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Woman in audience: But, even in churches, ministers I find, you can hear them when they're
reading something but then they suddenly turn off the mic and talk more intimately and it's
lost again. And it's very frustrating! And usually afterwards, I would go up and mention
to the speaker and then they say, "Well, thank you for drawing my attention to it and I'll
try and remember it in the future". I also think there's a little bit of stigma attached
to hearing loss when people won't admit that they're not hearing. Again, when I'm in meetings,
I'd say to somebody, "I never heard anything that woman was saying", and they will say,
"No, neither did I". But they don't mention anything.
Dr. Gates: Yeah. Well, that's an important point and thank you for bringing it up. Here
are two thoughts. I mentioned assistive listening devices. First, churches will have an infrared
system that you wear the little things in your ear and will improve your ability to
understand immensely. So, you need to try the closed-loop infrared systems and remind
the pastor and the speaker that all good communicators are good speakers. And, you have the right
to demand a presentation that's audible and that's why we have the microphones here and
we're working hard to do that it's audible and at a pace that you can keep up with because
they're wasting their time if the audience can't hear them.
Dr. Gates: A couple more. Yes, sir.
Man in audience: You mentioned that the hearing aids were simply about amplification and that
you have different feedback phases that you can hear in stereo, or you hear the sound
of and so forth. Can you tell me a little bit about the hardware that's available and
what should we be looking for in a hearing aid?
Dr. Gates: Well. It is true that a hearing aid is programmed to fit your loss. That's
not done by the hearing aid manufacturer but by the audiologist who fits it and their established
fitting procedures to make up for that. If all your hearing loss is high frequency, there's
no point to amplify the lows. Having said that, they can't make it any clearer because
of the slide that I showed where the hair cells are lost and it's the hair cells that
make the hearing so discrete that you can understand them. I'm not against hearing aids.
They're wonderful. And the modern aids have squeal suppression so you don't get that ugly
feedback like we're doing in the microphone. And they work well but they're not as good
as the real ear and when you sit down and think about it, they can't be. They are electronic
crutches that enable you to communicate better and that's the bottomline. So hearing with
a hearing aid is not normal but it's better than hearing without it. So, I would recommend
that you talk to your audiologist for a proper fitting.
Dr. Gates: Yes, Maam.
Woman in audience: My question is: Is there a connection between hearing loss and vertigo?
Dr. Gates: Uh..connection between hearing loss and vertigo which is a spinning sensation.
In some cases, yes. The balance part of the ear and the hearing part of the ear are the
same system. One responds to movement. The other responds to sound waves. There are some
diseases, like Meniere's disease, that affect both. And some people will get a virus in
the ear that knocks out their balance and their hearing. So the answer is yes, in some
cases.
Dr. Gates: Well, you've been a great audience. Thank you for the privilege of talking to
you and tell your friends about DRF and what we're trying to accomplish.