For Hearing-Loss Patients, Life of Compromised Hearing Feels Normal - Atascocita
For Hearing-Loss Patients, Life of Compromised Hearing Feels Normal - Atascocita
Published: Jul 31, 2014, 11:00am
« Back to Atascocita News
Sometimes you don't know what you've lost until you get it back.
For hearing-loss patients, a life of compromised hearing feels normal.
Over
time, people who lose their hearing learn to sit in the back corner of a
crowded room and try to read the lips of one person at a time � even
when they are wearing hearing aids. Perhaps they pat little kids on the
head and gently redirect them to someone else who can hear their
high-pitched voices. They tell familiar stories in business meetings
because they can't quite be sure what the person across the
conference-room table just asked.
Patients who have received the
MAXUM hearing implant quickly discover what they've been missing. The
MAXUM implant is attached to the middle ear bones and directly vibrates
the inner ear to generate high-quality, natural sound. Years, sometimes
decades, of inability to understand conversations is changed, as
suddenly speech becomes clearer, ambient noises come back into range,
and frequencies that were lost are once again audible.
"All the
sounds that most people with relatively good hearing take for granted, I
had forgotten that those sounds even existed. The sound of paper
crinkling, of leaves blowing on the driveway, I could see the wind
blowing, but there was no sound," says Jerry Gates, a resident of The
Woodlands whose son researched hearing loss and suggested he try the
MAXUM implant. Gates tried one implant, and then opted to do the second
ear as well. "These are such a tremendous improvement over hearing aids
that there�s no comparison."
It can be hard for patients with
hearing loss to carry on a conversation, especially with more than one
person. Some individuals can't hear the higher range of women�s and
children's voices. For many, the harder it is to hear, the longer it
takes them to process what they've heard and to formulate a response.
Soon, a person may bow out of conversations altogether.
"When you
have hearing loss, you have to concentrate so hard to make sure you're
hearing everything that by the end of the day you're exhausted," says
Mary Hamill, who works in The Woodlands and began to lose her hearing in
her early 30s. "It is embarrassing to ask people to repeat themselves,
so sometimes you just try to figure out what they said, or act like you
heard what they said, but you didn't. You're afraid that they're really
going to think you're stupid. I've heard it said and it's true: it's the
only handicap where people blame the victim. People are not sympathetic
when you can't hear."
Hearing aids simply amplify sound in the
outer ear, an approach that is inherently flawed. Hearing aids
frequently squeal when sound bounces off the eardrum and leaks back out
of the ear, muffle a user's own speaking voice, distort speech and can
boost distracting background sounds. The MAXUM implant uses 25 years of
research into middle-ear hearing implants to boost hearing by vibrating
the inner ear in a way that simulates natural hearing and provides much
clearer sound and ability to understand conversational speech.
"I
have many patients who can�t hear high-pitched squeaky voices, and they
tell me their grandchildren have to pull on their pants leg to get
their attention. They feel terrible," says Dr. Michael Glasscock, a
doctor who implants the MAXUM device and has also received the implant
himself. �After MAXUM, they say, �I�m so happy. I can just about hear
everything.� "
Patients who opt for the MAXUM implant undergo a
30-minute minimally invasive procedure done under local anesthesia to
attach the implant to the middle-ear bones. Once the ear drum heals,
usually in one to two weeks, patients receive an ear-worn processor that
works with the implant to fine tune their hearing. Dr. Anna McCraney,
the Director of Audiology at Ototronix, the maker of the MAXUM implant,
says that one of the biggest challenges in the first few months after an
implant is reintroducing sounds to patients who haven't heard them in
years.
"We fine-tune the processor based on a patient's hearing
needs, which are dictated by their hearing loss and their listening
environments" McCraney says. "Patients are at different places in life.
Working patients spend their time in business meetings, at airports and
at board meetings. Others are sitting with their spouse drinking coffee
and watching TV. We try to understand a patient�s lifestyle. Their
personality plays into it, whether they are outgoing and want to be part
of everything, or just want to communicate with a few significant
people in their life. Hearing is a subjective experience, and we take
all those variables into account when working with a patient."
Patients
agree that the surgical procedure is low-impact, and that the results
are well worth it. "I always had really good hearing aids, but the thing
I was missing was conversation," Hamill says. "Now, I'm a lot better
with general speech. I can sit back, relax and just talk."
Including the procedure, MAXUM initially costs more than hearing aids. For Gates, the price is worth it and then some.
"Prior
to having any assisted hearing, I felt like I was hearing 80 percent of
what people were saying," Gates says. "Once I got hearing aids, I
realized I was only hearing 60 percent of what people were saying. Once I
got my first MAXUM implant, I realized I had only been hearing 40
percent, and by the time I got the second MAXUM implant I realized that I
hadn't been hearing anything anybody was saying. I didn't realize how
dependent I was on lip reading."
Now with two hearing ears
because of the implants, Gates has seen a marked improvement in his
business, aided by his renewed confidence in giving presentations,
handling sales meetings, and in conference-room scenarios where multiple
voices are speaking at the same time.
"I wake up in the morning
and I put my 'ears' on before my feet hit the floor. I don�t take them
off until my wife falls asleep," Gates says. "I wear them all day, every
day and can�t imagine life without them."
For more information on the MAXUM implant, visit www.myMAXUM.com or call 1-855-MYMAXUM.
« Back to Atascocita News & Highlights
