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We know that you will enjoy our articles.
Please select from the list below:
"I don't enjoy music like I used to"
"I have trouble hearing while on the phone"
"I can't hear my worship leader clearly"
"It's hard to hear on my cell phone"
"Listening to women or children is difficult"
I Don't Enjoy Music Like I Used
To...
This may be due to lots of factors associated with a hearing loss,
or even simply a change of tastes.
In some cases the normal fluctuation in volume, or intensity of
sounds may create sensations of discomfort, or there may be large
sections of the musical sounds being presented that are below a
person’s hearing threshold, making those sounds inaudible to them.
Some modern hearing instruments even contribute to a loss of musical
quality through the types and methods of feedback recognition and
cancellation programs they may be using to amplify speech to a
desired level.
If, you don’t enjoy music like you used to and would like more
information on how we might help you change that,
simply click here for an appointment.
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Talking on the phone...
Anyone can have occasional problems understanding on the phone.
However, to those with a hearing loss, talking on the phone may be
always problematic.
If you have trouble understanding on the phone most of the time, the
best solution is often to find a better phone. As simple as that
seems, not all telephones are created equal and many simply do not
produce the sounds needed to adequately understand speech, even for
folks with normal hearing.
If, you live in the state of Florida and you have a significant
hearing loss that causes you difficulty hearing on the phone, you
probably qualify for an amplified phone at NO Out of pocket COST TO
YOU.
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My House Of Worship...
Many things may be going on here that have nothing to do with a
hearing problem.
The building you’re in may have a poor public address system with
poor microphones, or bad speaker placement, making it more difficult
to hear.
Certain architectural designs, especially those with high ceilings
and lots of reflective surfaces, may actually remove sounds from the
environment. Or, the design may cause echoes from the speaker’s
voice to return from the walls and the ceiling. If this is
occurring, certain of the speaker’s sounds will simply be missing,
and it will be very difficult for the average person to understand
speech.
These environments can become problematic to the understanding of
not only the intended speaker, such as a priest or minister; it
makes it difficult to converse with those close by, even for people
without a hearing problem.
More and more public places are paying added attention to the
problems of acoustics and understanding. Many have installed echo,
or resonance dampening materials and personal amplification systems
for the public to use. However, the personal amplification systems
entail wearing special gear and equipment that is shared with the
rest of the public.
There may or may not be procedures in place to ensure that the
batteries are working, or that the device have been cleaned and
maintained in a sanitary fashion.
Click here to make an appointment. You'll be
glad you did.
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Cellphone troubles...
If you have trouble understanding on the Cell Phone, you aren’t
alone. It’s a major problem for those with a hearing loss, even
those of us who wear hearing aids.
There are several issues that contribute to the problems those of us
have with such communications devices, not the least of which is
that most seem to have been designed for teenage girls with tiny
fingers and perfect hearing.
From an electronics standpoint it is important to understand that
these, now ubiquitous devices are really incredible little digital
switching systems and processors that not only bring in the audio of
a persons voice, text, pictures and web content, but they do it in
close to real time through the active and ongoing search,
recognition and measurement of the signals coming from towers
everywhere. They decide on the fly which tower gives the best
signal, then route multiple digital, packets of information between
you and your caller, that is then converted back again, through a
digital to analog converter into the sounds we hear out of those
tiny handsets.
With all of their magic, from sending text, to voice and pictures,
most modern cell phones still put out a very poor quality audio
signal, of very low volume. When we put them up next to most hearing
aids, the transition between devices introduces varying levels
distortion while trying to amplify the sounds to an audible level.
This generally results in overall poor audio quality and
understanding, intermittent feedback squeals and lots of
frustrations for a great many people.
While the cell phone industry has finally recognized that it has a
problem and has begun to list hearing aid compatibility, more to
less, their standards of what is “acceptable” are such that even the
best rating among the cell phone industry still creates issues with
a wide range of hearing aids and in no way guarantees compatibility
or an ability to understand through the cell phone and hearing aid
together.
On the other side of this technical equation, hearing aid
manufacturers have been scrambling to come up with a solution. The
Bluetooth® protocol already accepted by the telecommunications and
computer industries would seem the logical choice, as it has become
the recognized inter-device protocol, yet the Bluetooth® protocols
present a unique challenge to hearing aid manufacturers.
The biggest problem that hearing aid manufacturers grapple with is
that the Bluetooth® protocol is very power hungry, requiring near
constant radio energy transmission, reception and processing to stay
in touch with their intended “paired” partners. Given the power
requirements for typical coupling, just being on standby with a
typical cell phone would drain a typical hearing aid battery
completely in just a couple of hours. Talk time would be measured in
minutes.
So while we have a recognized protocol to connect communications
devices in general in the Bluetooth® protocol, it is too power
hungry for application directly into present day hearing instruments
which have become so power efficient that consumers commonly get two
to three weeks on a battery. Convincing them to change the same cell
several times a day in order to make the device directly compatible
with other Bluetooth® transceivers simply isn’t one that any of the
major hearing instrument manufactures are talking about.
What all the major manufacturers are talking about is there work in
the area of an intermediary device. A type of Bluetooth® dongle that
would communicate directly and securely with hearing instruments in
way that won’t interfere with the hearing instruments operation, or
battery consumption and yet would allow for the pairing with other
audio devices, be they cell phones, or entertainment programs on a
personal computer, or most recently the Ipod® type devices now
available.
One manufacturer, Microtech, one of the Starkey families of
companies introduced a device that they called an “Eli®” in 2006
that coupled a Bluetooth® device to a hearing aid via an audio-input
shoe on the bottom of any behind the ear hearing aid that accepted
industry standard audio input jack boots. While finally allowing the
phone, or any Bluetooth® audio to transmit directly through a
hearing aid, the system had problems and hasn’t become widely
accepted.
Other devices available from hearing industry vendors include a few
devices that physically plug into a compatible phone and convert the
signal into one that is picked up through a very thin device that is
placed next to the hearing aid on someone’s ear by the hearing aids
internal “T” or telecoil. This is basically a tiny antenna that
detects electromagnetic energy, such as that put out by an old
fashioned speaker coil. The instrument then converts and amplifies
this signal to the patient’s specifications and the transmitted
sounds come out through the hearing aid.
By far the most sophisticated and elegant system to actually make it
to market thus far is one produced by one of the industry’s
recognized leaders of innovation, Oticon. They have come out with
their Epoq® line of instruments that not only provide broadband,
real time communication between the instruments on each ear, but
also allow, via a device known as a streamer, for pairing and secure
communication directly with any Bluetooth® compatible device.
This system is truly amazing in that the signal from the phone or
any compatible device is transmitted binaurally and simultaneously
to both ears. The user has the option of disabling the instrument’s
microphones during Bluetooth® communications for unmatched signal to
noise ratios and the sound quality is truly amazing. And, as any
hearing loss has already been accounted for and corrected in the
program algorithms within the instruments, understanding over the
phone is better than anything else currently available on the
market.
To find out more about hearing loss, cell phones and what is
available to help, simply click here for an
appointment, or to find out more about a specific technology,
simply click the manufacturer’s link provided.
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Trouble with voices...
This problem is potentially one where we have the most to lose. If,
the child we can’t hear is that special grandchild, or if, we are
having problems with understanding the women, or the man that we
love, then we have at risk those most tender and intimate of
communications and relationships.
Let’s face it these are the communications that matter. If, we are
having trouble understanding those closest to us, then we are
introducing additional stresses and the potential for greater
misunderstanding into those relationships and experiences that
matter most in life.
Often times this problem is caused by a relatively mild or moderate
loss of sensitivity to a select band of tones, particularly those in
the higher pitch or frequency range. This very common problem can
cause considerable difficulty understanding, even if you have normal
hearing sensitivity throughout the entire range below 1 KHz.
You may hear certain people and all sorts of environmental sounds
without difficulty, but other sounds are muffled and some people
seem like they’re just mumbling.
It may often seem that you may have no trouble hearing men’s voices,
but a very difficult time hearing the higher pitched voices of women
and children. In some such cases great difficulty understanding
easily and clearly can occur even when there is little or no
background noise.
It’s a tremendous loss when even in relatively quiet environments
you cannot understand your friends, wife, children and
grandchildren.
This type of hearing loss causes all sorts of problems,
misunderstandings and added tensions in the relationships we care
most about.
Yet, this is one of the areas where our industry has made some of
the biggest strides over the past few years. Every company making
hearing aids is aware of the huge number of people suffering with
this type of untreated hearing problem and the potential for equally
huge profits if they can reach them. Most companies have excellent
instrumentation specifically designed to help overcome this common
problem.
A quick, simple, painless check of your hearing thresholds will let
you know if this is what is causing your problems. For a free
consultation and hearing check, click here to
make an appointment. You'll be glad you did.
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