Posts Tagged ‘hearing aids’

Hearing aids for teenagers

Sunday, October 11th, 2009

Certainly there are slight medical and physical differences that need to be considered when discussing hearing aids for teenagers. The ears of teens are different from those of kids or adults. But beyond the sizing and the maturation of the ears, hearing aids for teenagers require their own conversation because of the vanity of teens and what a tough time it can be in a young persons life. Everyone feels a bit akward in their teen years, how does the need to wear a hearing aid fit into this complicated age?

Ideally, if a teen is embarassed by wearing a hearing aid they will be able to afford a small and very powerful aid that will feel less visible to them. This is ideal, but even better would be for everyone, including teens to accept hearing aids. The need to wear hearing aid means absolutly nothing negative about the person yet they are often the subject of ridicule.

Teenagers who have experience with wearing hearing aids and thoughts they can share are encouraged to add to this blog. Please tell us how others can act better to make a tough situation easier. We preach respect and inclusion at hearing aids 1000, certainly the teens of the world should get this message. Growing up is tough enough, the world needs to be more caring and nurturing towards those who wear hearing aids, glasses, braces and more.

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Hearing Aids Blog

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

We are excited to be celebrating the one year mark of the hearing aids blog!! Let’s be honest, it is not always easy to come up with new topics to blog about but it is important to keep writing about heairng aids!

We are very proud about our hearing aids blog and how much we are blogging. We want to uncover every possible article that can be written for hearing aid users but we know this is not possible! We remain humble in our approach. Thank you for reading and participating in this blog, We are proud to be part of your experience. Hearing aids 1000 glad to be here.

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Recycle your hearing aid

Sunday, July 19th, 2009

If you or someone you love is getting a new hearing aid - maybe a nice phonak or siemens hearing aid they may also be getting rid of a hearing aid.

The market for selling used hearing aids is very soft for a number of reasons. People do not like buying used hearing aids because they are such a personal device.

But please make sure no one ever throws away a hearing aid. Please recycle them. Recycle in this sense does not mean send to a scrap heap but rather ‘donate’. Lions club is a leader in helping get used hearing aids to poor people around the world. It is a wonderful thing they do. They are improving thousands of people’s lives by redistributing used hearing aids. Sertoma and Kinghts of Columbus are two other wonderful companies helping to distribute used hearing aids.

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Happy 4th of July - cover your ears

Sunday, July 5th, 2009

Happy Birthday America, I hope it was a good one. We had wonderful weather in Seattle. As we all know, Fireworks are a key part to the celebration of the fourth of July and New Years. The challenge is that many people are comfortable protecting their eyes around fireworks, but very few wear ear protection. No one likes wearing ear plugs and the likes but without them your hearing can be damaged forever and you will need to wear a hearing aid.

The biggest challenge with fireworks and hearing aids is not the big, loud explosions in the distance. Those are not good for your ears but they do not ruin them either. The real danger is the dumb friend who thinks it is funny to light a firecracker right near your ear. One bad joke or an accident and your ears can be damaged forever.

So in the future, please protect your hearing and the hearing of your children when fireworks are being used. No one likes to have to wear protection but it is simply worth it to protect from being forced to use a hearing aid from an accident.

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Hidden hearing aids for women

Monday, June 22nd, 2009

I need some help here. The topic I am about to write about feels a bit charged and I want to handle it properly. The topic is the creation of devices designed at women to ‘hide’ hearing aids. To me, these seem sexist and a bit old fashioned. Am I being too sensitive here?

What did we ever think of the eye glasses with the attached hearing aid? There was even a necklace that somehow hid a hearing aid?? I don’t wear a hearing aid (my Dad does) so I can’t 100% speak for how it feels to have to wear one. You tell me. Is hiding them good or should they be worn proudly similar to eye glasses?

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Montana close to Hearing Aid Tax Credit

Tuesday, April 7th, 2009

It is a ways away but a tax credit for hearing aids in Montana is making progress. Hearings have been held for the credit. It now needs to be approved by the taxation committee before consideration by the entire house.

This is wonderful news for people living in Montana. Ideally this will set in motion tax credits for hearing aids in other states as well. Does anyone live in a state that has a hearing aid tax credit? Montana turns out to be fertile ground for this type of legislation because it is one of the few states not suffering from massive budget shortfalls. Home to just under 110,000 individuals with hearing loss Montana certainly is not the most populated hearing loss state but help to over 100,000 people would be wonderful!

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Don’t Hide Your Hearing Aid!

Monday, March 23rd, 2009

A very cool new initiative is being announced in the world of hearing aids, instead of hiding them, people are choosing to make them an accessory. Millions of baby boomers are coming of age and these people have hurt their hearing at Nascar, rock concerts and more. These people are hip and not afraid to show their personality. These people are using hearing aids that don’t blend in with flesh colors, they are using exciting colors and designs that draw attention to their hearing aids.

This is a beautiful revolution. Hearing aids are nothing to be ashamed of or hidden. The Siemens corporation is making the Vibe hearing aid that is leading the way in this new “be proud” hearing aid movement.

The great thing is that there are real role models in this movement. Bob Wier of the Grateful Dead is wearing a hearing aid in the Vivatone ads recently.

Another feature adding to the hipness of the new hearing aids is that they can be used as phones, ipod devices and more. Don’t think of these hearing aids as old devices for old people. These are cool products that can do many things around sound amplification.

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Wired Magazine takes a hard look at hearing aids

Monday, March 16th, 2009

In a very hard hitting and often accurate article, Wired magazine lets out a load of frustration on the world of hearing aids. In a nutshell they ask - why do glasses work so well to improve vision, cost less than $200, have unchanged technology and are covered by insurance usually WHEN none of that is true for hearing aids?

Hearing aid sticker shock is not uncommon as Wired magazine points out, they can often fun over $3,000. Additionally, hearing aid technology does not improve the situation and is very rarely covered by insurance.

Why are hearing aids so expensive? Wired points out in this article that most all parts of the hearing aid are created from scratch eliminating any benefits from the economy of scale. Additionally, microphones used by hearing aids need to be unidirectional to be good. This adds to the cost as well.

Final shot are the ‘air-triggered’ batteries that begin giving off power once the tab is removed. This is brutal on cost to the users.

All the while, insurance companies are not helping because the problem and need for hearing aids is so massive. Over 30 million Americans could use a hearing aid.

Hearing aids are wonderful but could use a great deal of improvement in many areas.

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Hearing aid battery exciting news!

Sunday, March 8th, 2009

I touched on it a bit in the last post but I wanted to commit an entire offering to the launch of Zero Mercury hearing aid batteries by Energizer. This is a major announcement for hearing aid batteries - a field who has had rather stagnant technological growth over the last decade.

The National Electronic Manufacturers have set a goal of removing Mercury from all batteries by 2011 and Energizer has set the standard by making this announcement as early as 2008! Energizer is now offering the only hearing aid battery that has no mercury to consumers.

Of equaly importance, Energizer points out that the mercury free hearing aid batteries do not drop in performance. This commitment to both the health of hearing aid users and the environment is wonderful to see and the team at Hearing Aids 1000 commends Energizer for this.

This step by Energizer follows the pattern that they set by removing all mercury from from household batteries in 1990. They were the leaders in this movement as well.

Certainly Duracell and other companies will follow the lead set by Energizer in the realm of hearing aids. The sooner the better is our thought on this and until they have, lets all reward energizer by purchasing their hearing aid batteries!

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Eat an Orange and help your hearing

Wednesday, February 11th, 2009

In what seems to be good news for people using hearing aids and also people in general who are worried about their hearing, recent studies have shown that consuming certain vitamins can indeed help protect hearing from both short and long term damage.

In short, if you want to protect your hearing and avoid the need for usage of a hearing aid or worse deafness, eat an orange before you go see a rock show!

Researchers at the University of Michigan have shown that ingesting Vitamin C, Vitamin E, magnesium and others can indeed stave off short term damage caused by excessive sound you find at rock shows, nascar events and more.

Additional research (done at Washington University) shows that the proper ingestion of these vitamins and more can work long term to protect hearing.

It certainly is not an exact science at this point but it is good to know that diet can help protect hearing. This can improve the lives of people currently using hearing aids and others with hearing issues. We will continue to report on these findings as we learn more.

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