Get Outside Corvallis!
Living in this gorgeous part of the North West offers us the unique ability to explore the landscape of our home and get a break from the fast pace of life. With our cultural time demands and busy schedules, what better way to unwind than in the quiet backdrop of nature. We have endless possibilities at our disposal! Here are some ideas to get you going and get you outside!
Hiking-
Upper Dan’s Trail, Alsea Falls Trail, and Mulkey Ridge Trail are three great places to start!
These are all dog friendly areas and offer a wide range of activities and scenery. Check them out and get your hike on this summer! Here is a link to more info on all three of these destinations!
Visit Corvallis-Three Great Hikes
Biking-
Have you tried Corvallis Bike Loop yet? This is a dog friendly 12 mile loop good for all skill levels. What a great way to see Corvallis and get out outside! Here is a link with the details!
Corvallis Bike Loop
Bird Watching-
If you want a little more quiet and stillness, how about taking in view of some of our native birds? Two hundred and six species of bird can be found within a 30 mile radius of the Corvallis Salem area. There are several different refuges to do some birding. Check these out and find some feathered friends!
Bird Watching
We hope you have a great week and get some outside in your day! We love our community and serving you in any way we can! Give us a call today to schedule a hearing screening! Here is the link with all our info!
Contact Us!
Researchers Discover Proteins That Could Soon Cure Hearing Loss
Mouse cochlea with hair cells shown in green and auditory nerves shown in red. Credit: Doetzlhofer lab
Researchers at John Hopkins Medicine have found a pair of proteins that control when hair cells are created in the inner ear. This finding, published on June 12th, may hold the key to curing people with irreversible hearing loss.
Approximately 90% of genetic hearing loss is due to hair cell problems or auditory nerve damage. Hearing loss due to excessive loud noise exposure or viral infections damages these hair cells. Fish, amphibians, reptiles, and birds can regenerate their damaged hair cells. Humans cannot regrow their hair cells. Once our hair cells are damaged hearing loss is permanent.
Click here read more about this incredible new finding!
Corvallis Hearing Center will continue to follow this ongoing research and talk about this new finding at one of our future seminars.
Attend our FREE monthly seminar held at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center on the second Thursday from 3:30pm – 5:00pm of every month. Click here for this month’s topic and meeting room location.
A Source to Resources!
Through research, networking and years of experience we have collected a huge amount of resources and put them together for your convenience. We want you to have the help you need at your fingertips. We know life is hectic and full of confusion so we hope that this is one way we can help! We have compiled resources for hearing health and information onto one useful page. Just click our link and you will have them at your fingertips. [Read more…]
Which Hearing Aid is Right for You?
Corvallis Hearing Center recommends hearing aids based on your Degree of Hearing Loss, Lifestyle, Communication Needs and Budget.
Hearing aid technology has vastly improved. Gone are the days when hearing aids were big, squeak-prone and useful only in dead quiet environments. Today’s hearing aids are equipped with digital microcomputers that automatically adjust sounds to make speech audible and comfortable for you. Today’s hearing aids are more discreet, more comfortable, and can improve your understanding of speech better than ever before. [Read more…]
What’s up in Corvallis this week!
Here is what is going on around town this week and weekend in Corvallis! With so much happening locally we wanted to give you a quick easy stop to find the events you want to put on your calendar! [Read more…]
Best of Hearing Aid Research
At this year’s recent American Academy of Audiology conference in Columbus, Ohio, our publication entitled “Evaluating Select Personal Sound Amplifiers And A Consumer Decision Model” was awarded best of hearing aid research. [Read more…]
National Platform For Local Research!
This Just In!
Dr. Leavitt and the Corvallis Hearing Team have been at it again!! They will be recognized nationally for their research and presentation on the Subjective and Objective Characteristics of People Who Score Normally on Speech in Noise Test with Hearing Aids. [Read more…]
Passionate for people and community!
The heart of Corvallis Hearing Center and the passion and purpose of Dr. Ron Leavitt is to serve the people of our community.
One of the ways we strive for this is being a part of Oregon Association for Better Hearing and offering once a month educational seminars at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center here in Corvallis. Our hope and desire for these meetings is to arm the community with knowledge and power on hearing health and hearing options. [Read more…]
Journey of Sound from the Ear to Brain
Typically it is thought that we hear with our ears. We actually hear with our brain. The ear is just the path it takes to the brain.
Our brain and our ears work together as a team. The ear collects the sound waves and the brain processes those sound waves/electrical signals into speech or into something we can identify around us. [Read more…]
How the Aging Brain Affects Speech Understanding in Noisy Places
In recent years the focus on hearing health care has shifted from the ears to the brain. One needs to only Google hearing loss and cognition to find dozens of articles in medical and hearing health care journals in the past few years. [Read more…]
Divergent Views in Hearing Health Care
In August of 2017 the face of hearing health care changed with the passage of the Over-the-Counter Hearing Aid Law, allowing consumers to self-diagnose and self-treat their hearing loss.
The events leading up to this change were spearheaded by two distinct groups. One group was from Johns Hopkins Medical University; the other from Indiana University. [Read more…]
Can Hearing Aids Unscramble the Brain?
A recent publication from Dr. Anu Sharma and colleagues at University Colorado, Boulder showed people who achieve a normal score with their hearing aids on a difficult speech in noise test were spared the brain resource reallocation reported for her subjects who have untreated or poorly treated hearing loss, perhaps explaining the strong relationship between hearing loss and dementia as noted by Dr. Frank Lin and colleagues at Johns Hopkins. [Read more…]
The Impact of Untreated Hearing Loss
“Hearing loss is not a harmless condition to be ignored or left untreated. It has tremendous impact on your life, and if left untreated, it can have serious emotional, (cognitive) and social consequences.” (Dr. Serge Kochkin, 2005).
Many people are aware Corvallis has a consumer education group for people who are hard of hearing. This group has met monthly since September 1988 and brings the latest scientific information to the community regarding hearing loss and hearing aids. Meetings are free to the public and take place on the second Thursday of each month from 3:30 to 5 p.m. at Corvallis Good Samaritan Hospital. [Read more…]
Why Are Hearing Aids So Expensive?
Why Are Hearing Aids So Expensive?
As Founder of the 32-year-old Oregon Association for Better Hearing (OABH) this question has been posed dozens of times during our monthly meetings.
When you look at the literature concerning hearing aid expense, several explanations for the high cost of hearing aids are put forth. [Read more…]
Debate on Medicare &Hearing Healthcare
Several sources estimate Medicare will be insolvent by 2028. This dire prediction has produced numerous suggestions regarding how to cut medical costs and maintain Medicare.
In the area of hearing healthcare this charge for Medicare cost efficiency is led by otolaryngologist Frank Lin of Johns Hopkins Medical University.
Dr. Lin has suggested hearing healthcare could be more affordable by first removing all medical oversight for adults with mild-to-moderate hearing loss allowing them to self-diagnose and self-treat their hearing losses. [Read more…]
Hearing Loss & Aging: New Perspective
It has been widely accepted that as people age the hearing nerve cells degrade. Further this hearing nerve cell degradation was thought to be well estimated from the conventional hearing test procedure known as the pure-tone audiogram.
This age-related hearing loss was thought to be so predictable that the International Standards Organization developed a graph showing the average amount of hearing loss for each decade of life using the conventional pure tone hearing test. [Read more…]
Wireless Connectivity in Hearing Aids
Our presentation from Audiology Now 2016 talking about wireless connectivity in hearing aids.
Larry Mauldin Award Ceremony
Ron Leavitt, Au. D., receives 2014 Larry Mauldin Excellence in Teaching Award at AudiologyNow International Conference in Orlando, FL.
Hearing Loss & Health
Many view hearing loss as an inconsequential condition that can be ignored without serious implication. Why else would Medicare deny benefits for hearing loss evaluation and rehabilitation to those over 65? Why would people delay seeking hearing help for years? Scientific evidence no long supports this laissez-faire attitude. [Read more…]