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Course Sample:
Introduction
This course is designed to enable health care professionals who work with older adults to make informed recommendations about assistive listening devices. Assistive Listening Devices can improve a client?s ability to hear and communicate in difficult listening situations. These conditions include talking on the phone, watching television, having a conversation with others, waking by an alarm clock, or attending to the doorbell. Proper use of assistive devices can dramatically improve a client?s ability to participant in activities of daily living and independent activity of daily living.
By taking this course, you will first learn about age related hearing loss. In the Introduction section of the course, there is a self test that will help your clients determine if they might have a hearing loss or need further help for hearing loss. In addition, you will be provided with information about hearing aids and amplification and alerting devices that can be used in the home or the community to improve hearing independence. At the end of the course, there are tips for having better one-to-one conversations, as well as information about useful resources for individuals who are hard of hearing.
Authors
Jennifer A. Brush, M.A., CCC/SLP
Project Director, I.D.E.A.S., Inc
Bridgid M. Whitford, M. A., CCC-A
Senior Audiologist, Cleveland Hearing and Speech Center
Other Contributors
Margaret Calkins, Ph.D., I.D.E.A.S., Inc.
Stacey Biddle, COTA/L I.D.E.A.S., Inc.
David Fedan, Illustrator
Identifying Hearing Loss
As you read about hearing impairment, ask yourself these questions:
- Does one of my clients have a hearing loss?
- How can I help my clients manage hearing loss?
Did You Know...
Hearing loss is the number one disability, as well as the most preventable disability in the world. (SHHH, 2002)
- Did you know that 500 million people in the world experience hearing loss? That is about the same number of people that are using the Internet worldwide.
- 30% of adults over 65 years of age experience handicapping hearing loss (Weinstein, 2003).
- Approximately, 28 million Americans are affected by hearing loss (National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders).
- Only 5 million of those individuals with hearing loss actually use hearing aids (SHHH, 2002). That's a lot of people who could be receiving help for their hearing loss, but aren't. Hearing aids are not covered by Medicare so paying for an aid is often a problem. For more information about funding for assistive technology read Informed Consumer's Guide to Funding Assistive Technology at http://www.abledata.com/Site_2/funding.htm However many people don?t wear hearing aids because they won?t acknowledge their hearing impairment. Some people are embarrassed to wear an aid, even though hearing aids today are very small and can be inconspicuous.
- Both former Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton were fitted with hearing aids while they were in office.
- On February 1, 2001, President George W. Bush announced his Freedom Initiative on Disability, earmarking over $1 billion to expand research in assistive and universally designed technology to further integrate Americans with disabilities into the workforce and to remove barriers that limit full participation in community life. On February 12, 2003, President Bush stated, "My New Freedom Initiative strives to provide people with disabilities increased opportunities to lead more independent lives by expanding education and job opportunities, and by ensuring that the latest technologies, which often make education and employment possible, are readily available" (http://www.eetimes.com/pressreleases/bizwire/81566).
- Of the many millions Americans who are hard of hearing, only 20% actually seek treatment (Beltone, 2001).
- Due to loud workplaces, loud music, and loud recreational equipment, people are losing hearing at a younger age then they did 30 years ago. People who have been frequently exposed to loud noises from factories, construction equipment, power tools, lawn mowers, guns, planes, or loud music are at risk of suffering from age related hearing loss at an earlier age than those not frequently exposed to loud noises.
What is hearing impairment?
Individuals who are hard of hearing experience a partial or moderate loss of hearing. This loss can be caused by a number of things, such as malformation of the ear, disease processes, fluid in the ear, impacted wax, exposure to loud noises, or the aging process. There are three types of hearing loss: Sensorineural, Conductive, and a combination of Conductive and Sensorineural. This course focuses on age-related or Sensorineural hearing loss.
Sensorineural hearing loss is damage to the inner ear or to the nerve pathways from the inner ear to the brain. The cilia in the inner ear that translate sound waves into nerve impulses are damaged. It is a permanent loss that cannot be corrected and happens to all of us as we age. When hearing loss is caused by age, it is referred to as presbycusis.
Presbycusis presents itself in a similar pattern for every person. We begin by losing our hearing in the high pitches first and then losing it in the mid and low pitches. It usually affects both ears to the same degree, beginning gradually and becoming increasingly worse over time.
Background noise is mostly made up of low-frequency noise. Because seniors hear low frequencies better than high frequencies, they are better able to hear all of the noise but less able to pick out the important part of a conversation over the noise. When a person has a hearing loss caused by age (presbycusis), the person often complains that it sounds as if people are mumbling. A typical complaint is "I could hear if only people spoke more clearly."
The following are examples of what the person with presbycusis may be hearing. Try reading the sentence out loud and guess what is trying to be communicated.
Wha ime ould we lea or ur ?
What time should we leave for church?
Isn i old ou ide day?
Isn't it cold outside today?
As you can see, the person can hear parts of the message but everything does, in fact sound muffled, as if someone is mumbling.
Presbycusis can be helped with a hearing aid, but unfortunately four out of five Americans with hearing loss do not use a hearing aid (National Academy on an Aging Society, 1999). Many people don't wear hearing aids because they won't acknowledge their hearing impairment. Some people are embarrassed to wear an aid, even though hearing aids today are very small and can be inconspicuous.
What is the difference between a hearing impairment and deafness?
Individuals who are deaf have profound hearing loss with little or no useable hearing. They use special alerting and communication systems that are beyond the scope of this course. The purpose of this course is to discuss age-related hearing loss and to help people who are hard of hearing be more "hearing independent." The course will not address assistive listening devices for those who have profound hearing loss or deafness. The Resources for Additional Information section of this course contains web sites that may serve as good starting point for more information about hearing devices for individuals that are dealing with deafness.
Why should someone seek help for a hearing loss?
Hearing impairment impacts all areas of our life. So, hearing loss can easily affect one?s social life. People with hearing impairment:
- Use extra energy to communicate.
- Often avoid social situations.
- May feel more stressed.
- Frequently feel less independent.
- Worry about safety at home and around town.
- Report being less satisfied with their life than those without hearing impairment.
- State that they are not as content with their life in retirement.
One national study conducted by the Seniors Research Group, an alliance between The National Council on the Aging and Market Strategies Inc. (1999) provides a strong argument for finding help:
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Older adults with hearing loss who do not wear
hearing aids are more likely to report sadness and depression, worry
and anxiety, paranoia, reduced social activity, and greater amounts
of emotional turmoil and insecurity.
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