How Can We Help You Refresh and Renew?

Your team at Elkhart Audiology Rehab is ready to help you! We are happy to clean, dry, reprogram and repair or replace your hearing devices. Not sure what you need? We can give you some ideas with a quick phone call but in general:
• If it has been more than 6 months since your devices had a deep cleaning to suction microphones, dry out receivers or replace domes, it is time!
• If it has been more than two years since you had a hearing test and verification of hearing aid performance completed with real ear, it is time!
• If your hearing devices are more than 4 years old, it is time to consider an upgrade to better technology.

Why does routine hearing care matter? Better hearing means less listening fatigue, social isolation, depression, and dementia. If hearing devices aren’t working well; are “under-fit” for your prescriptive needs, you get less benefit than you deserve. A recent study (University of Southern California) followed participants for 10 years and found regular hearing aid users had a 24% lower risk of death compared to those who had not ever used hearing aids.

You always have options!

Hearing aids typically last 5 years, for some even longer. Variables affecting the lifespan include how well it is built, how well it is maintained, and how much wear and tear this electronic device experiences being worn in your ears at home/work/recreational environments every day. When hearing devices stop working, it may benefit from an in-office repair, or it may require a factory repair. We will always give you your options for service so you are aware of costs and warranty options so you can make an educated decision. If repairs become frequent, or the aid doesn’t seem to be meeting your listening needs, it is time to consider new.

When most folks upgrade, they can’t believe the difference in sound quality or the new features available which make the aids sound better and easier to use. They often say they wish they hadn’t waited so long! It is true, age-related hearing loss is a degenerative, progressive condition that changes as you get older. You may benefit from a stronger device or one that can connect to your TV or mobile telephone to give you more enjoyment and take less effort to engage. We have multiple manufacturers with prescriptive features in affordable price ranges.
We have had two hearing aid new product launches and are happy to complete demonstrations after an updated functional communication evaluation. Call to schedule yours!

❖ Face to face answers to your important questions.
❖ Otoscopic evaluations of your ear canal each visit.
❖ Personalized solutions for your specific listening goals.
❖ A sweet treat and a smile as we gather together.

Why an otoscopic evaluation? Why address questions you have about new symptoms and assess your communication functions each visit? Because prevention, education and best care practices are at our core but caring for you and sharing your hearing journey is what makes it worthwhile!

Video otoscopy is an option in our office- you can see too!

Sharing a story…

I have a colleague who recently shared about her grandma who experienced dementia for the last 10 years of her life. Getting individuals to wear their hearing devices (they can be upset if it gets too loud or too noisy) and not lose them can seem like an insurmountable task on top of other day-to-day activities required to keep loved ones with dementia safe. But hearing properly keeps these individuals grounded and often reduces paranoia. The team at Elkhart Audiology Rehab have had training and are committed to helping those on the path of dementia and will provide solutions for some of the stumbling blocks.

Hearing loss has been found to be the largest modifiable risk factor of dementia. However, we also know having hearing loss does NOT automatically mean you will have dementia. Properly fit hearing devices also won’t guarantee you won’t get dementia. Lindsey’s Grandma had great hearing aids, but a series of mini strokes were thought to lead to her dementia. Strokes are not a modifiable risk factor for dementia, but hearing loss is.

You need to hear to prevent social withdrawal; you need to hear before you can understand. Wearing hearing aids is the simplest way to be sure there is access to the information needed to stay connected to the activities and people we love. The picture above is from 2004 of me with my grandma and her grandchildren Jonathan and Elizabeth at one of her last birthday parties…at 86, she still had normal hearing, some memory concerns but ALWAYS loved to visit, share stories and her ice box cookies.

Did you know you can get help to hear from your cell phone?
❖ Sound Recognition feature can notify you when your phone detects 15 different sounds,
like a timer beeping or doorbell ringing with a visual notification.
❖ Sensory alert feature lets you set a visual or vibrating alert for incoming calls, texts,
email and calendar notifications.

Are you hearing your heartbeat through your ears?

Rhythmic thumping or whooshing you can hear, often in time with your heart-beat, can be a symptom of several things and is referred to as pulsatile tinnitus. An increase in head noises can be due to a simple conductive problem (i.e. wax blocking your ear canal) that intensifies head noises. There are over 200 medical conditions associated with the symptom of tinnitus including: aneurysms, Meniere’s Disease, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and a Glomus Tumor (benign mass fed by blood vessels). As your audiologist, I am trained to complete a thorough otoscopic evaluation, and ask specific questions about tinnitus as part of your hearing evaluation so I can assist your physician with a differential diagnosis. I can also help with treatment to reduce the annoyance from the head noise. If you have questions, please call for a hearing evaluation or tinnitus consultation. There is not a cure; there is more than one option to help!

Common drugs that can cause or increase tinnitus symptoms: Aspirin, Motrin, Naproxen, Lasix, Alka Seltzer, Pepcid, Pepto-Bismol, Phenergan, Vasacor, Viagra, Zithromax, Zoloft, and Zyrtec.

Growing Pains…

Many of you have been with Elkhart Audiology Rehab close to 14 years. I want to thank you for your suggestions, trust, and patience as we have navigated hearing health care together. The services we provide have expanded to include personalized selection and verified hearing devices, cerumen removal, tinnitus management, cochlear implantation activations and the rehabilitative support accompanying them.

EAR started with one provider and one support staff person and now there are two providers and 3 support staff and tele-health! This means you may have experienced some bumps along the way-growing pains if you will- as team members get integrated to provide the “secret sauce” needed to ensure your success. Not everyone stays on the team. You may not always see the same provider. One of the office team may now be trained to help rather than seeing an audiologist, but rest assured your hearing success, feeling cared for and listened to are at the core of our mission. We hope to delight you, provide refreshing service, but if you are ever disappointed or discouraged, please reach out and we will work together for a solution. Cheers to many more years!

Sharon, Deb, Jill, Chelsea and Barb