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Hello, I'm Jennifer Blomquist.

Welcome to HealthLine.

Thanks so much for joining us this evening.

I have the privilege of hosting the show and I guarantee you will learn a lot.

So we have a returning guest tonight.

We have a hearing instrument specialist.

He's been with us many times in the past.

So glad to have him back tonight and please take advantage of his free advice because Ted knows everything there is to know about hearing instruments.

Maybe it's for yourself.

Maybe it's for a spouse or maybe just a friend.

Sure.

You know, somebody who could benefit from the information that I can pass along.

So that's why we keep that phone number up at the bottom of the screen throughout the show it's (969) 27 two zero.

If you're outside of Fort Wayne it's still a toll free call.

Put an 866- in front of air and you call into the studio, you'll talk to a call screener.

They give you two choices you can ask your question live which is great.

I would recommend that if you feel confident doing that because you can interact Ted sometimes he may want to ask you more questions to give you a better answer.

So if you want to do it that way that's great.

But you also have the option of just telling the call screener what you would like to to find out and they can pass that along to me and we'll get your question answered that way.

So call sooner rather than later.

We'd hate to miss your call.

Hate to see you miss an opportunity to get some great advice.

So here's the man himself many of you probably recognize him, Ted Blanford who is a hearing instrument specialist.

>> So, so glad to have you back again today.

It's always great to be back and you always come with fresh information.

>> I always think how could there be more information?

But there is there's always so much to learn about hearing loss hearing versus understanding what your options may be.

>> It's very complex.

It's not just it's not just a simple problem when it comes to hearing because you don't hear with your ears, you hear with your brain and the brain is extremely complex and we before we get into other things, why do you want to explain I know we've done this maybe a while back but why don't we explain again why how we hear?

>> Well, interestingly enough, we as well sound is pressure and it goes through three different areas of your ear to be able to send an electrical impulse to your brain.

You have air you have air pressure from the canal and from the canal to the eardrum you have mechanical pressure which activates the bones in the middle ear and which active which sends a signal to the nerve endings or the hair cells in your inner ear and it sends that to through the auditory nerve to the brain and your brain perceives that electrical impulse as sound and that's how we hear and it's I mean most people probably expect that as they get older the hearing is going to change.

I mean is it kind of like eyesight?

>> A lot of our senses, you know, weakened as we get older?

I mean is is pretty much everyone going to have some hearing loss or hearing issues as they age or do you ever find somebody who's older and doesn't?

>> Well, yeah, there's there's there are those that have amazing, amazing genetics that allows them to be that one person in their 80s or even 90s where they don't have a significant hearing loss.

>> But we focus on the boomers as and now a lot of us Gen Xers as well coming in.

>> But we're looking at those that are 65 and over that are suffering.

Almost 50 percent of them have have some sort of a significant hearing loss.

The problem is not all of them are taking care of the problem and we're not just focused on those that are in the sixty five or above.

>> Remember one in five teenagers are having issues as well.

So hearing loss is not necessarily a a a respecter of age but we do see a significant higher rate of hearing loss as we do age and when we're talking about those folks that are having those issues they come with a lot of other health issues as well.

So we're going to be getting to that in a little bit later about how the different health issues are contributing to hearing loss and hearing loss contributing to those health issues now you were talking about teenagers having issues interesting you said that because right at the end of the school year they told me that my son failed his hearing screening and he was in eighth grade and I thought OK and so he was having a physical coming up with our family doctor and I took them and in our case I was happy to find out is like why noise I hear I can't even see his eardrum is full of wax.

>> I mean they had to do like a really thorough flash.

I could not believe all the wax they removed so when I was so because I was panic thinking oh my gosh, you know, because he did have speech delays as a child, a younger child.

>> So maybe that would you might luck out if it's a young person I mean sometimes there is a physical obstruction.

>> Yeah.

And that's part that's part of our four part hearing evaluation is in the hearing industry is to make sure that you don't have an obstruction in the ear.

>> Yeah, that's kind of easy to take care of this kind of great that if that's an easy if that's an easy call it wasn't easy fix he didn't like it but we got it taken care of but not we have lots more to talk about but I didn't want to miss out on a question somebody called in so this was from somebody named Perry.

>> I just want to know your thoughts on over the counter hearing aids.

>> That's really kind of a new thing.

It's it's a hot button and for for the last year or so we've been we've been discussing the over the counter hearing instruments now understand the parameters of what the over the counter hearing aid is it is a it's a hearing aid that you can produce are provided over the counter in drugstores or or other other retail stores that for a perceived mild to moderate hearing loss now there is no requirement for testing and there and there there is a market for it and there is there is a for those that have a mild to moderate hearing loss and they need a temporary temporary fix that with a cost efficient solution over the counter hearing instruments are right for them but if it's a perceived mild to moderate hearing loss, I would rather have to find a an audiologist or a hearing instrument specialist to find out what my hearing loss actually is.

That way I'm not going to be paying any types of dollars for a hearing aid that does not meet my needs and that's why it's always it's always best to be informed period.

But that's a really good question.

It's a it's a low cost it's a low cost solution for a hearing loss.

It is perceived to be mild to moderate.

>> Thank you have said before hearing the hearing aids they don't prevent hearing loss.

It's not which a lot of people I think just think oh, I'm just going to buy one and have it for forever and and that's that's not going to know.

>> Here's hearing aids do not stop hearing loss hearing aids do not prevent hearing loss.

Your body's change continuously and that includes your hearing.

What they do do though is they do slow down the progress of hearing loss and they do preserve the the integrity or the or the consistency of your of your hair cells are sending the signals to your brain.

So you want to maintain that health .

You want to it's like any other chronic issue.

You want to be able to identify it early, treat it well, manage it so you can maintain the best of your health for the rest of your life .

>> Well, and you have pointed out before we don't think twice about going to the dentist regularly.

I think most people that insurance covers going twice a year anyway.

Yes.

And you know, you should have a yearly physical I mean just about everybody has some kind of corrective eyewear.

>> So that's stuff that we wouldn't think twice about, you know, going and getting that checked.

But I really until actually really tensed until we started doing shows with you I never thought about getting your hearing checked or even even if you don't feel like you're having any issues as you get older but you're saying you should oh yes.

>> We the thing is we don't we don't take our hearing as seriously as we probably should .

74 percent of the population will have their eyes examined twice every other two every other year every two years and sixty three or sixty two plus will be having to see a dentist every year.

>> Only about twenty to twenty five percent of the population will have their hearing tested at all.

>> Yeah.

So we need to be much more proactive in taking good care of our brain and our hearing.

>> All right.

Great advice.

Yes I want to remind everybody to call in.

We do have another question I want to get to but please feel free to call.

That's why we keep that number at the bottom of the screen and we only have ten to a little before eight o'clock.

So call any time we're going to talk about a whole bunch of different things related to hearing loss and things that you can use different instruments that could help you perhaps but please feel free to interrupt us at any time again (969) 27 two zero 866- in front of there we'll make it a toll free call if you're outside of Fort Wayne we had another woman call in.

>> Margaret wanted to know if diabetes can cause deafness.

That's a good that's a good question, Margaret.

Now deafness is a very strong word but diabetes those that suffer from diabetes do have a higher degree of hearing loss and hearing difficulty and the direct correlation has been scientific.

You've proven that there is a there is a direct correlation between those that are having diabetes, those that have diabetes and are having a higher degree of hearing loss, not necessarily deafness but definitely more difficulties.

>> Well, that was one thing that's a very that's a very straight question.

>> I like that I'm always floored by all the complications you can have from diabetes.

I mean you have to really think about a lot of different issues.

>> I think diabetes affects a lot of people, a lot of our body and and we think we talk about whatever we put into our bloodstreams to help us with our other ailments.

Also goes through the bloodstream into our ears.

Our ears are very vascular.

So what we do what we do put it in our circulatory system for prevention or a cure of a other ailment does affect the way that our nerve endings are affected by that blood to his blood as well.

>> Yeah, I did not think about that that was one of the things we wanted to talk about was how hearing loss can affect your overall health .

I mean there are a lot of different things to take into account the things that I am most concerned about it because it affects my family as well is when we're talking about the brain itself, when you when you don't allow your hearing to be stimulating the brain, you have a 200 to 500 percent increased risk of dementia from a mild to moderate to severe hearing loss and that's Johns Hopkins University has done that study for decades.

Also those that have a hearing loss have a 30 to 40 percent faster degradation of cognitive activity than they do their counterparts without hearing loss.

So we are really understanding that the the hearing does affect the brain in a much more major and more direct manner than a lot of us realize and all the more reason to go head in and get it checked regularly like you've said, you want to have a baseline you know, even before you have an issue you've talked about wanting to have a baseline so that you know, this is maybe how much worse it's gotten, you know, since you were what I mean you've recommended even going you know, before you turn fifty.

>> Oh, absolutely.

You know I mean I guess if you have such a mean we have such an amazing hearing health care community in Fort Wayne that we should be we should be finding someone to be able to at least get a baseline of where we're at in our 30s or 40s and then be proactive because if we if we do find ourselves with a hearing loss, I'd like to find out how much we've fallen since one one to the other and and understand also that a allowing our family members to know how much we love them because a lot of times a hearing loss will take them away from us not just physically when it comes to the the dementia issues or memory issues or things such as that are cognitive issues.

But we're talking about depression.

We're talking about loneliness ,isolation.

If we don't feel comfortable in a in a group hearing and understanding and we tend to take ourselves away from it and we have to be proactive with the people we love as well.

>> But yeah, you I can think of a million times I've seen like a group of people that even a family gathering that I'm going to there's always an older person it seems like is kind of off in the corner.

I mean it's sad but you I know just from experiencing you know, my husband had temporary hearing loss due to illness.

My kids were just so frustrated because it was so much more work to communicate with him and I was really worried.

>> Fortunately it was a short term issue for us but it's just really sad because especially I think the younger kids they're just kind of put off by that or they think that oh you know, maybe Grandpa doesn't love me anymore, doesn't want to talk to me because you know, he's not interacting with me which I think that's just so sad and it's not necessarily definite.

Like I said, the difference between hearing and understanding is being able to communicate the low tones, identify the fact that there is hearing or there's sound there is the high frequencies.

It's the it's the it's the this sounds like a teenage or an F or an S sound that gives those words meanings and the consonants give that that word the meaning of what it is so we can really understand what's being said instead of volume.

It's clarity instead of loudness it's understanding and a lot of folks will come to a hearing specialist and say I can hear but I don't understand what everyone's saying and a lot of times we use as an excuse that the world is mumbling.

>> Yeah, and it's not necessarily true and you've said so with the high pitched tones that would tend to be you know, something you associate more with women's voices and children's voices.

And so you were saying that those voices definitely affects the way that we hear women and children's voices.

>> But those voices across the board as well when it gets bad enough.

>> Yes.

Well, one of the things we wanted to talk about was well there are two ways to say it.

I guess tinnitus or tinnitus spelled the same no matter which way you say it.

But somebody did want to ask you a question about that.

So Joe wanted to know was it tinnitus?

The ringing in the ears he wants to know does that indicate that he has hearing loss from that ringing or is it just that he is ringing in his ear?

>> That's another great question.

Joe, thank you.

Thank you for asking.

When the the reality of when it comes to tinnitus or tinnitus you can call Joe if you like.

There's there's no set way of saying what we call tinnitus or tinnitus, but 90 percent of those that report having tinnitus that affects their daily life have an associated hearing loss with it.

Interestingly enough of those 10 percent show that it's a within the normal range of no hearing loss and but they still have the ringing and they still have the buzzing or they still have the noises that can't be associated with with an outside source.

>> So what tinnitus is it's it is the interruption of or a random electrical impulses to the brain that make sound but it's also a red flag that there could possibly be damage to those hair cells and that is a precursor to a hearing loss because 90 percent of those that you see on the screen right now, those little haystacks that you see, the ones that are perfectly fine, they're sending a great signal to the brain.

But those up in the upper left hand corner, those are broken or they're bending over and they're and they're damaged.

Those are sending those are sending signals random signals to the brain that caused that ringing or buzzing.

So 10 percent of those that report having significant tinnitus don't have hearing loss at all.

But 90 percent.

So that's a really good question to find out best way to do best way to to figure out if your tinnitus is associated with hearing loss.

>> It's a find someone to hearing test and make sure that you understand what your baseline is and actually the next person who called was asking about tinnitus as well and she went out with some I wanted to know if there was any new research for treatment for it.

>> There's there's a lot of research that is ongoing research when it comes to Rita when it comes to tinnitus, the only proven FDA if you only approve FDA treatment or it's called it's called Manege because it's not really a treatment because we can't really say it cures tonight because there is no cure for tinnitus.

But the best management is either sound management or noise management and those two treatments or those two therapies are used with hearing aids and those have been the the FDA approved therapies for tinnitus.

But the research is ongoing continuously and there's several different universities across the world that are there that have some in-depth research involved with them.

>> I remember might have been the last show or the show before.

Thank you.

I thank you everyone calling in great.

You know, like I said, it's great if you want to call it in and you know I can ask Ted that's that works out well but you know, you're more than welcome to live to he's super nice.

He won't put you on the spot.

Everybody here is an adult and we'll treat you very well.

So but you know the nice thing I think about calling you live you know, like I said, Ted sometimes can I ask you more questions and give you little more information?

>> That's an these questions have been great because there's so much out there that are that may or may not be really good information.

>> You hear it on the radio all the time when you hear this or that.

The best way to find out what's best for your hearing is to find a hearing specialist or an audiologist and we have like I said, we have a one commute, one commuter here in Fort Wayne of hearing health care find someone that you can get your baseline hearing tested and find out where you are today and get the answers that you have that you need to have.

>> OK, I was saying before somebody was a woman I never called in maybe a month or two ago and I didn't even think about that with tinnitus, you know, how do you sleep?

I mean you always think oh yeah, you just go to sleep and maybe it was a top but she I remember her talking about how it is just really just wreaking havoc in our life because how do you sleep with that there are there are cases where the tinnitus does interfere with your sleep.

It doesn't allow you to go to sleep.

It doesn't let you light.

It maintains sleep and sometimes it doesn't allow you once you wake up in the middle of the night to go back to sleep and this is where the vicious circle comes because you're tired in the morning and your fatigue, your fatigue causes you to have more tinnitus during the day and it continues on in compounds with this also causes it causes stress, it causes depression.

It causes all kinds of things that manifest in your body because we're not able to manage the tinnitus in the first place and once once you're able to find a way to manage that ringing, washing or the sounds in your in your head and you're able to start your good sleep cycle, it reduces the stress.

It reduces the the anxiety, it reduces the depression and also reduces some of those issues that you're having during the day because you're fatigued if you have a nice fresh start of the day like a great night's sleep and your tinnitus free during that time and at least when it's managed if it may not be gone but at least it's managed.

>> Yeah, I sleep I if I remember just feeling terrible for her but yeah that is something that I would hope anyone dealing with that would is get it addressed with somebody who knows knows how to help them.

So I like this next question because our family dealt with this Janet has a question about her toddler sister toddler is having speech speech delay.

>> Should I get her hearing checked?

Absolutely.

Do they tend to go hand in hand and that's when I really does and especially today the way that the the technology today allows us to really be able to understand the the child, the child, the hearing loss and how it affects their life as they go along, catching it early, managing it well and having a successful and healthy life as it goes because hearing loss does not have to stop someone from being able to develop the way they should and it may be something as simple as that and having it having that ear cleared out because with my with my little one she has very narrow ear canals and she plugs up with wax very easily and managing that wax or Saruman is was the easiest thing and the most effective way to have her hearing normal again.

And it might be just something as simple as that and having her ears checked and her hearing checked or in your case your son or your daughter's hearing checked.

>> Yeah, I wonder ours were really little when they had to get it checked and I thought how are they going to find out if they can hear anything?

But it was interesting they had like a little monkey that had cymbals.

It was a toy and they had them up in the corners of the room because my one son was maybe like eight months old and I thought how are we going to check his you know, I just couldn't really talk.

>> It was yeah, if he would turn you know, if he turned they knew that he could hear it.

So they have ways they have ways to make it work.

>> I want to make sure that we get another question in real quickly so I'll leave a few minutes left.

Let's see Carl called in and wanted to know is it yes.

Carl, I that was Carey.

>> But Carl, is there any correlation between having a stroke and then experiencing hearing loss is uncommon?

>> Well, I what I see common common is common is a it's a hard to say whether it's common or not because it depends on where the stroke is in the in the geography of your brain.

If it does affect the hearing portion of your brain, yes.

It's going to give you some of some hearing loss and it is a little bit more common than not depending on because there's a there's a very specific nerve bundle.

A lot of times a stroke will will affect one side or the other and that happens to be affected with not just your facial features or your muscular features.

This is also that that auditory nerve runs through that that that bundle of nerves that has ten of them in there that does from the neck up affects everything in from the neck up.

So if you've had a stroke and you are experiencing hearing loss again, there is still management available for that and being able to have bilateral hearing will also help with a lot of other therapies involved with your with your recovering from a stroke.

>> All right.

Great questions.

Really good question.

Oh yeah.

I we have great viewers.

In fact I've been running into a lot of them lately and you're like a rock star in their life I want to tell you that.

But yeah they love they love when you come on.

>> So it's really fun to be on it's really fun.

There's so much there's so much to talk about when it comes to hearing and it comes to hearing health itself that's and and having having the viewers send in their questions because everybody has their own intimate experiences with with their hearing or their hearing loss and most of it is I'm afraid to go in and find out what my hearing is.

It really is important to find a baseline.

It really isn't important to find out what the difference is between hearing and understanding and being able to communicate with the people you love the most and that's the first step.

And if you have someone that is suffering from a hearing loss or is not understanding and crowds or is having difficulty carrying on a conversation at the dinner table or more more importantly not going out because they're not feeling comfortable about it, go with them and lead the way in, show them how much you love them and say let's get at least go get a baseline.

>> Yeah, I mean I know sometimes you say people don't respond well to that when somebody says we need to get this problem I think you have a problem.

But I think like you've said before, if you address it from the issue of hey, I'm doing it because I love you and I want you to be able to hear what I'm saying to you, you know, I think it's a little better way to approach it maybe.

>> Well, there is a stigma when it comes to hearing and hearing loss and hearing aids.

All this goes on hand in hand.

We want to make sure that the stigma is wiped away because we wear glasses.

We've got where therapeutic shoes.

>> There's nothing wrong with being able to be whole again when it comes to your hearing because it is brain health hearing health is brain health and you want to make sure that you have a fantastic LIFE Ahead of you and communication is going to give you that that ability to have that fantastic life .

>> Oh yeah.

And a lot of folks especially does as you said, the impact the 65 and older crowd I mean that's a part of your life .

>> You look forward to retirement, enjoy your grandchildren.

I mean why would you not want to take advantage of having the best experience possible?

>> Absolutely.

I should correct myself when I said talking about my son's hearing test when he was real little it wasn't a real monkey.

It was a toy.

I said well keep it simple.

It is a toy monkey that was playing the symbols.

It wasn't a real monkey so I didn't want to alarm anybody all right.

Well, Ted Blanford, thank you so much and he is going to be coming back again this summer.

So stay tuned.

>> Always an extreme pleasure.

I'm Jennifer Blomquist.

Take care.

We hope that you will join us back here next week for HealthLine again have a great rest of the week and enjoy tomorrow the first day of summer.

>> Bye bye