MATT LAUER, co-host:
We're back now at 8:09. This morning on
TODAY'S HEALTH
, we're talking about
hearing loss
. If you think old age and
hearing loss
, you might want to think again. The truth is younger Americans are losing their hearing at an alarming rate, and recently I found out that that includes me as well. We live in a noisy, noisy world, so noisy that the question these days isn't '
Can you hear me now
?' but '
Can you hear me
at all?' Excessive noise is now the number one cause of
hearing loss
, not aging. And of the nearly 30 million Americans who suffer from
hearing loss
, over half are under the age of 65.
Mr. JIM McDADE (Has Significant Hearing Loss at Age 39):
I had this imperceptible disability that was affecting every aspect of my life.
LAUER:
Thirty-nine
-year-old
Jim McDade
, like a true child of the '80s, grew up wearing headphones.
Mr. McDADE:
But I would go to bed with them on at night and I'd wake up at, like,
1 in the morning
and my ears would be throbbing.
LAUER:
Like most people,
Jim
's
hearing loss
developed gradually. In the beginning, he would turn to his wife for help.
Jim McDade's Wife:
In a group situation I would end up, like, speaking for him or giving him cues so that he would know what was being said.
LAUER:
And then as the years went on,
Jim
began to disengage from any social situation.
Mr. McDADE:
I was always afraid of missing something, or there would be an awkward situation and inevitably I would get caught. And it was a -- there was an anxiety to that.
LAUER:
Another big concern, the stigma of wearing traditional
hearing aids
, especially since he was starting his own fitness business.
Mr. McDADE:
I would rather have taken my chances without them than have them in and people make judgments on me.
LAUER:
Audiologist Shelley Borgia
says it's a common concern.
Dr. SHELLEY BORGIA (Audiologist):
They don't want to admit that they have some level of difficulty. They feel that it's acceptable because it's acceptable to them.
LAUER:
Dr.
Borgia
says
hearing loss
isn't just about losing your hearing but losing your engagement with life.
Mr. McDADE:
She said, 'Look, if you don't do something about this, dementia is going to set in and your brain's just going to shut off.'
LAUER:
Hearing loss
is irreversible. There is no cure, but you can slow down the process and even prevent it, which is why I decided to get my hearing checked. Every morning, in the right ear, we wear what is called an
IFB
, which is a little earpiece. This worries me. I wonder what this has done to my hearing. The first part of the
hearing test
is a physical examination. So this is going to tell you how much the eardrum is actually moving?
Dr. BORGIA:
Yes.
LAUER:
The next part of the test is the actual hearing evaluation, a series of tones I had to respond to.
Dr. BORGIA:
Ice cream.
LAUER:
And then a series of words I had to repeat.
Dr. BORGIA:
Baseball.
LAUER:
Baseball.
Dr. BORGIA:
Outside.
LAUER:
Outside.
Dr. BORGIA:
New York.
LAUER:
After just 20 minutes, some preliminary results.
Dr. BORGIA:
Your left ear is borderline normal hearing sensitivity. But the right ear has a mild high-frequency
hearing loss
, the right ear where you use your...
LAUER:
IFB
, right. Is it in the range of normal for someone who's 53 years old, or has it been exacerbated, do you think, because of that?
Dr. BORGIA:
It probably has worsened due to the noise exposure.
LAUER:
For now, Dr.
Borgia
says I don't need a
hearing aid
, but has prescribed custom-made
ear plugs
for loud events.
Jim McDade
's results were quite different. He had significant
hearing loss
in both ears, requiring
hearing aids
.
Dr. BORGIA:
Are we having ringing?
Mr. McDADE:
No.
Dr. BORGIA:
No?
Mr. McDADE:
It's good.
Dr. BORGIA:
They feel OK?
Mr. McDADE:
Yeah.
LAUER:
Jim
's
hearing aids
are called
Lyric
, but there are other choices, and they're nothing like those old beige bananas of the past.
Mr. McDADE:
When I heard the strength of my voice, it made me cry. It was as if I hadn't heard that voice in a very long time.
LAUER:
And now that
Jim
has regained that voice, he has a message he wants you to hear.
Mr. McDADE:
Get it taken care of. You don't know what you're missing. You don't know what you don't know.
LAUER:
Jim McDade
and Dr.
Shelley Borgia
are with us this morning. Good morning to both of you.
Mr. McDADE:
Good morning.
LAUER:
Nice to see you.
Dr. BORGIA:
Good morning.
LAUER:
Why'd you wait so long?
Mr. McDADE:
Just comfortable in my own skin and you don't really -- you're not really aware of how -- that your hearing is disappearing. It happened so slowly
over time
, that it -- you know, you're just comfortable with who you are.
LAUER:
Yeah, but I was struck by something you said in the piece,
Jim
, and you said you didn't want people to be judging you.
Mr. McDADE:
Yeah.
LAUER:
And so -- yes, there is a stigma attached to this.
Mr. McDADE:
Yeah. Well, it's -- you know, someone in eyeglasses looks intelligent; someone with
hearing aids
looks handicapped.
LAUER:
Yeah. And so you didn't want that, especially with a fitness business.
Mr. McDADE:
I -- yeah, yeah. It's not how you want to be portrayed.
LAUER:
So turn sideways for me, because you've had these put in...
Mr. McDADE:
Yeah.
LAUER:
...these
Lyric
put in.
Mr. McDADE:
And these have to be put in by a professional, right? I can't see them at all, by the way.
Dr. BORGIA:
Yes.
Mr. McDADE:
No.
Dr. BORGIA:
They're invisible.
LAUER:
And so once they go in, how long do they stay in?
Dr. BORGIA:
About three months at a time. So it has an extended-wear battery. It's hassle free. You wake up in the morning and you start your day just like anyone else.
LAUER:
Jim
, are you like me? You go to a restaurant -- before these...
Mr. McDADE:
Yeah.
LAUER:
...and if there's a lot of other noise in the background, you could be looking right at the person you're having dinner with and you're having trouble with that?
Mr. McDADE:
Yeah. Yeah, it's very loud but, you know, in certain situations it's good, but in that kind of a situation not so good.
LAUER:
So how do these cancel out all that other noise so that you don't just hear everything louder?
Mr. McDADE:
They've got some technology in there that just kind of focuses in on what I need to hear.
Dr. BORGIA:
They're very intelligent. And because the hearing device is all the way in the
ear canal
, you're using your natural ear to kind of filter out some of that noise.
LAUER:
Let's take a look at some -- of where these devices have come, OK.
Dr. BORGIA:
Mm-hmm.
LAUER:
This is the one
on the table here that
Jim
has in his ears.
Dr. BORGIA:
Yes.
Mr. McDADE:
Yeah.
LAUER:
And tell me about some of these other devices.
Dr. BORGIA:
OK, so the one right next to it is another alternative to a hearing device. It's very discreet. It's basically invisible at the level of the ears.
LAUER:
OK, these are a little larger over here.
Dr. BORGIA:
Those are the older traditional hearing devices that...
LAUER:
That made him cringe just now.
Mr. McDADE:
Yeah. Yeah.
Dr. BORGIA:
Exactly.
LAUER:
Those are the ones that worried you.
Mr. McDADE:
I had to grow up in grade school with something like that.
Dr. BORGIA:
Mm-hmm.
Mr. McDADE:
Yeah.
Dr. BORGIA:
Those are the ones that no one wants me to prescribe.
LAUER:
Right.
Mr. McDADE:
Yeah.
LAUER:
I think a lot of
people watching
this, Doctor, might be thinking, first of all, 'How expensive are these?' and 'Are they covered by insurance?'
Dr. BORGIA:
Typically, they are not covered by insurance. The hearing examination is, so you should -- everyone should go and get a hearing exam. But the hearing devices are typically $
1500
to $3500 per device. But...
LAUER:
Yeah, but they can change your life.
Dr. BORGIA:
It changes
the quality of life
. Yes.
LAUER:
And this is what you've made for me. My
hearing loss
is minor...
Dr. BORGIA:
Yes.
LAUER:
...but it's particularly in the right ear, where I do wear this little
IFB
device.
Dr. BORGIA:
Mm-hmm.
LAUER:
And you want me to start to wear these earplugs when I'm around loud noises.
Dr. BORGIA:
Yes, I want you and everyone to wear those earplugs whenever you're exposed to noise, parties, events, weddings. It's very important.
LAUER:
Yeah, and I think that -- one of the things that was a little depressing to hear in the piece is that it's not reversible...
Mr. McDADE:
Yeah.
LAUER:
...that once you lose your hearing, or some degree of your hearing, it's gone forever.
Dr. BORGIA:
Absolutely.
LAUER:
Well, hey, life change dramatically for you?
Mr. McDADE:
Yes, it's a -- it's a good experience now.
LAUER:
That's great.
Jim
, thank you for sharing your story.
“ ”