Providing Quality Hearing Healthcare with Honesty and Integrity for
Infants, Children, Adults and Seniors

We all know someone who has hearing loss, but do we really understand the impact it has on our lives? Unfortunately I see people every day who should have been in my office years before and just weren’t ready to face the facts about their hearing loss challenges and struggles. They come in saying, “Everyone mumbles.” or “People don’t have anything to say that I want to hear.” That is simply untrue. No one wants to be isolated from their loved-ones, but hearing loss usually comes on so gradually that sometimes it’s easier to deny than to really face what’s going on.

For many people, adjusting to the idea of having a hearing loss and using hearing aids may be overwhelming. Some may associate it with a sign of aging. They don’t want to “be old” because they don’t “feel old”. So they do nothing. They don’t realize the toll it is taking on them, their family members, and those around them who are forced to compensate for their communication difficulties. Some people recognize their frustration and seek help right away, while many and most do not. People generally live with hearing loss for five or more years before they do anything about it, if they do anything at all.

Part of this lack of action may be the prohibitive costs associated with hearing aids. Another may be the fault of the hearing care industry, which has a poor track record of “selling” hearing aids like cars. I hear stories of hearing healthcare care providers asking their patients if they want the “Cadillac, the Ford or the Kia”. That wouldn’t inspire confidence in me as a consumer trying to make decisions about my quality of life. You must rely on professionals to provide you with the honest information that you need, which can sometimes be difficult to digest in a field where the information available is seemingly endless. I find that information is not always presented in the most effective way. The source of some of these problems may lie within the way in which products are advertised, while still others may be found among the professionals providing the information.

Sometimes the information provided may not always be what the patient wants to hear. Sometimes a patient may need to spend some money on his/her hearing healthcare needs. This is money well spent to someone who has made the investment with good quality outcomes. Bruce, a resident of Port Orchard describes his experience. “I admit to resisting the idea of hearing aids; however I changed my mind once I tried them. Not only are my hearing aids discreet, but they are fully adjusted to my particular hearing loss. I have been wearing the new, open fitting, behind-the-ear, digital hearing aids for the last two years and I can tell you that it was one of the best investments I have made for myself and for my family. We wear glasses when our eyesight begins to fail. Why wouldn’t we do whatever we can to improve our hearing?”

As the “baby boomer generation” faces various aspects of aging, there will be greater populations of people living with hearing impairment. Some are being seen now because of loud noise exposure while others may be experiencing the beginning stages of presbycusis (or hearing loss due to aging).

Furthermore, the “baby boomers” are now helping their parents with some difficult healthcare challenges. Seeing their parents face these issues helps them to make better decisions about their own future healthcare. They are taking steps to ensure that their quality of life stays at an optimal level for as long as possible, and are willing to do what it takes to maintain it. This is the approach to medical care that I want my family members and my patients to take.

I am impressed when someone comes into the office with knowledge about hearing loss and hearing aids. They ask specific questions so that I can provide them with what they need to make the best decision for their unique needs. Making an informed decision about hearing healthcare is not just about the cost, I cannot emphasize that enough. Yes, hearing aids are expensive, I agree. However there is more to making a decision than just considering the cost. There needs to be a thorough assessment of the type and severity of the hearing loss. The speech understanding ability of the patient needs to be evaluated along with a determination of any cognitive and/or dexterity limitations that a patient may have. Certainly we need to consider the budgetary constraints that each patient faces, and then work together to create a plan for rehabilitation.

I am always pleased when I see people over the age of 50 coming in for a baseline hearing screening. It should be done just as an EKG, blood work, colonoscopies and other preventative care. As with most preventative care, when patients opt for early intervention, the results are far more positive. The transition into amplification becomes much easier because the younger brain responds much more quickly to new auditory stimulation.

We see evidence of this in children and young people with hearing loss. Kari, a resident of Belfair is a parent of a child diagnosed with hearing loss at the age of three. Kari’s daughter, who is now six, “….has excelled in her speech, social skills and in many academic areas. She is in the top three in her class academically. When Dr. Nilsson put higher tech hearing aids on my daughter, it was a life changing event, not only for my daughter, but also for our whole family.” “….because she was given the chance to use better technology for hearing, we have come to realize that she was not moderately retarded with signs of ADHD, as was previously and incorrectly diagnosed by those less educated about hearing loss…..she has even been called a “Miracle Child” by the Audiologists who have evaluated her at Children’s Hospital in Seattle.”

When someone has had hearing loss for a number of years, and has done nothing about it, the transition is much more challenging to work through because the brain has quite literally been deprived of sound for a number of years. It is important to also consider that, as we age, change becomes much more difficult.

I am pleased to report some good news about hearing healthcare technology. Digital hearing aids are now the norm. Digital sound processing provides a cleaner, clearer sound quality. Analog processing hearing aids have now become an antiquated technology. However, not all digital hearing aids are alike. Processing capabilities and options vary greatly among the hearing aids and among the manufacturers. With the introduction of open fitting hearing aids, outcomes are improving with smaller, less bulky styles available. Some are even describing them as stylish!

The bad news about hearing healthcare is that not enough people are seeking the help they need because hearing aids have been so disappointing for so many in the past. Many people still feel there is a great stigma attached to using hearing aids. This may be either because they know of someone who had an old hearing aid that whistled constantly and still couldn’t hear well, or because they know someone who spent a great deal of money on hearing aids and was disappointed.

One of the most important aspects of what I do is providing patients with realistic expectations. In some cases I may fit someone with very poor speech understanding abilities and the patient may be very pleased with the outcome because he/she could not otherwise communicate without them. However the family members may remain frustrated because they want the patient to have “normal hearing” again because they were fitted with hearing aids. Unfortunately with a permanent hearing loss, they cannot have “normal hearing” again. It is also unfortunate, like with many other challenging life experiences, that people do not realize the struggles of hearing loss until they are facing those issues for themselves. So a large part of my work is educating each patient as well as the family to understand the limitations of the hearing loss and work to use strategies along with assistive listening devices where appropriate to improve communication and safety.

I want to change the stigma of hearing loss in our community by providing good quality technology coupled with a caring approach to assessment and rehabilitation. I no longer want those struggling with hearing loss to feel so isolated. Rick, a resident of Port Orchard describes his experience, “Hearing loss is not something that you notice all of a sudden because it decreases so gradually over time……however when I sought help from Dr. Nilsson, I felt that her expertise, training and personal rapport with her patients was unique. You will establish a trust in her abilities and know that she is absolutely genuine.”

I feel hearing aids should be a normal part of a person’s routine as soon as they become aware that they are missing out on one of the best aspects of life, socializing with those around them. As a consumer of hearing healthcare or any type of healthcare, you should not settle. You should seek out a high level of professionalism, knowledge and service excellence.