LEFT: Dr. Anne Simon fits a hearing aid onto the ear of her husband, Jeff Simon, as she demonstrates the process she goes through when helping patients with their hearing aids last month at Simon Audiology & Tinnitus. BELOW: A closeup of the hearing device on Jeff Simon’s ear. August Frank/Golden Times
Hearing loss reduces quality of life, but it doesn’t need to, area audiologists say — and your mental health may depend on getting help By ANGELA PALERMO OF THE TRIBUNE
W
hen Barry Barnes started working in construction, he and his buddies would use the filters from Winston cigarettes as earplugs. They didn’t do the trick. Decades of noise from drills and heavy machinery, including loaders and crushers, reduced his ability to hear by more than 50 percent. “We thought we were invincible,” Barnes said. “I didn’t take care of my
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ears the way I do now.” The 80-year-old Lewiston man started looking for solutions when his hearing deteriorated 30 years ago. Like many others with hearing difficulties, Barnes began using hearing aids to listen to the world around him. The devices allow him to continue participating in what matters most. “I golf twice a week with my friends and take boats up the river,” he said. “I have a great relationship with my children. I’m doing everything I physically can, and the reason I can do that is because of hearing aids.” But they don’t come without a price, and
SAY WHAT?
Barnes says the “good ones will cost you.” Hearing aid costs vary widely, ranging from $1,000 to upward of $5,000 for a set. Additional costs can accrue once evaluations and fittings are factored in. A recent study published on the website seniorliving. org surveyed U.S. adults age 55 or older and found more than a quarter of respondents don’t use hearings aids because of the expense. The appearance of hearing aids also was cited as an impediment, but cost seems to be the biggest factor, with almost 90 percent of respondents saying price played a role GOLDEN TIMES
in their purchase decision. The expense is worth it for Barnes, who says he couldn’t do without his hearing aids. “It would still be worthwhile, even if it cost three times as much,” he said. “I wouldn’t trade them for anything.”
Sick of missing out
Dr. Elizabeth O’Neil, an audiologist at Valley Facial Plastics & ENT in Lewiston, said by the time patients come in, they’re already tired of not being able to hear. “When you think of hearing aids, you think of my grandma,” O’Neil said.
“But hearing aids are really about quality of life.” According to the senior living.org study, 28 percent of people age 60 and older with poor hearing rely on hearing aids — that’s about 17 million people nationwide. Dr. Anne Simon, an audiologist with Simon Audiology and Tinnitus in Lewiston, said that, in her experience, the primary reason people get hearing aids is to improve their relationships. Some individuals with more profound hearing loss could benefit from a cochlear implant. “People come in for a first visit, just a hearing
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