[Access] Fwd: Raves (Yes, It's True) for New Hearing Aid

[d. maria]

David, hearing aides generally cost $3,000 to 5,000.  At $3,000 a year, 
this is not cheap!!!
      I will never be able to afford a hearing aid, (it took me 5 years 
to pay off my oral surgery and false teeth due to an infection). One 
would have to be wealthy to afford this new thing.  Sounds good, tho.  
I can't figure out why there are ways to get drugs, eye glasses, and 
all other devises... even wheel chairs,  when they are not covered by 
standard insurance... but, no one covers hearing aides.  this makes no 
sense to me.  Not being able to hear impedes communication.  dm

On Apr 15, 2008, at 11:14 PM, David Gilmartin wrote:

> Received this information (sort of a combo story and promotion, I 
> thought) from a friend of mine. Though it seems a bit pricy to me, I 
> know hearing aids often cost quite a bit. There's a website mentioned 
> in the story that will get you a bit more detail and some graphics.
>
> David Gilmartin
>
>> New York Times  --  April 15, 2008
>> Well
>> Raves (Yes, It's True) for New Hearing Aid
>> By TARA PARKER-POPE
>>
>> Few products are hated as much as hearing aids.
>>
>> The devices can squeal with feedback and overamplify background 
>> noises like the click of a turn signal or whir of a ceiling fan. They 
>> must be removed for showering or sleeping, and their batteries die 
>> frequently. Many users, out of exasperation, decide they'd rather 
>> live with hearing loss.
>>
>> But now scientists have come up with a different kind of hearing aid. 
>> While the device, called the Lyric, is being used in only 500 
>> patients, it appears to have overcome many of the problems associated 
>> with traditional hearing aids - without the expense and uncertainty 
>> of surgery and anesthesia.
>>
>> The Lyric, made by InSound Medical of Newark, Calif., is hidden deep 
>> inside the ear canal, just four millimeters (about one-sixth of an 
>> inch) from the ear drum. While doctors for years have been implanting 
>> hearing devices in the middle ear, the Lyric is not an implant: it 
>> can be removed with a small magnet. It is worn 24 hours a day, and 
>> its batteries last one to four months.
>>
>> Typically, anything that clogs the ear canal would trap moisture and 
>> pose an infection risk, but the Lyric is surrounded by a spongy 
>> material that allows moisture to escape. Because it sits so close to 
>> the ear drum, doctors say that it works more efficiently and that 
>> sounds are more natural because they don't have to be amplified as 
>> much.
>>
>> When the Lyric's battery dies, the entire device is replaced. 
>> Patients do not pay for a new device every time; instead, they pay an 
>> annual subscription fee of $2,900 to $3,600 for both ears (less if 
>> the hearing loss is in only one ear). Insurance plans typically do 
>> not cover the cost of the Lyric, or any other hearing device.
>>
>> A magnet is used to control the volume, turn it on and off and remove 
>> it when the battery runs out. It takes only a few minutes for a 
>> doctor to insert a replacement device.
>>
>> The Lyric does not work for everyone. In particular, some ear canals 
>> are too narrow to accommodate it, and the company estimates that it 
>> is not suitable for up to half of potential patients. A planned newer 
>> version should work for about 85 percent of patients, it says.
>>
>> Still, it is already getting an enthusiastic reception from patients 
>> and from hearing specialists not connected with the company. "There 
>> are a certain number of patients who just can't get over having 
>> something in their ear, just as there are a certain number of 
>> patients who can't wear contact lenses," said Dr. Chester F. 
>> Griffiths, chairman of the department of surgery at the Santa Monica 
>> U.C.L.A. Medical Center. "But that's the minority. The patients that 
>> have them love them."
>>
>> Dr. Griffiths says he has no financial ties to the Lyric, nor does he 
>> receive a commission for referring patients.
>>
>> One patient who swears by the device is Mike Waufle, the 53-year-old 
>> defensive line coach for the New York Giants. After a stint in the 
>> Marines and regular exposure to the sounds of gunfire, Mr. Waufle 
>> suffered hearing loss that grew worse and worse as he aged.
>>
>> On the football field, he just turned up the volume on his headset. 
>> But the locker room was a different story. Some voices were 
>> impossible to hear (including that of his last boss, Jon Gruden, the 
>> former Oakland Raiders head coach). Players learned they needed to 
>> face him when they spoke to him. Using a traditional hearing aid, he 
>> found it difficult to control his own voice.
>>
>> "I teach a lot in a classroom as a coach, but when I would wear a 
>> hearing aid my voice pattern wasn't very good," he said. "It was all 
>> over the place. I just took it out most of the time. I missed an 
>> awful lot."
>>
>> As it happened, a team doctor was one of a handful of physicians 
>> test-marketing the Lyric, which has been available for about 16 
>> months. Mr. Waufle tried it, and he says it has changed his life.
>>
>> "My voice pattern is so natural, and I hear so much better," he said. 
>> "Obviously, it's easier to carry on normal conversations without 
>> having to always say, 'Huh? What did you say?' And it helps just 
>> enjoying life over all and being able to hear the simple things like 
>> birds and other sounds you take for granted."
>>
>> Mr. Waufle says he has no financial ties to the company and receives 
>> no benefit for talking about his experience with the device. (The 
>> company says none of the people featured in testimonials on its Web 
>> site, www.lyrichearing.com, receive any form of compensation for 
>> their endorsements.)
>>
>> Right now, the Lyric is offered only through a dozen clinics in 
>> California, Florida and New Jersey, but it should be available at 
>> about 100 sites by the end of the year. Some patients who don't live 
>> near a clinic simply fly or drive to a site four or five times a 
>> year. InSound is a privately held firm, although the pharmaceutical 
>> giant Johnson & Johnson is a major investor.
>>
>> Dr. Robert A. Schindler, a co-founder of InSound and chairman 
>> emeritus of the department of otolaryngology at the University of 
>> California, San Francisco, says he has had hearing loss most of his 
>> life and has worn a Lyric since 2005. He says he remembers listening 
>> to an orchestra and hearing the light ping of the triangle.
>>
>> "I realized I hadn't heard it before," he said. "That was a very 
>> exciting moment for me."
>>
>> E-mail: well at nytimes.com
>> --_______________________________________________
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