Hearing aids do a great job of helping people with hearing loss hear better. Using a mask makes it more difficult to hear. A mask can reduce the loudness of speech up to 12dB! We can add a program to your hearing aid to help. Please call us at 973-542-4031 for more information.
I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Better Hearing And Speech month than by getting your hearing tested. Did you know that 25% of people with hearing loss don’t seek help for their hearing? Did you know that on average it takes 7 years for someone who has been diagnosed with hearing loss to finally get help. Approximately 15% of American adults (37.5 million) ages 18 and older report some trouble hearing, according to government data. Although nearly all newborns are getting their hearing screened, many who are flagged with a potential hearing problem are not getting the follow-up care that they need. When it comes to adults, only approximately 1 in 7 (14%) over the age of 50 with a hearing loss who could benefit from amplification uses a hearing aid.
Unaddressed hearing loss can affect people across the lifespan in the following ways:
Impact on Young Children’s Development: Hearing is critical to language, speech, and cognitive development and can impact communication and learning. Areas of development that hearing loss may affect if early intervention does not occur can include vocabulary, sentence structure, sound production and understanding speech.
Impact on School-Age Children: Children who have hearing loss that is left unaddressed can have problems with academics (may include problems with language arts and vocabulary; delays in reading, spelling, math, and problem solving; and lower scores on achievement and verbal IQ tests); behavior and social interactions (may include problems working in groups); and communication (may experience delays and/or difficulty with tasks involving language production and comprehension and/or memory).
Impact on Adults: Hearing loss can affect every area of an adult’s life, including physical health, mental health, career success, social life, personal relationships, and overall quality of life. A serious condition on its own, it is associated with other conditions, as well, including dementia, diabetes, falls, and depression.
Audiologists diagnose, treat, and help people manage their hearing loss
Call The Hearing Group today at 973-542-4031 to schedule your hearing test.
Help The Hearing Group raise awareness of hearing loss. Fact…there are over 36 million people with hearing loss in this country and most of them are under the age of 65 years. Call our office to schedule a free hearing screening to establish a base line. If you know that you do have hearing loss and are struggling to hear the conversation, think everyone mumbles when they talk or maybe feel left out of the conversation call our office to schedule a complete audiological evaluation. We can be reached at 973-542-4031.
An article published by Vox Media tells of 9 behaviors that can help you reduce your risk of Dementia by 35 percent. One of those behaviors was to use hearing aids even if diagnosed with mild hearing loss. If you suspect you or a loved has hearing loss please call our office at 973-542-4031 to schedule an appointment for a hearing test. Below is the article:
Please join us in congratulating all of the finalists in this years Oticon Focus on People Awards. We are especially proud of our long time patient Mala Bawer for being selected as a finalist. Mala shares a passion for making the world a better place for everyone. Please read her story below then click on the link to cast your vote for Mala.
https://www.oticon.com/inside-oticon/we-put-people-first/people-first/fop/bios-adult
Mala Bawer, who has lived with hearing loss for more than 30 years, understands the ways that technology — in the form of hearing aids or digital resources — empowers life-changing possibilities. Co-founder of CyberSmart Education, she is passionate about the importance of fostering digital literacy. She pioneered the development of the first digital literacy curriculum now modeled internationally. Her initial work in Sub-Saharan Africa inspired Mala’s production of the internationally acclaimed feature film TALL AS THE BAOBAB TREE. Today, Mala and the CyberSmart Africa team work in partnership with the Senegalese Ministry of Education and The Earth Institute at Columbia University tackling the challenge of delivering a 21st century education to millions of youth in Sub-Saharan Africa with extremely limited access to school books. Mala’s team is piloting an innovative digital learning platform to deliver up-to-date learning and teaching resources to schools across the developing world.
West Orange, NJ, May 15, 2017—The Hearing Group is urging women of all ages to talk hearing health with their doctors—a topic often overlooked in the discussion on women’s health. Studies link unaddressed hearing loss to other serious health issues, including depression, dementia, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, moderate chronic kidney disease, rheumatoid arthritis, sleep apnea, and an increased risk of falls and hospitalization. Research also shows that when people address hearing loss, it often has a positive impact on their quality of life.
During National Women’s Health Week, The Hearing Group invites people in for a complimentary hearing screening to determine if they need a comprehensive hearing test by one of our hearing healthcare professionals.
Hearing loss affects women of all ages. About 1 in 13 women in their 40s say they already have hearing difficulty, according to BHI research, along with 1 in 10 women in their 50s, and 1 in 8 in their 60s. The numbers rise sharply from there, but across all age groups, about 1 in 11 women (18 and older) have hearing loss, BHI research indicates.
The good news is that when women address hearing loss, they tend to see improvements in their quality of life.
In fact, most women who wear hearing aids say it’s true. They see a notable improvement in their overall quality of life, their overall ability to communicate and participate in group activities, and they’re especially likely to see improvements show up at work—specifically, in their work performance and relationships.
What’s more, most women who buy hearing aids say they’d recommend them to a family member or friend with hearing problems. That includes women who buy them in middle age (40-59). At least 90 percent of women in this age group say they would recommend them. Women of all ages even say they’re happy with the look of their hearing aids—at least 8 out of 10 female hearing aid users surveyed said so.
The reality is, most people tend to address hearing loss in stages. They may notice they’re having difficulty hearing but not do anything about it, or they may start down the road to find information about hearing loss and treatment options.
It’s important for women to know about the tremendous advances in hearing aid technology in recent years. Given that there is so much emerging research on the connection between hearing loss and other significant health issues, it makes sense for people to talk with their doctors about hearing loss sooner rather than later.
Women have so much to gain by addressing their hearing loss early.
And so do the people in their lives. Not only do 94 percent of women make healthcare decisions for themselves, but 59 percent of all women—whether or not they’re married or have children—make healthcare decisions for others as well, research from the Center for Talent Innovation shows.
Given the wide circle of influence that women have, when a woman takes hearing health and hearing loss seriously, it has the potential to benefit many others too.
During National Women’s Health Week, The Hearing Group is urging all women to talk hearing health with their doctors.
National Women’s Health Week is an observance led by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women’s Health. This year’s National Women’s Health Week kicks off on Mother’s Day, May 14, and runs through May 20, 2017.
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An article in yesterday’s New York Times reported that headphones made specifically for children that claim to restrict volume did not do as good of a job as they claim. The times compared 30 sets of children’s headphones and found that one half of them did not restrict the volume as much as they reported to do. Keep in mind that the only kind of hearing loss that we can prevent is hearing loss caused by exposure to loud sound.
Intrigued by all the brain-training products out there to keep your mind sharp and spirits young? You may want to consider something else: A hearing test.
That’s right. Mounting evidence links untreated hearing loss to impaired memory and diminished cognitive function. What that means is, if you keep brushing off that suspected hearing loss of yours, your cognition may pay.
Researchers have found that when people with unaddressed hearing loss strain to hear, they tend to do more poorly on memory tests. They may figure out what is being said, but because so much effort goes into just hearing it, their ability to remember what they heard often suffers.
Experts believe this has to do with what they call “cognitive load.” That is, in order to compensate for the hearing loss and make out the words, people with untreated hearing loss may draw on cognitive resources they’d normally use to remember what they’ve heard. Experts say that untreated hearing loss may even interfere with the person’s ability to accurately process and make sense of what was said or heard.
In fact, research shows that people with poorer hearing have less gray matter in the auditory cortex, a region of the brain needed to support speech comprehension.
Other research shows a link between hearing loss and dementia. One Johns Hopkins study found that seniors with hearing loss are significantly more likely to develop dementia over time than those who retain their hearing. Another found that hearing loss is associated with accelerated cognitive decline in older adults. And a third revealed a link between hearing loss and accelerated brain tissue loss.
Some experts believe that interventions, like professionally fitted hearing aids, could potentially help.
The bottom line is we actually “hear” with our brain, not with our ears.
So if you think you may have hearing loss, do something about it. Make an appointment with a hearing healthcare professional, and get a hearing test.
After all, research suggests that treating hearing loss may be one of the best things you can actually do to help protect your memory and cognitive function.
Please call The Hearing Group at 973-542-4031 to schedule a hearing consultation today.
