Page 23 - Dr Pamela Peeke

Below are listed several facts about hearing loss in our aging Now, if we can get families and physicians to up their commitment
population: to prevention and treatment of hearing loss, maybe we can all get
- Hearing impairment diminishes the quality of life for older individu- along a bit better without having to shout at each other. This may
als. not be as distant a goal as it seems. The baby-boomers are aging
and taking the place of our parents as the next aging population. It
- Uncorrected hearing loss can lead to social isolation, cognitive is well known that the baby-boomers are an active generation who
decline, and decreased mobility. are not going to sit around and let themselves age, at least not
without a fight.
- Early detection and treatment can prevent or at least postpone
some serious impairment. So, we may see more and more "boomers" buying into the idea of
using hearing aids to maintain their level of normal activity for as
- Elderly men are more likely than women to be hearing impaired. long as possible. This, coupled with technology that continues to
improve the size and effectiveness of hearing aids, may just be the
- One quarter of the population over the age of 65 in most industrial- trick that gets the impact of hearing loss to reverse itself. We may
ized nations, and perhaps more in the rest of the world, suffer from not be able to stop the hearing loss itself, but we do have a chance
hearing loss. to negate the effects of hearing loss through technology, personal
involvement, and acceptance.
- Over age 75 years, half of us suffer from hearing loss. Do what you can to have an elder in your life screened for hearing
loss - it could change everyone's world.
- Over age 85, four out of five of us have trouble hearing.
- Fewer than 10 percent of American family doctors screen elderly
patients for hearing loss. (Source: Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention: Trends in Vision and Hearing Among Older Americans,
March 2001 and Journal of American Medical Association, April
2003).
Hearing loss is the third most common chronic condition in elderly
Americans, preceded only by high blood pressure and arthritis. It
will only get worse as we move more and more towards a noisy life-
style. Just walk down any street in America and it would be nearly
impossible not to notice people either talking on their
cell phones or listening to their iPods. Having conversa-
tions with each other is being replaced with direct sound
injection into our ears - sounds that are many times more
concentrated than the sound of a human voice in general
conversation. San Diego Woman

Think of going to a rock concert (many of us did that over
the years). Can you remember the numbing effect the Can your Son Become
loud music had on your hearing, even a day or so after 23
the concert? Consider that concert playing in your ears a Professional Baseball
every day, yet this time it is with overwhelmingly ap-
proved instruments: iPods, cell phones, MP3 players, etc. Player?
And, hearing loss can have a significant negative effect
on an individual's health: their emotional health, their psy-
chological health, and their social health. The fact that
most doctors don't even routinely screen for hearing loss
is simply compounding this problem.
A local Independent Scouting Bureau, SoCal Gold
There is some hope, though. Recently, at the Univer- Scouting, can help your high school or college player
sity of Florida, professor of Communication Sciences get noticed.
and Disorders, Dr. Patricia Kricos, led a research study
that looked at 91 participants from North Central Florida
retirement communities. In her findings, she discovered Visit Socal gold’s website for more information, and
that a majority of the participants (62) admitted to having to find out how you can help your son live out his
some form of hearing loss. One of her conclusions was dream of becoming a major league baseball player.
that it may be (more and more) that the elderly are willing
to admit to their hearing loss: Although, they still deny Go to the website at www.socalgoldscouting.com
the impact of those losses on themselves and their fami- and while there enter to win a free t-shirt.
lies. This leads us to the tentative assumption that more
of the elderly may be willing to receive some assistance For a listing of upcoming clinics and showcases in
with reducing the impact of their hearing loss through your area visit our site at
medical intervention (or in other words, the use of hearing
aids). Of course, there are still major stumbling blocks to www.socalgoldscouting.com
following through with this assumption; specifically money
and the use of the hearing aid once purchased. How-
ever, it is promising to know that elderly people are willing
to admit their hearing loss and to seek treatment.
Issue 2, 2009