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Dear Tucson Audiologists' Readers,
As usual, we had an interesting month at TAI, but not for good reasons. It started out with a rat eating Holly's internet and her cat eating her computer cable. Bad enough, but several weeks ago, a patient's dog ate his hearing aid. This morning, two of our patients lost and stepped on their hearing aids, respectively. Lost or damaged hearing aids upset patients in many ways, regardless of whether it is the cat, the rat, the dog or the patient that is to blame. Loss and damage disrupt people's already-busy schedules, in addition to putting them at a communication disadvantage. Patients have to come to our office to arrange replacements and come back the next week for a new fitting. In the best case scenario, the instruments can be replaced under warranty. In the worst case scenario, patients have to buy new instruments, which just adds insult to injury.
Fortunately, our disrupted patients this month had loss/damage insurance so at least that bullet was dodged. But the mishaps made us think hard about whether we're warning our patients sufficiently about all the ways hearing aids can be lost or damaged. That thinking took us to Gael Hannan's 10/26 post entitled "Hearing Aids -- What the Hearing Professionals Should Tell Us!" Among other things, she recommends we say the following to all our patients. We think we do, but it doesn't hurt to say it twice and put it in writing. Here's an excerpt from her list of 9 areas we need to cover with patients:
Hearing aids do not last forever. They have a finite lifespan that can be shortened by any – or all – of the following:
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Your dog could eat it. (And despite what you’ve heard, most hearing-aid-eating-dogs don’t swallow them whole and pass them out intact at the other end. Most dogs chew them into little bits and spit them out.
- You could get into the shower and think, “Wow, I’ve never heard the water so before!”
clearly
- Your hearing aid could drop silently and invisibly into the apple pie batter, and be baked at 350 degrees for one hour.
- It could be “put down somewhere” and never be seen again.
- The hearing aid could just sputter out, and pass away peacefully, of old age, RIP.
We recommended Gael's column in our newsletter last month, and we're doing so again this month because her advice is to on target with what happens in our practice and to our patients. You'll find her at The Blogs @ Hearing Health & Technology Matters! Follow her advice weekly by clicking and subscribing while you're there.
Have a great November. Scroll on down to read the blogs -- the Hearing Aid Made Me Do It one is especially funny, and apropo to our own experiences this month!
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