HEARING LOSS: About 28 million Americans suffer from hearing loss. As baby boomers reach retirement age starting in 2010, this number is expected to rapidly climb and nearly double by the year 2030. The prevalence of hearing loss increases with age, up to one in three over age 65 suffer from it. Hearing loss typically develops over a period of 25 to 30 years. Among seniors, hearing loss is the third most prevalent, but treatable, disabling condition behind arthritis and hypertension. While the vast majority of Americans with hearing loss have tried hearing aids, only 22 percent currently use them saying they do not really help. Only 5percent of hearing loss in adults can be improved through medical or surgical treatment.

TREATMENTS: The treatment for hearing loss depends on the cause. A bacterial infection of the middle ear can be treated with antibiotics; blockages of the outer and middle ears can be cleared; damaged eardrums can be repaired surgically; and ossicles affected by otosclerosis can be replaced with artificial bones. Some causes of sensorineural hearing loss can also be improved. For example, an acoustic neuroma can be removed surgically. If there is no cure for the hearing loss (as with age-related hearing loss), a hearing aid for one or both ears is really the only help available and with so many complaints that they do not help, many people are simply left with no options.

LACE: Robert Sweetow, Ph.D., director of audiology at UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco, and his colleagues have developed a tool to help hard-of-hearing people, whether or not they use hearing aids, learn skills that help them become better listeners. Consequently, that helps them improve how much speech they understand. The device is called LACE (Listening and Auditory Communication Enhancement). For four weeks, a user spends one half-hour, five days a week working with the computer program to help enhance listening skills. The user gets immediate feedback regarding correct comprehension and can monitor his or her improvement from the beginning of therapy. In addition, the patient’s audiologist can observe progress via computer modem at a remote location. Currently, the LACE program can only be used by people who have computers, but in the fall, a portable device will be available that will allow anyone to train. In a new study that has not been published yet, 80 percent of patients who complete the “lace” program showed improvement. Researchers are working on creating a portable device that will allow anyone to train at home.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Carol Hyman
University of California San Francisco
San Francisco Medical Center
3333 California St. Ste 103
San Francisco, CA 94143-0462
(415) 502-9553
chyman@pubaff.ucsf.edu