Misinformation From Doctors Prevents 80% of Americans With Hearing Loss From Purchasing Hearing Aids

Cornelius, NC (WebWire) August 21, 2008– According to the Mayo Clinic, an estimated one-quarter of Americans between the ages of 65 and 75 and around three-quarters of those older than 75 have some degree of hearing loss.

But according to Randy Wohlers, founder of http://www.MyHearPod.com, only about 20% ever purchase a device to help restore their hearing abilities… not because of denial or lack of money, but rather due to misinformation or even lack of understanding from the medical community.

“99.9% of the patients who come into my private practice have no idea that one of the most serious consequences of losing our hearing is that we can lose our ability to process sounds into words,” said Wohlers. “Usually the more prolonged and the more severe the hearing loss the worse the ability of processing and understanding words becomes. In my private practices we have about 8 % of our patients who have zero discrimination or ability to understand words.”

As a result, Wohlers says that anyone who waits too long to get a hearing aid still won’t find the help that they expect when they do purchase a hearing aid all because their brain has lost the ability to form words out of incoming sound.

Wohlers places the blame for this directly on the medical community. “The medical community neglects to inform someone with a hearing loss that for most patients when their hearing diminishes so does their ability to convert sounds into words,” he said regarding the lack of information and perhaps not even understanding this almost always occurs with a hearing loss.

With digital technology available in hearing aids, there has never been more advanced hearing assistance available. But calibrated phonetically balanced word lists given to patients, demonstrating their ability to capture sounds as words, indicate that the ability to translate sounds into words has a direct correlation as to how long they have had a hearing loss and how severe the loss has become.

Organizations like the Hearing Loss Association of America have also recognized the lack of information available to adults regarding hearing loss. According to their web site, they created an online “Academy” to provide detailed, specific information regarding hearing loss.

“I believe this information is important to get out there to everyone who may have a hearing loss regarding the possibility of losing their ability to recognize words. Every patient we ask, ‘If you knew this years ago would you have gotten help earlier?’ The answer is always, ‘I would have gotten help years ago.’ Without word recognition, quality of life can greatly diminish,” said Wohlers.

For more information regarding hearing losses contact Randy Wohlers.


About HearPod, Inc. - Hearing Aids:
HearPod hearing aids are the successful culmination of 30 years of solving the needs of hearing impaired people. HearPod aids are 100% digital, full-featured and have some of the most advanced noise canceling and sound amplification computer chips available. Our unique design also reduces sound feedback inside the ear, thereby making HearPod hearing aids among the most comfortable to wear.

Contact:
Randy Wohlers, Founder
HearPod, Inc.
800-851-2414
Web: http://www.myhearpod.com

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Contact Information

Randy Wohlers

Founder

HearPod, Inc. - http://www.MyHearPod.com

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