This Year I Will...

During the last three days back at work, I think that I have written 2010 instead of 2011 nine out of ten times.  I can't believe that we are in a new year already!

January is the month of resolutions.  Things we all do for a week or two, and then find ourselve back in our old ways.  (I wonder just how many people are on diets right now that weren't on them a month ago?)  Why is it that we all make goals that we realistically won't keep?

One simple resolution that can make a huge difference for many people-- not only personally, but to their families as well is the goal to hear better.  Studies have shown that it takes an average of 7 years from the time a person first notices a hearing loss until the time where they actually do something about it.  During those 7 years, gradual changes take place where the person finds themselves less in touch with their family and friends, not as engaged in their work or social lives, and generally socially isolated.

Don't let 7 years worth of damage done by hearing loss affect your life.  We always tell our patients this-- we promise that your hearing loss is much more noticeable then the nearly invisible hearing technology that we have available now. 

"Resolve" to hear better today!!

New Study Indicates New Reason For Age-Related Hearing Loss

Millions of tiny sensory heir cells in the inner ear enable you to hear. Age-related hearing loss involves the death of some of these sensory hair, nerve and membrane cells. Since the hair and nerve cells do not regenerate in humans, their death leads to permanent hearing loss.

Researchers in the USA have now, with the help of research on mice, found out that these sensory hair cells can be destroyed if the so-called mitochondrial membrane, which protects the cells, is destroyed. This can occur if there is too much Bak protein present. Should this happen, proteins can find their way into the cells and break them down, causing the cells to die. Bak is typically induced by oxidative stress and its levels increase as people age.

So if oxidative stress triggers damage and death of hearing-related cells, enhancing the antioxidant defences of the mitochondria should reduce such damage, says postdoctoral researcher Jinze Xu, one of the researchers behind the study.

The studies with the mice show, that older mice without Bak protein have the same good hearing as young mice.

It is estimated that in the USA alone more than 28 million Americans will be affected by the condition by 2030.

Source: www.eurekalert.org, www.pnas.org

Hearing Loss More Likely In Individuals With Chronic Kidney Disease

Individuals with moderate chronic kidney disease (CKD) are more likely to suffer from hearing difficulties compared to healthy people of the same age, researchers have revealed in an article that appears in the American Journal of Kidney Disease.

Researchers from the Universities of Sydney, Melbourne and Macquarie in Australia examined the medical records of 2,564 people aged 50 or more, of whom 513 had moderate CKD.

More that 55 % of all the patients with CKD had some degree of hearing loss. Among people who had no kidney problems less than 30 % had hearing loss. Furthermore, severe hearing loss affected almost 30% of the CKD patients, compared to just 10% of the others.

The figures were adjusted for other risk factors that may affect hearing, such as age, sex, noise exposure, diabetes and more.

Possible explanations

University of Sydney, said:

The link between hearing loss and CKD can be explained by structural and functional similarities between tissues in the inner ear and in the kidney. Additionally, toxins that accumulate in kidney failure can damage nerves, including those in the inner ear. Another reason for this connection is that kidney disease and hearing loss share common risk factors, including diabetes, high blood pressure and advanced age.

What is chronic kidney disease?

Chronic kidney disease is a slow and progressive loss of kidney function. Over a period of several years the condition worsens until eventually there is permanent kidney failure. Many people don't know they have CKD until their kidney function is down to 25% of normal. The main causes of CKD are diabetes and hypertension (high blood pressure).

Source: www.medicalnewstoday.com

Free Hearing Aids For Christmas

Christmas is a time for family. It is a time for music and laughter and enjoying memories with friends and loved ones.


None of these things is possible with a hearing loss.

Timpanogos Hearing and Balance in American Fork is happy to announce that they will be giving away a set of digital hearing devices to one recipient for Christmas—no strings attached.

“We’ve been able to help thousands of people to hear better over the last 7 years, but we realize that there are many more out there who need to hear better, but can’t afford it. I became an Audiologist to help people to hear better—as many people as I can. We are grateful to be in a position where we can give back to the community and help someone who has no other way to help themselves,” says Dr. Layne Garrett, owner of Timpanogos Hearing and Balance.

The hearing devices will be given away based on need and on their ability to truly make a difference in the recipient’s life. You may nominate yourself or someone else. To apply, write a 500 word description of how hearing better could make a difference for the applicant. Attach the person’s name, age, city of residence, and phone number. You can email this information to Christmas@utahhearingaids.com, fax it to 801-763-8282, or mail it to Timpanogos Hearing and Balance 321 E 300 N American Fork, UT 84003.  You can also click here to fill out an online form.

Applications must be received by December 12th.

Men Are More Likely to Experience Noise Induced Hearing Loss

For years, we've known that about 60% of our patients are men.  We've come up with a few theories for this, but recently, we discovered a study that confirms one of them:  men are more likely to experience noise-induced hearing loss.

In the first study of the demographics of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL), researchers found men are 2.5 times more likely to lose their hearing due to noise than women. Over 5,000 participants between 20 and 69 years of age were analyzed with audiometric testing. More than 13 percent suffered from NIHL. Especially white married men are significantly more at risk than women concludes the report which was presented at the 2009 American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO


NIHL is a preventable and increasingly prevalent disorder that results from exposure to high-intensity sound, especially over a long period of time. Researchers hope this study will put more focus on education and prevention and lead to increased screenings for the common problem.

The authors believe this is the first study of its kind to delve in to the demographics of NIHL using the most recent figures from 1999-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES). They believe this information can allow greater education, preventative, and screening efforts.

Source: Ivanhoe Broadcast News and redOrbit

Seriously First Class Hearing

Every few years, something happens in the hearing technology industry which pushes everything forward by leaps and bounds.  Open fit hearing aids did that a few years ago.  Phonak has just released a new product with some features that promise to push that envelope again.  They call it the Ambra.

The Ambra is a true First Class communication device.  We refuse to call it a hearing aid for the simple reason that, if it works as promised, the Ambra will enable a person with a hearing loss to actually hear in certain situations as well as (and just maybe even better) than a normal hearing person.

You read right.  Better.

Here's how they do it.

This is an illustration of standard, monaural directional microphones.  Monaural directional microphones have a broad forward focus (gray beam) enabling improved audibility for all sounds within the beam.  However, they have always had a problem with one-one-one communication in a noisy environment.

 StereoZoom enables the wearer to narrow the beam further and focus on a single speaker, while suppressing other interfering sounds. Communication, even in situations which were considered impossible, is now possible.

The introduction of ZoomControl revolutionized directional hearing and set a benchmark for binaural
processing.  It automatically tracks and focuses on speech, regardless of the direction, without the need to face the speaker. Once activated, auto ZoomControl automatically selects the direction of the dominant speech source.  For example, when driving in a car, the hearing device will focus on whomever is talking-- regardless if they are in the front seat or in the back.

When focusing to one side, the speech signal is picked up and amplified by the instrument on that side; simultaneously the entire signal is streamed to the other ear. As a result, the desired signal is heard in both ears, dramatically improving the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). This unique feature provides natural binaural listening with all of its advantages.

It is this feature that will allow those wearing the devices (even if they have a hearing loss) to have a significant communication advantage in noisy places over those without the device (even those with perfectly normal hearing.)  You may soon find people with normal hearing wearing these devices in restaurants, at trade shows, and in other noisy environments.

We are just fitting our first of these devices this week, but so far the results are encouraging.  We will definitely keep an eye on this technology and let you know if it really is as good as it says that it is!

People With Untreated Hearing Loss Lose As Much As $30,000 Annually

Hearing loss can mean a lower income and higher prevalence of unemployment in people who do not use hearing aids. Unemployment is, however, not higher among hearing aid users than among those with normal hearing. Hearing aid users’ income is also almost as high as among people without hearing loss. This is shown in a study from the USA. The study also estimates that the loss of income for people with untreated hearing loss in the US is $176 billion.


In the US the MarkeTrak VIII study of more than 40,000 households has demonstrated that hearing loss has a deleterious impact on earnings and unemployment rates.

The study shows that there is a $14,100 income differential between subjects with mild and severe hearing loss. People with untreated hearing loss lose as much as $30,000 annually, depending on their degree of hearing loss.

Hearing aids were shown to mitigate the impact of income loss by 90%–100% for those with milder hearing losses and from 65%–77% for those with severe to moderate hearing loss.

The loss in income for people with untreated hearing loss due to underemployment is estimated at $176 billion, and the cost to society is estimated to be as high as $26 billion in unrealized federal taxes.

There was a strong relationship between degree of hearing loss and unemployment for unaided subjects. Those with severe hearing loss had unemployment rates of 15.6%, double that of the normal-hearing population (7.8%) and nearly double that of their aided peers (8.3%). Thus, one would expect that the cost to society of unemployment benefit payments is double that for normal-hearing households, depending on degree of hearing loss.

Unemployment rates for aided subjects were not significantly related to degree of hearing loss.

Source: The Hearing Journal, October 2010, Volume 63, Issue 10