Continuing Ed

For Healthcare Providers

As a licensed and credentialed Audiologist who has worked in a variety of medical settings, I have seen the impact of hearing loss on patients’ entire lives – even how it can make or break patient-provider relationships.

I provide in-depth physician education on hearing loss and tinnitus, including simple tips that will improve patient satisfaction, follow-through, and retention (whether or not they have hearing loss). In our courses, traditional and alternative healthcare providers will receive real-world tools you can implement tomorrow and a clear framework for understanding hearing loss and tinnitus. You can help these patients much more than you might think. We offer on-site continuing ed tailored to your field of practice and office staff training.

WHAT I KNOW TO BE TRUE:

Untreated hearing loss affects everything from depression to earning power.

Knowing what we now know – we can prevent a lot more hearing loss than we think.

Hearing loss treatment is evolving as fast as the next iPhone, providing you newer, better options.

“Fantastic and informational seminar! It filled so much of the gap for physicians to better educate their patients.”

— Dr. Chian-Yi Liu, Naturopath

Reality & Impact of Untreated Hearing Loss

Approximately 48.1 million Americans have a hearing loss. This includes 3 in every 1000 live births and 20% of those age 12 and older.

Interestingly, only 20% of those with disabling hearing loss receive treatment. It is an invisible disability most people don’t like to talk about, but its effects are hard to ignore.

Untreated adult onset hearing loss is correlated with a cascade of psychosocial problems including:

  • Isolation
  • Reduced earning power
  • Anxiety
  • Depression
  • Fatigue

Furthermore, research supports it can lead to increased risk of dementia and falls, even when corrected for the effect of age. And the inability to communicate with their health providers can break the patient-provider relationship and decrease quality of care.

Even mild hearing loss in children can have dramatic effects on their behavior and learning.

Help Halt + Prevent this Hearing Loss Domino Effect

From family physicians to acupuncturists, neurologists to medical assistants, activity coordinators to adult educators, we all play a role in the lives of patients with hearing loss. You can help halt, or even prevent, this hearing loss domino effect for your patients.

You can also empower families to help halt or even prevent these effects and greatly improve quality of life.

Discovering What You Need to Know: Physician Education on Hearing Loss

Healthcare providers know Diabetes can cause damage to the kidneys and the eyes – but how does it affect the ear?

Why would temporary mild hearing loss from middle ear fluid in childhood, cause difficulty listening in noise as an adult with normal hearing?

The human ear can alter incoming sounds such that loud sounds can be made softer and soft sounds louder – this compression mechanism allows us to hear a wide range of information. For this reason, age-related hearing loss not only reduces sensitivity to sounds, but can also increase sensitivity to loud sounds. Additionally, lack of stimulation to areas of the central auditory system over time can have permanent effects on understanding speech and our ability to suppress background noise. Presbycusis is not treated by simply turning up the volume! 

Do you know what adult onset hearing loss actually sounds like?

Hearing screening is recommended every decade up to age 50 and every 3 years thereafter. Do you know the top risk factors for hearing loss and when to refer? Do you have someone you trust to refer to?

We can cover as much or as little as your practice needs.

See the sidebar on the right for current research articles on hearing loss.

Where is the research?

Below you will find a small collection of research on hearing loss and its impact on our lives:

Select works by Kathleen Pichora-Fuller, PhD; Frank Lin, MD, PhD; Kelly Tremblay, PhD and others

Audiologist Profile:

My name is Dr. Alexandra deGroot. I am an Audiologist and hearing health educator to physicians and families. I’m passionate about making this information accessible to all health care fields (no matter the specialty or age of its patients). Read more here.

Contact me to schedule a session or find out when the next presentation will be or sign up for our online courses today.

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