- If I had one tip to give you
to help you hear better in 2024, this is what it would be.
Hey guys, welcome back to the Dr. Cliff AuD vlog.
This is vlog number 203
and today I wanna give you guys a little bit of insight as
to what my thoughts are to help you actually hear better
when we're going into 2024 here.
But before I do, if you could do me a huge favor, click
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With that said, we just
of course turned over the new year When you're watching
this, we're probably a week into 2024.
I probably should have recorded this video last week
to make it a little bit more contextual for the,
for New Year's Eve is what it would've been.
So, but with that, let me just go ahead
and kind of explain a couple of thoughts that I've had here.
So I've been doing a lot of content creation
at the beginning or at the end
of the previous year going into a new year.
I always like to talk about what my favorite hearing aid
technologies are, all the improvements
that have happened over the course of the previous year
that have led to newer technologies
and better technologies as we go into the new year.
And of course in 2024, we're also going
to see technological advancements of hearing aids
different intervals throughout the year.
We have a consumer electronics show that I'm actually going
to here in another like week or so.
We have different conferences
that will come up earlier in the year
and later in the year that a lot
of hearing aid manufacturers like to release new things
with, or at least make announcements of different things
that are coming up down the road.
And it really got me thinking about like, man,
it's gotta be pretty exciting for individuals
with hearing loss when they consider all the different
options that they have to actually treat their hearing loss.
Now oftentimes they'll create videos talking about the
technologies that were available 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago.
And you just think of those technologies
and it's like, man, those sucked compared to the tech
that we have to work with today.
And, and I don't wanna sound like I don't appreciate those
older hearing aid technologies
because I believe that when manufacturers are pushing the
envelope on what hearing aids can do, you have to go
through, you know, different technological development.
And it might not necessarily be good at the time,
but it leads to stuff that gets substantially better.
And I would venture to say that, you know,
10 years from now, right now when I think
that all these hearing aids that we have out there are just
amazing and what they can do comparatively to, you know,
10 years ago, 10 years from now, we're gonna have devices
that blow all of the devices we currently have out
of the water in terms of performance
and capabilities and all of that.
And you know, if you go
and just look at 10 year stretches in the hearing aid
industry, you're like, holy cow.
Like there's always major,
major advancements over the course of that time.
What we don't typically see though is major,
major advances one year by one year.
Now what I mean by that is, is
that if you happen to be wearing a
- Hearing aid technology that is one generation old,
you're probably not missing a whole lot on the newest
of the new generation because there's only been one,
you know, one
and a half to two years of, of technological advancement
that has happened in that time.
Now, in some cases, having one year
of technological advancement, if a new
and improved feature comes out,
it totally justifies upgrading hearing aid technology.
So I don't want to be misquoted here
and saying that you won't notice any differences ever when
you go from one generation
to the next generation immediately following it.
What I am saying is, is
that sometimes there are major technological advancements
that literally just come out
and it's like, oh my gosh, this completely changes the game.
Let me give you a for instance or a couple for instances.
Back in 1996 is when we saw the first fully digital
hearing aids hit the market.
So we basically went from completely analog
or analog combination of analog
and digital to fully digital devices in 1996.
And it was like, oh my gosh, this changes the game, right?
And then we had, you know,
going into the early two thousands, we had the receiver
and canal devices hit the market
and it was like, holy cow, this is a game changer.
And then we had, you know, the early 2000 tens
where we started to see Bluetooth capabilities come out
with hearing aids where you could directly connect your
hearing aids with your Apple iPhone.
And it was like, holy crap,
if you had just purchased a hearing aid the year
before if if doing Bluetooth connectivity was something
that ultimately you need 'cause you struggled on phone calls
and you wanted to listen to music
and all that right inside of your ears getting,
upgrading your technology one year
after would've made total sense to get
that one particular feature.
And, and as time has gone on, we've seen newer
and newer features come out
and sometimes it justifies upgrading immediately.
Sometimes it's like, eh,
let's wait and see where they go with this.
We need to see them advance that tech a little bit more.
I do happen to think that 2024 is going
to be a really exciting year for new tech that comes out.
And even if you purchased a previous generation,
if I really, if I think that these MEMS speakers,
so these solid state speakers
or silicone silicon speakers are coming out in hearing aids,
that would be a major advancement
when you start seeing Le Audio Bluetooth come out inside
of hearing aids and you also have the corresponding
compatibility with other devices like phones and tablets
and laptops and TVs all have this le audio Bluetooth
capability that is gonna be a major feature upgrade
and then also some different vent technology, right,
with silicon vents as well.
But you know, it got me really thinking like, is
that really the stuff that we should be looking forward to,
to improve our hearing substantially this year?
And as I started thinking about
it, I was like, you know what?
Based on my experience in the clinic working with a lot
of individuals who were lured in by the allure
of having this newer, latest
and greatest hearing aid technology,
and then they, they purchase it somewhere
and they bring it into my clinic
and they're like, yeah, I just got these new hearing aids
and I can't hear for crap with them.
I'm like, well that's weird
'cause like those are really good
hearing aids that you have.
And so what is the,
what is the issue that we're having here?
Well, the issue is, is
that those amazing hearing aids were not fit
and programmed appropriately for those individuals.
And it got me really thinking.
I'm like, you know, I talk all this talk about how,
you know, new hearing aids are great
and they have these different features
that would significantly change your life.
And at the end of the day,
people are getting these hearing aids based off
of my recommendation.
Oftentimes what I'm talking about then in my YouTube videos.
And they end up having horrible performance.
And then I'm kind of a bad guy in a way
because I'm like, well Cliff,
you said these devices would be ideal for me if X, Y, and Z
and I have X, Y, and Z.
So why aren't these devices working well?
And it's purely because the way
that they were set up is not correct.
I would argue and say that about 50% of patients
who actually physically come into my clinic
to see either myself
or one of the other amazing audiologists
that we have on our team, they're coming in not
because they don't have decent hearing aids,
they're coming in because they're just not performing well.
And the issue that they're having is it's
because they're not set up the right way.
And so how do we figure this out?
Well, we figure it out
because we actually put them through a
comprehensive case history.
We put them through a fully detailed hearing test
to make sure that it's accurate,
what their actual hearing loss is.
And we're doing it in a best practice way.
So the speech testing is done recorded.
We also do speech and noise testing.
If we start seeing air bone gaps, we end up doing tempo.
If they end up having a hearing loss that is accompanied
with tinnitus, we do tinnitus pitch and intensity matching
and we do high frequency testing to find out
what is their hearing above 8,000 hertz
and how would that play into our treatment recommendation.
And then on top of that, if they do have these existing
hearing aids that they're not doing well with,
we actually do verification measures inside
of their ear canals at their consultation.
So this is before like we even do any,
take any steps in treating them, we're literally verifying
to see how well their hearing aids are programmed
to their hearing loss prescription.
Are they set up in a way that would meet the wants
and needs of these individuals?
And oftentimes the answer is absolutely not.
I mean, I, we've seen
so many egregiously poorly fit hearing aids out there
and it just, it, it leads us to believe
that like, you know what?
You can have these amazing hearing aids.
If you don't implement them the right way,
then it doesn't really matter at all.
People who purchase their hearing aids online
and the people online say, send us your audiogram,
we'll customize the hearing aids.
And then they get the hearing aids
and they're like, these still sound like crap.
Like no kidding,
because you didn't have any best practice procedures
or follow up over the course of the time when you,
you purchased your online devices.
No wonder you saved so much money
'cause you didn't get anything for it other than a widget
other than a hearing aid itself.
So as I start to think about like what are,
what is the thing, if I had to give you one thing
that is like, hey, if you wanna substantially improve your
hearing ability in 2024, this is what I would do.
And it has nothing to do
with getting a better set of hearing aids.
It has everything to do with making sure
that the hearing aids you currently have are set
up the right way.
And how do you ensure that?
Well, you actually have to go to a hearing care professional
who follows best practices
because if you do not,
you are likely leaving substantial benefit on the table.
In fact, all of benefit on the table potentially.
Some people come in, they're like, Hey,
I wear these hearing aids and it's no different than me
not wearing hearing aids.
Well, that means that you spent whatever X amount of dollars
and you got zero benefit from them,
you got zero value from them.
Now to go to a best practice provider, you're gonna have
to spend more money because one thing
that best practice providers do is that they put you
through a full series of testing procedures, a full series
of verification, a full series of, of everything.
And it just takes time.
It takes a lot of time in some cases to make sure
that everything has been done the right way.
But if you do that, if you're like, you know what,
I'm just gonna take my hearing aids that I already have
and I'm gonna identify who's a really good professional
and I'm gonna go to them and have them check everything out.
Now you might be at the very best hearing
that you can possibly be at.
But the problem I have with that is that if you feel
like you're not sure if you have the full amount
of benefit from your devices,
then your hearing care professional did
not follow best practices.
Because part of best practices is at the end of it,
verifying and validating
that you're actually getting the most amount
of performance out of your hearing aids possible.
And if it is not communicated with you that like, listen,
we've done everything humanly possible
to make you hear better with these hearing aids
and you are at the highest level
of performance you can possibly be gotten to,
then they didn't follow best practices
because that's the discussion
that should happen at the very end of a fitting sequence
with someone who does follow best practices.
There should be no question in your mind
that everything has been set up exactly the right way.
They discussed with me all of the decisions they made
and why they made those decisions.
And I gave them, here's the issues that I had
and here's the solution to those issues.
If you did not have that type of collaborative experience
with your hearing care professional,
then they did not follow best practices with you.
And more importantly, or arguably as important,
they didn't do it in a person-centered care way
where they included you in the treatment process.
So really, if you wanna hear better in 2024, you have
to go find one of these providers that are excellent at
what they do to identify if new technology
would be appropriate for you.
But even more important, if the hearing aids you already
have are suitable to treat your hearing loss
and if they could be optimized further,
because nine times out of 10 when someone comes in
with existing hearing aids,
we are not selling them new hearing aids, we are optimizing
what they already have.
The other one out of 10,
they were either recommended the wrong devices
or those devices are locked and we can't adjust them.
Or their devices are so old that it's like, listen,
the things that you want to do is not possible
or not possible with those particular hearing aids.
So how would you actually find a
excellent hearing care professional?
I'm glad you asked. I would really be going
to my website, hearing up.com.
Now, this is not me trying to plug my own thing,
but I don't, if you can identify a best practice provider on
your own, by all means go to them.
Okay? If you're not sure what best practices are,
I will link a best practice checklist in the description
of this video so you can download it
and then see all of the different procedures
and considerations that you're hearing a professionals
should be following to optimize your treatment outcome.
If you're like, you know what, that seems like a lot
of work trying to locate a provider who's doing all
of these things, that's why we started hearing up.
So every hearing up network member is committed
to following comprehensive best practices in a
person-centered care way to make sure
that you're getting the most out of your hearing aids,
whether you got those hearing aids from them,
or whether you got those hearing aids from a different
clinic that didn't follow any best practices whatsoever.
You just have to be prepared to potentially spend some money
to have them do all of the evaluations
and all the readjustment necessary
to optimize the performance of your hearing aids
with the potential that they would be like, listen,
based on the things that you want to be able to accomplish
with your hearing aids, you can't use these hearing aids,
you have to use these other hearing aids
to accomplish that stuff.
So what do you wanna do? Do you want
me to optimize what you have?
Do you wanna switch to something new?
And, and only then, only
after you've had a comprehensive evaluation of of
how your performance is with your devices,
can you really make an educated decision on whether
or not you wanna upgrade technology
or whether you wanna stick with what you have
and just optimize it further?
But that would be my advice for you in 2024, is
to stop looking for the best hearing aids, start looking
for the best hearing care professional
because that will have a significantly more amount
of impact on your overall hearing performance than the
newest, latest, and greatest hearing aid ever would.
Alright guys, that is it for today's log.
If you enjoyed it, again,
please make sure that you hit that like button.
And as always, I will see you next week.