Corvallis Hearing Center

Audiology Clinic and Hearing Aids

Call 541-754-1377

Hearing Difficulty?

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Hearing Difficulty?
It’s Important to Know the Business You Are In
Dr. Ron Leavitt, Audiologist

A noted entrepreneur once said “It is important to know what business you are actually in.” In recent years this quote has taken on new meaning for hearing health care providers.

In the past some audiologists may have thought we were in the hearing aid sales business. Then cochlear implants came along and that view was broadened to include a more encompassing term such as the “hearing improvement business” since hearing aids were no longer the only tool in the toolbox.

Today hearing health care providers are faced with a mountain of data suggesting we are in the cognitive optimization business.

Specifically, it is now known that when hearing loss is untreated or improperly treated, a host of anatomical and physiological changes occur in the brain that result in a phenomenon known as “synaptic pruning and resource reallocation.”

While synaptic pruning is used by the healthy brain to minimize those pathways that are nonessential to existence, when hearing loss is improperly treated synaptic pruning and reorganization takes place in critical areas of the brain associated with higher order reasoning. Such unfavorable reorganization/pruning may be a gateway to dementia whose strong relationship to hearing loss has been well documented.

The obvious question then becomes what should we be doing to prevent such an outcome? First, when friends, family or colleagues start saying you are having hearing problems act immediately to get a comprehensive hearing test. There is likely a point of no return where the brain is too improperly pruned/reallocated to recover (see https://corvallishearing.com/1feb2021 for more in-depth discussion).

Next, every hearing aid and cochlear implant must be programmed so as to provide audibility of the greatest number of speech sounds possible within the limitations of the individual’s hearing loss. Unfortunately, such programming rarely occurs (see https://corvallishearing.com/2feb2021 or https://corvallishearing.com/3feb2021 or https://corvallishearing.com/4feb2021 for more in depth explanation).

Next, you must work to maintain optimized hearing of speech sounds. Such maintenance entails annual hearing and hearing aid/cochlear implant checkups. Hearing rarely gets better over time and some causes of hearing loss result in a fairly rapid degradation of hearing in a relatively short time frame. As such, hearing aid reprogramming may be necessary on an annual basis or sooner.

Additionally, hearing aid and cochlear implant performance may degrade over time, particularly when used in high humidity or dusty/polluted environments or worn with excessive amounts of hair spray.

Finally, we must all take some initiative to stay physically active and eat well as contemporary research has shown both are critical areas of intervention in cognitive optimization for both children and adults (see https://corvallishearing.com/5feb2021 and https://corvallishearing.com/6feb2021 and https://corvallishearing.com/7feb2021 and https://corvallishearing.com/8feb2021 for more info).

For anyone interested in more information on this topic we will be presenting this information at our next “virtual” Better Listening Seminar and on our website in the near future. For more info call (541) 754-1377.

 

Brain Resource Preservation & Hearing Aids

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This week Ron Leavitt, Au.D and Carol Flexer, Ph.D are presenting our research findings at the International Conference of the American Speech Language and Hearing Association in Orlando, Florida.

Our findings on the objective and subjective variables of patients at Corvallis Hearing Center who have scored like normal hearing people on a very difficult speech in noise test while wearing their hearing aids is our topic.
Our research is based on earlier observations showing brain function is preserved in patients who score normally while wearing their hearing aids on this same speech in noise test.
Unfortunately this earlier research showed that people with untreated hearing loss or poorer aided scores on this test showed alterations in brain function that may help explain the strong relationship between hearing loss and dementia.
At our December 12th Better Hearing Seminar at Corvallis Good Samaritan Hospital we will review new research just published by our colleagues in Australia who have also been looking at these objective and subjective variables associated with normal scores on speech in noise tests.
Both our research and that of our Australian colleagues suggest some alterations of clinical practices that may enhance the likelihood of achieving these normal scores on aided speech in noise tests and allow hearing aid wearers to function much better in noisy environments.
Join us on December 12th from 3:30 to 5 pm at Corvallis Good Samaritan Hospital in Conference Room B as we review these important findings.
There is no charge, free refreshments are served and the public is welcome.

iOS 13 and Your Resound Hearing Aids

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Did you recently update your iPhone to iOS 13?

Since the launch of iOS 13, 13.1, 13.1.2 and 13.1.3 Resound has been diligently testing with ReSound MFi® hearing aids.

The testing confirms that iOS 13 platforms are compatible with ReSound MFi hearing aids. However, there are some iPhone and iOS related issues which may impact patients. Download the ReSound Tech Tip to troubleshoot your iPhone if you are experiencing these defects.

To pair your hearing aids to back to your iPhone go to Apple’s support page.

If you’re still having trouble with your iPhone Call us today (541) 754-1377 and we will schedule an appointment to further troubleshoot your iPhone and hearing aids.

Hearing Loss and the Brain: A Story of Evolution

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At times, medical knowledge moves forward in leaps and bounds. At other times such knowledge moves forward in a more gradual fashion. Such has been the case with our knowledge of the effects of hearing loss on the brain.

Seven years ago, Dr. Frank Lin of Johns Hopkins Medical University reported that hearing loss was highly associated with dementia and accelerated brain shrinkage.  At that time, our medical knowledge on this topic took a giant step forward.

Since that report, our understanding of this relationship has been more evolutionary.  For example, Drs. Glick and Sharma showed that untreated and poorly treated hearing loss results in a scrambling of brain resources.

These researchers showed improperly treated hearing loss results in inappropriate use of the frontal and prefrontal areas of the brain. Typically, these two areas of the brain are associated with memory and reasoning. However, in the case of poorly treated hearing loss, these two brain areas are used for understanding speech, lending credence to Dr. Lin’s hypothesis that hearing loss may overwork the memory and reasoning areas of the brain.

On a positive note, Glick and Sharma showed that properly fit hearing aids may reset the brain so that the auditory area is once again used for listening. Now the frontal and prefrontal brain areas can resume their normal functions.

More recently, it was discovered that hearing loss upsets the normal rhythmic pulses and interconnections the brain uses to communicate among its different functional areas.

Within the last few months, two separate reports out of Boston and Northwestern Universities showed reestablishing appropriate pulse rates among these different areas of the brain results in significant memory improvements in older people.

These studies, when considered together, suggest the possibility that properly treated hearing loss with hearing aids, perhaps combined with brain pulse resetting, may combat the devastating effects hearing loss may have on memory.

Currently, several large-scale studies are under way, examining the potential therapeutic benefit of properly fit hearing aids and brain pulse resetting on memory. In the interim, it appears medically prudent to treat hearing loss sooner rather than later, as the average delay between diagnosis of hearing loss and treatment has recently been reported to be nine years. It is no longer appropriate to view hearing loss as an inconvenience that can be ignored.

At our clinic, we are currently reviewing the records of 51 patients who have normal aided scores on the same speech in noise test shown by Glick and Sharma to signal brain resource preservation in hopes of identifying those therapeutic steps that can properly reset the brain.

Those interested in obtaining further information on this topic are invited to the monthly meeting of the Oregon Association for Better Hearing at Corvallis Good Samaritan Hospital, Conference Room B on the second Thursday of every month from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m.

Click Here for the Upcoming Seminar Information

How to Maintain Any Hearing Aid

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This is our presentation we did on August 8th, 2019.

Regardless of hearing aid brand or model there are a number of facts that you should know to maintain the hearing aids’ optimum performance.

Watch the video below to hear us discuss 12 must know items for maintaining optimum hearing aid function.

Divergent Views in Hearing Health Care

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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…]