Hearing loss, Part 1 with Jayson Sargent

*The following is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors.

The following is a podcast from a qualified senior care provider, hurt, on the answers for elders radio show. And welcome back everyone to this second half of our hour today on the show, and we are kind of switching the topic a little bit because we had talked a lot about Alzheimer’s dementia and we’ve got, believe it or not, something that’s absolutely relative. And it is relative because studies show in that that hearing loss, if not treated, can actually contribute to the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease Or, you know, escalating symptoms, and we’re going to get to that in a later show. But most importantly, I have a personal story and it’s humbling story and it’s a it’s a situation where I had to face reality, as all of my family and close friends were saying to me, see, then, you really need to get your hearing checks and it was really hard for me because here I was, you know, trying to keep as much, quote unquote, youth as possible, but as I’m in my sixties and realizing that, you know, as I’m aging, I also knew that my mom were hearing is, I knew my grandmother were hearing it. So I figured I probably was on that on that track, and so I finally decided this year, the first year, I thought, you know, I have to do something about this and at least I’m going to find out how bad it is. And just as I started having this conversation, you know, with family and friends, I started seeing a TV commercial and I thought a few times and Lo and behold, we are at the other side of it. I am now a guess, patient client of Yourcom and I have Jason Sargeant, who is with us, who is part of the organization that I worked with. And Jason, I am so glad you came on the show and we can talk a little bit about, you know, how to start this journey and hearing. So welcome to the program thanks for having me. It’s great to be here. WHO’s an you know, I have to say. You know, first of all, to our listeners, I really want all of you to know Jason did not ask to come on this show. He’s not herecom is not paying for this testimonial and anyway, and and I just want each and every one of you to know that working with you, Jason, was so amazing because you helped explain so many questions that I had. You put my mind to ease and for those of you that are watching us on on Youtube, you can see, you can’t even see that I’m wearing hearing meds in both of my ears, and that the beauty of technology today. So my vanity is still intact, which is good. And I just want to talk a little bit with you about Jason, about hearing loss, and you know, how can you tell that it’s probably time to get your hearing checked? Wow, there’s a lot of ways. You know, there’s a lot of people that I speak with over the phone. They’ll describe it as it sounds like people are mumbling and generally all ask you know, is it is it more so women and children, or is it men? Because I’m trying to figure out if it’s if it’s a high frequency or a low frequency loss. But that’s that’s one sure sign. The ears can feel stuffy and it’s it’s interesting because actually it’s actually in the head that it feels like you’re your ears are full or stuffy. so that’s that’s repetition, asking people to repeat themselves frequently as a definite sign. So there’s there’s a lot of ways you can tell, but the best way to know is to get your hearing tested by an audiologist. Well, and that’s so important, because you’re hitting all the nail on the head. For me, I had the TV up way too high. I had some type closed captioning on the TV. By the way, I still have cloth cups capturing on the TV just because I like it and I used to it and it annoys my husband like crazy. You, because it’s like take these off now, but I I you know, what was really interesting is you bring up this feeling like there’s something stuffy in your ear. How many times did I got there must be some blacks build up or something inside my ear, and when I get out of the Sour, you know, I clean my ears out and I got these nothing in there. And and so I always thought, well, maybe it’s something way up deep or something like that, because it does kind of feel like that initially. And you know, I but here I thought I’m just too young to be having to deal with this. And yet I’m just curious. I learned something the other day from you about people over the age of fifty. Can you give me information about once you know you hit that magic age? What happened to a lot of us when we start losing her hearing. Well, hearing loss is progressive and it is people age. It gradually affects more and more people. So I’m just looking at my chart, but you have the fifty to fifty nine crowd. It’s about thirteen point three percent, so maybe about one out of ten people will have actual hearing loss that needs to be treated. To get into the S to sixty, seventy is twenty six point eight. It’s about one and four and he hit seventy jump it is yeah, well, and then you get into the s and it’s fifty four point six. So it’s more than half the folks that are in that age bracket have hearing loss. And then, as he has to get into the S, it’s about eighty one and a half percent. You know, it’s so interesting because when I posted something on social media and I said, by the way, I you know, I have a story. I said I have swallowed my pride and I went in and I am getting hearing age and I got probably fifty sixty responses, some people saying I need to do that Su than I need more information. Wow, you know, tell me about it. What happens? What you know? When did you decide it was time and all of those things. It was. I was amazed how many people had been kind of going to the same thought process. And of course a lot of my friends are my age group right, so we’re in our five s and obviously there’s a lot of, you know, questions that we have or might have. So you know, obviously you’re talking about how it’s progressive. When do you you know, I was it was interesting when I had my hearing test. I was very grateful, but my husband went with me and he was in the room when I would wait they were testing me, because it really validated to him just how bad my hearing really was. That it of it that I wasn’t paying attention them. You know, it was the fact that I did not hear and you know the little panel that they look at and every time they’re hitting a you know, a sound, and a lot of times I was just not picking it up and he was like wow, and so when we left, one of the things he said to me was I couldn’t believe how how many sounds you didn’t hear and I never realize. So made me feel, it’s anything, relieved because it helped my relationship. It helped my relationship with my spouse because he was sick and tired of constantly having to repeat things to me and I was in a situation where you know you’re not very considerate because I can’t hear you, or you talk, you’re not talking a lot enough. Are things like that, and obviously he got it and I got it and so it was a validation for both of us. I wasn’t ignoring him, I wasn’t not paying attention, I just didn’t hear and I think that’s what goes on a lot with couples and family members and things like that. Would are you finding that to be true? Absolutely, it’s. It’s a frustrating thing for everyone involved, in the person who’s living with the person with hearing loss or be at the person with hearing the my heart always always goes out to the people with hearing loss because people do get really frustrated with them and you know it’s not that they’re ignoring you, it’s that they literally can’t hear. So it is a it’s a frustrating condition and it affects, you know, way too many people out there. Without question, it’s made a huge difference in interacting with people. I went to winery last week and I had a circle of friends around me and I have often found myself before the hearing age, disengaging because I couldn’t hear. It was background noise, and so I would just tend to sit back because it was like, I don’t do that anymore. I actually can hear what’s going on at the SVA, at the opposite of the table. I can actually hear what the server is saying. And you know, where before it sounded like you said kind of mum mumbled so and and I’m hearing now sounds that I have never I’m that I’ve not forgotten, you know. So obviously I’m hearing this wider spectrum of sound, which is amazing. And you know it happens in music. You know I’m picking up you know, I turn on music in my card and it’s like wow, so many things that have opened up in my life and and certainly one of the things that I was really excited about being working with herecom is, is the fact that when I called you, you immediately set me up with a local expert audiologist, which was amazing. So it’s like yes, we work with Herecom, but you’re also working with a local audiologist that is qualified and working directly with you. How does that work, Jason? It’s very important to have an audiologist. So we partner with different audiologists all over the country actually, and I believe eleven countries now, so we’re we’re growing quite a bit. But the audiologists with yourcom handles the the end of it to where they’re ensuring that the hearing age or program properly, that their tune properly and that they’re working to the best of their ability. Yeah, we use what’s called a dual expert approach. So you have access to herecom. You have the consultant who sends you in and schedules the appointment and they’re basically you’re hearing coach. But we also have in house audiologists at Herecom that are always happy to set up video calls and you know, they can answer general questions and show you how to put them on properly and what have yet. But the audio, any set of hearing ags that you wear, is only as good as the audiologist who’s tuning and adjusting them for you. Right, if you’re right, and I want to talk a little bit in our next segment about, you know, what we do and how we work together and really a little bit more about in this journey and how we can best serve those of us are going through hearing loss and things like that. So in the meantime, Jason, how do we reach you? Probably best is email. You would just email Jason. That’s jaysn Dot Sergeant Sare gnt at here, a GA arecom, and make sure you tell Jason that you are part of that. You heard about him. Hear him on answer shor elders. We want to make sure and to monitor your progress. I would love to hear your story if you’re interested in sharing it, and how your world is improved. And in the meantime, Jason will be right back right after this answers for elders radio show with Suzanne Newman. Hopes you found this podcast useful in your journey of navigating senior care. 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