By Yishane Lee
This is the focus of the Spring issue of Hearing Health magazine, which we’ve just shipped to the printer and expect to land in mailboxes in the coming weeks. (Already online!)
Virtually every reader of our magazine currently uses a hearing aid, and we crafted the issue with this fact in mind. The first step is often to find the right hearing healthcare provider to fit your needs. Staff writer Kathi Mestayer reviews the differences among hearing professionals—and deciphers what all those letters following a doctors name mean.
We wondered: How can we help you get the most out of your hearing aid? Staff writer and audiologist Barbara Jenkins provides concrete solutions to common hearing scenarios, such as for a child with hearing loss and for an active sports enthusiast. What considerations should be made for a resident of an assisted living facility? What options do you have if finances are a concern?
Jenkins (who does have a lot of letters following her name!) offers nuts-and-bolts answers based on her more than 25 years of experience in hospital and clinical settings. Her bottom line? Even if your audiogram is the same as another person’s, your lifestyle, preferences, budget, and hearing requirements combine to make your needs unique. During the hearing aid trial period required by most states, try out a new hearing aid in as many listening environments as you yourself are likely to commonly encounter, be it music concerts, crowded meetings, noisy schoolrooms, or your convertible car.
We also polled staff, board members, friends, and Facebook fans of HHF, for the best hearing aid tips, and compiled a comprehensive body of advice covering first-time usage, purchasing, batteries, settings and programs, and more.
Getting the right hearing aid is just the first step. Accessories—such as for the proper care and storage of your aid, as well as wireless and assistive devices that help boost the clarity in challenging listening situations—are also important. Learn what factors affect how long your hearing aid batteries last, and about the advantages of hearing loop systems.
And as in every issue, catch up on the latest research from our Hearing Restoration Project—a consortium of scientists working toward the promise of a biologic cure for hearing loss and tinnitus in 10 years.
We hope you enjoy the new issue of Hearing Health. If you don’t already subscribe to this FREE quarterly, please sign up here.
And as always, we welcome your ideas and feedback!
