Ears to You

Come Home to better hearing

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Wait for it….

The Crossings on the Peninsula has asked me to share information from my profession with the public on August 23 and September 20. Both talks are planned for 2:00 PM. The Crossings is located at 3540 Victory Blvd. in Yorktown, VA. They provide assisted living and memory care for seniors. The public is invited to the talks.

The first talk is entitled “Hearing, Listening, and the Brain – Part 1.”

Topics include:

  • Effects of hearing loss on emotions, behavior, and relationships
  • The connection between hearing difficulty and falls risk in seniors
  • Medical options for better hearing
  • Strategies for better communication

The second talk is entitled “Hearing, Listening, and the Brain – Part 2.”

Topics include:

  • How modern hearing technology can work with your brain
  • PSAPs, hearables, & hearing aids: what’s the difference?
  • How to navigate the hearing care marketplace

I expect some questions from the first audience may touch on issues I’ll address in the second talk. To these questions I’ll give brief answers that I hope will satisfy, but for the most part they’ll have to wait for it.

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The News from Nashville

If you were getting hearing aids and you had a choice between a hearing aid fitting method based on 40 years of scientific research and over 10,000 experimental subjects or a method based on guesswork, which would you choose? This was part of the message delivered to about 40 attendees at last week’s Vanderbilt University Hearing Aid Hands-On Workshop.

We covered some of the most recent research on the hearing aid fitting process, including some that is so new it hasn’t yet been published. There was a tour near the end of the last day that featured a large anechoic chamber which is in high demand for auditory research. It is built inside a concrete box which isolates it from vibration. When you step inside you can see sound absorbing wedges (like those on the walls) through the wire mesh under your feet. The city of Nashville is the icing on the cake – great food and live music in nearly every cafe and bar. I went to a car show at the Frist Museum that displayed a selection of concept cars (mostly Italian, a couple of American) from the 50’s to the 70’s. It was a great experience and I recommend it to any audiologist who fits hearing aids.

anechoic chamber

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A Recent Visit to Austin

“Keep Austin Weird.” That’s the slogan adopted by a small business association in Austin, TX. We didn’t see much of the weirdness, but perhaps we didn’t get out enough. Our primary focus was a practice management meeting sponsored by the American Academy of Audiology. At the meeting we got updates on the nuts and bolts of running an audiology practice and looked at the future of audiology in terms of the business climate and different technologies that may be coming down the pike. How about a hearing aid that is also a health monitor and fitness tracker? How about a hearing aid that doesn’t use batteries? They’re not here yet, but they’re coming. In the meantime, Ears to You stands ready to help you explore the benefits and discover the value of better hearing.