Peru 2010

Puedes oirme ahora? (Can you hear me now?).
We have just returned from Peru and what a fantastic trip it was! This year Karen and I fit at least 180 hearing aids, and this felt like one of the best trips we have served on.
What made it such an incredible trip was the help we received from people like you who donated money for supplies. One incredible blessing was the contribution of batteries donated by Phonak! Phonak, one of the largest and most advanced hearing aid manufacturers in the world was incredibly generous to provide batteries that will help those who received hearing aids function for over a year with excellent hearing. Thank you Phonak for making this possible!
Your donations helped us purchase tubing, molding, and tools specific for the use of modifying and fitting hearing aids. Anything we can take with us to make the fittings easier is a blessing that impacts the lives of these beautiful people. We were able to fit so many people without any glitches, and it was because of your generosity this could happen. Thank you all so much for making the impact you did!
I have to tell you a story about this little girl.

As you can see, she has the most beautiful blue eyes. Andrea has had no hearing all of her life. She is now four years old and attends a deaf school that serves the community of Flores de Villa. Flores de Villa is a very poor neighborhood that is a former landfill, claimed by squatters who have overtaken the area and made it their home. Most of the people live in a home that is 12 X 12 feet, and might have 2 rooms. A family shares this space, and the conditions are terrible by our standards. There is little hope of Andrea ever hearing sounds like her mother’s voice, her name, laughter, or environmental sounds like dogs barking, cars running, or playground joy. She does not have a language to speak, and she cannot communicate to those who don’t speak sign. Her beautiful blue eyes are her way of communication and she takes in everything.
When Karen first glanced at Andrea peaking in the window, she had no idea Andrea would be there to see us. Karen saw her eyes and called me over to the window to see. The joy in her face was contagious. When her turn came to have her hearing tested we both stopped and watched as she took command of the room with her charismatic attitude. It was clear she knew the routine from talking with classmates.
As Karen tested her hearing, it was clear there was some useable hearing and she could wear a hearing aid. We put together an aid for her.
When a child puts a hearing aid on for the first time and begins to take in the sound, it is so fascinating to watch. The switch is turned on while it is in her ear, and gradually the volume is turned up. There is silence in her expressions and voice. A stoic look crosses her face. Inside her head, she is processing everything, and it is a lot! The room has noises, and outside the door, the courtyard is filled with people waiting for medical attention. All the noise is overwhelming for someone with good hearing. This is all coming in at once for the very first time for this child, and she has no idea how to process it. She had no idea what her ears were for in the first place! Now she is taking in nothing but noise. Then, when she looks at me, she sees my lips moving, and associates sound with movement of lips. She reaches out and touches my lips too somehow indicate she understands what is happening. Then, she touches her own mouth and makes a sound. She discovers she has a voice. Now the room explodes with her sounds. Not speech, but incomprehensible babble. It continues nonstop! The room is filled with laughter and excitement as she tells her story in her own way. Everyone in the room wants their picture taken with her. She has become the hero of the day.
Her mother has no hearing as well. Andrea made sure that her mother was taken care of too. She instructed her mother through the whole process, and now the two can speak to each other the love of a mother and child, and it can be heard.
As the two of them left, we could hear Andrea circling around the courtyard telling everyone her story. There was one audible voice that stood out from the others. It was Andrea. She has been a blessing to us.
This is just one of many stories we can tell. The most important part of this process is knowing what they will hear because of the hearing aids. The people who come to the clinic in Flores de Villa are taught about Jesus and who He is. They are taught that He created them; He is the Son of God. They will hear the message that He loves them so much more than we can ever imagine, that He became human just like us, for the purpose of saving us from eternity in Hell, and so that we could spend eternity with a Father who desires us to be with Him in eternity. A sacrifice is required because we have sinned, and are separated from our perfect, pure Father. Jesus loves us so much; He became the perfect sacrifice, and out of His love, took all of our sin upon His shoulders and died with that sin in a cruel, inhumane death on the cross. But, as witnessed by hundreds, after three days in the grave, lifeless, he was resurrected, and sits on the throne waiting for us to join Him in a glorious reunion in heaven. His death and resurrection is a gift, and all we are required to do is accept it. By acknowledging our sin, accepting that Jesus is the Christ, Messiah, the perfect Son of God, that He died for our sins, and after three days rose from the grave, and is living today eternally, we will be saved. It is the complete love story, and this is what those who have ears will hear.
If you would like to spend eternity in heaven with the One who created all things, and draws us to Himself because He is a loving God, and desires us to love Him, then I invite you to give your life to the living Lord, Jesus Christ. You can do that today. One way of doing this is praying a prayer and believing this in your heart.
Dear God, I do believe your son, Jesus, died for me and took the punishment for my sins that I deserved. I want to receive your free gift of salvation and eternal life. Jesus, I ask you to come into my heart as I surrender my life to you. I know there is nothing on my own I can accomplish other than believing in you and the sacrifice you have made for me. Thank you for making this possible. Amen.
If you believe this in your heart, you can be assured, you will spend eternity in heaven, and will be saved from eternity in hell.
Thank you again for all your support for this wonderful trip. We look forward to seeing you at Sound Hearing!
Dale

June 3, 2010

Do's and Don'ts of getting hearing aids:

There are hundreds of hearing aids on the market backed by companies who make wonderful sounding promises about their features and benefits. Often the consumer purchases one of these incredible sounding devises, and is disappointed with the end result. Consumers end their experience disenchanted, assuming that nothing can be done about "their hearing," and finally sacrificing their lifestyle choices simply because they can't hear in the environments of their choice. This scenario bothers me.

Not every hearing aid is designed for every hearing loss. Not every technology is designed for every lifestyle. Not every style and shape of hearing aid is designed for every person. Not every brand or manufacturer has a hearing aid that will solve everyone's need. With all the variables that you, the consumer have to look at, how can you possible know what is the right hearing aid to choose?

You have a unique hearing loss, and unique needs. Your friend's hearing aids won't work in your ears. A hearing device you purchase over the internet or television is the equivalent of purchasing dentures through the same medium. Hearing aids are more than just amplifiers. I know there is a lot of free advice that is given by friends and "authorities" who will gladly tell you everything they know as they have acquired years of training and experience in the field of purchasing hearing aids. But, I would encourage you to be careful, and use wisdom to prevent disappointment.

Since this is a Sound Hearing Instruments website, of course I'll promote Sound Hearing, but knowing this can be read as far away as China, and as close as Richfield, the information can be helpful no matter where you live.

Look for a qualified provider:

Most, but not all practices that have been in existence over five years probably are qualified. Here in Minnesota, we are regulated by a pretty good system governed by the Minnesota Department of Health. To be a practitioner, you have to be trained and tested in competencies and further your education each year with a required number of CEU's. Peers and consumers help to regulate the industry by filing grievances, or reporting illegal activities as they see inappropriate behavior take place. Should a practitioner fail to follow regulations required by law, most likely they are not practicing after five years. By this time they have been asked to discontinue practicing, or consumers have heard about the reputation of the practice and the business runs its course into non-existence.

Find out a little bit about who is fitting your ears with hearing aids. Like any major purchase, you want to be acquainted with the provider and have a good, comfortable connection with them. If you don't feel comfortable, don't buy anything. It sounds like common sense, but our "Minnesota Nice," genetics sometimes gets in the way of our best interest, so we buy from the provider because it's the nice thing to do.

Purchasing a hearing aid is the beginning of a relationship with the practitioner. You will be seeing this person for cleaning, maintenance, repairs, reprogramming, re-testing of hearing, batteries, and of course, cookies on Friday's. You want to be comfortable with the person you work with. You want them to know your hearing, and know your unique environments that you participate in. You don't want a person who will be gone in ten months, and has taken the money with them. You also don't want the tire person from the other side of the warehouse to be fitting you with a hearing aid.

Ask questions and be comfortable with your person who you are trusting with your hearing. They are the person who you will be relying on for a long time.

Avoid single product providers:

We often see a person who has just recently purchased a hearing aid from a franchise company and they just moved into town. Now they are looking for someone to service their hearing aid. I would absolutely love to take care of them, program their hearing aid, give them the best service in the twin cities. The problem is, they have a hearing aid that can only be programmed at that franchise. OUCH! Now they find out they are locked in to one provider and don't have the freedom to make some choices about where to go. Sadly, I have to send them away to get their hearing aids programmed, and know that while they are getting it programmed, they will be "sold" all kinds of propaganda about why they need new aids, and how they could buy all kinds of service. That's heart breaking.

If you go to a provider who works with multiple manufacturers and is not locked into the franchise model, you have freedom to go where you want. This means, if you just moved from Florida, and you purchased your hearing aid from a provider who works with all the favorite companies in the industry, you can come to Sound Hearing, we will test your hearing, clean your aids, repair them, program them and you will walk out of our office without seeing a charge.
Admittedly, we have our favorite brands we like to fit and have become familiar with. But you may have a hearing loss or need the kind of hearing aid that that one manufacturer doesn't excel in. As an independent provider, we will know of a manufacture that makes the product that will work best for you, and will be glad to make that recommendation.

Featured product:

As mentioned, we have our favorite products. I have a new one. Not because of what the manufacturer says, but because of what you have been telling us.

Starkey Laboratories is a local company that is a world leader in hearing aid technology. In 2006 Starkey turned the industry upside down with the Destiny product, and have been leading the industry since. Now, a new product has entered the market through the geniuses within Starkey's research group, and the University of California, Berkley. The S Series, iQ is the product, and it truly is incredible what it has to offer.

The iQ circuit's truly exceptional feature is how well it works in background noise. Talking about this feature makes me a little queasy just because of some misunderstandings of hearing aids and background noise. First, hearing aids should NOT eliminate all background noise. If they did, not only would you get hit by a truck because you didn't hear it coming, you would feel like you are the only person in a restaurant even though you see other people talking all around you. That would be way too weird. You need some background noise to feel like you belong in this world. But, you want to hear speech in background noise.

Starkey's iQ circuit is so sophisticated, it is able to separate speech from background noise, even between the syllables of the person you are listening to. That truly is amazing! These are not the hearing aids my grandfather was fitting in 1946.

One of our patients who I have been working with has been wearing a set for a while now. We have struggled for many years to really find the perfect solution that sounds natural, and allows him to hear everything he wants to hear. Admittedly, he wants to hear more than what we are supposed to hear, and so it has been a challenge to find the perfect sound for him. When he came back for his follow up, I cautiously asked how he was doing, expecting to hear how they needed modification, and certain sounds weren't quite right, or the volume needed to be tweaked up or down at certain frequencies. When he sat down, he said, "These are a miracle." My reaction was shock. I fumbled for words, and tried to regain composure, but I think my face said it all. He doesn't smile much, but a grin came across his face and I knew he found the right hearing aids. You can't imagine the excitement that was going on inside of me when I heard how happy he was. These are some comments we wrote down as he was describing what the new hearing aids were doing.

"I could understand what people were saying rather than just knowing they
were talking."
"I could hear what people were saying at the next table at a
restaurant. It was like when I had real ears and could tune out what I didn't
want to listen to."
"The first thing I noticed when I got in my car was that
my car was quiet."
"Finally, I can hear my wife's voice."
"I could hold a
conversation in a restaurant and I could hear everything people were saying in
the conversation."

I was so elated to hear Mr. Roberts talk about his experience. Not because of the hearing aids so much, but because of the difficulty we both face when we try to fit his ears. I trust when this man tells me he thinks these aids are a miracle, there is something absolutely wonderful about this technology. I am now on board with this product, and you better believe I will be recommending it to people who can wear it, and when it fits their needs.

Mr. Roberts is not the only one talking about the technology. There are many others. But I wanted to mention this one because he is the one that I know can prove a technology works.
Call us today for a free hearing evaluation and we will work with you to find out what is going to be best for your hearing needs. Be sure to check back once in a while for updates and new news!

All the best,

Dale Woodard, BS, BC-HIS
President