Listen and Learn - 9-21-24

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, and welcome to listen and learn. This is
where we talk about your health and you're hearing. We
time together, we share with you ways to keep them
both at their best. And it's all brought to you
by Concept by Iowa Hearing Aid Centers. I'm Danny and
with me is Kat Klower, hearing instrument specialist with Concept.
Good morning, Kat.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Good morning, And I just have to say to everyone,
enjoy the beautiful Saturday because today's the last day of summer.
Get out those last few minutes and enjoy and thank
you for listening today as well.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Oh yeah, because you could be doing so many other things,
but we're so glad your ears are right here on
this program. It's a good one today too. Well, I
say good because we're learning how to prevent certain things
that we don't want to be in our life. Now
that's a little nugget for you as we are going
to talk about falls this week. But first let me

(00:56):
share with you how you get a hold of CONCEPT
by Iowa Hearing Aid Centers so you can schedule that
complimentary hearing evaluation. Eight seven seven sixty three to two
thirty six ninety is their phone number. That's eight seven seven,
six three, two thirty six ninety. You could even schedule online.
Iowa Hearing dot com is their website. That's Iowa Hearing

(01:16):
dot com. And today the promo you qualify for once
you book by one o'clock today is four hundred and
fifty dollars off per device on the best series package. Again,
if you call by one o'clock today and get your
hearing evaluation on the books. Okay, Kat Klower, our hearing

(01:38):
instrument specialist with concept by Iowa Hearing Centers. Let's let's
dive into our topic today.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
Yeah, So, as I mentioned, tomorrow will be the first
day of fall and that brings Fall Preventions Awareness Week,
So it always coincides kind of with that first day
of fall and then the following week. And for years,
the National Council for Aging has been committed to changing

(02:06):
the trajectory of falls related injuries by helping older adults
gain the confidence and skills needed to prevent a fall.
This is a big priority considering falls are the leading
cause of fatal and non fatal injuries among older adults

(02:27):
and this leads to serious injuries and along with that
and increased risk of additional falls. So that's really the
importance of Falls Prevention Awareness Week, and this week I
want to talk about falls and I want to talk
about how hearing loss increase your risk of falls. I

(02:48):
think many people don't think of hearing as being a
risk factor for falling. You know. We tend to think
of the obvious things like maybe bad ways other you know,
ice on the ground, or not paying attention to where
you're going, or muscle weakness, phone weakness, those kinds of things.

(03:12):
But it is such an important topic because, for as
I mentioned, for people over the age of sixty five,
it is the leading cause of unintentional death and that
is kind of scary. And it's also the most common
non fatal injury. And when I think of non fatal,

(03:33):
you know, I am concerned about those older adults who
are more independent and a fall can really change that
independence for them. We often think of symptoms of dizziness, lightheadedness,
or unsteadiness are terms to broadly describe how a person

(03:56):
feels when their sense of balance is impaired. There are
many medical problems that cause these symptoms, circulatory problems, low
blood sugar, high blood sugar, and when we talk about
low and high blood sugar, of course, being diabetic is
again another risk factor for hearing loss thyroid disorders, and

(04:18):
now research indicates that a high frequency hearing loss can
really play a significant role as well. Studies have been
done by JOHNS. Hopkins and the National Institute of Health,
and untreated hearing loss is linked to an increased likelihood
of falls. And we think, how are these related? How

(04:42):
does this happen? It seems really kind of different. You know,
what is not hearing well? How does that relate to
more falls? People who do not hear well may not
have a good awareness of their overall environment, which makes
tripping and falling more likely. Hearing loss can affect spatial

(05:06):
awareness and where the body is in position to the
other objects around it. So there have been a lot
of studies done about incidental hearing. And when I say
that term, what are we talking about? We're talking about
the sounds we don't think about, you know, or the

(05:28):
sounds that we're not necessarily trying to hear. Typically we're
trying to hear and understand speech. But the things that
we don't think about are the sounds that we hear
around us on a daily basis. So, for example, I'll
take being at home, the microwave beeping if someone's using it,

(05:48):
the refrigerator running, the sound of the heater or the
air conditioner kicking on, that fan noise in my house,
I hear the some pump kick on. That's kind of
one of our household sounds. So you have all those
typical sounds we hear, but you may not realize at
some point you're no longer hearing them because they're not

(06:12):
as important to you. But hearing all those sounds really
does help our spatial awareness. It keeps our balance and
awareness of our overall environment. The other thing that we
know is that gate and balance are also very cognitively

(06:33):
demanding as well as hearing loss, and we're going to
get into that a little bit in a moment here.
We're going to just take a quick pause and go
over that promo today. And remember this is to call
and get it on the schedule. This isn't a call
and come in today. I want to enjoy that last
day of summer, right, So it's just call by one o'clock,

(06:56):
get it on your schedule before the end them.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
Let me start with the promo. It's so good, you're
gonna be like be running for a piece of paper
and a pen because the promo today is four hundred
and fifty dollars off per device on the best series package.
But you do have to call buy one o'clock today,
get that hearing evaluation scheduled. It's a completely complementary hearing evaluation.

(07:23):
And here's the number for Concept by Iowa Hearing Centers.
Eight seven seven six three two thirty six ninety. That's
eight seven seven six three two thirty six ninety. You
could schedule online too if that's more convenient. Iowa Hearing
dot Com is their website. That's Iowa Hearing dot com.
Make sure you have it done by one o'clock though,

(07:45):
so you don't miss out on that great promo. Four
Concept by Iowa Hearing Centers. Hearing instrument specialist Kat Klower
is here. As we talk about hearing loss and how
it is associated with fall sense, this is kind of
the word getting into the first week of full Yes.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
It's the first week of fall coming out that we
want to ensure that you don't fall. And one way
you can do that is getting your hearing checked to
make sure you're hearing the best that you can. So
when we talk about gait and balance that are cognitively demanding.
We know that resources that maintain posture and body control

(08:27):
require cognitive resources that may be impaired by hearing loss,
and it throws off an individual's balance and that in
turn increases the risk of falling. This is an analogy
I use a lot when I'm talking about how hearing
loss and cognitive decline go hand in hand. But we know, okay,

(08:49):
if we think of that brain we have as a
big pie, and then there's that slice, those cognitive resources
that are allocated to hearing. When we have hearing loss,
what happens is we are now taking a bigger piece
of the pie, and those cognitive resources become reallocated. And

(09:13):
it has been shown what becomes compromised with an untreated
hearing loss is a short term memory loss, loss of
thinking ability, and compromise gate and balance. So you know,
hearing is not just hearing, it's also cognitive health and

(09:36):
overall health. There was a gate and balance study that
was done with people age forty to sixty nine. I'm like, wow,
this is this is me, this is my age group. Yes,
we're not talking about the elderly here. I guess we'd
say more middle aged aged forty to sixty nine, and
people who have a twenty five decibel loss, which we

(10:00):
really classify as a mild loss, are three times more
likely to have a history of falling. And more importantly,
as hearing loss increases above a twenty five decibel loss,
with each ten decibel of loss, the risk increase by

(10:20):
one point four percent. So kind of to explain it,
or give an example, someone with a sixty decibel loss,
which is really not uncommon among older people, if they
do not treat their hearing loss, they would be six
times more likely to have falls. And when this does happen,

(10:43):
we go back again to the cognitive factors. Besides not
having full awareness of their surroundings, that gait and balance
becomes compromised and our brain needs to spend that extra energy
to compensate for the loss and in turn increase that
risk for falls. And as I'm talking about this, I
just want to take a moment when I say, someone

(11:06):
with a sixty decibel loss, which is not uncommon, would
have a six times more likely to have a fall.
So let's kind of break down hearing loss and age
by the numbers. People aged fifty five to sixty four,
about one and fourteen people have hearing loss. People age

(11:28):
sixty five to seventy four about one in three people
have hearing loss, and people age seventy five and older
about one and two. So how do we know we
have hearing loss? We get our hearing checked. So we're
going to take a pause, go over how to schedule

(11:51):
that complimentary evaluation, and then we're going to discuss how
do we get a friend or family member in for
that test?

Speaker 1 (12:00):
And that you know what, that is probably eighty percent
of the battle right there. But yes, so if you're curious,
the complimentary hearing evaluation is very easy to schedule with
concept by Iowa Hearing Centers. I've done it. I've done
it at least twice, my parents have done it, and
you can do it too by picking up the phone

(12:21):
eight seven seven six three two thirty six ninety. That's
eight seven seven six three two thirty six ninety. Everyone
is very friendly and they want to help you get
that exam scheduled as quickly as possible. Also, the website
works too, Iowa Hearing dot com. You can schedule there
Iowa Hearing dot com. Make sure you do that by

(12:44):
one o'clock today though, because the promo you qualify for
is amazing four hundred and fifty dollars let me say
that again, four hundred fifty dollars off per device on
the best series package. But you do have to schedule
by one o'clock today for that hearing evaluation, which again

(13:06):
is completely free with concept by eyew Hearing Centers Hearing
instrument specialist Cat Klower. As we continue to talk about
hearing loss, our health and risk of falls, and you
know also how to get people to come in and
schedule that hearing exam. It's really not an easy feat
for some people.

Speaker 2 (13:24):
Yes, it is something that unfortunately a lot of people resist,
So I think it's always good to go over ways
we can help a family member or a friend or
loved one come in to get a hearing test, and
most importantly, be patient. Most people don't respond well to nagging,

(13:46):
so try to be patient and pick your moments wisely,
and if you can get more people involved so it's
not the same person always bringing up the top so
that it can be so easily dismissed, and listen to
their objections, try to understand why they're resisting having a

(14:10):
hearing test and more importantly, if you're listening today and
you've listened to listen and learn in the past, share
the benefits. Research shows that hearing Treating your hearing can
help with dementia, cognitive decline, relationships, earning power, reduced risk

(14:35):
of falls, all of those things. And I think most
importantly knowing which a lot of people are not aware of,
it's recommended to get a baseline hearing test at age
forty and every five years afterwards. So it's that simple.

(14:55):
If you have not been tested in the last five
years and you're age forty and older, it's time to
pick up that phone and give us a call by
one o'clock today.

Speaker 1 (15:06):
And that number is eight seven seven six three two
thirty six ninety Again eight seven seven six three two
thirty six ninety or go to the website Iowa Hearing
dot com. So important, Iowa Hearing dot com. Do it
by one because as we've been talking about that promo,

(15:28):
it's a great promo, four hundred and fifty dollars off
per device on the best series package. But you only
get that, you only qualify if you get that call
in to schedule your appointment by one o'clock today with
Concept by Iowa Hearing Centers. Kat Klower is our hearing
instrument specialist with Concept. Hey, I love that we are

(15:50):
getting into fall, but you're right fall it's a change
of season and I often make sure that I schedule
certain appointments when the season's changed because it's a good remind.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
It is a good reminder, and this Falls Prevention Week
is a good signal that getting your hearing checked and
ensuring you're reducing your risk for falls and to ensure
good hearing and overall health is a good thing to do.
And at Concept by Iowa, we make it easy. We

(16:20):
offer those complementary full hearing evaluations. We're going to do
a full evaluation. We're going to do air conduction, phone conduction,
word discrimination, and speech and noise testing because we all
know it's harder to hear when we get in those
groups and crowds and there's more background noise. Another thing

(16:43):
that we do to make it easy for our people
is we have multiple locations across the state of Iowa
and you can go to any one of our locations.
We have a location in Aims, Seedar, Rapids, Clinton, Laureville, Davenport, Dubuque.
For now Marshalltown, Oscaloosa, Hella, Pleasant Hill, Waterloo, and West

(17:10):
of Moine. All of these locations can be found on
our website and if you don't want to pick up
the phone, you can always book your test online as well.
And a great way to get somebody you want to
get in for a hearing test is to schedule it

(17:33):
for them and say I'm going to go and get
my hearing tested too. You can say, hey, I have
not had my hearing tested in the last couple of years,
and I know you haven't either. Let's go together and
get it done. Instead of trying to convince them that
they have a hearing problem, you can schedule a hearing

(17:57):
test for the both of you or a number of
people and just go together and get it done at
our office. It's an easy process. And Danny, I know
you've been through it a couple of times yourself. Hip
you've also been in the position where you had to
get a friend, our family member is for a hearing test. Yeahs,

(18:21):
and feel free to share your experience.

Speaker 1 (18:24):
Oh sure, yeah, you know, as you were saying, it's
it's it's not an easy thing, but I will tell
you this. When you were this cute story because when
you were talking about you know, oh, you know, you
can say, oh, that person has a terrible you know,
they're they're they're definitely at a hearing loss. They need
to get in, But once you come in, you might

(18:45):
be surprised that you actually have a hearing loss. Also,
it happened to my parents because I kept saying, Mom, Mom,
I you know I'm talking to you and you're you're
not completely hearing what I'm saying. You know, when you're
has turned all the things. And my dad kept saying, oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely, yeah,
she's got to get in and get that hearing test

(19:06):
at all. She just has to. They went in together
and come to find out, his hearing loss was actually
more than my mom's. And I'm so glad he went
in because, you know, being a farmer and being around
all those loud things, you don't always know what you
don't hear.

Speaker 2 (19:24):
That's so true. You know, we tend to lose our
hearing slowly and gradually, and we don't notice those subtle changes.
And it often it's somebody around us who's noticing that change.

Speaker 1 (19:36):
Yeah, and so it's really I love the idea of
bringing somebody with you. It helped my parents. Both of
them have hearing aids, and I love it because they
blewetooth them to their phones and you know, they can
hear me when I call and I'm, you know, having
a conversation. Sometimes they'll be on the same call at
the same time, and it's kind of cool because it's

(19:57):
all hands free for them. I just I love the
technology that concept by Iowa Hearing Centers is bringing to
the hearing aid game.

Speaker 2 (20:05):
Yes, we've got our great new hearing product and we
offer that Sphere technology in our best package. And just
real quick, we're going to go over that new product
that we have. Our Sphere hearing aid has two sound
processing chips, a new chip that is much faster, and

(20:29):
it has most importantly, this chip that has been AI trained.
It has been trained with twenty two million sound samples
for nuanced sound recognition. So what does that really mean.
It is the first AI chip dedicated solely to separating

(20:50):
speech from noise. You're not going to find this anywhere
else in the market. It has fifty three times more
processing power and it improves that speech over noise ratio.
It provides a ten decibel improvement and our competitors' devices

(21:12):
provide about a three point seven decibel improvement, so that
is huge. It's more twice the improvement. You can hear
speech and noise in any direction, not just in front
of you. It still has the great water proof features
of our Aqua devices, and it has improvement in the

(21:33):
bluetooth streaming. You can stream two times a distance as
competitors and even our previous models. It's such a great product.
Just pick up that phone and call by one o'clock.
Take advantage of that great promotion. Get it on the
schedule to get your hearing evaluated, because maybe it hasn't

(21:54):
been done in the last couple of years. And just
reminder that this coming week is falls Prevention week and
untreated hearing loss increases that risk of falls.

Speaker 1 (22:07):
And I think falling is just such a scary thing
no matter what age you are, because you don't know
what's going to happen. And so anytime you can decrease
that risk, and especially with something as simple as having
a hearing exam, I'm all in on it. The number
four concept i Iowa Hearing Centers is eight seven seven

(22:27):
six three two thirty six ninety again eight seven seven
six three, two thirty six ninety. Their website is a
great resource. It's a great place to also schedule your
hearing exam. So Iowa Hearing dot com is their website,
Iowa Hearing dot Com for Concept by IWAH Hearing Centers. Now,

(22:48):
once you schedule that exam, which is completely free, by
one o'clock today, you qualify for the promo, receiving four
hundred and fifty dollars off per divide on the best
series package. Again, that's if you call by one o'clock today.
Kat Klower is our hearing instrument specialist with Concept by

(23:08):
Iowa Hearing Centers. Love talking to you, Kat, especially about
the new technology that is out there. Anything you want
to pull forward. Do we have a few more minutes
left here at the end that you want to make
sure you highlight.

Speaker 2 (23:22):
Yeah, I just want to mention you know, there are
a few signs of hearing lots when you're trying to
determine with a friend or family member, you know, say hey,
I've noticed this. Maybe there's a little bit of a
change happening. Are they churning the television or the radio
louder than other people in the household, prefer or louder

(23:46):
than people who come to visit. Are they having different
and I'm going to actually add to this, or do
you call them to have a conversation and you have
to kind of shout can you turn the TV down
because I can't hear you? Yes, those are all signs
that they need to come in for hearing. Just are

(24:07):
they having difficulty with telephone conversations? Are they using speaker phone?
I mean that's a big one. You know, I'm out
in public and I see people, older people using speaker phone.
They're talking loud and you're hearing both sides of the conversation.

(24:28):
This is an indication that you may be having trouble
with your hearing. Frequently asking for people to repeat what's
being said, or you're noticing that maybe they're not asking
to repeat, but they're not following and they're afraid to
speak up and ask for someone to repeat. Are they
answering a question that wasn't asked or are they answering incorrectly,

(24:52):
you know, not getting the understanding or following the conversation.
And are they blaming hearing issues on other things? Is
you know somebody always mumbling, oh it's windy, Oh there's
background noise, it's wowed, et cetera. That might be the case,
but that's not going to be the case every single time,

(25:14):
especially if people around them are doing okay in that situation.
So just some quick tips and signs of hearing loss.
Enjoy everybody that last day of summer today and tomorrow
kicks off Ball and Falls Prevention week. Pick up the phone,
give us a call. Get that complimentary hearing evaluation scheduled today,

(25:39):
meaning you're going to get it on the books, but
you're not necessarily going to come in today. We just
want you to come in sometime this fall to reduce
those risks of balls.

Speaker 1 (25:50):
And the promo that you will qualify for today, but
you do have to call by one o'clock to qualify
is four hundred and fifty dollars off per device on
the bed Best Series package. Again calling by one o'clock
to get that scheduled. The number is eight seven seven
six three two thirty six ninety. That's eight seven seven
six three two thirty six ninety. Or the website Iowa

(26:14):
Hearing dot com. You can also schedule there. That's Iowa
Hearing dot com. Thank you, Kat Klower for all you
do helping us keep our hearing at its absolute best.
This is Listen and Learn on WOC, brought to you
by Concept by Iowa Hearing Centers