Welcome to Living Healthy Chicago, I'm Jane Monzures.
Let's start by talking about the connection
between relationships and hearing loss.
Being able to communicate with your family
is key to quality of life,
and that's something this next man couldn't agree with more.
He says getting help for an inner-ear disease
has made him confident he'll keep up with the conversation
for years to come.
(light pop music)
For Bill Lindberg, there's nothing more precious
than quality time with his wife and being on the move.
- Val and I, we love doing active things together.
We love to go for walks together on the weekend.
I try to be active in maintaining my health.
- [Jane] He says seeing other family members
struggle with health problems
inspired their active lifestyle choices.
- I didn't wanna be that person
that was sitting on the couch in pain
when I'm 65 or 70 years old.
I wanna be someone that's active and can still do things.
- [Jane] But despite his proactive approach,
Bill hasn't been without his own health challenges.
- I've had ringing in my ear for as long as I can remember,
so at least 20 or 30 years I've had ringing in my left ear.
- [Jane] That ringing eventually progressed
into episodes of vertigo,
which brought him in to see his doctor
and led to a diagnosis of Meniere's disease.
(light acoustic guitar music)
- Meniere's disease is an inflammatory disease
of the inner ear.
And patients with Meniere's disease
will suffer recurrent bouts of vertigo,
hearing loss, and tinnitus or pressure changes in their ear.
We don't really know what causes Meniere's disease.
The majority of patients only have that disease in one ear;
they don't have it in both ears.
You tend to have a progressive inflammatory problem
of the inner ear.
- [Jane] The first thing doctors had Bill do
was start medication and change his diet.
- In Meniere's disease, salt intake can be related to
exacerbated bouts of vertigo, so we ask the patients
to try to keep to a minimum salt intake.
Eventually, over time, I had less dizziness
and I was able to control the dizziness more
with medication.
- [Jane] Bill was also fitted with a hearing aid
to help him handle hearing loss.
But after several years,
he began to struggle with speech recognition
and grew concerned about the future.
- I was kinda thinking to myself,
"Is this how I'm gonna be when I'm older?"
I didn't wanna be this old person that everybody loved
but couldn't communicate very well with,
so I wanted to make sure that I could do everything
I possibly could to be able to continue to work
and to continue to communicate with my family.
(soft ambient music)
- [Matthew] The cochlear implant is the tool that we have
that allows us to improve patients' speech understanding.
- I'm good, Melissa, how are you doing?
- Hearing aids for the most part
will increase the volume for the patient,
but they will not increase the sound clarity.
A cochlear implant is a thing that could give him both.
- [Jane] Bill decided to move forward with the implant.
- I had to wait a month for the implant activation
because everything needs to heal up in there.
I was eagerly waiting for that.
I was very, very excited for that day.
- [Jane] Bill began to practice using his implant
and soon saw a big difference.
- And my word recognition is over 85% now with the implant.
I have better sound range actually with the implant ear.
I feel great about where I'm at,
much more hopeful for the future.
I'll be able to communicate well
and not just sit on the couch
because I can't participate in the conversation.
- Vast majority of patients
who receive a cochlear implant will respond
that their quality of life was greatly improved.
There's a lot that we can do for hearing loss.
There are treatment options out there
for progressive inner-ear disease.
- I think it is life-changing for me
because I'm gonna be able to communicate, so don't give up.
If you're experiencing hearing loss,
the hearing aid isn't helping anymore,
keep working at it, keep looking for other options.
There's always hope.