Since I elected to spend 5 years cutting down trees bent over a chainsaw with my ear three inches from the chainsaw motor, I am pretty used to saying, What? or more commonly, Huh?
Close to a third (29%) of seniors are hearing impaired, and that percentage rises as they get more senior, reaching 47% for those over age 75. But how much of a difference does that make in day to day living?
The NIH Senior Health site lists some: "People with hearing loss have trouble fully participating in everyday life. They may mistake words in a conversation, miss directions or warnings, or leave a ringing doorbell unanswered. Older people who can't hear well may become depressed or withdraw from others to avoid feeling frustrated or embarrassed about not understanding what is being said.
"They may become suspicious of relatives or friends who they believe "mumble" or "don't speak up" on purpose. Hearing loss can cause older people to become more isolated and can even put them in harm's way if they are unable to respond to warnings or hear sounds of impending danger.
"Sometimes older people are mistakenly thought to be confused, unresponsive, or uncooperative just because they don't hear well."
As a techno-optimist, it didn't take me long to find examples of how technology is addressing those with differing levels of hearing loss. Hearing aids are getting smaller, more powerful and more intelligent--but a lot more is going on, as well:
(From the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association)
What are Assistive Listening Devices?
An assistive listening device (ALD) is any type of device that can help you function better in your day-to-day communication situations. An ALD can be used with or without hearing aids to overcome the negative effects of distance, background noise, or poor room acoustics. So even though you have a hearing aid, ALDs can offer greater ease of hearing (and therefore reduced stress and fatigue) in many day-to-day communication situations. Hearing aids + ALDs = Better listening and better communication!
What are examples of ALDs?
Personal frequency modulation (FM) systems are like miniature radio stations operating on special frequencies assigned by the Federal Communications Commission. The personal FM system consists of a transmitter microphone used by the speaker and a receiver used by you, the listener. The receiver transmits the sound to your hearing aid either through direct audio input or through a looped cord worn around your neck.
Personal FM systems are useful in a variety of situations such as listening to a travel guide or book review, in a classroom lecture, in a restaurant, in a sales meeting, or in a nursing homes or senior center.
FM systems are also used in theaters, places of worship, museums, public meeting places, corporate conference rooms, convention centers, and other large areas for gathering. In this situation, the microphone/transmitter is built into the overall sound system. You are provided with an FM receiver that can connect to your hearing aid (or to a headset if you don't wear a hearing aid).
Infrared systems are often used in the home with TV sets, but, like the FM system, they can also be used in large settings like theaters.
Sound is transmitted using infrared light waves. The TV is set at a volume comfortable for family members. The infrared system transmitter transmits the TV signal to your receiver, which you can adjust to your desired volume. Thus, TV watching as a family becomes pleasurable for all. While it is not too loud for family members with normal hearing, the volume is just right for you because it is adjusted by you through your individual receiver.
Induction Loop Systems are most common in large group areas. They can also be purchased for individual use.
An induction loop wire is permanently installed (perhaps under a carpet) and connects to a microphone used by a speaker. (In the case of individual systems, a wire loop is laid on the floor around you and the speaker.) The person talking into the microphone creates a current in the wire which makes an electromagnetic field in the room. When you switch your hearing aid to the "T" (telecoil/telephone) setting, your hearing aid telecoil picks up the electromagnetic signal, and you can adjust its volume through your hearing aid.
One-to-one communicators. Sometimes in a restaurant, nursing home situation, or riding in a car, you want to be able to easily hear one person. Or perhaps you are delivering a lecture or running a meeting and a person in the audience has a question. You can give the person a microphone to speak into. The sound is amplified and delivered directly into your hearing aid (or headset if you don't have a hearing aid), and you can adjust the volume to your comfort level. When using the one-to-one communicator, the speaker does not have to shout, private conversations can remain private, and, when in a car, your eyes can remain on the road!
There are many, many other ALDs such as telephone amplifying devices for cordless, cell, digital, and wired phones; amplified answering machines; amplified telephones with different frequency responses; paging systems; computers; wake-up alarms.
Your audiologist can provide you with additional information on ALDs.
Are there communication devices besides those that assist listening?
Yes, there are visual systems that can be used alone or in combination with listening devices and hearing aids. Persons who are hard of hearing or deaf, or even persons who have no hearing loss, can benefit. There are also alerting devices that signal you when a sound occurs. For example, there are doorbell, knock-at-the-door, or phone alerting devices; fire alarm/smoke alarm devices; baby-crying devices or room-to-room sound alerting systems; vibrating clock alarms; vibrating paging systems; and vibrating watch alarms. Many use strobe light or conventional light to alert you; others use vibrating systems to alert you.
Examples of visual systems include the following:
Text telephones, which allow phone conversations to be typed and read rather than spoken and heard
Computerized speech recognition which allows a computer to change a spoken message into a word processed document
Closed-captioning TV, which allows text display of spoken dialogue (All TVs with screens of at least 13 inches diagonal measurement must have built-in captioning.)
Note taking, which allows a hard of hearing person to concentrate on listening and watching a speaker while a trained person takes notes (This has been used in schools not only for students who are deaf or hard of hearing but also for students who are unable to write.)
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