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Episode 2111 Transcript:

00;00;01;01 - 00;00;09;11

Announcer

Ladies and gentlemen, this is America's Healthcare Advocate broadcasting coast to coast across the USA.

00;00;09;18 - 00;00;17;08

Caller

Cary, it's a pleasure to be with you. And I do have to say, you are the most knowledgeable about health policy just superlative.

00;00;17;10 - 00;00;21;18

Announcer

And now America's Healthcare Advocate, Cary Hall.

00;00;21;20 - 00;00;41;01

Cary Hall

Hello, America. Welcome to America's Healthcare Advocate show broadcasting coast to coast across the USA here on the HIA Radio Network. Thank you for joining us, for making us one of the most listened to talk shows throughout the United States. We thank each and every one of you in our listening audience and all of you to join us on our podcast and also on our YouTube channel.

00;00;41;07 - 00;01;00;10

Cary Hall

I want to give a little shout out to 98.7 WBFD in Bedford, Pennsylvania. They are our newest affiliate for on their Saturday mornings, I believe at 9:00, if I'm not mistaken. But welcome to the America's Healthcare Advocate family. We're happy to have you on board. And hello to all the folks in Pennsylvania listening to us.

00;01;00;12 - 00;01;18;00

Cary Hall

America's Healthcare Advocate is a show, but we separate fact from fiction on the subject of health care. Today's show is going to be one in the series that we have done on hearing issues as they affect everybody, not just those of us that are seasoned citizens. So Shannon Schneller is joining us from Focus Hearing, welcome back.

00;01;18;01 - 00;01;18;24

Shannon Schneller

Thank you for having me.

00;01;18;25 - 00;01;40;09

Cary Hall

She is the owner of Focus Hearing. He's been in his business for 25 years. And we're going to talk about all things associated with hearing and hearing loss. Now, you know, here's something interesting. They actually are able to connect with and help about 12% of the people in this country that have a significant hearing loss. 12%. So, you know what that means.

00;01;40;12 - 00;02;01;07

Cary Hall

Conversely, 78% of the people are not getting help, okay? They're not doing anything to solve their hearing loss problem. You know, I wear two hearing aids, both of which came from Focus Hearing, by the way, and they do a wonderful job of testing and getting you set up and doing everything you need to do. But, you know, I got to tell you it, for a lot of years, I didn't do this.

00;02;01;07 - 00;02;17;11

Cary Hall

And I, you know, my wife would say, can you turn the TV down? It's really loud or I wouldn't hear somebody in a restaurant like I needed to. And the problem was, I was. I still have hearing, but it wasn't what it used to be. Well, I got tested and found out. You know what? You've got a problem.

00;02;17;11 - 00;02;35;09

Cary Hall

And I was able to get to great hearing aids. A company called Phonak that that, Shannon connected us with. And they actually installed these horse guards set up on our computers. The whole nine yards. And they made a huge difference. I hardly do anything without these hearing aids now, so I thought we'd talk a little bit about that.

00;02;35;12 - 00;02;46;05

Cary Hall

It's just amazing to me that when I ask you what what the number of people with hearing loss and how how many people are getting help and how many are 12%, right, that's not good.

00;02;46;06 - 00;03;00;14

Shannon Schneller

No, that's our market penetration and averages 12, 15, 16. We just can't ever seem to get over that hump, whatever that factor is. But of all of the population that has hearing loss, that's the percentage is actually stepping up to get help.

00;03;00;16 - 00;03;21;17

Cary Hall

You know? And here's the thing you don't want to think about this is this is like any other handicap, but you can't see it doesn't it? I'm so, so if you had you know, if you had drop foot. Okay. Or if you had, you know, some other physical malady that you could see, then you would obviously you'd want, you would want to get it taken care of for a whole host of reasons.

00;03;21;19 - 00;03;42;17

Cary Hall

This one you can't see. And and, you know, it's remarkable to me that people don't rate. And I know some people who actually refuse to do this. And most of it is vanity. Just happens to be a couple of women I know that won't do it. And, and and it's unfortunate because you're, you're creating a huge series of problems for yourself.

00;03;42;20 - 00;03;43;14

Cary Hall

So let's talk about.

00;03;43;16 - 00;03;47;10

Shannon Schneller

Well, let's talk about your personal experience. What were some of the reasons why you waited?

00;03;47;11 - 00;04;11;06

Cary Hall

Well, first of all, as you know, I'm deaf in one year because he had a brain tumor back in 1985, and I lost all that hearing. So I'm already handicapped enough, because I can only hear on one side and I can't hear on the other. And that's a real nightmare. If you're in a restaurant setting and you're sitting at a circular table, or you're sitting in a place where you got somebody next to you and you've got other people across you, and you can't hear one of them because they're all the wrong side of you.

00;04;11;11 - 00;04;28;01

Cary Hall

Or when I go to eat at the restaurant, I have to sit on the side where the waiter is going to come so that I can hear what they're saying. Not now. And I only be like, here's the other thing. I was so stubborn about this. I know you're laughing because you know I was going to say this. I only would I would only wear one hearing aid for the longest period of time.

00;04;28;02 - 00;04;47;25

Cary Hall

You convinced me to try the second hearing aid, which now, even though I don't have hearing in this ear, moves the sound that I hear on this side of my head over to the hearing on this side. So it solved that problem. So for me, you know, I it's funny because the other day I had three back to back Zoom conferences and I forgot to put the hearing aids in.

00;04;47;27 - 00;05;09;19

Cary Hall

I literally stopped one of the conferences and said, I gotta run upstairs to get my hearing aids. I'll be like that, right? Because... I can hear them, but I couldn't make out the words, well, you know, and the other thing is, I can take this phone and this app that I have, which is absolutely amazing. This is the Phonak app and now I can actually adjust just so the camera sees this.

00;05;09;22 - 00;05;30;12

Cary Hall

You see where it says speech and noise. I'm doing a radio show. So I set it on the speech noise so I can hear and enunciate. It helps me and my speaking. I can also hear everything Shannon saying to me or Dave and Garner. So that's that's one of the marvels of this system, the way it works. So for me, it's been a godsend because it's made a huge difference.

00;05;30;12 - 00;05;50;06

Cary Hall

Absolutely huge. You know, here's the other thing that you're talking to, folks that, you know, have a hearing issue, mostly seasoned citizens, right? Hey, do you do you do closed captioning all the shows that you watch. Well, I don't have to do closed captioning Mark because I actually know what the hell they're saying, right? So, you know, it's just there's a whole series of things that surround this issue.

00;05;50;08 - 00;06;06;23

Shannon Schneller

And you, you speak the truth about the physical load, the mental load to pull off your hearing loss instead of just fixing it. Yeah. It's like you don't realize over time the things you have to do to accommodate your hearing loss, the lip reading, the leaning, oh, I've got to sit on this wall. I've got to be here.

00;06;06;23 - 00;06;13;19

Shannon Schneller

I'm just not even going to go because I don't hear well, all those things that arise from just not treating it.

00;06;13;22 - 00;06;19;24

Cary Hall

Yeah. And the sad part is, I mean, in reality, this is simple to fix this. Yeah.

00;06;19;27 - 00;06;36;04

Shannon Schneller

It can be. Yeah. Yeah it is. And I hear a lot of my clinic about a patient in front of me. Well, I'm not that bad. You don't want to get to that bad because then you're making this huge jump back to normal. That really is unnecessary if we just catch it earlier.

00;06;36;04 - 00;06;48;14

Cary Hall

Well, here's the other problem. And it is that if you don't take care of it, and I've had this conversation with several people, it gets progressively worse. Yes. You know, explain a little bit about that. We go to break here in about three minutes.

00;06;48;14 - 00;07;13;27

Shannon Schneller

Okay. Let's talk about how untreated hearing loss, what effects that has affects your cognitive function your social overall just relationships and interactions. And it really is your overall well-being because you're reducing your ability to actively be around people and engage. So then you start to isolate, withdraw. And I know we'll discuss that a little bit further about how all of that can affect you and your overall well-being.

00;07;13;27 - 00;07;30;09

Shannon Schneller

But early detection really can be so important because you can catch things earlier. So much easier to dig yourself out of a hole when you're only knee deep than when you're chesty. And that's a good correlation to hearing loss. It's like a smaller step back to normal is just an easier transition for you.

00;07;30;12 - 00;07;59;04

Cary Hall

But again, you know this this is my understanding. If you don't treat it. Here's what Lori was told that if she didn't treat this, that she was going to have a continuing further loss of hearing by treating it, you're stopping that, correct? Okay. That to me that's critical. So not only are you creating all these additional problems for yourself, isolating yourself, all the things that we talked about, you know, not going to an event for having a problem, understanding people on top of all that, you're continuing to degrade.

00;07;59;04 - 00;08;08;12

Cary Hall

You're hearing that it gets to a point where maybe you can't do a lot about it. And to me, that's a real tragedy. Correct. Because this is not you know, this is not you have to go in for a surgical procedure.

00;08;08;13 - 00;08;08;28

Shannon Schneller

No.

00;08;09;00 - 00;08;22;18

Cary Hall

Or or you're wearing some cumbersome device that you know, that, that you can't even see these things. Okay. So to me, it's very unfortunate that people to understand that and take that part. And I think that's part of why we're doing these shows.

00;08;22;20 - 00;08;39;29

Shannon Schneller

Untreated hearing loss. It just leads to that atrophy of that neurological pathways between the air in the brain. So if if sat there not being used and stimulated the brain gets a little lazy. So then we do reactivate it with the hearing aid. We need to know what that result can be because if it sat there for years and years and years.

00;08;40;01 - 00;08;50;14

Shannon Schneller

Sometimes we can't get you back to normal, and that's just part of the expectations we need to set for you. Like how long have we waited? How long is this atrophy? What can we get you to?

00;08;50;21 - 00;09;10;11

Cary Hall

And you know, the sad part is it doesn't have to be that way because the whole point, that's why we're doing the show today, we're going to talk a lot more about these issues and how it affects cognitive health. Okay. And if you're a seasoned citizen, that's certainly something you want to be concerned about and certainly something that you need to take into consideration on whether or not you're treating your hearing loss.

00;09;10;11 - 00;09;31;10

Cary Hall

If you want information, if you'd like to connect with Shannon, you can do so at myFocusHearing.com, 913-380-4200. They have two locations. You can easily get to them and they'd be happy to help you. We'll be right back after the break. Your listening to America's Healthcare Advocate broadcasting here on the HIA Radio Network host Coast Cross, USA.

00;09;31;11 - 00;09;40;09

Cary Hall

Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back.

00;09;40;12 - 00;09;44;04

Cary Hall

00;09;44;07 - 00;10;04;01

Cary Hall

Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocates Show, broadcasting coast to coast across the USA. My producer today, Mr. Garner Cowdrey, who is behind the microphones here at our Cumulus Studios in Overland Park, Kansas, and Dave Thiessen, man behind the cameras, who puts all these shows together, puts them up on all of our on our YouTube channel and on all 17.

00;10;04;01 - 00;10;21;06

Cary Hall

We're now on 17 podcast channels. So Dave does all that work. And if you want to see one of these shows, you want to share this with somebody. Hey, maybe you've got a husband who's stubborn, kind of like I was, okay? And, you know, is having a problem. You might want to have him listen to this broadcast and find out.

00;10;21;06 - 00;10;46;27

Cary Hall

You know what? You got a real problem, pal. And, there's a simple way to fix it. This is a great way to do it. Contact the people at Focus Hearing the website is myFocusHearing.com 913-380-4200. They are more than happy to help you. 913-380-4200 you know, we were talking break there for a minute and you were your talk about gradual losing of hearing.

00;10;46;29 - 00;11;13;01

Cary Hall

And I kind of look at that. You don't really realize that this is going on and the effects around you. So in other words, you don't know what you don't know. Correct. Because you don't know that you're not hearing this or that you're not getting all the conversation. Or maybe it's something actually important to do with your work, or, you know, your family or planning or whatever the case may be, and you think you heard one thing, when in reality something completely different was said.

00;11;13;01 - 00;11;16;16

Cary Hall

So let's just talk about that, because that's that's kind of interesting.

00;11;16;19 - 00;11;26;15

Shannon Schneller

Well, hearing loss, the nature of the beast is because it's so gradual. You don't realize where you're at. It's very common for a first time hearing test, the patient come in and we're already at moderate hearing.

00;11;26;15 - 00;11;27;28

Cary Hall

Loss, which is where I was.

00;11;27;28 - 00;11;47;03

Shannon Schneller

And that's because of how it happens. You just don't have a reference to normal. Your everyday degradation where you exist is your normal. And then your loved ones are complaining. Your spouse, your partner. Now I said 10 not 2 and then it just kind of comes into your mind like, maybe I'm really not hearing the way that I could be.

00;11;47;06 - 00;11;51;18

Shannon Schneller

And then by the time you you realize where you're at, it's typically at moderate hearing loss.

00;11;51;21 - 00;12;09;22

Cary Hall

So we touched on this a minute ago. Let's go into this a little further. If you let this go, the 78% of you out there that are not paying attention to this issue, if you let this go and you're 45 years old and you're starting to have a problem or 50 years old, where are you going to want to put your 65 to 70?

00;12;09;25 - 00;12;34;09

Shannon Schneller

I can't help you as much as I could before because it's all about, where can I take you? What does that neurological pathway between your ear in your brain look like? Once we get a hearing aid on it. And that's why it's so important to catch it early. The impact on your mental health, untreated hearing loss. We all know the links between hearing loss, untreated depression, anxiety, isolation, and just addressing your hearing.

00;12;34;09 - 00;12;54;02

Shannon Schneller

It just overall improves your quality of life, your your interactions with your family. You know, you're you're wanting to engage, you're wanting to have that social interaction. And when you're frustrated and it becomes so much work to pull that off, what's your first reaction? You just kind of want to pull away. I'll just not going to go or don't.

00;12;54;05 - 00;12;55;06

Shannon Schneller

I'll catch you next time.

00;12;55;06 - 00;13;18;09

Cary Hall

So I'm standing in my son in law's, mother's farm up in Washington and my daughter and his two children are there in the room, and she's talking to me, and I'm not even hearing this. She does the before I get the hearing aids. I'm not even hearing that she's talking to me. And Sean goes, Cary, Cary, Evelyn's talking to you, right?

00;13;18;09 - 00;13;37;22

Cary Hall

Oh, and there she was standing right in front of me, talking to me. And I had no idea she was talking to me. That was kind of a wake up call. Okay, you know, I've got six grandkids, all right? And whether it's Clara or Evelyn or Jack or or or or Jonah or, you know, whoever it may be, or Skye, you know, they all have.

00;13;37;22 - 00;14;00;17

Cary Hall

They all want to talk about something. Okay. And when you can't hear them, okay. Or worse yet, if you hear them and you can't understand. But that was another problem. I can hear them. They don't speak that clearly. Especially they're all under the age of of seven. If that gives you any idea. So having said that, it's, you know, they don't necessarily speak that clearly well trying to understand what they are saying.

00;14;00;25 - 00;14;06;09

Cary Hall

If you can't understand it, distinguish it and hear it, then you got it right. You've got a compounded problem.

00;14;06;09 - 00;14;09;17

Shannon Schneller

Well, there's a big difference between hearing and understanding.

00;14;09;17 - 00;14;10;11

Cary Hall

Okay.

00;14;10;13 - 00;14;27;19

Shannon Schneller

You know, most of my patients can hear, but can they understand the conversation. Absolutely not. And it's just like with your glasses you take your glasses off. I can still see. I'm not that bad. But when you put your glasses on oh my gosh, I can read that sign over there. And it's just adding that clarity in that layer of understanding.

00;14;27;21 - 00;14;34;25

Shannon Schneller

Going back to that conversation that you missed, they might be thinking, oh, grandpa was just ignoring me.

00;14;34;28 - 00;14;35;18

Cary Hall

Yeah.

00;14;35;20 - 00;14;44;26

Shannon Schneller

Correct. You know, it's not that you chose to ignore them. You just didn't hear them. On the flip side of that, well, he's not engaging with me. Maybe I just won't have that conversation with him.

00;14;44;28 - 00;14;45;23

Cary Hall

Yeah.

00;14;45;25 - 00;15;07;13

Shannon Schneller

That's terrible for your relationships. Yeah, and we can. It's easy to fix. The hard part is self-reflection and realizing where you're at and being honest with yourself about it, you really need help, and of coarse 99% of the process is getting your toes on my carpet. Yeah, because if you can't accept what's going on, it makes it a hard treatment process.

00;15;07;15 - 00;15;09;08

Shannon Schneller

Yeah, it really does.

00;15;09;10 - 00;15;42;02

Cary Hall

And believe me, okay, if you're listening to this, you've got the problem and you're not treating it. You know who I'm talking to? Okay? You know, you're hearing it from your wife. You're hearing it from your children. You're hearing it from your grandchildren. Maybe the guys you go to the VFW with, or maybe the ladies at the women's church social, whatever the case may be, if you're not paying attention to this, you know you're getting the signs that there's a problem, and then you have to take the initiative to do, you know, I guess with the from the quality of life standpoint, I would have to say that the difference it's made for me has been night

00;15;42;02 - 00;16;01;07

Cary Hall

and day. I, like I said, I can't operate without these things. Now I can show here, I can take them out of here. But it's not the same. It's not the same clarity, it's not the same volume. You know, I can adjust this when I go into a restaurant. There's a setting on here. It says restaurant and I just set it for restaurant.

00;16;01;07 - 00;16;23;08

Cary Hall

and it tones the sound down significantly so that I'm not. If I'm sitting at a table, I'm not hearing everybody's conversation around me, which is a real problem. If you ever hearing aid at a restaurant, you're listening to somebody two tables over. You're talking about something. It has no no relationship to what you're in the restaurant for. So so to me, you know, this particular one and we'll talk about this.

00;16;23;08 - 00;16;41;14

Cary Hall

We come back from the break this particular hearing aid because of all these fabulous settings that it has. And the way that it works, like I said, it's I can't be without it. The minute I don't have it on, I'm like, or if I drive out of the house and I forget to put them on, I'm like, I've got to go back, I forgot.

00;16;41;16 - 00;16;48;27

Shannon Schneller

Yep. Yeah. And you live in a great time hearing aids now technologically advanced. I mean the things that we have now, we didn't have five, six years ago.

00;16;48;27 - 00;17;07;23

Cary Hall

This particular one, the Phonak, and we can talk about this after we come back from the break, to me is amazing. And I had other hearing aids. They did not work like this. They were okay but they didn't give me the kind of control that this gives me. Right. And what I and I can adjust the volume on this down. You know, I can do a host of things that just.

00;17;07;23 - 00;17;15;01

Cary Hall

I couldn't do before. That, you know, it was worth every nickel that I spent on this. And I wouldn't be without it. Because this works so well.

00;17;15;02 - 00;17;19;08

Shannon Schneller

Well, you're not having to accept the best average anymore. Everywhere you go, you can go

00;17;19;11 - 00;17;19;28

Cary Hall

That’s interesting, I didn’t think about that.

00;17;19;28 - 00;17;31;13

Shannon Schneller

You can go in. Oh, I mean, I want this, I want this, and the next table over next visit you have what I need this and this. We didn't have that before. So I understand the stigma that hearing aids weren't very good.

00;17;31;16 - 00;17;44;17

Shannon Schneller

When I first started doing this, I had a “trim potentiometer screwdriver”. That's all we could do. So to think about where we are now and the ability that we have to help with your issues. And it's a great time to wear hearing aids because of technology.

00;17;44;20 - 00;18;05;02

Cary Hall

Yeah, it is. And, you know, there's this setting on here for TVs. There's a setting on here for music. So there are all kinds of different settings on here that help you adjust these hearing aids to whatever situation you find yourself in. If you want information, the website is myFocusHearing.com. Phone number 913-380-4200.

00;18;05;03 - 00;18;25;18

Cary Hall

You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate broadcasting here on the HIA Radio Network. Coast to coast across USA. We'll be right back. Don't go anywhere.

00;18;25;21 - 00;18;45;15

Cary Hall

Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate show broadcasting coast to coast to coast USA. Here on the HIA Radio Network. You can find out more about us by going to our website. America's Healthcare Advocate.com I just got an email the other day, lady who's got a son she needs health insurance for. If we can help you with that, please send us an email.

00;18;45;20 - 00;19;05;01

Cary Hall

I'll refer you probably to the folks over at RPS Benefits by Design. They do a great job. They can handle anything anywhere in the country and they are extremely competent people. So once again, if you do have questions about health insurance, if you have a question about anything else, if it's a medical issue, they need to know where to get treatment or whatever the case may be.

00;19;05;01 - 00;19;27;03

Cary Hall

Send me an email. I'm happy to help in any way that I can. The website America's Healthcare Advocate.com once again in studio with me, Shannon Schneller here from Focus Hearing. You know, I always tell you when I'm doing the Medicare shows don't call the number on TV, don't call Joe. Nameth’s phone number. Okay. Don't call William Devane if he isn't selling gold coins.

00;19;27;10 - 00;19;54;16

Cary Hall

Okay. Don't don't call. You know, because you're going to get a call center somewhere with somebody that doesn't know anything about your geographic area in terms of providers, what's available, what makes most sense? Well, you know, those TV ads for hearing aids, it's the same thing all over again. Let me explain. You're going to go by something sight unseen off the TV because you think it's cheap, and they're telling you it's going to be a really great hearing aid.

00;19;54;19 - 00;20;02;24

Cary Hall

You're not being tested, you don't know how to adjust it, how it's going to work, and you've got nobody to walk you through the process. Why is that not a good idea?

00;20;02;29 - 00;20;05;25

Shannon Schneller

Well, it's an answer. It's not the best answer.

00;20;05;25 - 00;20;07;00

Cary Hall

Okay.

00;20;07;03 - 00;20;11;06

Shannon Schneller

It's really about we need to know what you're hearing levels are. The hearing tests.

00;20;11;06 - 00;20;12;01

Cary Hall

So you do the test.

00;20;12;01 - 00;20;31;08

Shannon Schneller

Of course. Of course. We need to know exactly what we're dealing with. Is it volume? Is it clarity, speech understanding. How well do you hear in crowds? Those are all completely different situations and issues. So we put all that information together to make a recommendation, pairing that with where you go, what you do, how socially active are you, what's important to you.

00;20;31;10 - 00;20;55;20

Shannon Schneller

Those two hours at church, is that the highlight of your week? Are you playing cards? Am I going to the casino? What's important to you? What do we really need to address? That is the key factor to getting you here. Because if I can't help the things that are important to you, then what's the point? But getting a hearing test is key, because when you have a prescription and I know exactly how to fix it, if we don't have that, you're just got a straight amplifier.

00;20;55;20 - 00;21;03;04

Shannon Schneller

Everything's turned up, turned down. You're over amplifying where you may not need it, and then you're not getting enough amplification where you do. It's just not ideal.

00;21;03;07 - 00;21;06;23

Cary Hall

And so it affects the effectiveness of what you're doing.

00;21;06;26 - 00;21;10;11

Shannon Schneller

And then it just it keeps a stigma of hearing aids don't work.

00;21;10;14 - 00;21;26;08

Cary Hall

And then yeah. And Dave’s telling us off air during the break of you know family members that, you know, either have a hearing aid that doesn't work or don't have hearing aids at all. And, and the ones that have it that don't work, you're telling me they're all no good? They're not any good. The bit they're buying up off TV.

00;21;26;09 - 00;21;44;01

Cary Hall

Right. So you know what I'll say to you? You're not necessarily going to save more money. Maybe. Maybe not. Okay, but you won't know that, if you don't get tested and you're not going to get tested. So how are you going to know if you're getting the optimum value for what you need in terms of affecting your hearing?

00;21;44;06 - 00;21;46;03

Cary Hall

So to me, that's critical.

00;21;46;05 - 00;22;01;21

Shannon Schneller

Sure. I mean, some patients do better than others. And there's lots of factors to that. What is the degree of your loss? What are we what's the monster that we're dealing with? How big of a jump back to normal do we need to make? Bring up adaptation is a crucial factor.

00;22;01;23 - 00;22;09;22

Shannon Schneller

What is the duration of your hearing loss is related to how well you can adapt back to a normal hearing set.

00;22;09;25 - 00;22;25;17

Shannon Schneller

The neuroplasticity of the brain. How can it react to hearing better again? It's atrophied if it's out there for years and years and years, our whole system is atrophied. What can it do when we activate it? Sometimes I can't get you back to normal, and that's directly related because we waited too long.

00;22;25;20 - 00;22;31;08

Shannon Schneller

So it's my job to give you a fair expectation of what I can and what I can't do for you and why.

00;22;31;10 - 00;22;51;03

Cary Hall

So let's talk a little, switch gears and talk a little bit about, the technology and what's available now. You mentioned in one of the previous segments that, you know, five years ago you couldn't do this, you couldn't do that, you could do something else. And then off break, you said, I said, so, hey, this Phonak that I have, which, you know, in my opinion is an outstanding device.

00;22;51;06 - 00;23;04;00

Cary Hall

And you said, oh, there's a new one with upgraded tech, you know, like, I want to know what that is. Right? So talk about let's just talk about that in general. And then the different brands that you sell. And then and then you can chat a little bit about this for sure.

00;23;04;02 - 00;23;24;15

Shannon Schneller

Well if you think about this, how your cell phone changes in 5 to 6 years, it's very comparable to what your technology changes and hearing is. We have all these wonderful sound engineers that are constantly working on making your hearing aids better. So when we launch a product, that's typically something that's been in research and development for a good 3 or 4 years.

00;23;24;17 - 00;23;44;08

Shannon Schneller

So all of that time and care and technology and engineering that they have put into that once they launch it, and it's just an exciting time to be wearing hearing aids right now, because the things that we can do, you're going to be hearing better in crowds. You've got directionality, you're going to have better clarity. You've got your app that's that's become so huge.

00;23;44;10 - 00;24;01;01

Cary Hall

I didn't have this on my first. I had two. This is my third set of hearing aids. The first two that I had, which I did not get at Focus Hearing, okay. It was one of these national places that I went to, and believe me, it was not the same. I couldn't adjust them, couldn't do anything with them. Drove me nuts.

00;24;01;01 - 00;24;07;15

Cary Hall

And I didn't wear them all the time because I didn't like them. This is a complete I found what works for me. Right.

00;24;07;18 - 00;24;23;15

Shannon Schneller

And and it's also about some patients do better than others because if I don't set you realistic expectations. I can't promise you the moon and I can't deliver it. So that's a conversation that we have. This is what we're dealing with. This is what we can do and what we cannot do. You have to use them consistently.

00;24;23;17 - 00;24;43;02

Shannon Schneller

My patients that do not like their hearing aids, they wear them three hours a week for church. They have not done the work. You've never gotten used to them. I tell my patients all the time, it's like you just bought a house next to the railroad tracks. You're going to hear the trains for a week or two, but the longer you stay in the house, the trains come and go, but you don't hear them because the brain naturally filters them out.

00;24;43;04 - 00;24;46;18

Shannon Schneller

Consistent use helps the trains filter.

00;24;46;20 - 00;24;48;20

Cary Hall

That's an interesting analogy.

00;24;48;22 - 00;24;54;14

Shannon Schneller

And if you don't do that, you're never going to get used to them. And so then you're just going to put them in the drawer.

00;24;54;17 - 00;24;59;05

Cary Hall

So talk about the different. And so I use a Phonak. Is this a German product.

00;24;59;08 - 00;25;24;12

Shannon Schneller

That is is European. So you've got German engineering. You've got Swedish. You've got Danish engineering. There's some American engineering as well. They all typically launch a new technology every year or two. With the app. We've got Bluetooth, you're taking your phone calls, you can listen to your podcast through your hearing aids. It's just I let you out into the world with your parameters, and, hey, wear them for two weeks.

00;25;24;12 - 00;25;35;26

Shannon Schneller

Let's figure out what you like, what you don't like, what your preference is, and then whatever based on what you've been doing. Then I'll just reset you to that because you're hearing loss of your prescription. But your app is your preferences.

00;25;36;03 - 00;25;55;25

Cary Hall

Yeah. One of the things that this does is it lets you get your phone calls through your hearing aid. That drove me nuts. I shut it off. I don't want my phone calls coming in on my hearing aids, and especially if I have in my truck and it's dancing between the phone, the truck and my hearing aid. So I got rid of it.

00;25;55;25 - 00;26;11;09

Cary Hall

So that was an example of something annoyed the hell out of me, right? And I got rid of it, but she set it up and changed it and but you see what I'm saying? You're not going to do that if you're buying hearing aid from William Devane on television. I don't know if he’s selling them now or not, but I'm using that as an example.

00;26;11;12 - 00;26;26;05

Cary Hall

You know, the idea that I can go there and I believe me, I, I've been to their offices on more than one occasion when I have issues, when I need something fixed, but I need help with something. They've got great people and they're right there, and I just drive over there and get it taken care of and I'm fine.

00;26;26;11 - 00;26;32;29

Cary Hall

Okay, so and there is a maintenance component of these things. So before we go to break talk about that.

00;26;32;29 - 00;26;49;29

Shannon Schneller

So there is a huge service portion of your hearing aids. And you're hearing loss. It's like it's not we're just going to meet once and I'll see you in three years. There's a maintenance program. And with your Bluetooth in your app, there's going to be firmware updates. There's just consistent service that you're always going to need from your provider.

00;26;50;01 - 00;27;06;06

Shannon Schneller

That's one of the big differences where you're successful, whether you're hearing aids or not, because you need that support. Bluetooth has become such a huge, important portion of the hearing aids that, you know, a patient would be like, oh my, my Bluetooth, my phone calls aren't coming through. Some patients love.

00;27;06;06 - 00;27;06;23

Cary Hall

That. I know.

00;27;06;24 - 00;27;07;14

Shannon Schneller

Most patients.

00;27;07;14 - 00;27;08;06

Cary Hall

Do it this.

00;27;08;13 - 00;27;09;20

Shannon Schneller

And that's okay. That's okay.

00;27;09;20 - 00;27;11;15

Cary Hall

Yeah.

00;27;11;17 - 00;27;17;06

Shannon Schneller

That generational gap just helping with the app and the Bluetooth. And you're going to need you're going to need service for that.

00;27;17;08 - 00;27;40;13

Cary Hall

Generation gap means somebody buys it, doesn't know what the hell they're doing. Okay. When it comes to computers and those kinds of issues. You know what? I have a problem. I go to my grandson, Jonah, who's 14 years old, 15 years old, and that's how I get that solved. Okay. So yeah, so for me having them available and there's also, you know, this particular hearing aid has a little insert in it that you have to change out what he gets.

00;27;40;13 - 00;27;40;23

Cary Hall

Clogged up with ear wax.

00;27;40;24 - 00;27;42;09

Shannon Schneller

Oh yes. Yes.

00;27;42;11 - 00;27;54;25

Cary Hall

And you know I had trouble with that initially, but I would go in, they would show me exactly how to do it and I and now I can do it. I don't have a problem with it. So again, having somebody there when you need them is huge.

00;27;54;26 - 00;27;58;22

Shannon Schneller

It is. And that that can make you successful or not. Yeah.

00;27;58;24 - 00;28;19;27

Cary Hall

When we come back after a break I'm going to talk about the Medicare plans. And if you've got a Medicare Advantage plan, you more than likely have some benefit on there. They can offset the cost of these hearing aid and we'll talk about that. And the fact that Focus Hearing works with those carriers to be able to provide you with that particular benefit, if, in fact, you choose to do that.

00;28;19;27 - 00;28;43;07

Cary Hall

So we come back to a break, we'll talk about that and we'll wrap it up with a few other things. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate Broadcasting here on the HIA Radio Network. Coast to coast across the USA. If you want help, reach out, myFocusHearing.com or call 913-380-4200.

00;28;43;12 - 00;28;53;21

Cary Hall

We'll be right back after the break here on America's Healthcare Advocate.

00;28;53;23 - 00;29;16;12

Cary Hall

Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate show, broadcasting coast to coast across the USA here on the HIA Radio Network. You know, we do a lot of work on this broadcast with regard to Medicare Advantage. We work with, you know, 5 or 6 different carriers on this. We, you know, we talk about what the plans, you know, and how people enroll, you know, dis enroll, whatever the case may be.

00;29;16;19 - 00;29;34;27

Cary Hall

Most of the Medicare Advantage plans have a hearing aid benefit. They're all different. Blue Cross may offer a $1,000 card that you can get a debit card that covers hearing aids and maybe some dental or something else. Aetna’s got a different plan. The UnitedHealthCare’s got another. How do you deal with those?

00;29;35;00 - 00;29;51;28

Shannon Schneller

We deal with all of them. And that's really what our job is to help you navigate that. Bring in your card. It's our job to figure out where you're at, what we can do for you, what your benefit is. They're not all the same. They're similar, but they're not all the same. So that's an important conversation for you to have with your Medicare Advantage specialists.

00;29;52;00 - 00;29;57;18

Cary Hall

That's assuming you have one, right? From William Duvain’s call it number or Joe Nameth’s. Okay.

00;29;57;20 - 00;30;04;02

Shannon Schneller

You know, Aetna has benefits. UnitedHealthCare Blue Cross Shield. Well they got out of the Medicare Advantage plan this year.

00;30;04;06 - 00;30;04;19

Cary Hall

So they're gone.

00;30;04;19 - 00;30;10;28

Shannon Schneller

So those patients had to jump over to Humana, Aetna, UnitedHealthCare. Right. We deal with.

00;30;10;28 - 00;30;30;04

Cary Hall

All of them and they all have a benefit. They do and they're all different. And but what I'm saying is Shannon knows what those benefits are. The folks in her shop know what those benefits are. You don't have to go try to figure it out. They can look up your plan. You bring in your ID card, they're going to know, hey, you've got a $300 credit here that we can use to buy a Phonak.

00;30;30;10 - 00;30;47;29

Cary Hall

Or maybe you've got, you know, you've got $1,000 here. You can use all of it for this. Or do you want to use part of this and save some for something else? Those are all things they can help you with. They're intimately familiar with all of that okay. And that will assist you when you're looking to do this and to offset your cost if you're a seasoned citizen.

00;30;48;02 - 00;30;54;12

Cary Hall

So let's talk about cost range because I think mine were $2,500, if I'm not mistaken, something like that.

00;30;54;12 - 00;30;58;10

Shannon Schneller

I believe you came in through on a Humana plan too, if I remember, I.

00;30;58;13 - 00;31;02;03

Cary Hall

came in cash. I didn't use a health insurance plan at all.

00;31;02;05 - 00;31;13;22

Shannon Schneller

I think you, I think you paid cash through your Humana. They get it's a discount. Discount? Yeah. It's a discount. So once again, it can be very confusing for the patient. It's just like, am I paying cash? Is this?

00;31;13;22 - 00;31;16;22

Cary Hall

Mine was a discount, right? Not cash. Exactly. And that's there's a big there's.

00;31;16;22 - 00;31;17;10

Shannon Schneller

A big difference.

00;31;17;10 - 00;31;19;29

Cary Hall

There was a discount with the Blue Cross. That is correct.

00;31;20;01 - 00;31;38;13

Shannon Schneller

Or do you have a straight benefit? I have a $3,000 spend through Aetna, now, what can I get for that? Or you're going to have a copay set up. You know, you've got your options. And those third party administrators set all that up. So I don't control any of that. I just work within their parameters. And that's our job to find out what that parameter looks like for the year, because it changes every year.

00;31;38;15 - 00;31;40;14

Cary Hall

The range of costs for the hearing aids themselves.

00;31;40;14 - 00;31;59;27

Shannon Schneller

So if you're just going to be typically straight out of pocket, I mean, you've got a hearing aid that can start at 995 and go all the way up to 3200, 3500. There's lots of stops in between. If you have a Medicare Advantage plan, sometimes it's if what you need, matches up, you can have a set of hearing aids for nothing out of pocket.

00;31;59;28 - 00;32;13;02

Shannon Schneller

Yeah. And I've helped a lot of patients with their first set of hearing aids that way that just because of monetary situation, couldn't afford to hear better. That's a huge issue. And that's just so frustrating.

00;32;13;02 - 00;32;27;05

Cary Hall

And it's sad because you've got the benefit if you're on a Medicare Advantage. To let me be clear about this, you've got the benefit in your plan. You may not know what it is, you may not know how to access it. And by the way, I'm on a Medicare supplement plan and I did not have a cash benefit.

00;32;27;05 - 00;32;45;12

Cary Hall

I had a discount. It was substantial. Okay. And I got to discount through Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City. So if you're out of Blue Cross and Blue Shield Med Sup, you've got the plan. If you're on the Meds Sup anywhere they offer discounts, Focus Hearing can do the same thing. Medicare Advantage is different. It's actually a cash pay.

00;32;45;17 - 00;33;06;05

Cary Hall

They get reimbursed by the Medicare Advantage provider. So it but you won't know if you don't go in and talk to somebody. Right? Correct. Correct. So that's kind of doubly sad. You've got a problem. You may not have to pay anything right. Maybe a minimal amount. You could fix it. Duh. Why don't we reach out to these folks, get some help, and.

00;33;06;05 - 00;33;08;02

Shannon Schneller

I literally just cost you your time to come see.

00;33;08;02 - 00;33;31;28

Cary Hall

Me. Yeah, right. Yeah. At the end, I guess, you know, you know, we're kind of run. We're going to close it out here shortly. But this really affects those of us. As I like to say, you're chronologically challenged more than it does the younger folks. Although my hearing loss started around age 48, 49, somewhere around there. The longer this goes on, the more isolated you become, right?

00;33;31;28 - 00;33;45;15

Cary Hall

And the less you want to. I don't want to go over to the kid's house, but I just don't want to go. Well, you really don't want to go, because you can't hear a damn thing you're saying or you can't understand what they're saying. Whatever the case may be, the more you do that withdrawal, the more difficult and the more and the worse it becomes.

00;33;45;15 - 00;34;02;07

Shannon Schneller

Well, there's a lot of social consequences to hearing loss. If you leave it untreated, you start your gradual hearing loss. You may not notice it. You start to struggle more in interactions. Then you start to disengage, kind of pulling away from, I'm just not going to go this week didn't go great last time, I'm just going to not go.

00;34;02;07 - 00;34;09;05

Shannon Schneller

And then you completely withdraw from those things. And then then withdrawal leads to your isolation where you're just not interacting with anybody.

00;34;09;05 - 00;34;32;16

Cary Hall

And I'll tell you something, you know, in the category of seasoned citizens, if you're a widower and you're, you know, you've got this problem and you're living by yourself now, you're doubly isolating yourself from your family, your friends, and your social circles by not doing things with this. That's why I do these shows, okay, is to try to get people to understand, here's the consequence of not doing anything.

00;34;32;22 - 00;34;55;23

Cary Hall

Here's the reward of doing something that makes sense. So that's exactly why why we do these. And I think it can make a big difference for folks. I urge you, you're listening across the country. Obviously you can't all fly in here , although I'm sure Shannon would be happy to help you. You know, find a reputable hearing aid clinic somewhere in your area, go in, get tested, get a hearing aid, and start having a better quality of life.

00;34;55;23 - 00;34;59;11

Cary Hall

Because really, Shannon, that's what it's all about, isn't it?

00;34;59;13 - 00;35;23;05

Shannon Schneller

You’re reducing your social network size. So instead of doing all the things that you used to do, then you start pulling away and your primary and secondary interactions become less and less and less. Your cognitive decline starts to kick in because you're not interacting, socially. It's just such an important part of our lives. When you have those social interactions and you're with family and friends, it's the connections that make your life better.

00;35;23;07 - 00;35;46;29

Cary Hall

That's it, okay? It's the quality of life and cognitive decline. You know, again, I'll say it again. You know, if you're if you're one of one of those of us that is seasoned citizen, chronologically challenged, whatever the case may be, that, that that cognitive issue should be front and center in your mind, you know, the last thing you want to deal with is dementia, you know, or, you know, Alzheimer's.

00;35;46;29 - 00;36;03;08

Cary Hall

So you're, you're you're making the issue worse. If you don't do something to solve the problem. I hope this has helped everyone today. Once again, if you want to reach out here in the Metro to the folks at Focus Hearing, it's myFocusHearing.com the phone number 913-380-4200

00;36;03;08 - 00;36;07;24

Cary Hall

and now I leave you with this thought from Albert Einstein, the one who follows the crowd.

00;36;07;24 - 00;36;27;06

Cary Hall

Will usually get no further than the crowd, the one who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been. Remember, friends, it's a funny thing about life. People refuse to accept anything but the very best. You most often get it. Thank you for listening to America's Healthcare Advocates Show. Broadcasting coast to coast across the USA.

00;36;27;08 - 00;36;32;03

Cary Hall

Goodbye America.

00;36;32;06 - 00;36;38;21

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