Nova Forum

Where do you fall? Hearing aids are frequently broken down into five groups of technology. This has nothing to do with the size or style of the hearing aid, but with the needs of the individual. This quiz can give you an idea of how advanced the technology would need to be in hearing instruments that are best for you! ***THIS QUIZ IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION AND SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS CONTACT A HEARING CARE PROFESSIONAL BEFORE FITTING ANY HEARING AIDS*** Question 1: Where do you spend the majority of time during weekdays? A. At my residence B. At an office C. At a food service or customer service job D. At a garage, construction zone, shipyard, plant or other trade job location E. I am constantly changing environments at my job Question 2: What activity would you be most likely to do on the weekend? A. Read a book or use an e-reader B. Garden or tend to your yard C. Go to brunch with a few of your close friends D. Attend a get-together for your family, social group or religious group E. Attend a live music concert Question 3: How much do you keep up with modern phones and Smart devices? A. I prefer a landline, flip-phone or desktop computer B. I have a basic smartphone but prefer not to use it C. I have a smartphone or tablet that I use regularly D. I use a smartphone or tablet and sync it with other Bluetooth devices E. I aim to have my house and car completely synced using Smart devices Question 4: How important is it that a hearing aid sounds "true to life"? A. Unimportant, I just want to hear B. I don't care if it's "true to life", but it has to have decent audio quality C. I want a hearing aid to sound natural but if small things are off, that's okay D. I wouldn't wear anything that isn't "true to life" E. I work in an audio career that requires me to have objectively "true to life" hearing Question 5: How often do you eat at a sit-down restaurant? A. Almost never B. Less than monthly C. Monthly D. A few times a month E. Weekly or more Question 6: How important is music in your life? A. I rarely listen to music B. I enjoy quiet music in the background C. I collect CDs or vinyl, or I have a subscription to a streaming music service like Spotify D. I actively seek out new music, both live and recorded E. I play music or am an active member of my local music scene Question 7: Do you ever go out on the town with groups of friends? A. Never B. Not usually, but I may go out with one or two friends on occasion C. Yes, but on rare occasion D. Yes, I go out with groups of friends somewhat regularly E. I try to go out with groups of friends every weekend Question 8: How often do you travel long-distance (100 miles or more)? A. Only for emergencies B. Only during the holidays C. A few times a year D. At least once a season E. More than once a season To calculate your score: Answered "A" - 1 point Answered "B" - 2 points Answered "C" - 3 points Answered "D" - 4 points Answered "E" - 5 points Your score should be between 8 and 40 points. IF YOU SCORED BETWEEN 8 AND 14 POINTS: You are someone with essential needs. Based upon your lifestyle, the most important goal for you is simply to hear in basic environments. If you have been struggling with your hearing for some time, it's possible that you may have withdrawn to a certain degree to make your acoustic environments easier. You would probably do with the cheapest hearing instruments, just be sure you are fitting for the life you want to have, not a life you live due to your hearing difficulties. Hearing aids to look at: Primax by Signia / Inium Sense by Oticon IF YOU SCORED BETWEEN 15 AND 20 POINTS: You are someone with basic needs. Based upon your lifestyle, you may want to look into basic hearing aid features such as noise reduction or directional microphones to help you when you are in more difficult environments, but could probably get by in most places without. You may enjoy Bluetooth features but it's no deal breaker. Hearing aids to look at: Siya by Oticon / Muse iQ by Starkey IF YOU SCORED BETWEEN 21 AND 27 POINTS: You are someone with mid-range needs. Based upon your lifestyle, you are the average hearing aid user. You are in some simple environments, some moderate environments and some difficult environments. While you don't need the highest end of audiological technology, you do need something versatile. You would probably make some use of Bluetooth accessories, or at a minimum, utilize a phone app to adjust your hearing aids. Hearing aids to look at: Opn by Oticon / Picasso by Starkey IF YOU SCORED BETWEEN 28 AND 33 POINTS: You are someone with advanced needs. Based upon your lifestyle, you are more active than most people, but don't necessarily need every bell and whistle. It would be advisable to have a hearing aid with some form of AI, advanced noise reduction, and a windscreen. You may have a level of pickiness about the richness of the hearing aid sound, so it's important to ask your Hearing Care Professional about "channel count" or the number of sounds the hearing aid can process at once. You should make use of Bluetooth accessories and check the compatibility of your hearing aids, your phone and any other Smart devices. Hearing aids to look at: Nx by Signia / Opn S by Oticon IF YOU SCORED BETWEEN 34 AND 40 POINTS: You are someone with premium needs. Because of your lifestyle, career, or preferences with hearing instruments, you should really look at the highest end hearing instruments only. Adaptive AI will need to be integrated into your hearing aid to keep you from making constant manual adjustments. Bluetooth accessories are a must. If you are traveling frequently, you should take a serious look into rechargeability. If you work with audio, it is extremely important to ask your Hearing Care Professional about "handle count", which is the prescriptive points of adjustment. If you have an odd shaped audiogram, you may need 20 or more handles to fit your prescription and have true objectivity. If you can't afford the top tier solution, make a mental note of the features you're willing to go without and discuss those in depth with your provider. Hearing aids to look at: Livio AI by Starkey / Styletto Connect by Signia

The worst reason to continue an unhealthy behavior is fear of stigma. Folks, we live in a cruel world. We live in a world where people judge and form opinions of people's goodness based upon simple notions. In a world where everyone, at some point, struggles with their health, we still fight stigma every day. Merriam-Webster defines stigma as: "A mark of shame or discredit" and claims "stain" to be a synonym. A stigma arises when doing something good for us may bring attention to a not-so-savory health concern. From a personal place, I have always been overweight. When I was a teenager, I was 15-20 lbs overweight, but because children are cruel, it felt like 100 lbs. When I left high school and went off to my undergraduate program, I spent years eating poorly in the dining halls with all my friends, and gained weight. Then I suffered from a serious illness at 20, and gained more weight. I'm about to turn 26, and have just now begun my gym and diet regiment legitimately for the first time. Now I have 60 lbs to lose. It's entirely due to stigma. At no point did I feel that I was "doing things the healthy way" during these 8 years between high school and now. So why would I continue my behavior? Well, I knew that every time I went out with friends and requested no cheese, no fries or no sauce, it would bring attention to the fact that I am overweight and open me up to comments about what I should and shouldn't be eating by friends who don't see my activity levels day to day. I so didn't want to face my weight that I spent years preferring to feel unhealthy and unattractive over doing something about a very fixable health problem. 12 lbs down, 48 to go! Hello friends! Your HAS Rebecca McCarthy here to remind you that no one has the right to comment on your health but you and the professionals, don't be afraid to tell friends to butt out! What in the world does this story have to do with hearing loss? Unfortunately, hearing loss is a stigmatized health problem. It would be naive to state that there are not people out there that still associate hearing loss with being less intelligent, less socially adept, and "a burden of old people". This negative view of hearing loss does nothing good for people suffering from hearing loss. Just like my struggles with my weight, people know that every time they change the volume on a hearing aid, the hearing aid chirps, or they have to remove it because of overexposing settings, it opens them up to unwarranted comments about their hearing or hearing aid. To this day, people fight me on smaller instrument sizes or smaller power matrices because they just don't want to take their hearing by the horns. It hurt me, as a hearing aid specialist, when someone deprives themselves of auditory input to go "down a size", but then again, I have shoved myself into a pair of Spanx many times in my life to go "down a size" instead of working out. We sadly, live in a world of quick fixes. Health requires a lifestyle to back it up. Everyone struggles with something, and if you're the person who knows they need to walk around with earplugs because you have a family history of hearing loss, or work somewhere very loud, there is nothing wrong with that. Earplugs and hearing aids exist to help people, not bring out the worst in people. From the bottom of my heart, I pray that everyone who is avoiding getting help with their hearing because of stigma finds the strength to overcome the cruelty of a world that pushes the unhealthy aside. It feels so wonderful to have control over your health. At times it's incredibly overwhelming, because you are the only one to blame for the missteps that everyone takes on the path to health, but when you have the power to overcome something you are labeled with by our world, nothing can stop you!!!

The oldest populations tend to have the most severe hearing losses, however it can happen for different reasons at different ages. If you are communicating regularly, it's because everyone else is yelling at you. Home may be okay, but even the lightest background noise knocks you out of conversation. TV is jumbled, you probably use a Bose or TV ears to watch it. The phone needs to be on speaker. You have stopped going out to eat or attending parties because it's just too difficult. Unfortunately, it sounds like this person is suffering from a severe hearing loss. It's not a question of whether or not you have a hearing loss. It's a question of whether you could ever do anything about it. It's probably been a problem for so long that it would be overwhelming to fix, right? Maybe at first, but your brain has more plasticity than you expect. Many people don't see the problem until they hit the moderate level of hearing loss, as that is the volume of most communication. Unless you suffered from an infection, medical issue or a sudden hearing loss, you probably know that you have had hearing difficulties for some time. Some people are so convinced that hearing loss is appropriate with aging that they wait decades to do something. Moderate hearing loss is when your hearing becomes a nuisance. Severe hearing loss is when your hearing is now a hindrance. Severe hearing losses may require bigger products, but they aren't necessarily more expensive. What should you look for in a power hearing aid? When you're dealing with power hearing aids, it's important to begin thinking about the pressure in the ear. Power products can emit a lot of pressure at times, and they usually are fit with some kind of earmold to keep the sound in. This requires a bit of a learning curve for your brain. A power BTE or ITE is probably what you need. These products can be a little bit less discreet but are always full function, which means they are a better bang for your buck. Speaking of "bang for your buck", many people believe the most powerful hearing aids are the most expensive. You can actually fit power aids at every level, but there are some things to consider. Frequency compression is a feature that many power aids need, which takes the highest sounds and drops their pitch to reduce the chance of feedback occurring. This may be mandatory to get your best fit, and should be asked about if you know you're severe. Also, consider how loud the hearing aids could potentially make background noise. You may also want background noise reduction to keep the hearing aid from getting distorted. Severe hearing losses require some work. You may not have heard certain sounds in years. Your brain will not pick those sounds back up overnight. Be patient and honest with your hearing care provider about your progress. It's okay if you cannot wear the instruments a full 8 hours the first week. Just build towards realistic goals and work towards an appropriate wear-time. Nova works with mild, moderate and severe patients every day. For more details about our products, click around the rest of the website or call us at 757-222-5991