Although hearing aids cannot restore hearing to perfection, they improve a person's ability to understand speech and distinguish between a variety of sounds. In addition, many people suggest their self esteem improves after they receive a hearing aid.
Bluetooth® technology allows wireless communication between hearing aids and other devices, including cellular phones, computers, televisions, frequency modulation (FM) systems, and digital audio (MP3) players.
Listen in as Gary Thorne, AuD, an audiologist with Summit Medical Group, discusses how hearing aids have joined the digital revolution.
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Blue Tooth Hearing Aids? New Technology for the Hearing Impaired
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Learn more about Gary Thorne, AuD
Gary Thorne, AuD
Gary Thorne, AuD, is an audiologist with Summit Medical Group.Learn more about Gary Thorne, AuD
Transcription:
Blue Tooth Hearing Aids? New Technology for the Hearing Impaired
Melanie Cole (Host): Hearing aids of the past often limited the wearer’s access to many personal audio devices such as mobile phones and music players but that’s rapidly changing. My guest today is Dr. Gary Thorne. He’s an audiologist with Summit Medical Group. Welcome to the show, Dr. Thorne. So, tell us what’s going on in the world of hearing aids today and how young do you think people start to lose some hearing?
Dr. Gary Thorne (Guest): Good morning. Generally, you start to lose your hearing in the fourth decade of life, so late thirties, early forties is when you start to see hearing loss that is aidable, where patients would be able to get benefit from hearing aids and some wireless accessories.
Melanie: So, if people are looking into or they’re starting to notice, who does actually notice? When someone has hearing issues, is it usually loved ones, Dr. Thorne, or is it the person themselves?
Dr. Thorne: Usually it’s family members, friends that are in constant contact with them that will notice it first. The patients will ask for repetition a lot, answer incorrectly, just nod their head and smile. So, things like that.
Melanie: Are there any negative effects of untreated hearing loss? If we’re starting to just lose a little bit of hearing, is there any problem with not doing anything about it?
Dr. Thorne: You’re better off doing something earlier rather than later. Hearing aids will help preserve your speech discrimination, which is your ear’s ability to discriminate between vowels and consonants. So, the earlier that you do something, the better off you are. Also, there is a study that was recently done that links cognition with hearing and decreases in hearing with decreased cognition.
Melanie: So, with hearing aids and the world of hearing aids, do you think some people are still reluctant to try hearing aids, especially if they’re losing their hearing in their forties and fifties?
Dr. Thorne: Yes. I find that there’s still the stigma of hearing aids are for older people but that’s really not the case.
Melanie: So, what is going on in the world of hearing aids now?
Dr. Thorne: Hearing aids get better all the time in terms of their ability to help you hear better in noise. They’re not perfect but you will definitely see a benefit with the use of hearing aids. Also, oftentimes hearing aids alone are not enough and there are some accessories, wireless accessories, that you can get to help enhance your experience with hearing aids.
Melanie: So, let’s talk about some of those. The Bluetooth hearing aids, what are those?
Dr. Thorne: There are several different things you can talk about in terms of wireless accessories. You have Bluetooth streamers. You have wireless microphones. There are a number of things that will help improve the signal to noise ratio, meaning that it will help reduce noise and enhance speech.
Melanie: So how? For what kind of devices are we talking about? Tablets? Mobile phones? All of these things now?
Dr. Thorne: All of these things. Landline connections, mobile phones, PC’s, tablets. You can get a wireless streamer that will act as a communication hub to or an access point that will communicate between the TV, for instance, and your hearing aids.
Melanie: So, what are these Bluetooth hearing aids doing for the patient?
Dr. Thorne: Basically, it’s helping improve the access to soft sounds of speech. It will cut out most of the background noise and that way you have a much clearer signal.
Melanie: And does it cause any damage to the eardrums? Is it louder if they’re playing music or something?
Dr. Thorne: No, because everything will be going through your hearing aids and the hearing aids today are self-adjusting and they’re always looking to make soft speech sounds louder and loud, uncomfortable sounds softer. So, anything that’s done with the hearing aid is based off of their hearing loss.
Melanie: So, let’s talk about cell phones, Dr. Throne, because people yell into their cell phones, or the sound is very muffled at times or garbled and sometimes with Bluetooth, it’s even worse. When you’ve got your Bluetooth in it’s hard to hear the person on the other line because it’s a muffled sound. So, what’s the difference with this?
Dr. Thorne: The difference with just using your regular Bluetooth that you would pick up in the store anywhere versus the Bluetooth with your hearing aids is that everything is being amplified through your hearing aids. So, with a regular Bluetooth, you know, it’s just amplifying all sounds equally loud. Anytime it goes through your hearing aid, it’s amplifying for your specific hearing loss. So, it will help clear up and eliminate a lot of that muffled sound.
Melanie: Dr. Throne, people see all kinds of ads for hearing aids. Is it advisable to purchase one online?
Dr. Thorne: I would not recommend purchasing anything online because you need to get a lot of your follow-up visits, who is going to program the hearing aids or your wireless accessories and that’s often not included in the price. So then, you’re paying for hearing aids and then there’s no one there to actually program and help you use them or show you how to use anything.
Melanie: What’s changed over the years with hearing aids? Do they whistle less? Do the batteries last longer? Speak about hearing aids, in general.
Dr. Thorne: Generally speaking, yes. The hearing aid technology improves all the time. It’s like cell phone technology. The hearing aids get smaller, more efficient, and more effective and they’re better at helping to eliminate speech by eliminating noise, and enhance speech. They whistle less. There are feedback managers that are much more sophisticated now. The batteries will last a little bit longer, as well. There’s less power consumption because of more efficient circuits in the hearing aids. So, there are improvements all the time in hearing aid technology.
Melanie: And, what do you tell younger people that might have hearing issues about the need to really get checked out by an audiologist and to start this process?
Dr. Thorne: I really recommend the earlier the better. The longer you wait, the less likelihood of success you’re going to have with hearing aids because the hearing aids will work with the hearing that you have left. And, if you wait too long and you don’t have much hearing left, there’s nothing left to work with. The hearing aid can only work with the amount of hearing that is left.
Melanie: Are there any medications or other interventions that can help improve hearing?
Dr. Thorne: It depends on the type of hearing loss. Usually, with sensorineural hearing loss or a nerve hearing loss, there’s nothing medically that can be done to correct that, so there’s no surgery that will make that any better. There’s no medication. There is one thing called a “Cochlear implant” that are for patients that would not receive any benefit from traditional hearing aids but you have to meet certain criteria to be a candidate for a Cochlear implant.
Melanie: So, are there different types of hearing aids that people can look at, smaller ones, bigger ones, ones that sit sort of one the outside of your ear? Tell us about those.
Dr. Thorne: Yes, there are all different styles of hearing aids. The smallest you can get is something called an “Invisible in the Canal” or an “IIC hearing aid”. That sits deep in the canal and the benefit to that is cosmetically. No one’s really going to notice it. But, anything that sits in the ear that shows the opening of the ear canal is called an “In the Canal: hearing aid. And then, you have hearing aids that go behind the ear.
Melanie: And have you found which one people prefer?
Dr. Thorne: It all really depends on their listening needs and dexterity issues because with hearing aids, some of them can be very small. It depends on a lot of factors.
Melanie: Well, so then, wrap it up for us with your best advice about connectively with hearing aids in the world of technology today, Dr. Throne, and why they should come see you at Summit Medical Group.
Dr. Thorne: Well, like I said before, we discussed earlier that the earlier, you do something about your hearing loss, the better off you’ll be in the long run. And, hearing aids also help reduce stress because hearing loss is a stressful thing. People that have hearing loss are often working much harder to hear, follow and understand the conversations even in quiet listening environments. So, hearing aids can do a lot to help relieve stress, straining and struggling to hear and there are a lot of different things that can help, not just the hearing aid. So, wireless accessories will also help enhance your experience with hearing aids.
Melanie: And, tell us about your team at Summit Medical Group.
Dr. Thorne: We have several offices throughout New Jersey and all the audiologist here work with several manufacturers of hearing aids and we fit patients from pediatrics through geriatrics with instruments.
Melanie: Thank you so much for being with us. You’re listening to SMG Radio. For more information you can go to SummitMedicalGroup.com. That’s SummitMedicalGroup.com. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.
Blue Tooth Hearing Aids? New Technology for the Hearing Impaired
Melanie Cole (Host): Hearing aids of the past often limited the wearer’s access to many personal audio devices such as mobile phones and music players but that’s rapidly changing. My guest today is Dr. Gary Thorne. He’s an audiologist with Summit Medical Group. Welcome to the show, Dr. Thorne. So, tell us what’s going on in the world of hearing aids today and how young do you think people start to lose some hearing?
Dr. Gary Thorne (Guest): Good morning. Generally, you start to lose your hearing in the fourth decade of life, so late thirties, early forties is when you start to see hearing loss that is aidable, where patients would be able to get benefit from hearing aids and some wireless accessories.
Melanie: So, if people are looking into or they’re starting to notice, who does actually notice? When someone has hearing issues, is it usually loved ones, Dr. Thorne, or is it the person themselves?
Dr. Thorne: Usually it’s family members, friends that are in constant contact with them that will notice it first. The patients will ask for repetition a lot, answer incorrectly, just nod their head and smile. So, things like that.
Melanie: Are there any negative effects of untreated hearing loss? If we’re starting to just lose a little bit of hearing, is there any problem with not doing anything about it?
Dr. Thorne: You’re better off doing something earlier rather than later. Hearing aids will help preserve your speech discrimination, which is your ear’s ability to discriminate between vowels and consonants. So, the earlier that you do something, the better off you are. Also, there is a study that was recently done that links cognition with hearing and decreases in hearing with decreased cognition.
Melanie: So, with hearing aids and the world of hearing aids, do you think some people are still reluctant to try hearing aids, especially if they’re losing their hearing in their forties and fifties?
Dr. Thorne: Yes. I find that there’s still the stigma of hearing aids are for older people but that’s really not the case.
Melanie: So, what is going on in the world of hearing aids now?
Dr. Thorne: Hearing aids get better all the time in terms of their ability to help you hear better in noise. They’re not perfect but you will definitely see a benefit with the use of hearing aids. Also, oftentimes hearing aids alone are not enough and there are some accessories, wireless accessories, that you can get to help enhance your experience with hearing aids.
Melanie: So, let’s talk about some of those. The Bluetooth hearing aids, what are those?
Dr. Thorne: There are several different things you can talk about in terms of wireless accessories. You have Bluetooth streamers. You have wireless microphones. There are a number of things that will help improve the signal to noise ratio, meaning that it will help reduce noise and enhance speech.
Melanie: So how? For what kind of devices are we talking about? Tablets? Mobile phones? All of these things now?
Dr. Thorne: All of these things. Landline connections, mobile phones, PC’s, tablets. You can get a wireless streamer that will act as a communication hub to or an access point that will communicate between the TV, for instance, and your hearing aids.
Melanie: So, what are these Bluetooth hearing aids doing for the patient?
Dr. Thorne: Basically, it’s helping improve the access to soft sounds of speech. It will cut out most of the background noise and that way you have a much clearer signal.
Melanie: And does it cause any damage to the eardrums? Is it louder if they’re playing music or something?
Dr. Thorne: No, because everything will be going through your hearing aids and the hearing aids today are self-adjusting and they’re always looking to make soft speech sounds louder and loud, uncomfortable sounds softer. So, anything that’s done with the hearing aid is based off of their hearing loss.
Melanie: So, let’s talk about cell phones, Dr. Throne, because people yell into their cell phones, or the sound is very muffled at times or garbled and sometimes with Bluetooth, it’s even worse. When you’ve got your Bluetooth in it’s hard to hear the person on the other line because it’s a muffled sound. So, what’s the difference with this?
Dr. Thorne: The difference with just using your regular Bluetooth that you would pick up in the store anywhere versus the Bluetooth with your hearing aids is that everything is being amplified through your hearing aids. So, with a regular Bluetooth, you know, it’s just amplifying all sounds equally loud. Anytime it goes through your hearing aid, it’s amplifying for your specific hearing loss. So, it will help clear up and eliminate a lot of that muffled sound.
Melanie: Dr. Throne, people see all kinds of ads for hearing aids. Is it advisable to purchase one online?
Dr. Thorne: I would not recommend purchasing anything online because you need to get a lot of your follow-up visits, who is going to program the hearing aids or your wireless accessories and that’s often not included in the price. So then, you’re paying for hearing aids and then there’s no one there to actually program and help you use them or show you how to use anything.
Melanie: What’s changed over the years with hearing aids? Do they whistle less? Do the batteries last longer? Speak about hearing aids, in general.
Dr. Thorne: Generally speaking, yes. The hearing aid technology improves all the time. It’s like cell phone technology. The hearing aids get smaller, more efficient, and more effective and they’re better at helping to eliminate speech by eliminating noise, and enhance speech. They whistle less. There are feedback managers that are much more sophisticated now. The batteries will last a little bit longer, as well. There’s less power consumption because of more efficient circuits in the hearing aids. So, there are improvements all the time in hearing aid technology.
Melanie: And, what do you tell younger people that might have hearing issues about the need to really get checked out by an audiologist and to start this process?
Dr. Thorne: I really recommend the earlier the better. The longer you wait, the less likelihood of success you’re going to have with hearing aids because the hearing aids will work with the hearing that you have left. And, if you wait too long and you don’t have much hearing left, there’s nothing left to work with. The hearing aid can only work with the amount of hearing that is left.
Melanie: Are there any medications or other interventions that can help improve hearing?
Dr. Thorne: It depends on the type of hearing loss. Usually, with sensorineural hearing loss or a nerve hearing loss, there’s nothing medically that can be done to correct that, so there’s no surgery that will make that any better. There’s no medication. There is one thing called a “Cochlear implant” that are for patients that would not receive any benefit from traditional hearing aids but you have to meet certain criteria to be a candidate for a Cochlear implant.
Melanie: So, are there different types of hearing aids that people can look at, smaller ones, bigger ones, ones that sit sort of one the outside of your ear? Tell us about those.
Dr. Thorne: Yes, there are all different styles of hearing aids. The smallest you can get is something called an “Invisible in the Canal” or an “IIC hearing aid”. That sits deep in the canal and the benefit to that is cosmetically. No one’s really going to notice it. But, anything that sits in the ear that shows the opening of the ear canal is called an “In the Canal: hearing aid. And then, you have hearing aids that go behind the ear.
Melanie: And have you found which one people prefer?
Dr. Thorne: It all really depends on their listening needs and dexterity issues because with hearing aids, some of them can be very small. It depends on a lot of factors.
Melanie: Well, so then, wrap it up for us with your best advice about connectively with hearing aids in the world of technology today, Dr. Throne, and why they should come see you at Summit Medical Group.
Dr. Thorne: Well, like I said before, we discussed earlier that the earlier, you do something about your hearing loss, the better off you’ll be in the long run. And, hearing aids also help reduce stress because hearing loss is a stressful thing. People that have hearing loss are often working much harder to hear, follow and understand the conversations even in quiet listening environments. So, hearing aids can do a lot to help relieve stress, straining and struggling to hear and there are a lot of different things that can help, not just the hearing aid. So, wireless accessories will also help enhance your experience with hearing aids.
Melanie: And, tell us about your team at Summit Medical Group.
Dr. Thorne: We have several offices throughout New Jersey and all the audiologist here work with several manufacturers of hearing aids and we fit patients from pediatrics through geriatrics with instruments.
Melanie: Thank you so much for being with us. You’re listening to SMG Radio. For more information you can go to SummitMedicalGroup.com. That’s SummitMedicalGroup.com. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.