though tiny hearing aids have a lot more power these days, they may lack some of the volume boost for your loss and lifestyle, and they also may not have some of the very cool features that are found in the RIC style: such as blue tooth streaming of your phone calls into both of your hearing aids. The tiny one's are also not rechargeable since there is not enough room to squeeze a rechargeable battery system into the little space. Only the RIC style comes standard in the rechargeable feature (at our office) which makes it nice to say, bye, bye batteries.

The best way to know what's best for you is to call and schedule a free appointment to get a professional opinion and an in-office demonstration to actually see just how small and discrete the new hearing aids are; regardless of the size and style.



David Longeuay is a hearing aid wearer and was a full time audio engineer from 1980 until he opened up Crystal Clear Hearing Aids in 2016. He and his wife Sheri (also a hearing aid wearer) now have two offices: one in Anaheim and one in Lake Arrowhead, Ca.

Only one Hearing Aid?

It makes sense to save a bundle by just getting one hearing aid instead of two...Right?

"No, you need two hearing aids to balance yourself out"

 Actually, if you have hearing loss in both ears, than treating just one side will do you a huge disservice. It's a bit like walking with one shoe on and the other barefoot - we all know what will happen: you will soon experience hip and back problems and you could even fall over when taking stairs or uneven ground.

Treating just one ear does similar potential damage to your brain; after all, we hear with our brains. Our ears are only the conduit to deliver sound to the auditory cortex, which is the part of the brain that processes sound.

Our amazing bodies were designed symmetrically. The body likes two equal eyes, two equal sized legs etc. Our brain is so accustomed to even-sided organs, that even the slightest disruption can cause not only fatigue, but also an onset of potential health problems. Especially balance problems! That's why the elderly fall often - many of them have untreated hearing loss or treated it too late in life.

Another perfect example would be having just one eye glass - of course no optometrist would ever suggest it since they too know how the body needs equality on both sides. And if you had only one, imaging the headaches you'd get!

We Hear with our Brain

 I've even noticed this with Tinnitus. (Ringing in your ears). A few patients have come to my office with ringing in only one ear; or at least it seemed that way. However, in many cases, one hearing aid in that affected ear was not completely effective. That's because up to 80% of sound travels from one ear to the opposite side of their brain - so sound coming from your left ear routes most of the information to the right side of the auditory cortex. There is a massive and complex cross-network in your brain's hearing and that helps localize sound from all directions.

Speaking of that annoying ringing or buzzing in your brain:

Millions suffer from Ringing in the ears, known as Tinnitus

So far, we have found only one way to treat that annoying Ringing in Your Ears, otherwise known as Tinnitus.

Since Tinnitus is often associated with hearing loss (even mild loss like what I have) the top Hearing Aid manufacturers like ReSound have developed a highly sophisticated masking technique found only in hearing aids. So while treating your hearing loss (of any degree) we also have an 80% effective success rate to get rid of (or at least reduce) Tinnitus.

For me, this removed more than half of my daily fatigue and I have far less headaches than ever before.

It all starts with your hearing test, known as an audiogram; our intelligent Hearing Aid software takes your hearing loss information and uses a special pleasant white noise (like a nice ocean noise) to feed just the right information, which basically tells your brain to stop ringing. You should see the faces of our patients who have responded favorably to this amazing treatment! What a relief is an understatement!

Visit our website for more information: www.crystalclearhearingaids.com

Four Major Health Benefits

When it comes to treating hearing loss, many people opt out because they are not aware of the major health risks associated with untreated hearing loss.

Of course they are expensive; but when you compare the cost of hearing aids (which can run from a few thousand up to six thousand) to that of your cell phone cost over the next seven to ten years, then a cell phone is actually more expensive and they certainly don't offer the same health benefits.

And if treating your hearing loss with hearing aids prevented (or a least delayed) or reduced the health risks listed above, then the costs is more than justified.

Many of the patients who come to our office were driven by loved ones who seem to see (or hear) more clearly than the hearing loss recipient on how hearing aids can help the person they interact with on a regular basis.

It's nice how the medical community and insurance companies are so much more proactive on screening for diabetes, heart disease, mammograms... So now it's time to also become more aware of the potential dangers of untreated hearing loss and do something about it.