The latest breaking news in the hearing industry brought to you by Advanced Hearing Aid Clinic.

CONGRATULATIONS TO RODNEY TAYLOR, DOCTOR OF AUDIOLOGY!!!

Rodney has won the 2009 ProfesSional of the Year award from Kipling's Who's Who.  He was presented with his award on Thursday and it now is happily on display in our Carling office. 

NEW OFFICE HOURS

You asked, we listened.  For the convenience of our working patients, we have extended our hours of operations on Thursdays until 8 PM.

Scientific Breakthrough Could Bring Repair of Hearing loss closer

www.audiologyonline.com/news/news_details.asp?news_id=490

Advanced Hearing Aid Clinics set a precedent by incorporating Multifrequency Tympanometry assessments into routine clinical testing.

The Advanced Hearing Group of Clinics has begun incorporating Multi-Frequency Tympanometry (MFT) in their clinical protocol.  MFT has been used in research as a way to more accurately investigate the middle ear system (ear drum and ossicles) for problems that would otherwise require surgical identification.  A complete MFT protocol examines the middle ear for characteristics of stiffness and mass.  MFT has been applied to the utility in the adult population.  Advanced Hearing Aid Clinic is the only and first Audiology Clinic to make this new diagnostic technology available to all clients, and it is just another example of how our group of professionals are dedicated to the newest and most accurate diagnostic technology.

Advanced Hearing and Balance Institute joins forces with Life Mark Physiotherapy for Comprehensive Balance Assessments

Our sense of equilibrium comes from the brain receiving, and accurately interpreting, information from vision, proprioception and the vestibular system. The vestibular system includes the vestibular labyrinth in the inner ear, which senses our head movement/position, the vestibular nerve from the ear to the brain, and the vestibular connections within the brain.

What can cause the problems?

Vestibular disorders can come from pathologies in any area of this complex system. They can be insidious or due to factors such as trauma (motor vehicle accidents, falls, contact sports, blows to the head), infections, aging, medications, brain-related problems, or secondary to other diseases or injuries. Symptoms can include dizziness, imbalance, blurry vision, motion sensitivity, nausea, poor concentration, muscle guarding/restriction of movement, decreased activity levels or social interaction, anxiety and depression.

What is Vestibular Rehabilitation?

Vestibular Rehabilitation is a proven, research-based branch of physiotherapy where specific individualized exercises are used to maximize the brain’s compensation for vestibular pathology, or where manoeuvres are done, to correct mechanical dysfunctions in the vestibular apparatus.

What can a client expect during assessment and treatment?

Advanced Hearing and Balance Institute and LifeMark’s vestibular assessment is extensive and includes infrared video-analysis of eye movements, which provides information about the inner ear and its connections in the brain. Treatment can involve a combination of static and dynamic balance retraining, gaze stabilization, training for motion sensitivity, and canalith repositioning manoeuvres: The results are often dramatic. The balance retraining component is also effective for clients who don’t necessarily have a vestibular problem, but have orthopaedic or central disorders, proprioceptive problems, or vision changes affecting their equilibrium. LifeMark is actively involved in research, and is committed to utilizing the most current, evidence-based tests and techniques in its training and treatment programs.

The Professionals at the Advanced Group of Clinics is excited to offer the LACE (Listening and Communication Enhancement) Program

LACE is a new, exciting and research-driven listening exercise program that provides audiologists with the ability to help clients improve their listening abilities in addition to their hearing ability.  The LACE program has been shown to improve their ability to listen in background noise, listen in the presence of competing talkers, listen to degraded messages, in addition to improve auditory short-term memory in simulated lab-based tasks.

Hearing aids are a large part of what Audiologists do.  We depend heavily on the current technology so that clients can improve hearing in all listening conditions.  Hearing aids provide audibility, or the ability to perceive certain sounds that would otherwise be missed.  The ability to listen is much more layered and  complex as this involves memory, inter-modality cognitive processing, and attention.  However; some clients need a refresher course on how to be great listeners and communicators, and they do not necessarily improve immediately after hearing is restored to near normal levels by hearing devices.  Dr. Robert Sweetow, and audiologist at the University of Californian developed LACE, a computerized software program as a way to help those with hearing loss become better at listening.  Patients practice 30 minutes a day, 3 to 4 times per week, on tasks that include:  Listening in background noise, auditory short term memory, and focused attention (i.e. competing talkers).  The goal is to allow the client to take an active role in the hearing and listening rehabilitation, in addition to providing true improvement in real-life situations.  The program adjusts the exercises based on the ability, increasing or decreasing the difficulty level as required.  The program also tracks improvement on tasks allowing the client to see how their hard-work is paying off.

LACE can improve the cognitive aspects of communication in addition to introducing the client to listening strategies that can be applied in real life.  Advanced Hearing Aid Clinic is dedicated to helping our clients become more effective communicators.  We recommend the use of aural rehabilitation tools in the clinic and at home which focus on improving listening abilities.  Our audiologists will recommend LACE as part of an overall plan for your hearing care.  In addition, they will guide you through the orientation of the software and help you with any technical issues.

Lower Frequency Smoke Detectors More Effective To Hearing-Impaired Sleepers, Study Says

http://www.hearingreview.com/news/2009-06-16_02.asp?frmTagFilePath=%2Fnews%2Easp

Perception is in Ear of the Beholder

http://www.hearingreview.com/news/2009-06-08_02.asp?frmTagFilePath=%2Fnews%2Easp

Hearing, Voice Problems Worsen Seniors' Communication Skills, Study Finds

http://www.hearingreview.com/news/2009-06-01_02.asp?frmTagFilePath=%2Fnews%2Easp

First Auditory Brainstem Implant in New England, Hospital Says

http://www.hearingreview.com/news/2009-05-20_02.asp?frmTagFilePath=%2Fnews%2Easp

Scripps Research Scientists Discover Molecular Defect Involved in Hearing Loss

http://www.hearingreview.com/news/2009-05-19_02.asp?frmTagFilePath=%2Fnews%2Easp

Age-Related Problems in Recognizing Words Forecast by Brain Differences

http://www.hearingreview.com/news/2009-05-14_01.asp?frmTagFilePath=%2Fnews%2Easp

Estrogen Controls How Brain Processes Sound

http://www.hearingreview.com/insider/2009-05-14_02.asp?frmTagFilePath=%2Fnews%2Easp

Researchers Coax Brain Cells To Mimic Inner Ear Sensory Cells

http://www.hearingreview.com/insider/2009-05-14_03.asp?frmTagFilePath=%2Fnews%2Easp

Turning It Down: An Ear-Responsible Concert

http://www.hearingreview.com/insider/2009-05-06_01.asp?frmTagFilePath=%2Fnews%2Easp

Physical Therapy for the Ears: Maximizing Patient Benefit Using a Listening Retraining Program

http://www.hearingreview.com/issues/articles/2005-09_08.asp

ENG and Rotational Testing: Interview with Gary Jacobson, PhD

http://www.audiology.org/news/interviews/Pages/20090528a.aspx

Psychosocial Health and Hearing Loss

http://www.audiology.org/news/Pages/20090609a.aspx

Audition Matters More as Cognition Declines: Cognition Matters More as Audition Declines

http://www.audiology.org/news/editorial/Pages/20090320a.aspx

Hearing loss costs $12 billion a year

http://www.theage.com.au/news/NATIONAL/Hearing-loss-costs-12-billion-a-year/2006/05/17/1147545373259.html