Blog

New Aural Rehab Program

Hi, I’m Dr. Egan at Now Hear This, and I’m going to be talking to you about our new aural rehabilitation program, called “Five Keys to Communication.” Now, the first thing you are probably wondering is, what is aural rehabilitation? Well, hearing aids alone can do many things. They have directional microphones to zoom in on what’s in front of you and bring down the sound that’s behind you. They can stream phone calls directly to your ears. They can help enhance the TV so that others don’t have to have the volume as loud, but they can’t restore normal hearing, so there may be times when someone says something, and part of the message is missing. That’s called a communication breakdown. So, what do we do when we wear hearing aids, and there are still sometimes communication breakdowns? That’s exactly what aural rehabilitation is for. During the hearing aid fitting process, we work on aural rehabilitation in person. I always check how you’re doing on your listening needs, on any specific situations that come up and are still challenging, and we work through different sorts of strategies and tips to help get the most out of your hearing aids. Now it doesn’t end at the end of the hearing aid fitting process. We are working with a company called Five Keys to Communication, and they will give all of our new hearing aid patients an entire year of online aural rehabilitation. It comes in the form of an email that then takes you to an interactive website. It’s really fun, I’ve already done the first two modules and it basically helps you learn different strategies for different listening environments. Lecture halls, theatres, restaurants, all those kinds of things. Also, different tips and strategies for your friends and family that might want to help you hear better in restaurants, hear them talk better by things that both the listener and the speaker can do to help prevent that communication breakdown. We just started this program, and we are really excited about it! As always, if you have any questions, give our clinic a call. Our number is 919-256-2898. I hope you learned a little more about aural rehabilitation and have a wonderful rest of your day!