And The Oscar Goes To…
This weekend’s most talked-about event, The Academy Awards, had many surprising wins and tear-jerking musical performances. However, many people may be interested to learn the surprising number of celebrities (including Oscar-winners) that suffer from different types of hearing loss.
Halle Berry, who won an Oscar in 2002 for her performance in Monster’s Ball, suffers from 80% decreased hearing in one ear as a result of domestic abuse. She has become an advocate, speaking out against domestic violence, and also raising hearing loss awareness.
Another Academy Award winning actress who suffers from profound hearing loss is Marlee Matlin. She is the only deaf actor to win best actress in a leading role, for “Children of A Lesser God”.
Other notable celebrities with hearing loss include Stephen Colbert, Rob Lowe, Jane Lynch, Robert Redford, Holly Hunter and Jodie Foster.
Hearing Loss Occurring Earlier in Teens
According to recent studies, more and more teens and young adults are being diagnosed with hearing loss, caused in large part to listening to music via headphones. Most people do not realize how loudly they are playing their music; anything louder than 80 decibels can be potentially harmful.
One quick trick to test if your volume is too high is whether or not the person next to you can hear your tunes. If so, then you need to turn down the volume slightly (75% is recommended as a safe volume).
Wow, These New Hearing Aids Sure Are SMART
First your phone, then your TV, you may be thinking, geez what’s next?! Do I really need my hearing aids to be connected as well? If you don’t know what the added benefits are, or feel a little skeptical about syncing up your hearing device to everything else, here are some interesting facts from a recent article about the technological advances of hearing aids.
The future is here! No more stereos needed, now you can play music directly into your brain, well, at least your ears, with Bluetooth capable devices (Audicus has them at an affordable price!) In addition to listening to music, Bluetooth can also improve the sound on your television (and the ability to hear the people watching with you), and give your cell phone calls more clarity.
While we have plenty of skilled audiologists to program devices at Audicus, sometimes it is nice to be able to take control. With the use of different apps, you can control the volume, and direction of sounds right on your smartphone!
Probably the coolest feature of all, much like the new “learning” thermostats that recognize your habits and conserve energy, smart hearing aids can begin to learn from you as well. With each subtle adjustment, the device learns your preferences and begins to automatically make those changes for you!