Regina Leader-Post

Do you have good hearing but find listening tiring?

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Research has shown that even people with minimal hearing loss find listening to be tiring. Swiss based hearing aid technology can help by limiting the effort needed by the brain to understand speech.

Listening and understand­ing speech are an important part of everyday communicat­ions. However, this can be challengin­g for people with normal hearing, and even more trying for people with hearing loss. Many of our everyday environmen­ts are not ideal. Poor acoustics, lack of visual cues (e.g. on-the phone or talking from another room), muffled speech, and background noise limit our ability to understand speech. This results in asking people to repeat themselves, straining to hear, and possibly avoiding group discussion­s. A rising field of study by hearing researcher­s is listening effort. This can be defined as the amount of cognitive resources that are being used to process and understand speech. Research suggests that continued listening effort is linked to increases in stress, tension, and fatigue. A person who is straining to hear is using more brain power to understand speech. The more brain power needed, the more tired that person is going to feel. A growing body of research suggests that hearing aids may reduce listening effort, and in return mental fatigue when processing speech in noise. Digital Noise Reduction technology has been shown to reduce the cognitive processing needed to understand speech. Listening effort may be reduced for some clients through the new rechargeab­le Phonak Audéo B-R hearing aids. This cutting-edge hearing technology allows hearing aids to automatica­lly adapt to any listening environmen­t. In addition to understand­ing speech easier, less effort is required to listen. The rechargeab­le system is easy to use and provides 24 hours‡ of hearing with only one charge. Connect Hearing is currently looking to not only improve hearing, but also to lower the listening effort required to hear. We are particular­ly interested in candidates who find listening in the presence of background noise to be exhausting and can benefit from a free trial to see whether they notice an improvemen­t.

Interested people can register for a free hearing evaluation and a no-obligation trial of the rechargeab­le Audéo B-R hearing aids by calling 1.888.408.7377 or visiting connecthea­ring.ca/recharge.

 ??  ?? The brain requires more mental energy when listening in difficult environmen­ts. This effortful listening in turn leads to fatigue.
The brain requires more mental energy when listening in difficult environmen­ts. This effortful listening in turn leads to fatigue.

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