 ELLENSBURG — Reed Larsen of Ellensburg finally got a hearing aid for his right ear in 2003, and now says he always wears it when working with people — it’s a necessity.
Larsen, now 62, figures the loss came from working with his father, a veterinarian, when his father was vaccinating mink at ranches in Utah, Wyoming and Idaho. Larson worked from age 12 through 20. Larsen estimates they vaccinated maybe 100,000 a year. “When they get excited in a confined area the mink all start this non-stop, high-pitched squeal,” Larsen said. “It’s extremely loud. It was my job to take them to my dad.” He later worked for 27 years as the stage manager in a concrete-block performance building at the county fairgrounds in Great Falls, Mont. He did the set up, lights and sound for all the shows and concerts. “We had all the big bands — rock, country, everything. The rock bands cranked it up to 140 dB (decibels), and even when I wore headphones I could feel the sound vibrations hitting my body in that concrete box,” Larsen said. “It was incredible. I’m sure it contributed more to my loss.” On top of that were his years of hunting big and small game without hearing protection when shooting. He said the cost of hearing aids caused him for years to hold off on buying one, along with his perception “that they just want to sell me a hearing aid.” “There was something else,” Larsen said. “I guess I just didn’t want to go around looking like an old man with those things.” It was at his wife’s urging and when he experienced severe problems in everyday communicating that finally led to obtaining a hearing aid. “Looking back, I should have prioritized my income and spending to buy a hearing aid much earlier,” said Larsen, owner-operator of an advertising agency, Marketing Solutions for Central Washington. “I just didn’t put enough importance on my hearing.” Larsen is far from alone in struggling with his hearing. Challenges Millions in the aging wave of baby boomers across the country are increasingly discovering they have a hearing loss and grappling with communication challenges. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Communication Disorders (NIDCD), 18 percent of American adults 45 through 64 years old reported having a hearing loss. Statistics indicate the vast majority of inner ear nerve damage for this huge, graying population is from prolonged exposure to loud sounds at work or in leisure and recreation activities. Some attribute this to growing up in the rock ‘n’ roll era and listening to high-decibel bands. On top of that, they’re getting older, and that plays a big factor, too, as hearing naturally declines with age. A recent study and survey by The Ear Foundation indicates baby boomers likely have more hearing loss than previously thought. The study showed half of the nearly 76 million people between the ages of 45 and 59 report some level of hearing loss, or 38 million people. Earlier estimates were that 15 to 20 percent of baby boomers reported losses, a range of 9 million to 16 million. Yet for younger generations, the beat, excuse the pun, also goes on. Just plain noisy Local hearing specialists and studies say more hearing loss cases are expected on the horizon from younger people, including those using for prolonged periods a large variety of devices: personal headphones, iPods, loud car speakers and others. “We live in a very noisy society, in general, because of everything that’s operating around us every day,” said Linda Nelson, a clinical audiologist and owner-operator of Northwest Audiology and Hearing Aid Center in Ellensburg. “Most of the hearing loss we’re seeing is noise induced. “We’re going to see more and more people with losses, with many at younger ages.” Although the survey figures are dated, it shows the trend: from 2000 to 2006, the 18- through 44-year-old age group reported hearing problems increasing more than fourfold, to 6.7 percent of that population, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. The National Health Survey indicated that reported hearing losses for those aged 18 through 44 had increased 17 percent from 1971 and 1990. Although more men than women continue to have a hearing loss, Nelson said she is now seeing more women patients than ever before. In addition, she’s seeing more with mild hearing losses that can be helped with aids that have advanced with technology. Nelson, who has worked as an audiologist for 26 years, attributes this to the younger generations who may take more notice of their hearing because of the higher demand on them for clear communication in their work, relationships and with electronic devices. Technology continues to advance in hearing aids, she said, with programmable, digital aids that are nearly hidden behind the ear with a tiny tube resting in the ear to deliver the sound. Some hearing aids are programmed to dampen the loudest, continuing noise around a person allowing them to concentrate on the intermittent sounds of conversation. They also can shift microphones to reduce noise from behind a person and increase it in front for capturing face-to-face conversations. Serious issue Rod Thompson, of Thompson Audiology and Hearing Aid Center offices in Yakima and Ellensburg, said after hearing tests and consulting with a patient, recommendations for a hearing aid are tailored to meet the specific needs of a person’s total lifestyle in work, leisure and relationships. “It’s never a one size fits all,” said Thompson who said he is a clinical doctor of audiology. “We can’t restore nerve damage, but we can make the most of the hearing ability someone still has with technology.” He said the partner of someone with a hearing loss and other family members are invited to be part of consultations because hearing loss affects a wide range of relations. Nelson said protection of hearing — using ear plugs, sound-stopping earphones, and just turning devices down — is a must as more personal electronic devices are used by the population. She said a major hurdle in treating hearing loss that has yet to be cleared nationally is to have hearing problems regarded as a serious, health-care issue by the professional health industry. Most health insurance plans don’t help to pay for hearing aids when in reality they can help someone’s well being, she said. Hearing loss can create continuing stress in a person’s life, damaged relationships, under achieving in school, anger, problems at work, loss of self esteem and sense of worth and depression. “It’s a real health issue,” Nelson said. “As people lose their hearing they can start to withdraw from family and loved ones, from society as a whole. “That can have a significant effect on your overall health.”
Hearing loss not always an age issue
The following are portions of a Daily Record e-mail interview with Jon Guddat of Kittitas who experienced a hearing loss as a child and has taken steps to deal with the loss with hearing aids as an adult.
Name: Jon Guddat Age: 33 How many years in Kittitas Valley: 13+ What brought you here?: Enrolled at CWU in fall of 1996. How many children do your wife have? 5- and 2-year-old girls, my princesses. When did you first know you had a hearing loss? (It's) Always been monitored consistently since I was a baby. My parents and doctors were very good at documenting and monitoring any changes I had in my hearing. I dealt with earaches and blockage when I was a kid and the focus on my hearing health never wavered. Do you know its cause? Hereditary, I believe. My mother has a significant loss, her father did as well, I believe it went beyond that, too. My father's side doesn't have anything too noticeable. Not sure of the science behind my loss, but it gets much worse during the winter months if I get congested. Right now for instance, I've been battling with a cold that certainly makes it more difficult to hear people who are soft spoken or who do not enunciate well. Without my hearing aids, I'm in trouble, but with them, I'm good. Did you have challenges with your hearing as a kid growing up? Yes, but I don't remember it being as significant as my loss is now. Teachers would mention my difficulty to my parents from time to time and we tried to accommodate that with me sitting at or near the front of the class. My speech was monitored as well during elementary school. How have you accommodated the loss before you got hearing aids? I try to read lips a lot, or I just flat out tell people that I have trouble hearing. Even if I can't hear every word, I usually can pick up key words or phrases that keeps me in the conversation. However, at work with Wells Fargo, I err on the side of caution and never assume what I hear for fear of making a mistake that would affect a client. I find myself paraphrasing clients a lot and asking questions just to ensure I've got the gist of what they're telling me. How and when did you obtain hearing aids? As I got into college I realized that hearing aids were probably going to be a reality in my future, but I didn't give it significant thought until I got married when I was 25. My wife, some family and friends would notice times when I couldn't hear her or even worse, didn't even realize she was talking to me and I also noticed a trend in which I was having problems hearing people. A lot of men and women will joke and say that's a husband's "selective hearing" which is the exact opposite since it upset me that I couldn't hear my wife at times. Without my hearing aids, if someone is talking to me who is standing behind me, I probably won't be able to hear that person. If they're trying to get my attention from another room, forget about it. I finally got my hearing aids at the age of 29, and have had them for 4 years... ... Luckily, Linda Lee Nelson at Northwest Audiology in Ellensburg really took time to, 1. understand my hearing loss, 2. took the time to educate me, 3. referred me to ear, nose and throat specialists and 4. had me try out a few different types of hearing aids before I committed on buying the kind I have now. Interestingly enough, I don't remember having that much of a difficulty hearing people when I was the sports editor for the Daily Record from the ages of 23-26. In sports, you're commonly interviewing people in crowds or in loud places where you're naturally talking a bit more forcefully and, therefore, the louder voice was easier to hear even in a crowd, that and the fact that I was completely focused on that person talking to me. Now as a freelancer where I mostly cover rodeo events, it's still in a "sports setting" that suits me fine. I do all the PA announcing for CWU football and men's/women's basketball games, too. The hearing aids help me enunciate better and speak more clearly. I don't think I have an issue speaking without my hearing aids, but I'm much more aware of my speech when I'm working the PA announcing. What about your perspective on how the aids have helped? There are days when I realize that I would be so hard of hearing without my hearing aids that people would get a better response from talking to a brick wall than talking to me. I find that I still tend to read lips, often times when I don't even need to, it's just a force of habit. But my hearing loss without the assistance of hearing aids would hinder my ability to work well and make it difficult to have simple conversations with people. In your talking to other men or women about hearing loss, is there something they all seem to touch on? People notice my hearing aids and it's common to bring it up in discussion, which I'm completely fine with talking about — why not? What I hear a lot is some hearing aid users complain that every sound is amplified. Based off of what people tell me about their experiences with hearing aids, it seems as though they haven't given themselves a reasonable time to get used to the new sensation of hearing and/or their hearing aids are older versions that don't have the benefit of new technology. The general increase of sound is the case with mine to a minimal extent though. Linda Lee Nelson at NW Audiology ran test after test in her office and also compared that to historical notes and such to ensure my hearing aids were tuned specific to my loss, which improves the efficiency of the hearing aid. I commonly refer to my hearing aids as computers behind my ears. I can't explain the technology, I just know they work. As for the pride thing, I didn't want to be bothered with the inconvenience of finding and buying a hearing aid, but it paled in comparison to the inconvenience of not being able to hear so well. In fact, getting the hearing aids gave me a different perspective on what I was actually missing in conversations, watching movies and TV or just picking up different sounds. I also didn't want people to see my hearing aid behind my ear and, at first, opted for a smaller hearing aid that would fit inside my ear. However, my type of loss coupled with my ear itself would render those types of hearing aids very inefficient. When it comes down to it, it doesn't matter to me if people see it. The first month I had the hearing aids, I was overwhelmed with the sounds I was hearing, which Linda Lee Nelson at NW Audiology warned me of beforehand, but also said that the ears and mind zone out certain sounds as you get used to them, which they have. I can remember very early on, maybe the first day or two I had the hearing aids a situation that ended up being pretty funny: While at work at Wells Fargo, a teller was using our money counter which rapidly counts bills through a machine. The sound was so loud (again, I wasn't used to the new sounds) that I thought someone was shooting a gun in the branch. I didn't hit the deck, but it certainly got my attention. Now it's just a common sound I hear multiple times a day. I also got my hearing aids during the wintertime, so I heard the distinctive sound of studs on winter tires. I can still remember being shocked at how I could hear conversations from a distance where before I wore hearing aids, I couldn't even hear a murmur. We've also regularly checked our two daughters' hearing as well. So far, so good, and I can thank my beautiful wife and her great genes for that! (by kvnews.com)
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