Researching Hearing Aids: Making an apples to apples comparison
November 15, 2021

Researching Hearing Aids: Making an apples to apples comparison

If the title of this article caught your eye, you are probably thinking about investing in your hearing health by purchasing hearing aids. These days, most consumers do research ahead of making purchases for a host of goods and services, and online searching has made this process easier than ever. Consumers are to be applauded for educating themselves on items they wish to make an investment in, and hearing aid technology is no exception. However, being a savvy researcher and consumer is key.

Perhaps you have seen ads in magazines and newspapers and on TV for mail order hearing aids. Does the radio station you listen to broadcast a 15 second hearing aid spot multiple times daily? Are ads for hearing devices popping up on your smart phone, tablet or computer? Are you being inundated with direct mail hearing aid flyers in your mailbox?

Regardless of the medium, the message is often the same. Consumers should beware of companies with ads that contain wording like Buy-One-Get-One Free, Free Hearing Tests, Large Discounts, Trade-In Available, Seeking Participants for a New Study, Prices you Can’t Pass Up, etc. These advertisements range from being less than 100% truthful to downright dishonest. In fact, many state licensing boards have intervened by enacting strict advertising guidelines for hearing aid retailers in an effort to protect consumers from these misleading and unscrupulous marketing tactics.

While many factors need to be considered when addressing your hearing health, here are two important questions to answer if you are considering purchasing hearing aids based on a TV, print or radio ad, a direct mail flyer or off the Internet

Is a hearing aid the same as a personal sound amplifier product?

No. Hearing aids are Class 2 medical devices approved by the FDA and dispensed and fitted by a licensed hearing professional. Every individual hearing aid is assigned a unique serial number.

While hearing aids and personal sound amplifier products (PSAPs) may seem similar at first glance, they are very different.

A vast majority of the devices offered for sale straight to consumers through online purchase on sites like Amazon or through TV, magazine and radio ads are nothing more that sound amplification products. An amplifier increases all the sounds in a given environment. Imagine it this way: You are in a crowded restaurant. A PSAP will pick up the sound of the clinking silverware two tables away, the crying baby across the room, and the server putting in an order in the kitchen at the same loudness level as you are hearing the voice of your companion sitting across the table from you. There is no nuance of sound. You are bombarded by all of it. In fact, PSAPS were not even designed for people with hearing loss.

Rather, PSAPs were developed to help a user with normal hearing pick up on low-volume sounds or sounds that are at a distance. Think, for example, about the birding enthusiast who wants to boost a specific long-range sound like the song of a bird sitting at a feeder across the yard. Additionally, PSAPs don’t require an audiogram of your unique hearing loss because they are not programmable devices. When consumers try to use PSAPs as a substitute for hearing aids, the hearing loss problem is not being addressed or solved and can lead to further deterioration of a person’s hearing.

By contrast, a hearing aid a is fine-tuned medical device programmed and fitted by a licensed hearing professional, preferably a doctor of audiology , and is customized to the individual wearer’s unique hearing loss based on that person’s audiogram results as well as his or her ear size and shape, reported typical listening environments, lifestyle, etc. In that same busy restaurant mentioned earlier, the hearing aid wearers aids are precisely programmed to automatically detect background noises created by the clinking silverware, crying baby and waiter’s voice so that those sounds are toned down while the voice of the person you are conversing with is amplified and clarified.

 

I have found an online site to buy hearing aids that will program them based on a hearing test I take online or by sending them my audiogram performed by a hearing professional. This is the same as what I would get from an audiologist at a clinic where I can walk in, right?



You’ve done your homework. You know that a hearing aid must be programmed based on your personal hearing test. Now you’ve found numerous online companies that ask you to send them your hearing test. They will program your aids based on your hearing loss and mail them to your home. Problem solved, right? No. Here’s why.


Scheduling a face-to-face appointment with and investing in hearing aid technology through an established audiology practice close to home ensures that you are well-informed regarding your hearing health care, that your treatment plan is tailored to you, that you are offered the latest technology from all the major manufacturers, and that you have an audiologist supporting you every step of the way. Your licensed audiologist will work closely with you to educate and counsel you about your hearing loss, guide your selection of an appropriate hearing aid, set realistic goals for your journey to better hearing, answer questions, and provide the support and counseling you need to be a successful hearing aid user. Ongoing programming adjustments, cleanings and general maintenance will be completed in the office in real time, which is the best way to account for your individual needs and allows you to get right back to hearing the world around you. Comparing in-office visits with a university trained and educated audiologist to an online buying experience is comparing apples to oranges.


While purchasing hearing aids online may be tempting, many potential pitfalls and hidden costs can exist. Keep in mind that online or mail order purchases do not allow you to use health insurance benefits available for hearing aid technology. Crunching the numbers, consumers often find that a reputable,­­­ local audiology practice—that is committed to seeking out and filing your insurance benefits—can often provide a patient with advanced hearing aid technology AND ongoing service and support at a better value than the flashy, bait-and-switch options available online and through mail order. Trying to work with a hearing aid company long distance can lead to unnecessary frustrations e.g., dealing with multiple phone representatives, communicating hearing aid fit issues that actually need visual evaluation, and navigating repair issues by mail.


Additionally, always be sure to research reviews (other than those found on the retailer’s website) and consumer reports before purchasing any item online. Understand that even if you simply register for information from an online hearing aid company, you may inadvertently bind yourself to them. While the online company will refer you to a local hearing aid practice, that practice must now contractually adhere to the online referral source for pricing and services.


Better hearing is a process and support from family, friends and your audiologist is needed to truly be successful as a hearing aid wearer. Making your investment in hearing health with a careful comparison of costs and benefits is key to ensuring you make an apples to apples decision!

Untreated hearing loss is changing your brain

By Jan Hollingsworth • May 16, 2024
Research reveals that hearing loss actually rewires your neural pathways Your Amazing Brain Your brain is an amazing organ! This wrinkly, reddish-pink mass weighs about the same as your two-slice toaster, tipping the scales at about three pounds. Acting as a master control center, your brain enables every thought, breath, eye blink, heartbeat, movement—everything—that happens in your body. Rivaling the world’s most powerful supercomputer, your brain can download, process, and react in milliseconds to the tidal wave of information coming from your eyes, skin, nose, tongue, and ears. Neuroplasticity and Your Sense of Hearing Researchers have discovered that the human nervous system—made up of the brain, spinal cord, and a complex network of nerves—has incredible capacity to modify itself, both in function and physical structure. This is called neural plasticity . Dr. Megan Johnson, audiologist and owner of Johnson Audiology explains, “Neural plasticity is going gangbusters in a child’s brain as the child develops and matures into adulthood. Based on years of brain research, we also know that the adult brain is far from being fixed. It, too, changes and adapts when you learn new information or skills or as a response to stress, hormonal fluctuations, drug interactions, injury, and much more.” Dr. Johnson also relates that “your brain displays neuroplasticity when you experience hearing loss.” By measuring brain waves using an electroencephalograph, or EEG, scientists have studied how the brain of a person with hearing loss functions compared to a person with normal hearing. The results are both fascinating and sobering as studies reveal that, in those with hearing loss, the portion of the brain devoted to hearing becomes reorganized. This can be true even with early-stage, mild hearing loss, and the process happens quickly, often in months rather than years. The Hearing Center of Your Brain and Beyond What is actually happening when this takes place? Your brain has a right and a left hemisphere and six major lobes. Think of your frontal lobe as your brain’s boss, where executive functions like decision making, emotion and impulse control, and planning occur. Your temporal lobe, which contains the auditory cortex, is doing the heavy lifting when it comes to interpreting sounds and assigning those sounds meaning. The temporal lobe processes speech and language, and it is where initial learning of new information takes place, which is the first step for logging that information into memory. Dr. Johnson goes on to relate, “When the delicate infrastructure of your ear has become damaged through noise exposure, infection, etc. leading to hearing loss, your auditory cortex cries out to your frontal lobe, saying ‘Help! Help! I’m not receiving any sound to process, so I feel lost.’ The frontal lobe ‘boss’ jumps to attention, and your occipital lobe, responsible for processing vision and touch, takes over the areas in which hearing is normally processed. In other words, your other senses seek to compensate for the deficit due to the loss of your sense of hearing.” Amazing, right? So, where’s the rub? Picture a car assembly line; each worker has an assigned task. One day, the worker who installs the windshields is absent, and the worker who attaches the rearview mirrors is assigned double duty, and a duty that was not part of job training. It is easy to see how the worker left juggling both jobs is compromised, and a car might slip through minus a rear view mirror. Similarly, the areas of your brain that are being taxed to make up for a lack of hearing are overloaded and less able to do their assigned responsibilities. “This explains why so many of my patients with hearing loss relate feeling exhausted and frustrated after a big family gathering—where multiple talkers and sounds must be interpreted—rather than happy and invigorated by the experience. We call this listening fatigue ,” states Dr. Johnson. Additionally, when left untreated long enough, researchers point to the brain’s reorganization due to hearing loss as a significant correlation with dementia. Hearing Technology and Your Brain “But here's the great news!” Dr. Johnson says. When a person is fit with hearing aids or a cochlear implant and sound is restored, the brain has the ability to adjust back—partially or completely—to proper function. How swiftly that happens often depends on how long the hearing loss went untreated and is why she encourages patients to treat hearing loss sooner rather than later. “Here is what I tell patients who are downplaying the importance of hearing: If you won’t treat your hearing loss for the sake of your ears, do it for your brain!”

Move from the Gunbarrel Road office to a new and larger office will allow Johnson Audiology to help even more people in the Chattanooga region

By Jan Hollingsworth • January 9, 2024
Johnson Audiology is pleased to announce that the practice will be moving one of its Chattanooga area offices from its current location on Gunbarrel Road to a new location at 6830 Lee Highway. The move will take place January 15. “We are extremely excited to be re-locating to a much larger space later this month,” Dr. Megan Johnson, founder and owner of the award-winning practice, says. “About a year ago, we realized that we needed more room to meet the needs of our growing patient base so we could help even more people with hearing loss. We sought a place that would allow us to stay in the East Brainerd/Hamilton Place area so that the office would still be conveniently located for patients. Our Hixson office will remain at 5617 Highway 153, Suite 203 and is also being upgraded with a second sound booth and beautiful new decor. These two strategically located offices mean that we can continue to serve patients who live east and west of the Tennessee River.” Dr. Johnson says that when she identified the building on Lee Highway, she knew it was an ideal site for this next growth leap. “Our company culture is anchored on the premise of always offering an exceptional patient experience,” she says. “Thanks to our wonderful family of Johnson Audiology patients, we have outgrown our current office and have found the perfect location for offering the best care to even more of our Chattanooga neighbors.” The new location offers many positive features that will benefit patients: The office is conveniently located off Lee Highway in the area between Shallowford Road and Hickory Valley Road, directly behind Dr. Keith B. Dressler’s orthodontic practice. It is a stand-alone office that is not shared with any other businesses. The building is more than 4,000 square feet, which is double the space of the current office on Gunbarrel Road. The added square footage will accommodate a spacious patient welcome and reception area, three sound booths for hearing testing, and a private area for patient check-out. The building has exam rooms for four full time audiologists and an audiology assistant, a large front desk area, and a sizeable lab for hearing aid maintenance and repair. The office has ample space for the practice’s growing Cochlear Implant (CI) Program with a dedicated sound booth and exam area just for CI patients. The building design allows for easy circular patient flow throughout the office. The building has a dedicated, 20-space parking lot just for Johnson Audiology patients and additional parking for Johnson Audiology staff. Dr. Johnson mentions that the building was a non-medical office previously, so updates were needed to bring it up to par for a bustling hearing health care clinic. It currently is being remodeled, and the parking lot resurfaced. “We have plans to transition to the new building by January 15 with some final touches to the office’s aesthetics continuing through the spring,” she says.  Dr. Johnson wishes to assure folks that measures are in place to alleviate disruption to the service patients receive during this time and thanks patients in advance for their continued support and understanding during the transition. “The new office is going to be incredible!” she says. Initial correspondence has been delivered to patients about the move. Dr. Johnson says, “Patients who have appointments scheduled in early January or those who need walk-in service for hearing aid maintenance and supplies from now until January 15 should continue visiting the Gunbarrel Road location.” Dr. Johnson says, “In February, we will invite our friends and neighbors in the Chattanooga community to an open house celebration, where we will do an official reveal of the new space!” Johnson Audiology has been faithfully serving the citizens of Chattanooga since the practice opened its doors on October 1, 2009. “As we prepare to celebrate our 15th anniversary this year, the new office location on Lee Highway and the upgrades to the Hixson office are evidence of our commitment to patients.” Dr. Johnson goes on to say, “Chattanoogans have named Johnson Audiology Best of the Best in the category of Favorite Audiologist and Hearing Aid Clinic for 11 years straight. And they consistently name Johnson Audiology in the top three in the category of Best Customer Service among all Chattanooga businesses. We seek to live up to those accolades daily!” Dr. Johnson concludes, “One of our patients, Mr. Van Tenpenny, recently had this to say about us: ‘My visit to Johnson Audiology has been life changing! After decades of hearing loss, I am able to hear normal conversations in any environment.’ It is our highest ideal to be here for Mr. Tenpenny and the thousands of other patients like him who prioritize their hearing for the best quality of life.” Do you want to get on the road to healthy hearing? Johnson Audiology is currently accepting new patients at all locations. Call today to schedule an appointment or book online at www.johnsonaudiology.com/schedule.
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