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Ep 2020 Transcript:

00;00;00;22 - 00;00;06;07

Announcer

And now America's Healthcare Advocate, Cary Hall.

00;00;06;13 - 00;00;29;09

Cary Hall

Hello, America. Welcome to America's Healthcare Advocate show broadcasting coast to coast across USA here on the HIA Radio Network. You can find out more about us by going to our website. americahealthcareadvocate.com. americahealthcareadvocate.com. You can also follow me on Facebook. We're also on YouTube on 15 podcast platforms and 238 radio stations across the country.

00;00;29;09 - 00;00;51;09

Cary Hall

Our newest affiliate is KYSL AMand FM in Alexandria, Louisiana. Very happy to have those folks on board. I want to thank David Gration for putting us on there. He is the program director on Saturday mornings from 7 to 8. Happy to be in Louisiana and make them part of the America's Healthcare Advocate family. Like I said, you can follow us on YouTube if you want.

00;00;51;14 - 00;01;07;01

Cary Hall

It's America's Healthcare Advocate. All of these shows are videotaped by our producer, Mr. David Thiessen, and he post these all up on the YouTube platform. So if you hear a show or you go back up there and you look at a show and you want to tell somebody about or share it with somebody, you can certainly do that.

00;01;07;04 - 00;01;28;26

Cary Hall

And today may be one of the ones you do want to share, especially if you have a seasoned citizen, one of us that is chronologically challenged in your home or happens to be your mother, your dad, your grandmother etc.,, because we're going to talk about hearing loss and how seasoned citizens often ignore this to their peril. And the side effects of ignoring

00;01;28;29 - 00;01;47;18

Cary Hall

And what could happen. So joining us in studio today is Shannon Schneller from Focus Hearing. Yes, Shannon is my hearing expert and I'm wearing two hearing aids, which I'll show you later in the broadcast. But we're going to talk about why hearing aids is so important. Now, what happens if you don't bother to wear one? Let's move on.

00;01;47;20 - 00;02;11;04

Cary Hall

Also, if you are chronologically challenged and you're looking for Medicare health insurance, you can always call the lovely Carolee Steele at (877) 385-2224. She's with RPS Benefits by Design. That's (877) 385-2224. I don't care where you are in the country. She can help you. If you're looking for a Medicare plan or a Medicare Advantage plan. You're turning 65. She's the person you want to call.

00;02;11;09 - 00;02;30;23

Cary Hall

If you're an employer and you're looking for health insurance, you can also call RPS Benefits by Design at that same number and ask for Maria Ahlers. Also, if you happen to be someone out there who is the 1099 employee and looking for health insurance, you don't qualify for ACA. I give her a call. She may have a product that can help you with that.

00;02;30;23 - 00;02;54;07

Cary Hall

So once again that's our RPS Benefits by Design at (877) 385-2224. All right. So I invited Shannon here today because I wanted to talk about this topic of hearing. And what brought it to my attention was a friend of mine told me that they were having a very difficult time with their mother because she did not want to wearing hearing aid, because she didn't want people to see her with the hearing aid.

00;02;54;07 - 00;03;10;24

Cary Hall

Well, I'm going to show you something, okay? I have two of these in, and this is how big it is. You probably can barely see that. Now, Dave will tell you that he's never seen this thing on me because it's the first time I ever told him I wore one. But that's what it looks like. That sits behind my ear.

00;03;10;26 - 00;03;26;03

Cary Hall

And this thing is in my ear. You cannot see it. You have no idea that I'm wearing it. I will tell you this. This particular model of hearing aid, which Shannon introduced me to, is the best hearing aid I've ever had. And I've had a couple of different ones, but this particular one has made an enormous difference for me.

00;03;26;09 - 00;03;46;05

Cary Hall

So let's just start with that. Seniors, men in particular. And this this story I told happens to be a woman. And because she, she was concerned I was going to make her look, which is the purpose of my taking that thing off, and showing it to the audience. Why is it so important that they don't let this go?

00;03;46;05 - 00;04;02;23

Cary Hall

And in this particular case, this woman's let, has been been her her children have been trying to get her do this for the last four years. Now, tell me why, if you continue to let it go, what happens to your hearing? If you continue not to correct it by putting in a hearing aid.

00;04;02;26 - 00;04;37;20

Shannon Schneller

Is just like anything that's medical. If you catch it early, it's so much easier to treat stage one versus stage four. If you think about being in a hole, would you rather be in a hole when you're in your knee deep or chest deep? And it's about that jump back to normal hearing. And when that hearing process has just atrophied and not being stimulated and used, once you do decide to put a hearing aid on it years, years, years later, those systems can have issues reactivating, and so it's just easier to make a smaller jump back to normal than to waiting and having to make this huge transition.

00;04;37;24 - 00;04;53;29

Cary Hall

So what happens then is if you don't treat it, it continues to decrease. And then when you've oh, now after five years, I think I'll get a hearing aid. But you may not be able to recover what you could have had if you had treated it in the first year. You experienced hearing loss.

00;04;54;00 - 00;05;16;16

Shannon Schneller

Absolutely. I think it's important to understand that hearing aids can only help the health of the ear that you put it on. So if an ear is atrophied and you just can't understand speech as good as the next person can, that hearing aid cannot fix that. It can only help what your results are. So if you sat there and atrophied and you can't go back to normal, your hearing aid can't magically take you back to normal.

00;05;16;16 - 00;05;18;13

Shannon Schneller

I can only help the half of the ear that you put it on.

00;05;18;20 - 00;05;37;00

Cary Hall

So the old adage, as you mentioned of, the sooner you catch it, the sooner you treat it, the better off you're going to be. Here's the other thing. When this first starts, I know with me, when it first started, I really wasn't all that aware of it. Okay. You know, the typical thing. I can't hear the TBI.

00;05;37;00 - 00;05;54;10

Cary Hall

I would turn it up loud and it's like, can you turn that down? You got it up awful loud. Okay? And, you know, it dawned on me, you know what? I need to go get a hearing test. And what I did, I had pretty good hearing, but I still had a significant loss in certain areas. And what's happened by putting in these hearing aids, these.

00;05;54;10 - 00;06;15;05

Cary Hall

Phonak is the brand that I have. It's amazing. It really is remarkable. The difference that it's made for me. It I don't have to struggle anymore. Especially when I made a business setting. Right. A business luncheon or a dinner or in a meeting with folks. It's just so much easier for me to communicate. I'm not. Can you repeat that?

00;06;15;07 - 00;06;27;26

Cary Hall

I'm sorry, I didn't hear. Can you? What did you say? You don't have to deal with that anymore. And I. Even if it's just everyday life. You just talk about how I think that improves the quality or overall quality of life.

00;06;27;26 - 00;06;46;13

Shannon Schneller

Well, in your defense, hearing loss can be very, very sneaky. It's gradual. You don't realize where you're at because you don't have a reference to normal. Where you are today is your everyday, normal and you swear you're fine. It's your loved ones that spend time with you like no dad, I said, 10 not 2 or your wife is, you know, complaining about the TV being loud.

00;06;46;15 - 00;07;06;29

Shannon Schneller

You just don't have a reference to what normal hearing is. And so it's very common for a first time patient coming in for a hearing test. We're already at a moderate hearing loss just because the awareness is not there. So that's important. That's why it's really important to get a baseline. Even if you feel like you're fine, find out if you're fine because you just don't know.

00;07;07;01 - 00;07;25;02

Cary Hall

So that makes sense. I mean, we talked about baselines for a lot of things. You know, we're talking about mammograms. You're talking about a baseline. We're talking about dementia or the oncoming of Alzheimer's should talk by getting a baseline. So you understand it. If you're if you're not you know, are you progressing further with disease. Are you resting the disease whatever.

00;07;25;02 - 00;07;45;24

Cary Hall

This is exactly same thing. So what we're basically saying to people is you need to get it. You need to think about and get a hearing test. Now I focused on seasoned citizens here, those of us that are chronologically challenged. But it doesn't necessarily start with people. So talk a little about that, because you can be in your 30s and 40s to still have these kind of issues, right?

00;07;45;27 - 00;08;08;28

Shannon Schneller

I mean, you think about the baby boomers. We have the largest generation entering into that demographic, but just increasing awareness so that patients my age, like when I'm in a traffic light and I can feel the music next to me on my chest bone, we just don't, you know, we think we're young and invincible. We don't realize what we're doing of longevity, of our lives, what we're doing to our hearing.

00;08;09;01 - 00;08;15;14

Shannon Schneller

So just increasing awareness is very, very important. And of course, as we age, we want to age well.

00;08;15;17 - 00;08;29;07

Cary Hall

So to circle back to that, because we've all had that moment, we're sitting the traffic light in it and the person pulls up next to us. The whole damn car is vibrating and you can feel it, you know, in your car how, how, how much are they damaging their hearing when they're doing that?

00;08;29;08 - 00;08;50;15

Shannon Schneller

When it comes to damaging your hearing it, it's about the strength of the signal and the duration of the signal. So if you work in a noisy environment over your career, obviously you're exposing your hearing system to, more damage. The next person who's sitting in a nice, quiet office setting, right? So you just want to be careful and protect your hearing, even if you're mowing the grass.

00;08;50;15 - 00;09;18;24

Shannon Schneller

I don't I tell my patients, please don't listen to music while you're mowing the grass, because that music has to be louder than a lawnmower. Protect what you've got. It's really, really important. Because those noise induced hearing losses, it's the clarity issues, you know, people are talking, but you just cannot tell what they say. And typically with noise induced hearing loss, you might, experience some tinnitus, tinnitus, tomato, tomato, the ringing, some sort of foreign noise that you're perceiving in your ears.

00;09;18;27 - 00;09;20;07

Shannon Schneller

That's all related.

00;09;20;09 - 00;09;37;21

Cary Hall

So so when you're listening to that, those those boom speakers in your car that vibrate the whole damn car and the car next to you, you may have a problem. If you do that for 4 or 5 years, you're listening to your favorite rap music or whatever it is blasting. Yeah, as you're rolling in the highway, there you go.

00;09;37;21 - 00;09;56;23

Cary Hall

There is a piece of information for those of you that are not chronologically challenged. By the way, if you want to learn more about this, go to myfocushearing.com. My Focus Hearing.com. We'll be right back after the break. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate Broadcasting here on the HIA Radio Network. Coast to coast across the USA.

00;09;56;24 - 00;10;02;23

Cary Hall

Stay right there. We're going to be right back.

00;10;02;25 - 00;10;32;27

Steve Kuker

The golden rule. Treat others as you want to be treated. I'm Steve Peaker, and this is one of the founding principles of my firm, senior care Consulting. Since 2002, our value statement has included. Honor our mother and father. Respect our elders. Care for those in need. And treat your family as our own. We've been honored to help hundreds of families make one of the most difficult decisions they could ever make.

00;10;33;00 - 00;11;09;11

Steve Kuker

Serving them in their greatest time of need. If you're looking for someone who can provide you experienced and objective guidance when searching for a senior care community, reach out today and discover the services of Senior Care consulting at 913945 2809 13945 2800. Know your options and choose with care. It's senior care consulting.

00;11;09;14 - 00;11;27;06

Cary Hall

Welcome back to America's Healthcare Advocate broadcasting coast to coast across the USA here on the ABC Radio Network. If you want to send me an email, but you got a question topic I can help you with, or a topic for the show, americahealthcareadvocate.com. Go to the website, send me the email, I will get it and I will respond in studio with me.

00;11;27;06 - 00;11;53;16

Cary Hall

Shannon. Stellar. She is the owner of focus, having been doing this for 25 years and is very good at it. I might add. If you are someone who has had a hearing test or you're someone you in your family who you see struggling with this issue, you might want to have them go see the folks at My Focus Hearing Mike Focus Hearing Inc.com the phone number (913) 754-2144 (913) 754-2144.

00;11;53;22 - 00;12;11;18

Cary Hall

They're great people. And they do great follow up work, I can tell you that. You know, I've had a couple of issues with these hearing aids. The place I was at before, not so good with service, totally different here. I've been extremely happy with how these folks work. And it's been very good relationship for me and for my floor.

00;12;11;18 - 00;12;25;23

Cary Hall

And both of us, go to focus, trying to do a great job. So now we're going to talk about sudden hearing loss. So first we're talking about how, you know, it degrades over a period of time of which any do. So really talk about sudden hearing loss. And again I'm going to tell you a story about me.

00;12;25;25 - 00;12;45;02

Cary Hall

So back in 1985, I had a brand new Cadillac I had taken into the dealership, had it service, brought it back a couple about a week later and told them the radio's not functioning properly. There's no sound coming out of the speakers on the driver's side of the car. The service technician, who was the service manager, sat me in the car, said, put your hand over the speaker.

00;12;45;04 - 00;13;02;09

Cary Hall

Speaker was working just fine. It was my ear that wasn't working. I then went to have a hearing test. They referred me to a doctor. I went to see a doctor after that and the doctor said, Mr. Hall, there's a 1 in 100,000 chance that you've got a brain tumor. Well, it was my lucky day. I had one, okay.

00;13;02;09 - 00;13;16;21

Cary Hall

And I went to the House Ear Institute and had that acoustic aroma removed. And when they found that it was the size of a golf ball, when I took it out, it was the size of a tennis ball. And I was very fortunate that I had not waited a longer because of had broken into my brain sac.

00;13;16;21 - 00;13;29;14

Cary Hall

It would become malignant and it probably would have killed me. So I'm telling that story for a reason. Talk about how you respond to if you heavy. I don't care how old you are, a sudden loss. And yes, Shannon.

00;13;29;17 - 00;13;48;28

Shannon Schneller

I just want to reiterate how important it is to catch it in the first 48 hours. It's critical. So when you notice, please start making phone calls for yourself to get a hearing, test your nose and throat doctor. And when you call them, make sure they understand this is a sudden loss. Oh, we can get to it in three weeks.

00;13;48;28 - 00;14;14;26

Shannon Schneller

Please no. Advocate for yourself. This is something that needs to be addressed in the first two days, because your ability to recover diminishes the longer that you wait. If that is for something that's caused by virus, things like that. Medication. A little different situation for you. Yeah, still very, very important. But I just want to let your listeners know that the first 48 hours are just absolutely critical.

00;14;14;28 - 00;14;34;01

Cary Hall

Yeah. So one of the things in the show notes that I was going over at 5:00 this morning was what was the link to Covid, which I'm looking down. What. Right. So talk to you about that because I this is the first and I've done countless shows on Covid with every doctor I know from Saint Luke's and other places.

00;14;34;06 - 00;14;39;27

Cary Hall

They're experts. Just nobody talked about this hearing loss thing, right? I had no idea. So talking about that.

00;14;39;28 - 00;14;57;02

Shannon Schneller

Well, and I want to be careful here because I don't think there's been any official findings. I know they're doing studies right now. How Covid 19, one of the effects of that was a change in hearing. On one side, I do know that was in my own practice. I didn't see it how we're going to track that.

00;14;57;02 - 00;15;06;11

Shannon Schneller

That's going to be years for now. But I saw it in my clinic. And so just kind of waiting to hear on what the official word on that is. But I did see it.

00;15;06;13 - 00;15;24;03

Cary Hall

Yeah. So the point there is, you know, we can wait till the government gets around to it. God help us all. Or if you do, if you do say to, you've had a hearing loss and you make you know, it's funny about 2 or 3 people I know recently just had Covid. It's still out there. People. It has not gone away.

00;15;24;03 - 00;15;48;26

Cary Hall

Okay. And there are a lot of things people experience like loss of taste. You know, they call them Covid long haulers, you know, but this is the first time I've heard, mentioned that it could affect your hearing. And if you've had Covid, then and you are having difference in hearing or your wife or your daughter or your son says to you, hey, there's something going on here, obviously, you're saying now's the time.

00;15;48;27 - 00;15;49;19

Shannon Schneller

Absolutely.

00;15;49;22 - 00;16;02;16

Cary Hall

Absolutely right. So what if they if they discover that, then are you, you know, the patient you've had? Has that been something we're putting in. A hearing aid has made a difference for them. Or is does the hearing eventually come back. How's that worked out for them.

00;16;02;17 - 00;16;16;04

Shannon Schneller

And that's directly related to how soon do you get in and get it looked at. Typically on something like that, if it's viral, they give a steroid injection. Oh. Which it helps you recover. That's why if you wait, that injection doesn't do you as much.

00;16;16;04 - 00;16;16;26

Cary Hall

Good.

00;16;16;29 - 00;16;33;24

Shannon Schneller

So that's why it's important to catch it early. Hearing aids once again can only help the health of the ear that you put it on. So it's up to the health care professional decide is that hearing aid going to help that ear, or do we need to do something similar to what you have, like a bike cross where one is there, a transmitter picks up sound and sends it to the other ear.

00;16;33;27 - 00;16;40;24

Shannon Schneller

So there's lots of options and it's very individualized. And it's really just depending on what you can recover too.

00;16;40;26 - 00;16;52;21

Cary Hall

All right. So once again we're back to this theme or tweak. You know, we keep rolling back to the sooner that you realize you've got an issue and you deal with it, the better the outcome is going to be.

00;16;52;23 - 00;16;53;13

Shannon Schneller

Of course.

00;16;53;16 - 00;17;06;19

Cary Hall

And then unfortunately, you know, again, as I said, you know, one of the problems we have is there is a there seems to be a fear amongst people as they age sometimes in, in doing it and admitting, hey, I've got a problem.

00;17;06;21 - 00;17;28;07

Shannon Schneller

Well, that's 90% of the process. You know, I, we joke about this all the time. I Focus Hearing, like we say, marriages every day. We save relationships. If you're just not aware, I'm sure there's loved ones in your circle that have made you aware, but listening to it and accepting it is a whole nother process. So there are barriers to hearing better.

00;17;28;07 - 00;17;43;04

Shannon Schneller

I know there's stigmas. We'll go over all of that as well. But, you know, I had a mentor, maybe 20 years ago. And one of his favorite lines was there comes a point when not hearing loss is that it becomes easier for me to hide your hearing aid than it is for you to hide your hearing loss.

00;17;43;07 - 00;17;44;09

Cary Hall

Okay?

00;17;44;12 - 00;17;49;10

Shannon Schneller

And that's very, very true. Just, for example, have the people that you run into don't even see that you have a hearing aid.

00;17;49;13 - 00;18;14;17

Cary Hall

No, I do, you know, Dave said when I said I was going to show this on the show, he said, I've never noticed that you had that thing, but but I literally though my level of functionality with this thing off drops like a rock. I can still hear, but no where when I'm on phone conferences, zoom conferences, when I'm sitting at lunch and I'll there's a quick story about this is kind of interesting.

00;18;14;19 - 00;18;37;22

Cary Hall

I only have hearing in one ear because of the acoustic drama I lost to hearing you this here. Well, I would never I never allowed myself to get the second hair. Why? I don't have an ear over there. Right. You convinced me to do it. I did it, and it is it. It's. I don't have to. I don't have to position people when I go to a meeting or a luncheon meeting or a dinner meeting, that whoever sits on the side of me, I'm not going to hear anything you say.

00;18;37;22 - 00;18;56;06

Cary Hall

You need to be up here now, I don't know. I don't have that issue now. I've got it. So it's interesting how that simple thing changed my focus in terms of my meetings and, and, and direct contact with people that I work with. If, you know, if this is you, you know, you've got this issue or you know, somebody in your family that's got it, really do take the time.

00;18;56;06 - 00;19;18;27

Cary Hall

Go to the website. myfocushearing.com. You can probably schedule appointment up there right. Certainly do it online okay. Or call them. They've got two offices (913) 754-2144, (913) 754-2144. Next segment we're going to talk about what kind of hearing aids and how do they determine what works best for you. And we're going to talk about why you probably shouldn't buy that thing right off the television screen.

00;19;19;00 - 00;19;37;12

Cary Hall

We'll be right back after the break. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate broadcasting here on the HIA Radio Network. Coast to coast across the USA. Stay right there.

00;19;38;14 - 00;19;56;11

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. By the way, this show is going to be broadcast nationally. Yes. Shannon is here, and she is here at Overland Park with her two clinics. But I want everybody in the country to hear what she is saying.

00;19;56;15 - 00;20;15;03

Cary Hall

So you understand these issues that surround hearing loss, sudden or gradual, but ever the case may be. So we're going to broadcast this on all 238 stations. It will be up on YouTube. So if it's your husband or it's your wife or it's your dad okay. Or your mom that you want to tell you don't don't listen to me.

00;20;15;03 - 00;20;29;27

Cary Hall

Go watch this. Go up on the YouTube channel. Pull it down or go up on one of the podcast channels and they can listen to it. You know why you've got them in the car. Okay. If you want to really understand what's going on here, you know, it might help get them to understand. Got a problem they need to address.

00;20;29;27 - 00;20;51;10

Cary Hall

So that's that's why we're doing this. By the way, if you are here in the metro, it's myfocushearing.com myfocushearing.com (913) 754-2144 (913) 754-2144. They've got great customer service. I mean something goes wrong with you hearing aid. You can walk in there that same day and get it taken care of is they even have walk in hours.

00;20;51;10 - 00;21;05;20

Cary Hall

So it's absolutely remarkable, how quick they are to get something fixed because that there is some when this thing goes out or I have a problem with it, I panic, especially if I have to go on the road or something and I don't have this, so I've got to have access to somebody. It's got to fix it for me.

00;21;05;27 - 00;21;21;21

Cary Hall

And that's one of the things they do at Focus Hearing. Again, I'm very pleased with the service that we get there. All right. So so so let let's talk about this. So someone comes in that think they've got an issue. Go through the process like you do with us. What happens. And then the end result and go from there.

00;21;21;21 - 00;21;42;01

Shannon Schneller

Sure. So of course we start with a consultation as just a broad discussion about a little bit of medical history, what issues you're having. If you bring a spouse or a loved one with you. They discuss what they're noticing as well. Just an overall conversation and collecting information. Look in the air, and then we proceed to do a hearing evaluation.

00;21;42;03 - 00;22;03;01

Shannon Schneller

From that hearing evaluation, we get all the information that we need. Pairing that with the consultation to make a decision about what's going to work for you, what's not, what might be a little bit of overkill, what might not be, air conduction testing beeps. And then we have you repeat speech because we want to know there's a huge difference between can you hear a beep or can you process a sentence.

00;22;03;03 - 00;22;20;24

Shannon Schneller

And those are two different things. And we test for both of those. And then we go one step further. And then we put you in noise because hearing loss, one of the main culprits. And one of the main things that the patients complain about is I can't hear in a restaurant, I can't hear in a small group. It's hearing in crowds that really can bring someone in.

00;22;20;27 - 00;22;35;29

Shannon Schneller

If I don't know or test you and put you in that environment, I'm having to guess a little bit. So we're very, very adamant about running a speech, a noise test, because you can hear speech in quiet, but you may not do as well when you get in a crowd. And that's just how you process. Hearing aid doesn't fix that.

00;22;35;29 - 00;22;51;26

Shannon Schneller

I just want to know what that looks like. No. We also rule out the possibility. Is this something that I can refer you forward to an EMT? Is this something that they can fix because we only treat, hearing loss at the nerve level? Something that's permanent can't be fixed with surgery. So we do all of that.

00;22;51;26 - 00;23;11;27

Shannon Schneller

That's our job. And, as with all other hearing health care professionals. So we we pair that information with what you've described, what your life is, where you go, lifestyle meaning where do you go, what do you do, what's important to you? What issues are you having? And then it's my job to know what hearing aid is going to work best for you.

00;23;12;00 - 00;23;32;19

Shannon Schneller

We have options and not everyone can afford a hearing aid, which we will talk about that as well. And there's other avenues for that. So that's all an important factor. What your needs are, where you go, what you do, what's affordable to you. And that's my job to make all those things come together to fruition to get you hearing better.

00;23;32;21 - 00;23;34;28

Shannon Schneller

Something is better than nothing.

00;23;35;00 - 00;23;54;09

Cary Hall

So to that point, okay, one of the things that you heard, that whole process she goes through, there's all kinds of ads on television now you see them, okay. Where these pitchmen are telling you to buy hearing aid will ship it right to your door, etc. except the problem with that is you don't know what the hell you're doing and you don't know what you're treating and you don't know what you need.

00;23;54;16 - 00;24;11;28

Cary Hall

I went through three different hearing aids before I found this one, and I found this Phonak, which is the name of the of the hearing aid, because I went to Focus Hearing and they showed me the quality of this and what it could do. And I'll show you some of the things this thing can do. But the point is, I had a complete evaluation.

00;24;12;00 - 00;24;31;27

Cary Hall

Shannon comes out with a chart. She shows you you're losing hearing here. You're good in this category. You've got a problem in this category. So you know what's going on. Here's the best part. They put the thing in. These things work on Bluetooth now. So you know if you're not one of these folks it's a real techie. And I'm not I'm like a Neanderthal with this stuff.

00;24;32;00 - 00;24;49;28

Cary Hall

I need to have somebody show this to me. So here if you look at this, this is my app that opens this up. You can see on here I can set this for a restaurant. I can set it for TV. I can set it for speech and noise. Those things that this that this hearing aid does for me are remarkable.

00;24;50;00 - 00;25;04;24

Cary Hall

Okay. I was telling here on break that sometimes if I'm at a restaurant and I have at a restaurant, I have to turn it down because I'm hearing the guy at the next table with his buddy talking about his problems at home, I don't particularly want to hear it, so I have to tune it down. But I can do that.

00;25;04;24 - 00;25;23;01

Cary Hall

I can change it to make it fit. I can change it when I'm watching television. If I'm watching an interview with somebody, that's different than watching a movie, and I want to understand the speech, then I go to speech and noise. So these things are amazing. But you're not going to know that by ordering the damn thing off of the one 800 number on television.

00;25;23;01 - 00;25;44;14

Cary Hall

That's why in look, it just because you're going in to see somebody doesn't necessarily mean it's more for for those of us who are on Medicare, this is covered. Your hearing test is covered. Yes. And and a lot of Medicare Advantage plans have a hearing aid allowance. So when that's paired with, you know, the cost and the network discount on all the rest of it, it makes a big difference.

00;25;44;14 - 00;25;52;04

Cary Hall

It did for us. Okay. So I think that that's the part that I think people need to understand. As I like to say, don't try this at home.

00;25;52;07 - 00;25;52;22

Shannon Schneller

Correct.

00;25;52;22 - 00;26;04;06

Cary Hall

So talk talk a little bit about that. Why it makes sense to do it at a level where you're getting professional advice and you're being fitted and shown how this executive never figured this out by herself. Right.

00;26;04;08 - 00;26;26;08

Shannon Schneller

Well, it's a little bit of a double edged sword. Something is better than nothing over the counter, a gateway to better hearing. I would still rather have a patient try something and get a taste of what it's like to hear better. That's well and good and fantastic. The drawback to that is what is your prescription? What does your hearing loss level are you under amplifying?

00;26;26;09 - 00;26;50;00

Shannon Schneller

Are you over amplifying yourself? You don't even know. It may be causing more harm to you hearing what you've already have. That's what's really important is getting that hearing exam so you know what you're hearing thresholds are and we can address your specific thresholds instead of just guessing and overfitting or underfitting. It's not ideal. Now if someone is homebound, obviously something is better than nothing.

00;26;50;00 - 00;26;59;11

Shannon Schneller

So it does have its niche, does have its place, but if you can, it's always going to be better to go see a hearing health care professional, get your prescription and do it the right way.

00;26;59;12 - 00;27;30;05

Cary Hall

And to that homebound issue, if that's your mom or your grandfather or your grandmother, and get him in the car and take them there and make the effort, because I tell you something, it will improve your relationship dramatically. Okay? It does because you can communicate. Yeah, I said this has made an enormous difference for me. And it was this particular hearing aid that really the first one that I had, I've bought intermittently only what I thought I had to like if I was going to a business meeting or something and I didn't wear in the studio or anything.

00;27;30;05 - 00;27;45;18

Cary Hall

I wear this everywhere I go now. I'm not without this thing. Yeah, well, I get up learning, it goes in and it sees charged all day. There are no batteries in this that nice. Oh it's a make sure I put it in a little charger gizmo. Go to sleep. Get the morning. Put these things that I'm set for the day.

00;27;45;22 - 00;28;00;07

Cary Hall

And if I have a 10 or 11 or 12 hour day, it's still working. I mean, like, you know what? I'm. But I'm in Omaha sometimes in our office in Omaha, you know, I'll start working at seven in the morning. I will be back to the hotel to go to bed till 9:00 at night, if I'm having business meetings and dinners.

00;28;00;07 - 00;28;10;02

Cary Hall

And this hearing, it is still working. So it's it is it is remarkable. So talk a little bit about the different, you know, different ones that are available. This is the Phonak you've got to others.

00;28;10;02 - 00;28;31;15

Shannon Schneller

So there there are 5 to 6 major manufacturers in in America. They're all very, very comparable. You've got in the ears, you've got customs. You have receiver in the canal, which is what you have. Then we have PowerBTEs. It really just depends on there's lots of factors. Neuropathy. Can you handle even changing a battery? If you can't, then rechargeablity.

00;28;31;15 - 00;28;56;24

Shannon Schneller

It is a great answer for you. That's that was also a huge barrier to some patients. What's your activity like? Are you on the Harley a lot? Are you in wind? Are you golfing? Are you seeing movies? Are you playing pickleball? It depends on your lifestyle. And that's my job to really. Let's have that conversation. Like, in your mind, I want you to be comfortable with what it looks like and what it feels like.

00;28;56;24 - 00;29;13;16

Shannon Schneller

Because if you don't wear it, I can't do my job. And as long as what you feel comfortable wearing fits, the prescription is not like a four cylinder Honda trying to pull a truckload of hay bales. Sorry, that's a farm reference, but as long as your wants and desires fit what I need to do, you can drive the bus.

00;29;13;19 - 00;29;31;17

Cary Hall

Yeah, and the critical takeaway from there is it is no different than you hear me use this phrase all the time about health insurance. Size 44 overcoat doesn't fit everybody. Same thing applies with this. Okay, you know, I went to one of those conglomerate hearing places. They had one hearing aid and that was the one I bought. Okay.

00;29;31;17 - 00;29;49;10

Cary Hall

And it was a mistake. Okay. But I didn't know any better. I saw the newspaper ad and I went and I and it was a mistake to do it right. And that part of the big chain, it was not the same as what I'm dealing with now. And somebody that took the time in the effort to make this work for me individually and the same thing for my wife, Lauren.

00;29;49;10 - 00;30;12;18

Cary Hall

So it worked out really well. If you want to learn more, the website is myfocushearing.com myfocushearing.com phone number (913) 754-2144 (913) 754-2144. Stay tuned. We'll be right back. After the break. We're going to talk about some other things that affect hearing. You're going to be surprise, diabetes, loss of balance. That's all tied in to hearing in some cases.

00;30;12;18 - 00;30;17;16

Cary Hall

Stay tuned. We'll be right back after the break.

00;30;17;18 - 00;30;45;09

Cary Hall

Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocates Show, broadcasting coast to coast across USA here on the HIA Radio Network. Shannon Schneller with me today. She is she is the owner and proprietor of my Focus Hearing here in Overland Park, Kansas. As I said, we're broadcasters across the country because we are trying to educate you on why, if you are having a hearing loss or even suspect you're having your hearing loss, you should go get tested and more than likely, should you get a hearing.

00;30;45;12 - 00;31;05;25

Cary Hall

That's why we're doing the show today, is to give you all that information wherever you may be. And if you're a you've got a relative, a mom or dad or grandmother grandfather that you see and know they're having this problem, you need to get them to somebody and get a hearing test done. And don't buy the hearing aid off the television and get something that doesn't fulfill the needs.

00;31;06;00 - 00;31;24;13

Cary Hall

Go get the test done, understand the results, and find something. It matches up like I did. It took me 2 or 3 times, but I finally got it right. Okay. And now I have this Phonak hearing aid that does a wonderful job. So so let's talk about something that this is another thing I wasn't aware of. We have an epidemic of diabetes in this country.

00;31;24;21 - 00;31;29;05

Cary Hall

There is a relationship between diabetes and hearing which I did not know.

00;31;29;05 - 00;31;45;23

Shannon Schneller

So explain you know as we progress, we just keep finding more and more medical issues that are related to hearing loss. It's not a direct causation, but it's all related. So when it comes to diabetes, hearing loss is twice as common in people with diabetes.

00;31;45;25 - 00;31;46;20

Cary Hall

Twice as common?

00;31;46;20 - 00;32;08;09

Shannon Schneller

Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Diabetes is a disease of, you know, poor blood flow. Yeah, it's dry vascular. That blood flow is responsible for controlling the chemical makeup of the inner ear. So if you have issues with diabetes, issues with blood flow, possibly issues with your hearing.

00;32;08;12 - 00;32;16;12

Cary Hall

So that means if you're a type two diabetic or, you know, or you have to be a type one diabetic, you really need to have your hearing test.

00;32;16;12 - 00;32;17;03

Shannon Schneller

Absolutely.

00;32;17;03 - 00;32;19;04

Cary Hall

Because you know, you probably don't even know.

00;32;19;05 - 00;32;21;05

Shannon Schneller

Now and then it just steamrolls.

00;32;21;05 - 00;32;22;12

Cary Hall

Yeah, it gets worse and worse.

00;32;22;12 - 00;32;36;03

Shannon Schneller

And then untreated hearing loss, you lose, you know, significant loss in cognition, social interaction and isolation and loneliness. It just snowballs from there, which we'll talk about in a little bit. But yes, diabetes absolutely related to hearing loss.

00;32;36;05 - 00;32;52;19

Cary Hall

That's an interesting one. I, I wasn't aware that's the first time somebody ever made that connection here. And I think that's important to understand. So if you're a type two diabetes diabetic or type one diabetic, you definitely need to go get a hearing test. And I don't care what age you are because this can start at any time.

00;32;52;23 - 00;33;00;21

Cary Hall

It could affect you one way or the other, and may not be very positive in terms of where it's at. But if you get the test to understand the problem, you could move to correct it.

00;33;00;21 - 00;33;01;21

Shannon Schneller

Information is power.

00;33;01;21 - 00;33;16;04

Cary Hall

Yeah, it's certainly is. So here's one that you guys are not going to care for. Okay okay. Go ahead. You set it on the break. The ED drugs. Everybody's taking the little happy blue pills. If you're taking one of those, what's the connection there?

00;33;16;07 - 00;33;21;06

Shannon Schneller

There is a connection to monaural hearing loss. Sudden hearing loss in one ear.

00;33;21;09 - 00;33;21;20

Cary Hall

Okay.

00;33;21;26 - 00;33;36;12

Shannon Schneller

And they mentioned this earlier and they mentioned this. Yes, they mentioned it. When you listen to the commercial, all the all the quick talk, the question that yes, it's it is it is. So just be aware of that. A lot of patients aren't okay. So not trying to make a joke of anything that's. No that affects everybody.

00;33;36;12 - 00;33;37;28

Shannon Schneller

Right. But the information.

00;33;37;28 - 00;33;56;08

Cary Hall

Yeah. And then then and then let's do here's the other one. Let's talk about let's talk about balance and yeah, loss of balance and those issues. Yes. That's another issue. I had a very good friend, a gentleman who lived across the street from us when we lived in the Brookside area, and he had a horrible problem with this.

00;33;56;10 - 00;33;57;25

Cary Hall

And talk about that.

00;33;57;26 - 00;34;20;03

Shannon Schneller

Sure. So once again, it's not to direct causation. It's not if you can't hear, you're going to trip and fall that that's not what we're discussing. When it comes to your brain making balanced decisions. It gets information three ways and visual cues. What do you see going on in your environment? Tactile information. Hands and feet. Spatial awareness and hearing.

00;34;20;05 - 00;34;34;23

Shannon Schneller

So your brain takes in those three ways of information. It's a tripod. So if one of those information system is not working correctly, the brain is not making an informed decision about balance. And that's the direct that that's the correlation of hearing and balance. Isn't that interesting.

00;34;34;23 - 00;34;38;02

Cary Hall

Yeah it is that I would have never yes. That never would have crossed my mind.

00;34;38;03 - 00;35;00;08

Shannon Schneller

And over time, as you're hearing degrades and it's not being reactivated with an amplification, the portion of your brain that processes for vision is being overworked. And the portion of your brain that is processing for hearing is under worked. So then you've got issues with, you know, this part of the brain is not working great. This one's being overworked.

00;35;00;10 - 00;35;02;29

Shannon Schneller

And it's just very, very interesting.

00;35;03;01 - 00;35;21;11

Cary Hall

There are a lot of issues that surround this hearing loss, and we're almost out of time here. But I do want you to talk about chronic loneliness and social isolation. And this specifically applies to seasoned citizens. So let's talk a little bit about that and how the hearing is directly connects to that.

00;35;21;18 - 00;35;44;19

Shannon Schneller

So is very interesting. In 2023, the surgeon general put out an advisory letter, and it was, about the healing effects of social connection and community. And it was actually kind of shocking after reading all of it, but so important because social isolation and loneliness is highly associated with dementia.

00;35;44;21 - 00;35;46;05

Cary Hall

That is fact.

00;35;46;07 - 00;35;59;19

Shannon Schneller

And the data across 148 studies averages seven and a half. You know, years of follow up suggests that social connectivity increases the odds of survival by 50%.

00;35;59;22 - 00;36;01;22

Cary Hall

That's I did not know that.

00;36;01;25 - 00;36;21;29

Shannon Schneller

I mean, I just get chills when you think about, you know, and he talks about the concern of how does loneliness and social isolation is just affecting our lives in so many ways, and we all want to age. Well, I'm 49. I'm starting to think about aging. Well, what does that look like? And the things you don't even think about can affect all of the other parts of of your existence.

00;36;21;29 - 00;36;33;00

Shannon Schneller

It's just amazing to me. But his main concern was the epidemic of social, you know, withdrawal and loss and loneliness. Oh, that was big. This was before Covid.

00;36;33;00 - 00;36;34;05

Cary Hall

Yeah, I know.

00;36;34;08 - 00;36;38;25

Shannon Schneller

But that made it worse. Can you imagine how terrible it is?

00;36;38;25 - 00;36;53;08

Cary Hall

Thank you very much for coming in today. We're going to do it. We'll do this again. Well, there's more of this we're going to talk about. But I really appreciate you coming here and my pleasure. You know, we do these shows for a reason and I the the effort here is to educate your inform you a lot of this stuff.

00;36;53;08 - 00;37;09;24

Cary Hall

You may not have heard. You may have a family member that is going through this. Look, I'm 75 years old. I wear two of these things. I can hear as just as well as a as a 12 year old kid now. Okay. The reason is because I'm wearing these hearing aids, and I found a group of people that know what they're doing.

00;37;09;24 - 00;37;25;13

Cary Hall

They made a big difference in my life. They made a difference in my kids life and my grandkids life because I'm not constantly bending over. Ask him, what did he say? What did they say? I can hear them now. I can understand what they're saying. They make a big difference. Get a hearing test, find out if you got a problem or deal with it.

00;37;25;18 - 00;37;49;28

Cary Hall

If you hear local, it's myFocusHearing.com, myFocusHearing.com. The phone number (913) 754-2144. And now I leave you with this thought from Albert Einstein, the one who follows the crowd, they usually get no further than the crowd. The one who walks alone finds himself in places no one has ever been. Remember, friends, it's a funny thing about life.

00;37;49;28 - 00;38;04;18

Cary Hall

If you refuse to accept anything but the very best, you most often get it. Thank you for listening to America's Healthcare Advocate broadcasting coast to coast across the USA. Goodbye America.

00;38;04;21 - 00;38;09;22

Cary Hall

00;38;09;24 - 00;38;11;27

Cary Hall