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Speaker 2: it matters. Health Matters
Speaker 1: with Daniel Martin. Welcome into the show, everybody.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for joining me as I continue
Speaker 2: my series on one of my most favorite senses in
Speaker 2: the world. And that is hearing. Obviously, I work in radio.
Speaker 2: Hearing is a very important sense for a lot of
Speaker 2: people in my industry, but I know how easy it
Speaker 2: is for a lot of people to just say this
Speaker 2: all attache, which is, ah, you're getting older, of course.
Speaker 2: Of course, you're going to lose your hearing. People accept
Speaker 2: it as part of the hearing process. In the first
Speaker 2: part of our discussion last time around, we zoomed in
Speaker 2: on how hearing problems can emerge for younger individuals. What
Speaker 2: about the older individual? That's my focus today as I
Speaker 2: welcome to the show, Hoen Ke, senior audiologist out of
Speaker 2: DS Audiology Private Limited. They're a hearing clinic. This is
Speaker 2: Health Matters, and if you have any questions on hearing health,
Speaker 2: you're welcome to WhatsApp across.
Speaker 2: Thank you. Welcome to the program. Hi there. Hey, hi,
Speaker 2: thank you very much. Good to have you on board.
Speaker 2: I'm curious, like, I'm sure you've heard that as well, right?
Speaker 2: People will be like, of course, you're getting older, it's
Speaker 2: normal to lose a bit of the hearing. Is it
Speaker 2: per se? Um, I think hearing loss is very often,
Speaker 2: you know, in aging, you know, as we age, um,
Speaker 2: we will definitely lose some.
Speaker 2: Um, hearing, but it is usually in a very gradual
Speaker 2: form as well, you know, it's part of the aging process.
Speaker 2: Is it so with the aging process, yes, you're going
Speaker 2: to get potentially some gradual hearing loss, but is it
Speaker 2: always about just aging? No, it's not just always about
Speaker 2: aging because there are other factors that actually contribute to
Speaker 2: You know, hearing loss as well, even in the um
Speaker 2: older population as well. I'll give you some examples. For example,
Speaker 2: one of the causes of hearing loss is actually um
Speaker 2: exposure to loud noises, for example, prolonged exposure. For example,
Speaker 2: some of them, um, maybe in their younger days, they
Speaker 2: have been working in um heavy industries, for example, like.
Speaker 2: The shipping line, for example, like the construction line, and
Speaker 2: if hearing protection was not worn during that time, you know,
Speaker 2: very often, you know, with the exposure, it can actually
Speaker 2: lead to what we call noise-induced hearing loss as well.
Speaker 2: So that's that's one of it. I think the other
Speaker 2: one would be ear infections, um, and then the other
Speaker 2: one would be actually medication as well.
Speaker 2: I give you some examples such as um there are
Speaker 2: certain drugs that are autotoxic in nature, yeah, so when
Speaker 2: we say autotoxic, that means they actually do affect the
Speaker 2: hair cells in the hearing organ as well.
Speaker 2: Here, right, the cilia we're talking about. And so when
Speaker 2: those vibrate sends a signal to the inner ear, blah
Speaker 2: blah blah. But the point is we need that to
Speaker 2: be able to hear well. Yes, correct. So some of
Speaker 2: these um medication might be toxic to these, for example,
Speaker 2: like certain class of
Speaker 2: Antibiotics or certain um chemotherapy drugs. For example, you know,
Speaker 2: like um but then more people would have hearing loss.
Speaker 2: These are quite rare side effects are, yeah, they are not, um,
Speaker 2: I mean, for example, if you, if you have to undergo,
Speaker 2: I'll give you some real examples, for example, if um
Speaker 2: nasopharyngeal cancer, you know, they have to undergo some radiation therapy,
Speaker 2: they have to undergo chemotherapy, and some of these drugs
Speaker 2: actually do affect that as well. So yeah.
Speaker 2: It it does occur, there can be reasons for this
Speaker 2: as well outside of the aging process. Let's zoom back
Speaker 2: to that group where you can expect some hearing loss
Speaker 2: as you age, but like you said, it's gonna be gradual.
Speaker 2: So what are the signs or the symptoms that indicate
Speaker 2: that this would be a gradual loss? OK, for example,
Speaker 2: you know, for some, how do hearing loss actually creep
Speaker 2: up gradually, you know, and what are some of the
Speaker 2: signs um that we can actually see in seniors, for example,
Speaker 2: You find that they have actually difficulty understanding speech, especially
Speaker 2: in the noisy environment. So we use some um day
Speaker 2: to day life experiences. You go to Kia, you know,
Speaker 2: try to talk to your, I try to talk to
Speaker 2: my father, for example, he has some hearing loss. So
Speaker 2: for example, you ask him, dad, you know, what do
Speaker 2: you want to drink, then he doesn't catch you or
Speaker 2: he might misunderstand you. OK, so that's one,
Speaker 2: You find that they would have to frequently ask for
Speaker 2: repetitions as well. For example, I'm so sorry, Sanki, do
Speaker 2: you mind repeating what what do you say just now again? Yeah,
Speaker 2: or they do have, um, but you find that there
Speaker 2: are some behavioral changes. I give you some examples, you
Speaker 2: turn up the volume um on the TV and then
Speaker 2: on the iPad or on their mobile phones, yeah.
Speaker 2: To them, it is soft, but actually to other people
Speaker 2: in the family or people around them it's actually loud. Um,
Speaker 2: some of them would be actually withdrawn as well because
Speaker 2: they find it a bit embarrassing, right? You know, I
Speaker 2: always have to ask you so many times, you know,
Speaker 2: and then the problem is we respond in a very
Speaker 2: Social family way and you'd be like, ah, dad always
Speaker 2: cannot like dad's not paying attention or mom never listens
Speaker 2: or we respond in a very emotional way as opposed
Speaker 2: to it being a physical problem, but we don't, they
Speaker 2: can't tell, we can't tell. And then that causes, you know, people,
Speaker 2: the withdrawal could happen or the social isolation could happen.
Speaker 2: This does happen with hearing loss. Yes, yes. So, so
Speaker 2: in reality, what happens is that I've seen certain cases
Speaker 2: whereby children actually share with us that, um, you know,
Speaker 2: when they go to um
Speaker 2: Maybe they go and eat, they want to ask their parents,
Speaker 2: and then there is a dilemma, the dilemma is that
Speaker 2: if I don't raise my voice, then maybe my dad
Speaker 2: is unable to hear. I raised my voice, he finds that,
Speaker 2: why is so rude, you know, you raising your voice
Speaker 2: talking to me like that. Yeah. So that's that's also
Speaker 2: the other one, and then gradually what happens is that
Speaker 2: you will find that um they might be withdrawn, you know,
Speaker 2: they're not very keen because anyway, it's a bit embarrassing, right,
Speaker 2: over time.
Speaker 2: Um, some of it, some of the other things that
Speaker 2: you realize that they actually do miss a certain soft sounds,
Speaker 2: for example, like birds chirping, like the rain, the rain falling. OK, um,
Speaker 2: this part is in particular because um these sounds, some
Speaker 2: of these sounds are soft, OK. So for example, it
Speaker 2: is raining outside, it might not be pouring or might
Speaker 2: be just drizzling.
Speaker 2: But they don't realize because the raindrops actually are a
Speaker 2: bit softer, yeah, and then it gets annoying if you're
Speaker 2: the kid living in the house like, Oh my God, Mom, Dad,
Speaker 2: it's raining. How come the clothes are still outside, you know,
Speaker 2: that kind of thing like you never notice that we
Speaker 2: respond in an emotional way, but maybe they didn't hear it.
Speaker 2: I always tell our listener I've been hosting this whole
Speaker 2: show for 20 years. I'm like, look, as people get
Speaker 2: older and you're worried about these fights with your older
Speaker 2: loved ones and all that.
Speaker 2: Check out their hearing, their sense of sight, and their
Speaker 2: dental issues as well. The dental can lead to malnutrition
Speaker 2: issues amongst the elderly, the visual issue can lead to
Speaker 2: so many problems like accidents and bumps, and the hearing
Speaker 2: can lead to social isolation or the, the, the root
Speaker 2: of some of these problems where you think it is
Speaker 2: the older person getting slow, but actually they didn't hear it.
Speaker 2: That is so powerful that we have.
Speaker 2: To understand how a health problem can be linked to
Speaker 2: so much more than just a health problem. I want
Speaker 2: to talk about solutions for this. Obviously, for some of
Speaker 2: the more serious, is there always a solution is my point,
Speaker 2: when it comes to hearing loss as one ages. Um,
Speaker 2: there are actually a lot of good solutions out there. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but before we go there, I just wanted to add
Speaker 2: on a particular point that actually you mentioned, which is
Speaker 2: pretty good, actually.
Speaker 2: Um, you mentioned about visual, right? You know, hearing also
Speaker 2: contributes a lot to safety as well. For example, you know,
Speaker 2: if you can't hear the bicycle actually ringing, the bicycle
Speaker 2: is there trying to ring and ring e-biker on the pathway, then,
Speaker 2: then the guy is like, Hey, auntie, why you never like,
Speaker 2: you know, stand on one side.
Speaker 2: You know, yeah, so that actually contributes to um a
Speaker 2: a very great level of awareness to your surroundings and
Speaker 2: to safety as well. Now, going on to solutions, there are,
Speaker 2: there are actually many good solutions out there, for example,
Speaker 2: hearing aids in patients with hearing aids can't address all
Speaker 2: hearing loss.
Speaker 2: But you can address those that are functionally related to
Speaker 2: certain issues, right? Yes, so, so hearing aids won't be
Speaker 2: able to address every single hearing loss, OK, but they
Speaker 2: do actually help out with quite a significant chunk of
Speaker 2: um hearing loss as well. So but there are, I mean,
Speaker 2: aside from hearing aids, there are other solutions such as
Speaker 2: cochlear implants, you know, bone-angle hearing aids, you know.
Speaker 2: This kind of things as well. But is that also
Speaker 2: cause dependent, you should only go for a cochlear implant
Speaker 2: issue if the problem is with the cochlear or can
Speaker 2: address a lot of it can address, um, OK, so
Speaker 2: I give you some examples. For example, if um hearing aids,
Speaker 2: if they no longer are beneficial, you know, even if
Speaker 2: you got the best hearing aid, you know, but to
Speaker 2: a certain extent and certain level, what happens is that
Speaker 2: when the cochlear.
Speaker 2: Um, it's belly damage, OK, and um, hearing its benefits
Speaker 2: are very limited or very little. Now this is one
Speaker 2: of the other solutions would be like cochlear implant. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so this is, this is how actually it helps as well.
Speaker 2: But um the easiest for a lot of people getting
Speaker 2: a referral from the EMT or the um and, and
Speaker 2: learning about the idea of, OK, maybe we'll recommend you
Speaker 2: for a hearing aid. This can work for a majority,
Speaker 2: a lot of hearing loss that is related. My problem and,
Speaker 2: and the thing that I've been talking about this on
Speaker 2: air is.
Speaker 2: The hurdle that an older person might have in terms of,
Speaker 2: oh no, I don't want to wear a hearing aid.
Speaker 2: They feel that it looks a certain way or it
Speaker 2: ages them and they, I don't know, maybe they're still
Speaker 2: thinking of the old fashioned ones that are big and
Speaker 2: pink and behind your ear and that has feedback and,
Speaker 2: and everybody knows that you're wearing it and then you
Speaker 2: have to adjust it all the time, that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: Things have changed though, right? How, how have you helped
Speaker 2: people adjust to this mental perception that hearing aids are
Speaker 2: very aging?
Speaker 2: OK, I think um the thing about it is
Speaker 2: That um some um older adults, you know, they still resist,
Speaker 2: but I think one of the key things that there
Speaker 2: are a few key factors, for example, like education, like
Speaker 2: um it would be good, you know, as an audiologist
Speaker 2: or even ENT doctor, you know, it would be good
Speaker 2: to actually explain and help them to realize that actually
Speaker 2: In the hearing aid industry or in the hearing aid itself,
Speaker 2: you know, things have changed a lot, you know. Gone
Speaker 2: are the days where I you know it's very big,
Speaker 2: chunky that's hanging behind the ear. Now they are a
Speaker 2: lot smaller, yeah. Are they still behind the ear? Yeah,
Speaker 2: they are still behind the ear, but they can they
Speaker 2: actually do get.
Speaker 2: Now significantly smaller that you actually have to really go
Speaker 2: very close to pay close attention to say that, hey,
Speaker 2: maybe the guy is wearing a hearing aid. So there
Speaker 2: are like small little buds that you just put into
Speaker 2: the ear has a little antenna sticking out that kind
Speaker 2: of thing. That's about it, right? Yes, correct. So those
Speaker 2: are like what we call custom hearing aids, they're really small, um,
Speaker 2: whereby you are able to just put them into the ear.
Speaker 2: So that's one.
Speaker 2: Um, I think the other one is that um it
Speaker 2: is to address actually the stigma that is behind hearing
Speaker 2: aids as well. You know, some of technology has gotten better,
Speaker 2: the big pink one no more. I got earpods, airports,
Speaker 2: all that kind of thing. Obviously the hearing aid is
Speaker 2: the technology is just easier and better.
Speaker 2: It it has moved along, you know, with technological advances.
Speaker 2: Hearing industry has also moved along as well. You know,
Speaker 2: as I was mentioning, um, stigma, you know, for example,
Speaker 2: some of them will be afraid that, you know, other
Speaker 2: people know that I'm actually getting older, you know, I
Speaker 2: got hearing loss, um, or, you know, some of them
Speaker 2: because actually, in fact, um, many of our seniors are
Speaker 2: still working, so they might be worried that, you know,
Speaker 2: they might be maybe people might laugh at them, but
Speaker 2: cue them.
Speaker 2: But I think this is something that as um healthcare professionals,
Speaker 2: especially hearing healthcare professionals, we should help them to understand this.
Speaker 2: It's more OK, so tell us like how it's really
Speaker 2: advanced today. What are some of the new features that
Speaker 2: really set it apart. Last time it used to be
Speaker 2: about amplification, just by amplification, and then unfortunately, you'll see
Speaker 2: in movies things like feedback happening and things like that
Speaker 2: it was a comedic thing which I didn't like.
Speaker 2: But so, so now it's like, wow, Bluetooth connected and
Speaker 2: I mean there's all sorts of things that really happen
Speaker 2: with modern hearing aids, right? So maybe I'll share a
Speaker 2: few um advancements in this field as well. Um, I
Speaker 2: give you some examples. For example, you know, there's the
Speaker 2: buzzword of artificial intelligence, you know, machine learning. Um, this
Speaker 2: is actually also incorporated um in hearing aids as well. No,
Speaker 2: very often what happens is that
Speaker 2: Now hearing aids have the capability to actually do real-time
Speaker 2: environmental analysis. I'll give you some examples. For example, I
Speaker 2: went to the zoo or I went to maybe the classroom,
Speaker 2: you know, hearing aids are able to collect huge amount
Speaker 2: of data points now and then make it um.
Speaker 2: Actually make the algorithm on the programming itself very personalized,
Speaker 2: so you have personalized listening experience and very often now,
Speaker 2: it is also based on your individual preferences and habits
Speaker 2: as well. So what is the AI doing? OK, so
Speaker 2: what happens is that the AI part of it is
Speaker 2: that is scanning the environment, you know, it's trying to
Speaker 2: understand what kind of environment you are in.
Speaker 2: Um, how you can enhance the speech sound while trying
Speaker 2: to dampen and lower the noise. So one of the
Speaker 2: key things about the hearing aid technolog technology is that
Speaker 2: it is the ability to actually differentiate between speech and noise.
Speaker 2: And so for certain, for some manufacturers whereby they have
Speaker 2: dual processing, you know, they're able to process the speech
Speaker 2: and then they're able to process the noise as well. Great,
Speaker 2: because if you're in a quiet environment, great, it'll be
Speaker 2: easy to hear the voice, but if you're in a
Speaker 2: noisier environment, we need to be able to recognize the
Speaker 2: voice and this is going to help us do that.
Speaker 2: This is interesting and also contributes to the safety.
Speaker 2: Point you were talking about just now. You do want
Speaker 2: to hear the things around you like the bicycle whizzing
Speaker 2: near you or something like that. Um, I want to
Speaker 2: end off in the next two minutes. Let's talk a
Speaker 2: little bit about your experience working with some of your clients.
Speaker 2: How can you tell when they're really thriving with the
Speaker 2: utility of, of the hearing aid? OK, so one of
Speaker 2: it is that um
Speaker 2: You know, in hearing it, there's actually um data logging.
Speaker 2: You can actually check the data in the sense that
Speaker 2: how long have you been using it, right? Yeah, so
Speaker 2: you can use that kind of information to actually educate
Speaker 2: them and very often a few things that I would
Speaker 2: say that the sets, hearing it uses a part whereby
Speaker 2: they thrive or they don't thrive. For example, self-efficacy.
Speaker 2: A form of independence, a form of knowing that, you know,
Speaker 2: I am able to handle this alone. I'm able to
Speaker 2: wear the hearing aid, I'm able to adjust using the app,
Speaker 2: you know, and this form of independence, you very often
Speaker 2: see that seniors who are able to do this better,
Speaker 2: they tend to do better with the hearing aids. Now
Speaker 2: the other one would be the social support that comes
Speaker 2: along with it as well.
Speaker 2: Like for example, you go for your appointments and I
Speaker 2: would strongly encourage hearing aid users to follow up with
Speaker 2: your audiologist, be it in the private, be in the
Speaker 2: public hospitals, you know, go with a family member. Why?
Speaker 2: Because sometimes you might forget, oh, I forgot how to
Speaker 2: do this or do that, and you actually have a
Speaker 2: family member there to actually remind you, help you. Then
Speaker 2: the other thing is that how the hearing aids are
Speaker 2: also being properly fitted.
Speaker 2: And going um ongoing um for follow-ups, you know, are
Speaker 2: crucial for success as well. What have they told you
Speaker 2: about how they are thriving? Um, so for example, like, oh,
Speaker 2: now I can, you know, there are less fights. I'm
Speaker 2: I'm talking more with people or I'm going out more.
Speaker 2: Have you heard that? Yes, of course, very often you
Speaker 2: see that people actually use them um well, um, they
Speaker 2: would give this kind of feedback whereby, you know, now
Speaker 2: I do enjoy.
Speaker 2: The kind of communication that I have with my children,
Speaker 2: with my grandchildren, yeah, and then I am now more active.
Speaker 2: I feel more confident going out for social um gatherings
Speaker 2: with my family and friends. Yeah. See that's the power of,
Speaker 2: you see, if you thought what ages you is wearing
Speaker 2: the hearing aid, what actually is aging you is all
Speaker 2: those other things that would happen if you are.
Speaker 2: Experiencing hearing loss, like having asking somebody to repeat themselves,
Speaker 2: like turning the TV volume louder, that is a little bit,
Speaker 2: I mean, it's ironic, right? It's really actually ironic. Thank you.
Speaker 2: This has been very useful. Thank you so much for
Speaker 2: your time today. Thank you very much. Joining us on
Speaker 2: today's edition of Health Matters, uh, has been Hoen Ke,
Speaker 2: senior audiologist from DNS Audiology Private Limited. It's a hearing clinic.
Speaker 2: This is Health Matters.
Speaker 2: Before making any decisions
Speaker 1: based
Speaker 2: on the information in
Speaker 1: our
Speaker 2: program, please consult a medical professional.
Speaker 1: Health Matters is brought to you by Phonak. Life is on.