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Frequently Asked Questions

 

 

What’s that whistling sound that some hearing aids make?

AThat sound is referred to as feedback. It’s loud, annoying embarrassing and it’s just not acceptable. Even if we could put aside the annoyance factor, which is a big IF, feedback still creates problems. Those problems include; Difficulty hearing one-on-one, difficulty understanding what is said, problems hearing the TV, problems hearing on the phone, difficulty in background noise situations, trouble hearing in church, shorter battery life and the list goes on. If pushed, I would contend that feedback is the root cause of 85-90% of all problems relating to hearing aids. At Amdahl Hearing, feedback is not your problem, it’s ours. We will never allow feedback to keep you from hearing your best.

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One hearing aid or two?

This is a very common question. Most of our patients ask why they need two hearing aids. The answer is simple. Most people will hear the best with two hearing aids. Can you get by with one? Sure, but there will be a number of situations that will still be troublesome, like hearing a soft voice or understanding speech in a noisy room. Usually those are also the very reasons that people came in in the first place. There are situations where one hearing aid is the appropriate treatment, but those are the exception, rather than the rule. The best way to find out is to have your hearing tested.

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Can hearing aids take out unwanted background noise?

No. Plain and simple. Any other answer to this question is simply untrue. For a hearing aid to be able to take out background noise, it would have to be able to recognize which voice you wanted to hear and suppress all others. For example, if I were going to social hour after church (about 40 people in the church basement) and I wanted to talk with my son, the hearing aid would somehow need to know that his voice was the only voice I wanted to hear while tuning out all others. Not only is it currently impossible to do that, but even if it was, what would the hearing aid do if I then decided to talk to my wife? No, hearing aids can’t remove background noise, but if we do our job right, they can do something even BETTER. Recently we’re finding more and more, that by spending the necessary time and applying the technology appropriately, we’re able to deliver a signal to your brain that, when coupled with the other ear, is helping people to hear quite well in noise by working with the best processor of all, your brain. If we get it exactly right, your brain does the rest.

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Should hearing aids have a volume control?

t used to be very common to see hearing aids with volume controls. A volume control was needed to regulate the amount of power in any given situation. Today’s technology allows us to adjust the hearing aids based on frequency (pitch) and intensity (volume). The long and the short of it is that, if we take the time to do the job right, in the end your hearing aids should ALWAYS be loud and clear enough and NEVER be too loud. If we’ve accomplished that, there is no need for a volume control.

There is also another reason not to have a volume control. I think this example sums it up nicely. Let’s say that it’s you birthday, and your spouse has decided to surprise you by cooking your favorite breakfast. They do a fantastic job and put it on a beautiful crystal tray to carry it over to you at the kitchen table. But, as luck would have it, they stumble on the way to the table and your breakfast goes crashing to the floor. The sound of shattering glass is deafening. So you reach up and turn your hearing aids down… Too late, the loud sound already reached your ears. About this time, your spouse, who is upset by the fact that they dropped your breakfast and startled you half to death, walks up and apologizes. The problem now is that you just turned your hearing aids down, so you say “What?” See the issue? A volume control is a REACTIVE device. Something bad has already happened prior to your being able to make a change.

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I've been told that I have nerve deafness. Hearing aids can't help me right?

Most of the time, that’s the wrong answer. I would bet that 95% of the people we help every year have “nerve deafness.” The term “nerve deafness or nerve damage” simply means that the loss cannot be corrected either by medication or surgery. In the vast majority of these situations hearing aids allow us to restore hearing to a level that lets people function almost normally.

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I’m too young to have hearing aids.

Though many of the hearing losses that we see are the result of having too many birthdays (age), many are caused by either noise exposure or heredity. It’s actually quite common for us to see patients who are in their mid 40s and early 50’s. The reason we are seeing so many young people is that hearing aid technology has improved to the point where we can effectively fit even mild hearing loss with aids that are effective as well as cosmetically appealing.

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I’m too old to get hearing aids.

I hear this every once and a while... Ok, maybe once a day. As I’ve never been 70, 80, or 90 years old, I don’t feel qualified to have an opinion on this question. However, I did once have a patient who had a good explanation. Here’s her story…

Frances needed to be fit with two hearing aids. I made my recommendation and she agreed, but on one condition. She wanted the longest warranty possible. I was aware of her age and, as politely as I could, I asked her if she thought that was the best idea given her age. She sat me down and told me something I’ve never forgotten. She told me that as she got older, she found herself less able to do the things (physically) that she’d always been able to do. She couldn’t help with chores, couldn’t help put up firewood, couldn’t help in the yard and, as of last year, she couldn’t even work in her garden anymore. Everything she still could do focused on being social. She loved to get together with friends and play cards, go to bible study, or work in her quilting circle. If she couldn’t do the things she wanted to do, and couldn’t hear the people she wanted to hear, all she was doing was waiting to die. So, at 102 years old, I wrote up that contract for a 4 year warranty, as requested…It’s a good story. The best part of the story comes when you find out that she did in fact live to see the end of her warranty. The world lost an amazing person and I lost a friend as Frances died just shy of her 108th birthday.

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Will people be able to see my hearing aids?

There are any number of things we can do to make hearing aids less visible. If you don’t want others to know you have them, we’ll make sure they are as invisible as possible.

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How much do hearing aids cost?

I know people just want a range, so I’ll start with that. One hearing aid will cost between about $800 and $3500. Which one is right for you is more complicated. One of the many things that make us unique at Amdahl Hearing is that we look for the perfect hearing aid for you, not just the most expensive. We look at your hearing loss, your lifestyle and your individual needs before recommending the model and circuit that are right for you.

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What are "Open" hearing aids?

The term “Open” refers to how the hearing aids fit in your ear. The most important part is that they don’t plug your ear. Traditionally, the entire ear canal was plugged up with the earmold or the aid itself. This caused a number of issues, especially for people with early stage high frequency hearing loss. Initially, “Open” hearing aids were simply that, a style of hearing aid. Today, the term “Open” can apply to any number of different styles.

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Do hearing aids work on the phone?

Historically, hearing aids and phones have had problems getting along. Feedback (whistling) has always been an issue, and most people have been very dissatisfied with their hearing aids on the phone. In recent years, a number of advances have made talking on the phone much easier. At Amdahl Hearing, a successful fitting always includes your satisfaction on the telephone.

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Why do people lose their hearing?

AWhile there are many, many reasons that people lose their hearing, the two reasons we see the most are Neural Presbycusis, a very fancy term for the decline in hearing due to the aging process, and Noise Induced Hearing Loss, which is simply too much noise exposure over a period of time.

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Neural Presbycusis

When most people think of age related hearing loss, they think of their grandparents, someone who is in at least their late sixties or seventies. The fact is, our hearing usually starts to decline much earlier than that, and it’s not uncommon for us to see people in their late forties with a significant loss. The reason most people relate hearing loss with age is that in the past hearing aids simply were not of a high enough quality to deal with these mild to moderate hearing losses and even if people were tested, they were usually told that their hearing “wasn’t bad enough yet” for hearing aids. We now know that early intervention is critical and the technology is such that fitting hearing aids on these losses is generally easy.

If hearing aids are recommended, the audiologist will discuss options that are most appropriate for the individual's specific hearing loss and listening environment.

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Noise Induced Hearing Loss

Noise induced hearing loss comes from, you guessed it, noise exposure. When people think of noise exposure they think of things like farming, firearms, military and factory noise. While noise in these environments must be taken seriously, we also need to remember things like iPods, lawn mowers, chain saws and vacuum cleaners. Remember, it’s not just the volume of the noise; it’s how long you’re exposed to it. Vacuuming your house is not an issue, but if you vacuum for 4 hours a day, it could be. The best way to prevent noise induced hearing loss is by wearing hearing protection.

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What are directional microphones?

Directional microphones are used to help people hear in the presence of background noise. They do this by amplifying the sounds in front of the wearer, and reducing (not eliminating) the sounds to the sides and rear. Basically, you hear the best in the direction you’re facing. While directional microphones can be a great help in noise they may not be appropriate in situations where it is important to hear well from all directions. Most directional microphones are either manually selected by the wearer via a switch on the hearing aid or a remote control, or they are switched automatically by the hearing aid using a digital switching algorithm. Brand new applications work by using a directional microphone in one ear and a traditional in the other, eliminating the need for manual switches or depending on the hearing aid to “know” when to switch.

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I was born with a severe hearing loss. Do I have to keep wearing the large behind the ear style hearing aids?

Due to recent advanced in technology, many people can choose to be fit with smaller hearing aids, even if their hearing loss is severe.

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I just bought hearing aids a year ago from another company and spent a lot of money on them. They don’t work very well but I can’t afford a new set. Can you do anything with my current hearing aids?

At Amdahl Hearing, we specialize in getting the most out of your purchase, whether you bought it from us, or somewhere else. We firmly believe that there are many great hearing aids out there; our job is to make sure they are fit correctly. All of our professionals are highly trained experts in hearing aid technology, regardless of the manufacturer. Bring your old aids in; there is an excellent chance we can make them work better than new.

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What is the best style hearing aid?

The “best” style depends on many factors, including type and severity of your hearing loss, the size of your ear canal and manual dexterity. Equally important, is your personal preference. The “best” hearing aid is what helps you to hear well, and the style that you are comfortable wearing. The professionals at Amdahl Hearing specialize in tailoring the hearing aid to the patient.

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