Let's wrap up this year!

Hi ,

There is no doubt the year 2020 has been a tough one and this holiday season may look a little different in how we celebrate. I am able to find some joy in remembering holidays past and from counting the unique things that I have appreciated about this unusual year. I hope this jam-packed issue will bring you a little joy as well. As we are spending more time at home, Dr. Kacy Hooten has shared some great tips on how to communicate at home with a hearing loss as well as ways to make new happy memories for this holiday season.

Also in this issue, we have highlighted two of our staff members to get to know them a little better. Learn about Dr. Hooten’s relationship with pigs, and Sandy Daggett’s relationship with paints!

We are excited to share with you that we now offer on-line scheduling. Keep reading for instructions on how to do it, or to schedule your next appointment with us today.

For nearly 20 years we have partnered with Starkey Hearing Foundation to donate used hearing devices to those locally and around the world who need them most. Unfortunately this year Starkey had to close their doors on this outreach. However, we are pleased to announce that until they reopen, Hearing Healthcare Centers will be taking on this important project and are accepting donated hearing aids to refurbish and help hearing impaired individuals in our local community.

As always we offer drop box services so you can get your hearing devices cleaned and serviced without having to come into the office. Call or schedule on-line.

I wish for you and your family to have a very joyous holiday and 'hear's' to a very happy and healthy 2021!

Ch’ears'!
Whitney Swander, Au.D.
Owner, Doctor of Audiology

It goes without explaining that 2020 has been a challenging year. With the ‘stay-at-home’ and ‘safer-at-home’ orders put in place, we all are spending far more time in our homes and with those we reside with maybe more than we ever have! My grandparents told me in their 53 years of marriage, they have never spent as much time together as they have until now – which seems a bit crazy! We don’t realize how those small interactions with other people at the grocery store, gas station, doctors’ visits etc. add to the sense that we feel socially fulfilled. People are social beings and we crave communication in many forms. Since the stay-at-home order was lifted in May, in our clinics we have been noticing an increase of patients commenting on their difficulty with communication at home. Which makes sense; we are at home more than anywhere now. I want to share some tips and tricks for better communication at home!

Eye Contact

Good communication rule #1 – look at the person you are talking to! Of course, you should be able to hear someone with their back turned, however we have all been taught early on that looking at someone when they are talking reflects you are engaged and participating. When an individual has a hearing loss, they really need to use as much information as possible to be most successful (i.e. body languages, facial cues, lip reading). These cues help put the puzzle together and require less effort to comprehend the statement. Reducing effort is always our main goal!

Get Attention

To be the most successful when communicating with a friend or a family member who has hearing loss is to get their attention first before asking a question. This gives the listener the opportunity to shift their focus to what is about to be said. For example, “Would you like gravy on your potatoes?” Often the listener will only hear the ending of the sentence because their attention was not on the speaker. This requires too much effort and processing time to fill in the blanks and make meaningful comprehension of the sentence. Instead try saying their name first to get their attention, “Hey Kacy, would you like gravy on your potatoes?”

Reduce Distance

Hearing devices are not designed to work beyond 6-8 feet. And we really shouldn’t be having conversations through walls or opposite rooms. We tend to be poor communicators in our own homes – it’s where we feel most comfortable so we usually break every good communication rule there is. I am the first person to preach these suggestions all day and then I go home asking what’s for dinner while my boyfriend Kyle is upstairs with the TV on and the dishwasher running – not the most conducive for conversation!

Repeat What Was Understood

Hearing loss is very much a team effort! It often affects more than just the person diagnosed. We encourage our patients’ to make an effort in communicating with them easier too. Instead of just saying “what” “huh” “pardon me” – repeat what was heard! For example, Kyle says, “Would you like gravy on your potatoes?” Kacy should respond, “What about the potatoes?” ….. Kyle then doesn’t get the impression that Kacy is completely ignoring him and is being a participant. Then Kyle only has to repeat, “Would you like gravy?”

Table Seating

This is a big one! The physics of sound cannot be changed so we have to outsmart it! In a restaurant, it is so important to put your back to the noise and the person you want to hear in front of you; preferably the person with hearing loss facing toward a wall. If you have hearing loss NEVER put your back against a wall. Directional microphones (most digital hearing devices) sense for the loudest speech you are facing towards. If you are facing the noise and the person talking to you, the hearing device will not be able to detect what speech is the important speech.

And alllllll of the noise you are facing will bounce off the wall directly into the hearing device faster than it was coming at you to begin with. Walls do not absorb sound, sound reverberates off them. If the person with hearing loss has their back to the noise, then one microphone will sense there is noise and try to reduce it while the other microphone will recognize the speech ahead and try to enhance it – the hearing device will then quickly change the algorithm for ‘speech in noise.’

Hearing devices are miniature computers or robots – they are super smart and will often do their job if we can outsmart the physics of sound! When sitting at a dinner table, it is best to sit somewhere near the middle of the table – where the person with hearing loss can easily see all the faces seated. Try to keep one person talking at a time so the conversation is easier to follow. Try to remember, background noise is difficult for even normal hearing people to filter.

I was hopeful that our holiday traditions would continue this year but, for many of us the family gatherings have been greatly reduced or even cancelled. In the future, we will appreciate those special moments even more so when life eventually gets back to normal. It is so important to stay optimistic that we WILL be able to squeeze those loved ones again soon. Take this opportunity to make a special 2020 edition tradition. As a big Packers football fan, this is the first Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve/Christmas and/or New Years that I won’t be bundled up in ten degree weather eating a hot dog at Lambeau Field since I was around eight years old. However, I think we could make a lasting memory in this crazy year that will have us laughing for years to come.

Try making pizza for Thanksgiving dinner – you could video call your families and make personal pizzas together. Or breakfast for dinner, one of my personal favorites! I look forward to hearing stories of “Oh in 2020 we had blueberry pancakes and bacon for Thanksgiving!”

Just because 2020 has been anything but normal it doesn’t mean we can’t make memories that will give us a sigh of relief and a smile later on!

Dr. Kacy Hooten has been a part of the HHCC team since 2018. She earned her undergraduate degree from Central Michigan University and her doctorate degree in Audiology from Wayne University. Her various private practice settings have provided her with extensive knowledge on diagnostic testing, the latest hearing instrument technology, and genuine, quality patient care. Dr. Hooten has great enthusiasm educating her patients about their hearing loss and how to improve communication with their friends and loved ones.

Click here to learn more about her and our entire team.

Dr. Kacy grew up in a farming community of 4,000 people. One of her grandfathers was a dairy farmer and the other one was a cattle farmer. From the age of 10 until she graduated high school Dr. Kacy raised two piglets a year through 4-H youth development organization. She would feed, clean and care for the piglets from April through July. At the end of that time the pigs would be sold for swine to local businesses. She saved all the money from selling the pigs each year and by the time she graduated high school she had earned enough from the sales to pay for her undergraduate education! 'Through those years of experience I learned true responsibility and ingrained a strong work ethic.'

Here are a couple of fun questions to get to know Dr. Hooten better.

What is a favorite family holiday tradition?

My family and I are huge Green Bay Packer fans! For YEARS my extended family coordinated time to see a Packers game, snow mobile and stay in a lodge off the grid 20-30 miles from civilization. We'd play games and eat fun food. It was about family and community - the whole experience. This us the first year since I was eight years old that we are unable to have this special holiday.

Where would you live if you could live anywhere?

I would love to live in the upper peninsula of Michigan! They get 100+ inches of snow per year. Where ever I live snow is a must, it just feels cozy!

What is something that can only be learned with age?

True gratitude. You don't know what a person is giving up to give to you.

Here are a couple of fun questions to get to know Sandy better.

What is a favorite family holiday tradition?

Celebrating Jesus' birth with family and friends. For many years I have made homemade gifts like pottery and home made cards to shut-ins around my small town of Springfield.

Where would you live if you could live anywhere?

I would live in a small quaint ocean town on either coast where I would never have to see a snowflake for the rest of my life :)

What is the one thing that can't be learned with age?

You realize how precious life is and how little time you have to make an impact on souls. You also realize stuff is just stuff and not what really matters. What really matters is where your heart is.