TWO EARS ARE BETTER THAN ONE! EXCEPT WHEN ONE IS REALLY BAD......

According to Sergei Kochkin, Ph.D. of the Better Hearing Institute, there is an advantage to wearing two hearing aids. If you have hearing loss in both ears, then you are most likely a candidate for two hearing aids. While a hearing healthcare professional can best determine if you are a candidate for two hearing aids (a binaural fitting), the ultimate decision-maker concerning binaural instruments is the person who will wear them.

But what do you do if there is a significant difference between your ears. A good ear and a bad ear; a good ear and a "dead" ear; a "not perfect ear" and a bad ear. There is a solution for these situations. Instead of putting a hearing aid in that "bad" ear, wear a CROS system. A CROS system is a combination of a regular hearing aid for the better ear and a "transmitter" on the bad ear. The transmitter looks just like a regular hearing aid, but its job is to send the sound waves that it receives on the bad ear, around the head and into the hearing aid on the better ear. Typically the devices look the same on each ear, but they can be different if need be.



The benefit of the CROS system, is that your bad ear will "hear" as well as your better ear. For example, a person sitting on your "bad side" will sound just as good as the person sitting on your "good side". We are not really using the bad ear to process the sound, we are using it to gather sound from that side and send it to the other ear.

Now if you've tried CROS aids in the past, and had a negative experience, you should try them again. Talk about "new and improved!" In the past, they were huge behind-the-ear devices and originally were connected with a wire. But today's CROS systems are much smaller and communicate wirelessly.

Another good use for a CROS system is if you have one ear that is "clear" sounding, and the other ear is extremely "unclear", a CROS system can also help. Sometimes patients who have hearing loss due to Meniere's Disease will find themselves in this situation. It's not so much that there's a big difference in hearing, but there is a huge difference in the "clarity" of the ears. Louder, does not make the bad ear "clearer".

Another benefit of CROS systems is that they don't cost as much as two hearing devices because the transmitter is not an actual hearing aid. That makes the "CROS" device significantly less expensive. The hearing aid for the better ear can be any technology level; whatever that ear needs. So is there a disadvantage to CROS systems? There are a couple. CROS systems, because they are now wireless, tend to run the battery down faster. You can expect almost half the life that you would get with a regular hearing device. And the smaller the device, the smaller the battery.......the smaller the battery, the shorter the battery life. I prefer to only fit CROS devices with a size 13 battery, but if the patient wants discretion, there are CROS systems out there using the smaller 312 battery.

The other disadvantage of CROS systems is that by using a CROS device in the bad ear, you do not stimulate the hearing hair cells, as you were doing by wearing a regular hearing aid before. Sometimes, this needs to be considered, especially if the hearing loss has progressed quickly, and a cochlear implant may be in a patient's future. However, if the ear has been "unaided" for quite a while, or is a "dead" ear, then stimulating those hearing hair cells is no longer an issue, and the CROS system could make a difference.

School Band Performances Causing Hearing Loss

 Did you know that children and teens can incur noise induced hearing loss just from being in their school band or orchestra?  Loudness levels measured during practices and performances well exceed safe measures.  Concert band performances can average 93 dB and can cause hearing loss within 1 hour and 15 minutes of constant exposure.  Marching band performances register an average of 100 dB, and damage can be caused within 15 minutes!  Hearing loss is a function of exposure time, the average sound level, and the peak level of very loud sounds.  According to Etymotic Research Inc., exposure to a player's own instrument or nearby instruments can cause permanent hearing loss depending on the intensity and duration of the sound.  Some people are more susceptible than others to hearing loss from high-level sound.  The human ear overloads at high sound levels, making it difficult to impossible to distinguish the blend with other instruments.  Ringing in the ears and temporary hearing loss can occur from a single concert, sporting event or sudden loud noise like a firecracker.  Just as sunburn heals but leaves permanent skin damage, temporary hearing loss recovers but there can be irreversible inner ear damage that is not seen until later in life.  We need to protect our young musicians' hearing, so they may continue their passion for music without jeopardizing their futures.    Etymotic Research Inc. has developed a program called "Adopt-A-Band".  This program allows businesses and individuals to "adopt" a local school band by providing hearing protection to the band members.  This program educates our young musicians about the danger of excessive noise exposure.  For more information on adopting a band in your area, go to www.etymotic.com/adoptaband.  Let's give our students the opportunity to play loudly and proudly!