“Hearing Life’s Story with Starkey Hearing Aids” feat. Gail Ehrens | Speech-Language Pathologist

The Hearing Matters Podcast discusses hearing technology (more commonly known as hearing aids), best practices, and a growing national epidemic - Hearing Loss. The show is hosted by Blaise Delfino, M.S., HIS, and his father, Dr. Gregory Delfino, Au.D., CCC-A. Blaise Delfino and Dr. Gregory Delfino treat patients with hearing loss at Audiology Services in Bethlehem and Nazareth, PA.

On this episode, we interviewed Gail Ehrens, a first time hearing aid user and speech-language pathologist with 50+ years of working with patients! 

Transcript

Blaise Delfino: 0:06

You're tuned into the Hearing Matters Podcast with Dr. Gregory Delfino, and Blaise Delfino of Audiology Services and Fader Plugs, the show that discusses hearing technology, best practices, and a growing national epidemic, hearing loss. Before we kick this episode off special thank

you to our partners Oticon: 0:26

life changing technology, Sonic: every day sounds better, Starkey Hearing Technologies: hear

better, live better, Redux: 0:37

faster, dryer, smarter , verified. On this episode, Dr. Delfino and I are so excited to welcome a dear friend and current patient of ours, Gail Ehrens, welcome to the show.

Dr. Gregory Delfino: 0:55

Welcome.

Gail Ehrens: 0:56

Thank you so much for having me.

Blaise Delfino: 0:57

Gail, you have an incredibly unique background. You are a speech language pathologist of well over 35 years.

Gail Ehrens: 1:06

Yeah, you're being kind, over 50 years

Blaise Delfino: 1:10

Over 50 years. Gail, before we dive into the hearing healthcare segment of this episode, what inspired you to enter the communication sciences and disorders field?

Gail Ehrens: 1:22

I think I was inspired by my father. He was a dentist, but he always spent his day off at United Cerebral Palsy. And he offered free dentistry to those children every Wednesday of his career. So we got very involved with that. And I think that kind of inspired me.

Blaise Delfino: 1:37

So it's safe to say that your father was definitely a go giver. Back to the community that is absolutely incredible. Now the individuals that you work with on a daily basis did your caseload change from when you first entered the field to speech language pathology to now?

Gail Ehrens: 1:54

Most definitely, because I've been in the field for so long. The field has changed. So back when I was doing my graduate work and starting out my first job, there were no specialties in the field of speech pathology. So every therapist did every disorder. So you did voice and you did articulation and stuttering and adults and children and there was no specialization. So that's a huge difference.

Blaise Delfino: 2:18

When the field started to change, essentially, and speech language pathologist had the opportunity to say, You know what I want to specialize in voice. Was there a specific specialty that you started to focus on?

Gail Ehrens: 2:33

No, I always maintained my status as an of a general practitioner, okay. Because when I was in private practice, I wanted to treat everybody so I did. We saw young people, old people contracts with people who are homebound. So it was a full gamut. So I really feel like that's not very common anymore. There aren't many people who were able to do that.

Blaise Delfino: 2:54

Yeah, no, absolutely. And you are a jack of all trades, master of all, Gail, speech language pathologists. Now pretty much any hospital you go to speech and audiology are hand in hand, they're essentially almost on the same floor, if you will, if you're lucky, if you're lucky. You don't have to travel far. Now I'll never forget when they had Take Your Child to Work Day, I went to work with my father, who of course, is an audiologist, St. Joseph's Medical Center. And I saw my first barium swallow study I was maybe eight years old. So to see that and be exposed to this industry at such a young age. Very, very cool. And there is a link between of course Speech, Language and Hearing because if we can't hear correctly, we can't really monitor our speech. Language Acquisition can be delayed things of that nature. Now, Gail, what's interesting is you present with a decrease in hearing, when did you start to notice that your hearing sensitivity was beginning to decline?

Gail Ehrens: 3:55

I don't think that when you have a gradual onset hearing loss, I don't think you really notice it, other people notice it. And I was working as an evaluator on a team doing Birth to Three evaluations in people's homes. And I found that I was asking questions that had already been asked, or I missed something. And they would have to tell me afterwards. So as that started to happen, I realized that there was an issue, I could always blame it on my husband. No, I told you that. But when other people who are not your family start to notice then you really have to do something about it, particularly if you want to continue working in that capacity.

Blaise Delfino: 4:34

We often say, you cannot see the picture when you're in the frame. And it often does come down to other family members or other communication partners saying you know what, I believe you're struggling. How many years do you think you waited until you did something about your hearing sensitivity?

Gail Ehrens: 4:51

I don't know. And I have a strong family history of hearing loss. So it was on my radar. Okay, my father, his sister, and my grandmother Well, we're hearing aid. I knew that that was going to be in my future. I don't know, I think I waited too long. But I was still able to function. I just did it because I knew I wanted to continue working. And I want it to be at the top of my game. And I didn't want people talking about me behind my back saying she's losing it.

Blaise Delfino: 5:16

Right? Sure. Because we do know of those comorbidities linked to hearing loss. Dr. Delfino, you have a unique story in that your father presented with hearing loss, and all of the stresses that it created amongst the family and your father, my grandfather, was essentially in denial kind of share that experience with us and how the family overcame.

Dr. Gregory Delfino: 5:40

Yeah, so my father was a pediatrician. And so he was in contact every day with patients, moms and dads. At some point in time, I guess maybe in his early 30s, he noticed that there was some reduction in hearing sensitivity. And he ignored it for a number of years. And he eventually wound up having some surgery done. But living in a household with someone that's hearing impaired. Every time the phone rang, and he was on the phone with a pharmacist or a patient, he absolutely had to have quiet in the house or the way she could not hear on the telephone. And so it was programmed into us as a family unit, phone rings dad's on it, everybody quiets down. We knew when we needed to ask him what make a request. And it had to be face to face loud enough so he could hear it. At scale. It said, you know, I think other people let you sometimes know that a little bit of a push, you need to move forward. Because he eventually wanted with hearing aids. And beautifully.

Gail Ehrens: 6:31

And know, what you just said reminded me of something that my husband was always saying to me, You talk so loud, why are you talking so loud? And I said, I'm not talking about it? Well, everybody can hear you on the phone, or everybody can hear our conversation. And I had no idea that I was talking loud. But I do know that when you have hearing loss, you talk louder.

Blaise Delfino: 6:49

You tend to increase your voice. Absolutely. Because your ability to monitor your own voice starts to decrease over time. Now, Gail, I had the opportunity to fit you with your very first pair of hearing instruments a day that I think you'll always remember, or I at least hope so because it's a big step in the right direction. What was life like after you were fit with the hearing aids? And what were some of the sounds you noticed that were increased?

Gail Ehrens: 7:16

I could hear myself walking down the steps. I could hear the sounds of my feet on the carpet, which surprised me clothing noise, just things were more crisp. And I have to say that I adjusted to them very well. And I thought okay, this is good. But when I took them off, that's when I really noticed Yes, when he took them off, then I said, whoo, this is really different. So then I realized how much they were helping. But when I was actually wearing them, I thought oh, this is okay, because your brain had to get used to it. Yep. Right. But when I took them off, I realized how quiet everything got?

Blaise Delfino: 7:50

Yes. You know, it's interesting, Gail to echo that when I first got glasses, and now I have a mild vision loss. So I constantly take them off, I put them down. I'm like, do I really need these things? And driving at night and I'm seeing signs at a distance? I'm like, yep, that's blurry. I definitely need these. And I like that to the patients that we first fit with hearing instruments who have never worn hearing aids before. You kind of think to yourself, well, do I really need these? Are they really doing what they're intended for? And the minute you take them off, it's like wow, that is that monumental moment and Dr. Delfino and I have experienced that with so many of our patients throughout. And of course, being a speech language pathologist. When you first came to audiology services, you and I had that deep discussion of the importance of feeding your brain, the information that it needs, you work with individuals who present with cognitive impairment and to rebuild those cognitive faculties. Thanks to neuroplasticity? Well, with hearing loss, you're not getting that information that you need. Which brings us to our next point of listening effort prior to being fit with hearing instruments when you were in a group because you do group therapy sessions, but also when you were with your family and your friends, what was understanding speech and noise like for you prior to wearing hearing aids?

Gail Ehrens: 9:10

Well, I'm not sure that my experience was a typical one because I think I'm a natural lip reader, because I'm aware of how sounds are made because of my background. And I also know what the possibilities are if somebody says Pat, I also know it could be bad or mad. So I think I had an advantage which prolonged the time that I went without them. So I don't know that I actually struggled as much as most people do in that situation because I was able to compensate

Blaise Delfino: 9:39

Yes. Dr. Delfino Can you dovetail off that because I'm so happy you brought that up Gail, when we work with musicians specifically and when we program their hearing aids, they almost have this auditory memory, this ability to put sounds and words together very much like you Gail is a speech language pathologist. I I'd love to hear your thoughts on that Dr. Delfino.

Dr. Gregory Delfino: 10:01

Well we've talked about this a couple of times, some people have a gift with regard to audition. And it has to do certainly with some professions that I've seen it. And guys that work at control towers at airports, people that do radio and television, speech language pathologists, someone that for their living, they are hyper focused on words speech, how it's supposed to sound, they develop this very strong echoic memory. And so just a few auditory cues, sets off this array of I can fill it in with a number of things. And for the most part, they may be right. It's not until the point where it gets so bad work, even though they've got this arsenal of sounds that they can fill in, it still now becomes difficult to understand and respond appropriately. And that's why they step ahead, I see that just even in speech discrimination and speech with noise. They try so diligently to get the word and it's just not there.

Blaise Delfino: 10:55

Gail, I know for a fact you talk about carryover with the parents that you work with. Now, when we first fit you, we had you come back for your fitting appointment, first follow up, second follow up and we see you almost on a quarterly basis. We'd like to see our patients at least two times a year because of the counseling aspect involved with it. But we also want to make sure that we're keeping the hearing aids clean functioning properly. Was there like a specific learning curve, when you were first fit?

Gail Ehrens: 11:26

The actual wearing of the hearing aids was not difficult for me, what was a challenge for me was changing that little thing that I have to change the wax guard, the wax guard and very intricate and you have to get it on just right. And you want to make sure that the tip fits on. Right. So that was a little bit of a learning curve. Because it's it's require some manual dexterity. Absolutely. And the pieces are little getting it in and out of the splice with that little device. There was a learning curve there. Okay, I probably threw out a few trying to get it out of frustration. But no, but I learned how to do it. Sure. And now I can do it. There's a little learning curve when it comes to care. I lost one shortly after I got it. At the time, they came in colors, and it matched my hair, which was kind of a rust color, then COVID hit and now my hair is white and it doesn't match my hair anymore.

Blaise Delfino: 12:16

I don't have any more hair, Gail!

Gail Ehrens: 12:18

But I lost it on the floor of my house and it was the same color as the floor and it took me till I moved my furniture till I found it. So I had to buy a second hearing.

Blaise Delfino: 12:27

Thank goodness for that loss and damage coverage. For those listening there is a L & D warranty. And a small deductible is important. And Gail, it's so important for our listeners tuned in right now if you are on the fence with regard to moving forward with hearing technology and you've visited an audiologist or licensed hearing healthcare professional, it is so important that you receive the appropriate counseling and fine tuning adjustments because that's one of the reasons why patients wear their hearing aids in the drawer because they're not counseled clinically

Gail Ehrens: 13:01

I'm glad you asked that because I have friends in Florida who recently decided that he needed a hearing aid and they went to Costco and bought it but they didn't get any kind of real instruction. He went in, they plopped them on, he went home, he wears them. So that's fine for some people, but I'm not sure that that's really going to work for everybody. So I greatly appreciated the follow up and the opportunity to ask questions in the fitting in the refitting in the little troubleshooting things. Yeah, I think we're invaluable. So yeah, I'm concerned about how that is going to go in the future, because they're going to be very accessible to people for a lot less money. But I don't think that they're going to be getting counseling. And I don't think that people are going to be as happy with them if they don't have all the education that they need to use them properly.

Blaise Delfino: 13:49

Correct. And these companies that are releasing these over the counter amplifiers, while you can create videos on how to change a wax guard, not everyone knows how to use YouTube, right? Not everyone has a smartphone. And that's so important when we talk about the accessibility aspect of it. We have hearing instruments here for $899 A pair which if you lease for four years, that's about $15 per month, so don't go to Starbucks for a day. And you're covered with regard to your hearing health care, but it is so important to because yes, you hear with your ears, but you hear with your brain and Gail you and I always get on that subject and that topic of it is brain hearing. The hearing instruments allow you to separate sounds orient to focus, because you know better than us. You've been a speech pathologist for over 50 years, you work with the brain on a daily basis.

Gail Ehrens: 14:44

I would like to just add to that, I would say a majority of people who get hearing aids or in an older population, they're not necessarily tech savvy. They don't learn well from a YouTube video. They need that face to face that hands on that's now you try it now do it This way, because I think older people need that one on one kind of instruction. So I think it's based on the population that might not be true for younger people who need hearing aids. Yeah, that might not be true at all. But I think for my experience, I'm 79 years old. So

Blaise Delfino: 15:15

79 years young!

Gail Ehrens: 15:17

In my generation, I need instruction, I need one on one face to face hands on. I could watch a YouTube video, I could try to do it, but I would never have the confidence that I was doing it right.

Blaise Delfino: 15:28

And I love that you said that because you are so self aware. And with your background, understanding the carryover and the fine motor movements and gross motor movements. I'm so happy you brought that up. Gail, what advice would you give to our listeners right now that are on the fence moving forward with technology?

Gail Ehrens: 15:47

Do it try it because it's amazing. I was totally, totally blown away. When I looked at the amount of technology that goes into this and how personalized the hearing aid is, to me and to my particular hearing loss. This is not a generic hearing loss that anybody could wear. This is for me and my hearing aid and I saw it on a screen. When I came in after I had it for a few weeks ago, I came back for the first follow up, Blaise said to me, I see you were listening to music 53% of the time that you were listening in noise this percentage of the time I was totally blown away.

Blaise Delfino: 16:25

It's amazing what the technology can do today. And that's what we call the life scape analyzer. The Starkey Muse IQ has that in the Starkey fitting software, which is a really great counseling tool, Gail, because if we can see that 25% of the time you are in speech and noise, but 48% of the time you're in quiet, it allows us the provider to make appropriate adjustments and changes. I do remember that visit and you were like oh my gosh, and it has a chart and

Gail Ehrens: 16:52

A pie chart. Yeah, well, these colors and lines, and then you just adjusted things and said let me increase this a little bit and decrease that and it sort of was just tailored exactly to what I needed. So I don't think that you can put a price on that. I think that's fantastic.

Blaise Delfino: 17:10

Gail, how important is it to visit an audiologist or hearing healthcare professional prior to being fit with hearing aids?

Gail Ehrens: 17:17

I think you have to how can you be fit with a hearing aid if you haven't seen somebody who specializes in hearing and hearing loss in hearing aid? I don't think I would be comfortable going to Rite Aid or CVS or somebody that couldn't answer my questions or explain things to me, but I think this is your area of expertise and this is what I need. So I'm gonna go to somebody who can answer my questions.

Blaise Delfino: 17:39

You're tuned in to the Hearing Matters Podcast with Dr. Gregory Delfino, and Blaise Delfino of Audiology Services and Fader Plugs. Today, we had speech language pathologist and current hearing aid user, Gail Ehrens on the show, Gail, thank you so much for coming on the show today. We really appreciate your time.

Gail Ehrens: 17:57

Thank you. It was a pleasure.

Dr. Gregory Delfino: 17:58

Thank you, Gail!

Blaise Delfino: 17:59

And until next time, hear life’s story!