About 74% of middle-aged and senior Americans would have very little to no trust in health info generated by AI.
You are here
Hearing loss, aging and technology
Tue, 09/13/2011 - 10:58 - Laurie Orlov
My neighbor can't hear me. I live near a 67-year-old man who likes to talk, but has difficulty hearing the response, which usually has to be repeated before he gets it unless he is sitting close and looking you straight in the eye. We've known him for quite a few years and although his hearing seems worse, he doesn't wear a hearing aid. It isn't because of money -- since he still works at a good job, can afford a new car and just bought a boat. Meanwhile, hearing aid technology is evolving (though still not far or fast enough) so that once he became used to it, he could certainly have a more conversational life.
As folks age, hearing loss worsens. There is a strong relationship between age and reported hearing loss: 18 percent of American adults 45-64 years old, 30 percent of adults 65-74 years old, and 47 percent of adults 75 years old or older have a hearing impairment. That's nearly half of the 75+ world, a longevity revolution that could result in another 10 or 20 more years of living with hearing loss -- perhaps becoming more isolated. My neighbor spends quite a bit of time away from his family at his weekend home and is enjoying exploring the large nearby lake -- on his own. Perhaps this enjoyment is related to the fact that he doesn't have to both focus his listening on passengers and pay attention to the lake surroundings at the same time.
Are hearing aids compelling for those who could use them? Here's a surprising statistic - "only 20% of the 36 million Americans who could benefit are actually wearing hearing aids." And 3 out of 5 seniors who could benefit do not have them. While top-of-the line prescription hearing aids can cost upwards of $3000, over the counter devices can be purchased for a few hundred dollars, and the newest tech today can be almost invisible at a cost of $1600/year. Meanwhile, studies have correlated hearing loss with depression and a recent Johns Hopkins study linked it to dementia in older adults.
Hearing aids have become quite sophisticated -- though inadequate. The stigma that may once have been associated with wearing hearing aids seems quaint in a world where deranged-looking business execs wander alone around airports blabbing away with large Bluetooth devices stuck in their ears. Today's latest in hearing aids are far lower profile. Instead, the smallest hearing aids are miniature devices "that hide behind the ear, while a slim wire slips around to carry amplified sound into the ear." So if seeing an audiologist, getting a prescription, diverting money from cars and boats, asking adult children to help out (or having them offer to help) would mitigate isolation, depression and have a possible impact on the slide of some elderly into dementia, what's the problem? What if a hearing aid, no matter that it is still imperfect if no longer stigmatizing -- really reduces depression and losing the ability to hear is correlated with dementia? I'm asking -- I really don't know the answer.
category tags:
Comments
The cost of hearing aids ...
... is outrageous, and the people selling them are too often unskilled workers or simple gougers. The feeling of humiliation when one puts himself into the hands of one of these people, with their grammatical mistakes and run-down offices is enough to discourage the hard of hearing. As a user for many years -- I buy my aids overseas -- I can tell you that the devices have not improved nearly enough to warrant the runaway prices they carry. Even Consumer's Reports, that sturdy upholder of the status quo, shifts uneasily in its chair when discussing the cost of these devices. You're quite right to point out that perfectly serviceable hearing aids can be found for far, far less than "certified audiologists" will charge.
Keep up the good work, Laurie!
Comments from Facebook
""My grandmother hates wearing hers. She says they hurt and it buzzes randomly. I doubt I would want to wear them either."
"It all seems to be about the cost of batteries."
"As my hearing-impaired 70+ mother used to tell me, "Hearing aids? Only old people wear those, like your grandmother.""
"at least with my father it was. The hearing aids cost several hundred dollars and it never seemed to be covered. Finally the VA came thru for him after the claim about artillery hurting his hearing in the war was made."
Hearing Aids
My father has experienced progressive hearing loss over the past 15 or so years. He's a smart guy and has researched hearing aids and though he wears one, has never found it to be adequate. Hearing loss has a domino effect -not only has he become more isolated, but my mother as well. It's harder for them to communicate and he has become increasingly withdrawn, especially from social gatherings because he cannot hear what people say and is embarrassed.
Hearing loss is so very limiting to older people and their significant others - which I don't hear many people talking about. I think they ought to be included in the statistics of people who suffer from hearing loss. Then the numbers you cite could nearly double and I would have to think (or wish) that more time, money and energy would go into perfecting the product/technology or to finding alternatives (I have to think the texting revolution is somehow a boon to people who can't hear).
NYTimes -- October 23: The hearing loop
Starting to make its way into public places in America: a hearing loop.