Check out this feel-good story about how a simple act of providing a hearing aid to someone in need can dramatically change their lives. Thanks to Starkey Cares, they helped make a huge and positive impact for Branden Thibodeau, a Special Olympics softball player.
We had a wonderful presentation and discussion covering the family dynamics and challenges faced with hearing loss. Dr. Jen Anfinson was kind enough to put together and present to our audience with many interesting topics and Q&A.
Please see below to view the full presentation and don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel!
Although the struggles we all experienced, especially those of us with hearing loss, during the pandemic took their toll on us. One silver lining that came from this was the dramatic increase and acceptance in the use of captioning beyond just TV. This article does a great job explaining how captions are helping everyone but still aren’t perfect.
Everyone who needs assistance and help with their hearing needs will benefit greatly by having a supportive and strong relationship with their hearing care professional.
IDA Institute has put together an informative and fun guide called Partnering for Great Hearing Care. This brand-new animated guide shows a great partnership in action and provides practical tips for both clinicians and clients for how to build a successful partnership, based on four building blocks: build trust, connect as people, be active partners, and invite family and friends.
The masks are coming off and we can read lips again!
Monday, February 7
Please join The Friends of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA and the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital Board of Advisors for a fascinating Open Mind program with Nina Kraus, PhD, author of the groundbreaking new book, OF SOUND MIND: How Our Brain Constructs a Meaningful Sonic World.
Dr. Nina Kraus, Northwestern University professor, neuroscientist, and director of the renowned Brainvolts Lab, uses her thirty years’ experience studying the interplay of the brain and sound to show for the first time that the processing of sound drives many of the brain’s core functions. She leads us through a fascinating exploration of sound’s surprisingly unrecognized role in both the healthy and hurting brain and brilliantly makes the case that the sounds of the world around us—and what sounds we’re exposed to throughout our lives—impact the development of our brains, the abilities and weaknesses we develop, and who we are as human beings.
Dr. Kraus is a scientist, inventor, and amateur musician who studies the biology of auditory learning and investigates the neural encoding of speech and music and its plasticity. She holds the Hugh S. Knowles Chair in Audiology at Northwestern University.
Mark Jude Tramo, MD, PhD, will join Dr. Kraus in discussion. Dr. Tramo is the Director of the Institute for Music & Brain Science, Co-Director of the University of California Multi-Campus Music Research Initiative, and both an Associate Clinical Professor of Neurology at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine and an Adjunct Professor in Ethnomusicology at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.
To watch videos of our past Open Mind programs, please visit www.friendsofnpi.org/open-mind-videos or our YouTube Channel.
Alison Freeman, Ph.D.
A big thank you to Alison Freeman, Ph. D., for a wonderful presentation and discussion about dealing with the challenges of hearing loss and your mental health. We had a great turnout and honest and thoughtful questions throughout the presentation which just shows how impactful hearing loss can be to our mental well-being and health.
Please enjoy the presentation below or go to our YouTube channel to enjoy this and other video presentations. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Zina Jawadi, an HLAA board of directors member and well known throughout the world of HLAA, shares her personal hearing loss journey. Zina, currently a medical student at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, discusses the challenges she faces as a medical student and what she has learned to improve communication for all.
But like so many aspects of life, hearing health care was impacted by COVID, sometimes causing radical changes that could prove to be permanent. Four people deeply involved in the world of hearing health care—Sydlowski; Kate Carr, president of the Hearing Industries Association (HIA); Barbara Kelley, executive director of the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA); and Donna Sorkin, executive director of the American Cochlear Implant (ACI) Alliance—provided personal insights into these changes, as well as initial expectations, surprises, hopes for the future, and silver linings.
Kelley also hopes the heightened awareness of hearing caused by facial coverings will lead to more patients getting the care they need.
“I want to drive more people to hearing health care. Hearing health is part of overall wellness.”
See the below articles from Consumer Reports outlining advice and tips for hearing aids, including shopping for them. Over-the-counter hearing aids are not far away so now is the time to get yourself informed!
It’s Confusing and Difficult to Shop for Hearing Aids. Here’s How to Figure It Out.
If you buy a direct-to-consumer (DTC) hearing aid and it doesn’t work for you, don’t give up, urges Barbara Kelley, executive director of the Hearing Loss Association of America. “It might just not be a good device,” she says. Return it and try again—or consider consulting an audiologist. There’s almost surely something out there that can help.
It’s likely that just as with DTC hearing aids, some makers of PSAPs will seek approval for their products as OTC hearing aids once the FDA finalizes the rules, says Kelley.
