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>> Hello and welcome to HealthLine.

I'm Jennifer Blomquist.

I have the privilege of hosting the program this evening.

Thanks so much for tuning in.

If you are new to our show I want to let you know that we are live here in the studio and we are more than happy to take any questions you may have during our program.

We're going to be talking with a familiar face.

He's been on our show a number of times the last few months.

He's a hearing instrument specialist, knows everything you could possibly want to know about hearing instruments and just how hearing affects all aspects of your life , your health , yours, just how you interact with people socially so please don't be shy.

Give us a call again.

There's a phone number at the bottom of the screen.

We'll keep it up for you throughout the program.

It's (969) 27 two zero if you're outside of Fort Wayne it's still a toll free college style 866- in front of their now when you call in you have two options.

You can ask your question live during the show and they don't just throw you on the air.

They will get an idea of what your question is and then you can ask it live if you prefer that way or you can ask you can tell the person on the phone your question and they will relay that to me and then I can ask our guests the question for you.

>> So take advantage of getting some free advice especially if you're a shy person, take advantage of this opportunity because there's really nothing that's free anymore.

So we've all learned that painfully out here is Ted Blanford.

He is our hearing instrument specialist and so blessed to have him a number of times the past few months and sharing his knowledge with us.

So Ted, we wanted to start out by know we've been talking the last few months about you know, this is a time of year when you see your relatives, friends and family and maybe you're seeing somebody haven't seen for a while.

Maybe you know somebody who's a little bit older and you're noticing, wow, you know, last time I talked to Uncle Joe, he he could hear me but I don't know now if he understands me or or maybe you know, he seems like he's not really interacting with folks and we've got another holiday weekend coming up with New Year's.

So you may be seeing people that you haven't seen for a while and this is a great opportunity to address this issue.

>> Well, yeah, this is when you want to find out whether or not you really need to have your hearing tested, you know, gathering around the people that are important to you this time of year gives you were folks you haven't seen maybe for a long time.

I mean it's it's the grandmother coming from out of town or maybe you have family members that that are in town but you're just so busy you get you get a chance to sit down and gather and if you have difficulty hearing the person that you're trying to have a conversation with because of background noise or the kids that you normally would be able to sit down and have a quiet discussion with, they're no longer really interested in the conversation because they're always repeating themselves or something like that.

That's generally when you start noticing well maybe I might want to get a baseline and understand where my hearing is that that doesn't necessarily mean you have a hearing loss.

But adults over sixty five right now, nearly half of them have hearing loss.

>> The problem is they're not doing anything about it.

Well we've talked before, you know I mean most people are pretty good about going to the dentist a couple of times a year.

I think a lot of people get their eyes checked regularly hopefully you know, getting all the other things checked in at an annual physical with your family doctor.

>> But hearing just seems to fall by the wayside as far as getting checked regularly.

Well, that's what you were saying before the the eye doctor.

You generalize about 70 percent or 74 percent of the people who get their eyes examined every year every other year.

But only twenty three percent of people will get their hearing examined and most of the folks that would get their hearing examined or at least a baseline hasn't had it done since maybe high school or even sometimes grade school.

So we don't know where our hearing is and it's always a good idea to know where you're hearing.

So you have you have a launching point.

Yeah.

You have an understanding baseline of where you are because if something happens you'll be able to track what that difference really is.

>> You've talked about the baseline before so even I mean what if you're younger in your 40s 50s?

Is that even you know, is that an acceptable protocol to say hey, you know, I don't think I have an issue but should we do this now and then come back when you think you have an issue find a baseline and then reexamine every two or three years and find out where you're and if there's any changes, you mean you'll be noticeable and you'll be able to at least you'll have a launching point.

You have a start point of where you where you knew that at least I was normal then what am I today?

>> And the other thing that I feel badly about is first of all I think people who can't hear or aren't understanding which you have explained that in the past there's a difference between hearing and understanding and you know, if it's somebody elderly I think people are wondering is this early signs of a mental condition like Alzheimer's or something or is it just not being able to hear?

>> Well, yes.

Well hearing it saying is the difference between hearing and understanding is the the low tones and the high tones if you will you cut your cut your hearing in half and the the low tones is indicator that sound is occurring conversation is occurring where the high frequencies or the the consonant sounds ti the sounds the sounds the case sounds those sounds they're give words meaning that's the understanding portion and a lot of times when the when you say I hear what you're saying I hear you talking but I can't understand what you're saying that's because there's there's generally a high frequency issue that is not allowing your brain to get the signal that you need in the understanding portion of your hearing and you talked before that I mean obviously you've mentioned that, you know, women and kids would have higher sounding voices and men would have the deeper sounding.

So I mean is it possible that you could have a hearing issue but it's only that you can't hear those voices and then you but you could understand everything low?

No.

Well, understanding everything with this once you know that a more powerful voice would be able to be a broader spectrum for you to be able to understand you're also looking at people's faces when you're talking.

So yes, but a women and children's voices are generally where you start noticing the deficit first and that's that's difficult especially when you have background noise that suppressing it and that's why during the holidays again we're gathered around the people we love the most and especially with children, grandchildren and you can't quite understand what they're saying and sometimes it gets to be a problem.

>> You yeah.

Make sure you get that taken care of and I think most kids well, you know, children can be hard to understand even for somebody who doesn't have a hearing issue if it's a younger child just starting to talk, you know, give difficult so you get that.

>> But I just think that's so sad because you know, most kids if they're going to grandma grandpa, they don't understand them.

They probably don't want to be by grandma grandpa because that they feel like well why should I be talking to you?

>> They don't listen to me and it's not the case most of the time.

It's just that I would love to be able to understand you but I just can't can't quite grasp everything you're saying.

>> Yeah.

So if there's you know, this is needing to be addressed and you determine that you want to go have an exam, can you kind of give people an idea of what to expect?

I mean it sounds like it's a pretty it's a little can be lengthy.

>> There's a lot to take care of it for a before exam usually takes maybe an hour to hour and a half, maybe two hours at the most but depending on what you need.

But yeah, there's there is a process here.

Of course the intake you would get information, medical information and health information and then we'd check your insurance they they would have your insurance checked if there is applicable then we'd look in your ear the colonoscopy in there you would have an examination of your canal to make sure it's wax or if there's any damage to the ear and then you do a familiar voice test with a person that you that you bring with you or with the person who's testing you to find out how well you hear and understand.

And then of course the audiogram is the tones, the beeps we call the beeps in the bonks to find out how much you hear and how much you don't hear and then all that information is put into a formula to find out what's best for your recommendation and you did bring some samples tonight for us to look at.

You know, we've said this before.

These are not your great grandpa's hearing, you know, and so we've got some the on the table I mean most people like when I was growing up in the seventies they were quite noticeable.

>> They were large.

Oh yeah.

There's a big difference.

Yeah.

I mean I was a long time ago fifty years ago but everything is very small.

>> The technology is quite advanced.

I see my pen next to it just an idea of how tiny that is the smallest discrete and very very powerful for the package that it's in and the technology is is amazing now that you're looking at Bluetooth compatibility, you're looking at wireless compatibility and of course tinnitus.

There is technology that allows you to help with tinnitus with tinnitus blockers and of course the prescriptive hearing and tinnitus is the ring ringleader's.

>> OK, so there's a way to deal with that.

So I mean what are different types of criteria for some of these different devices?

You know, does it just depend on how profound your losses or the shape of your loss, your your your lifestyle and of course budget and things like this?

But the style is based on what your needs are individually and your wants.

I mean there's some folks that just it's in the ear just may not be appropriate for them and over the other other patients that were and over the year is not appropriate for them.

But there's always a style and there's always a way when you have all the information put together budget, lifestyle and needs and we were able to put a package together of anybody with a with a need all that information for your hearing specialist to be able to help you.

>> All right.

We've got plenty more to talk about but somebody did call in and wanted me to ask the question for them.

So somebody named Devon let's see.

Devon says with modern technology is there anything that can be done about severe tinnitus so severe ringing in the ears?

>> Absolutely, Devon.

That's a great question because today tinnitus affects about fifty million Americans out there right now and the technology with with blockers what they called maskers, the tinnitus mascara's in specific hearing instruments allows us to be able to push the sound into your ears to allow your brain to relax and have that that sound and the ringing ears to be reduced.

Also if there is a hearing loss involved with tinnitus which 90 percent of the the folks that are reporting a significant amount of ringing in their ears also has been associated hearing loss with it by treating the hearing loss and also helps those nerve centers that are sending the the electrical impulse to the brain to be able to relax and give them natural ambient sound and fill in that space that you're hearing loss is there and the massacres allow you to have relief from that tinnitus there is the technology today is quite remarkable.

But yes, I mean are there some people who have constant ringing or yes, it usually yes.

>> Just sporadic.

Well, for the most part if you have tinnitus and it's a continuous ringing in the ears and it's and if he's saying it's severe, that means that it's something that keeps him up at night or her I'm sorry keeps them up at night or doesn't allow them to go to sleep and or when they're concentrating or they're reading a book when things are quiet the ringing is is enough to cause them to have a distraction.

And then Devon, thank you very much for that question because tinnitus is a real serious issue in our world today and there is there is hope out there for those of you that have ringing in your ears.

Yeah, we kind of touched on this in the beginning of the show.

I mean you're hearing it it it causes it can have a lot of effects on your body.

I mean there are just so many different impacts on your overall health , just your social well-being.

>> Well, if you look at if you look at even a mild to moderate to severe hearing loss and that's a broad range but you have a 200 to 500 percent increased risk of dementia if it's not treated or treated properly.

And now you also have a 30 to 40 percent increase rate of cognitive decline when you have an untreated hearing loss.

So we're talking about not just the ears, we're talking about the brain and how the brain is responding to these non signals to the brain by being when you by not having the proper energy going to the brain it is causing a deficit to the brain itself.

When you treat the hearing loss, you're giving the brain the energy that it needs and those of you even with mild hearing loss, you're three times more likely to have a history of falling.

>> Oh yeah.

You've mentioned that before.

That always shocked me balance and and being able to have a a strong cognitive strong cognitive presence is something that's that is it's incredible.

>> You know, we have done some shows specifically just on falls and it is so sad to people just don't always recover from those that could just completely alter your even if you're in pretty good health .

>> But if you're 80 or older a falcon can that is a really big reason why to take your hearing seriously to at least investigate how much your hearing is involved with your brain, your cognition, your memory, your balance, your total physical health and your hearing is is a key is a key critical factor all of that and finding out where you are today so you can at least monitor that and be able to make a educated decision on what's best for you health wise based on your hearing loss.

>> And that was a great question earlier from Devin.

So I want to thank Devin for calling in and again remind all of you out there we only have Ted for just a precious small amount of time.

He's only here till eight o'clock or a little before eight o'clock when the program ends.

So please feel free to call it you can do Devin did and relay the message to me and then I can ask it live for you or you can ask it live during the show and so we don't have anyone on the line right now the all the phone lines are open again the phone numbers at the bottom of your screen it's (969) 27 two zero still a free call if you're outside Fort Wayne just put an 866- in front of the phone number and we'll get you through and you can ask Ted your question.

One thing I always mistakenly thought oh, you know, you get a hearing aid and you put it on and you leave and you're good to go.

But you've corrected me in the past and said oh, it's a it's a process to retrain your brain.

>> It's a process.

Absolutely.

If you if you went several years with a hearing loss, your brain has been programed to believe that hearing loss is normal then you correct that it's going to take time for your brain to relearn how to hear and more importantly we have to understand that excuse me that hearing loss doesn't stop because you have a hearing aid.

>> It can even close it down but it does not stop your hearing loss.

>> So we have to make sure that we are consistently being updated, consistently being checked up on and it's like any other chronic issue with your health you have to identify it early, take it steps to take care of it and manage it well throughout your life .

>> It's a it's a critical process.

So if you were to hearing aids, you know I mean in general do you normally tell people they should be seen once a year once of hearing aid or is it a case by case basis how often they have to go back generally from what we understand is a quarterly biannually plus testing every year to find out where you're at.

So your specialists will be able to change with your change in your hearing loss because of the flexibility of the technology today we're able to make sure that you're hearing instruments are tuned to your best ability for the for your hearing loss for the rest of your life .

Now the hearing is being that mean that lasts the rest of your life at least your hearing will be able to be managed well for your for your life .

>> Can you make adjustments to the hearing aid devices for people?

I think that's one thing I know years ago my mother in law since passed away but the cost was the concern for her and she just was afraid that every time she would go in she'd say Oh I'm afraid they won't tell me I need a brand new pair but I can you tweak what the person has in some cases?

>> Absolutely.

Especially the technology today?

Well, again, we're talking about bands and frequencies and and being able to to move or manipulate inside that that that processor this is a very powerful computer inside each one of these instruments here you're able to adjust and and shape with the changes of your hearing loss for there's limitations obviously but there's going to be a great deal of flexibility inside these hearing instruments so you can at least have a a strong solid foundation of your hearing for as long as you possibly can.

>> It's just amazing to say there's like a supercomputer in each of those and they're so tiny.

So we did have a call from somebody who wants to ask you the question why Ted so this is Tim.

>> Hello Tim.

Hello there.

Hi.

>> Go ahead with your question.

Yes, hi.

Good evening.

Yeah Doctor twenty years ago I had a traumatic accident to my right ear.

I was welding on the farm here and a piece of hot molten metal dripped down.

I was welding overhead and I went down my ear canal burned out the most of the eardrum and went on into the inner ear an instant almost total hearing loss.

I did have surgery to repair the eardrum and try to patch things back together but probably only about 10 percent hearing there OK and then also instantly constant ringing.

You know, I wondered how I would ever adapt to that.

But just to say this for your previous caller I have adapted to the constant ringing.

Hmm.

And I can sleep and I have no problem with that.

But now as my left ear I'm 70 years old and my left ear is starting to get a little bit less acute and I'm very careful to protect it and I wear hearing protection when I mow and on the change stuff like that.

But it's still starting to diminish.

My question to you is kind of hearing device improve any of that hearing loss that I had and due to that accident that's a really good question to you have some physical damage to the structures of your ear.

No one is the best way to find out how much help can be.

They can be managed with that with that damaged ear is to be tested and to find out and try to see what a hearing instrument can actually do for you with a loss like that.

Sometimes a specialist will do what they call a cross where you don't get a whole lot from the ear that you're working with.

It has lost all of its hearing but are able to give spatial awareness by a transmitter that'll that'll give you the the sensation of bilateral or hearing with both of your ears.

But you're doing a very big help for yourself by protecting that left ear if you're starting to notice that there's a hearing loss in that left ear definitely find someone through to see so you can have that one protected not just from the elements that you are from welding and things such as that but also to make sure that you don't lose any more of the hearing in that left ear as well.

Protect the hearing that gives you the most you only have one left if in particular the best you possibly can and here the best you can with that ear.

But see a specialist to make sure that you're taking care of the left ear also to find out how much you can help with your right ear.

That's a great question to him and I'm sorry that you had that accent just sounds that must have hurt.

>> Oh, I can't even imagine Tim did you want to ask Ted anything else?

Just just one real quick thing you know yeah.

Probably fifteen years ago I did have my hearing tested and you know, tried out the hearing aids right there in the office, you know, the digital hearing aids and it didn't really give me much help but I was thinking now that you know what the advancement of technology maybe was a little better but oh are you saying then that the physical damage even with the advancement of technologies may not still help?

>> Well, you'd have to be tested and find out for sure.

I wouldn't be able to make an accurate assessment based on the limited information I have.

But the the specialist that you see with a with a demonstration should show you how much help can be done.

>> And from fifteen years ago to today the the amount of technology change is astonishing.

>> Yes.

OK, thank you for calling Tim Tim thank you for sharing your story with us and we wish you all the best.

>> Thank you.

>> We had somebody else who was sure and ask you a question.

This is Jane.

Hello Jane.

Hello.

I'll go ahead with your question OK I my sister is has severe hearing loss.

She wears hearing aids and she's unable to hear anything without them.

Lately she has been complaining of a pounding in her head not but not a ringing sometimes it's buzzing very loud and it wakes up and sometimes she has a headache with it, sometimes not OK, so is that called tentative?

>> Yes.

You just can come many forms ringing, buzzing, wishing all kinds of sounds the best way to I would I would recommend that you would have your have your sister see the specialist that she's working with with her hearing instruments and find out if there's any additional help that those instruments be able to help her with those sounds specials will be able to give her the right direction on where and how to care for that that ringing the washing of the pounding in her ears and sometimes there's other ancillary issues.

It could be also contributing to those sounds as well.

But but definitely have a cat checkup with your hearing specialist Jane, did you want to ask Ted anything else?

>> Yes, she does have a scheduled appointment but my other question is oh, we live together in independent retirement community and they have their drills and sometimes they're not just drills.

Sometimes you know, there's an emergency but the alarm is so terribly loud it can that can that destroy or damage your hearing system?

I mean I'm I usually stick my fingers in my ear sometimes it lasts for ten minutes.

>> You know, generally if it's not a consistently persistent sound at that level it would do temporary but usually not permanent damage.

>> But those are very loud.

Oh my God.

>> Yes.

It just wow.

I think there are some temporary ringing years after a fire drill or something like that would cause would cause some temporary issues but generally not permanent.

But if you feel like if you're ringing for too long definitely find your specialist and and have your hearing checked afterwards.

>> All right.

Thank you so much, Jane and best wishes to you and your sister.

So I know some of those alarms are so loud but you know, I mean to try to make sure people are safe you always kind of a double edged sword I guess so there are some folks that can't hear the alarm and say even that even at that loud volume.

Sure.

Or so sadly we are out of time and I just want to thank all of you for calling in and I wish some great questions and Ted, of course always a pleasure and so thankful for all the advice you give to people.

I you know, it's an issue like we've talked about.

It's it affects so many parts of your life .

So please take unattentive to heart.

So take advantage of it and get get some help if you need it.

So thank you so much again.

Ted Langford who is a hearing instrument specialist and I'm Jennifer Bloomquist and happy New Year to all of you.

This is our last helpline for this year but we will see you back in January and have lots of free advice coming your way.

Take care.

>> Thanks for joining us.

Happy New Year