Durant, IA resident Ken Pennock, 40, works as a precision machinist making components for firearms that our armed forces are using. He also has a special passion for working on racecar engines and snowmobiles in his spare time. However, years on the job and many weekends around loud engines resulted in early hearing loss because he didn’t wear ear protection.
“I noticed he couldn’t hear the server at a restaurant, and the TV was always too loud,” recalls his wife, Melissa. “Over the years, his hearing just got worse. He kept putting off the test because as a young man he couldn’t imagine wearing those ‘clunky’ hearing aids.”
Eventually Melissa convinced her husband to get his hearing tested. Ken took his hearing test from Audiologist Melissa Hamerlinck, who practices at ENT Hearing Aids, Davenport.
Testing. One, two, three.
Hamerlinck remembers Ken. “I tested his hearing by having him signal the softest sound he could hear at various pitches. Ken had high-pitch hearing loss – the kind typical with noise exposure or age. The mild-to-severe loss in Ken’s right ear and the mild-to-moderate loss in the left are not especially unique for people with Ken’s lifestyle.
“It’s really not unusual to see younger people in their 30s and 40s with hearing loss,” she added. “At least half of my patients in their 50s have some degree of hearing loss.”
Good hearing aids now come in small packages
Ken is so young that he didn’t know he was a candidate for a hearing aid – and he definitely didn’t want to have a big, bulky one. The hearing aid he received on his 39th birthday is very small about the size of a triangular dime behind his right ear – with a tiny, clear tube that carries sound down into his ear canal. “You can’t even see it,” he says.
“There are so many options now for hearing aids – from the barely noticeable in fashionable colors to the larger traditional ones which patients still may need to wear,” explains Hamerlinck.
The larger hearing aids are often for patients with either degenerative hearing loss over the span of their lifetime or for children who may be born with congenital hearing loss. “The larger size really enables people with greater hearing loss to have more power at their fingertips.”
Size and the degree of advanced technology are the primary issues to keep in mind when selecting a hearing aid. Smaller sizes tend to cost more, as do the aids with the more advanced microchips. As size shrinks, ease of use – for example, on the telephone – increases. Yet because smaller hearing aids fit farther down into the ear canal, maintenance issues increase. Daily cleanings and more battery changes become user issues, and moisture and earwax can require special repairs.
Behind-the-ear aids, while they are shrinking as technology improves, are typically bigger. They also typically offer more power, features, longer battery life, and lowest maintenance. They are also the most popular type of hearing aid.
Although hearing aids are generally not covered by insurance, they are usually available in ranges of good-better-best for each type and size so they can fit most budgets.
“Sooner or later people realize, ‘Hey, I need to be able to hear. I’m really missing out.’” Hamerlinck says. “If people will wear a hearing aid, then we can improve their quality of life.
Can you hear me now?
“There really is no reason to just live with hearing loss,” advises Hamerlinck. “There are so many options now, and it’s so wonderful to see younger and younger patients who need hearing aids walk in the door to get them.”
Now, at age 40, Ken wears his discreet hearing aid every day. With its help, he can once again hear in social situations, restaurants, and crowded rooms. And life is quieter around the house, too. “Now he really notices if he isn’t wearing it,” says his wife. “He really loves his hearing aid. If he forgets to wear it, he can really tell, and he says the sound quality is great.”
