Hearing Aids – When and How. All about access to hearing aids. – Alabama Nasal & Sinus Center

Hearing loss and access to care.

The current healthcare environment is very sensitive to issues of access.  One of the problems we face is understanding what various parties mean when they speak of access.  This problem has recently come to my attention regarding questions of access for patients to hearing aids. 

There are many reasons why those with significant hearing loss are not participants in the current system, including, but not limited to: failure to realize the problem, denial of the problem, perceptions regarding a potentially complex system, and cost. While the AAO-HNS (American Academy of Otolaryngology –Head and Neck Surgery) agrees that efforts must be made to overcome these barriers, we must move forward with careful consideration and analysis relating to what can be done to significantly increase utilization (by easing entry and reducing costs) while retaining necessary protection for patients.

To this end, the AAO-HNS is generally supportive of the concept of denoting a “basic” category of hearing aids, which would be more easily available for purchase by seniors.

Although the AAO-HNS believes providing access to a lower-cost or “basic” hearing aid could/would likely benefit a large portion of the seniorpopulation, we caution that specific action should first be taken to ensure that a particular individual/patient’s condition actually falls into designated categories of hearing loss (e.g. bilateral, gradual onset, mild-to-moderate age-related hearing loss).

Although we find ourselves in a period of disruptive technology that has made it possible for many patients to participate in self-screening and monitoring of many diseases, we assert it is an overstatement to conclude that all patients/consumers could or would be able to self-diagnose, self-treat, and self-monitor their hearing loss. For example, an individual living alone may personally evaluate his/her hearing loss as only mild or moderate, not realizing that another individual with normal hearing would not be able to tolerate the excessive television, etc. volume used to compensate for the person’s hearing loss.

Therefore, the AAO-HNS strongly recommends the retention of a medical evaluation by a physician, followed by a standardized hearing test (via a hearing health professional or appropriate online/technological source), BEFORE an individual could seek purchase of any type of basic hearing aid or other FDA-regulated assistive hearing device.

Here at Alabama Nasal & Sinus Center, we are privileged to have two outstanding audiologist to work with.  We can provide a thorough hearing evaluation as well as hearing aidfitting and service, if necessary.  Call 205-980-2091 to schedule an appointment today.

I am a general otolaryngologist who specializes in diagnosis and treatment of diseases affecting the ears, nose, and throat. Though I treat patients in all areas of otolaryngology, of all ages, I have special interests in rhinology, otolaryngic allergy, pediatric otolaryngology, and head and neck cancer.

I was born in Dothan, Alabama and spent my first two years in Troy, where my parents were completing school. Most of my early childhood and adolescence was spent in Pace, Florida, just East of Pensacola. I left home after graduating from Pace High School to attend the University of Florida. While there, I became very involved in various student leadership activities and even found time to play football for the Gators under Coach Spurrier. I loved college so much, I got two degrees and spent another two years in Gainesville while my new bride finished her degree in health science education. I am proudly married to the charming and beautiful Simone, mother of our three wonderful children.

I was pleased to get back to the Gulf Coast for a while when the University of South Alabama accepted me into their medical school. Those four years were some of the most intense and most fondly remembered years of my life. I started my training in otolaryngology – head and neck surgery at the University of Alabama Birmingham in 2001. I completed residency training in 2006 and began working in private practice in Valdosta, Georgia. It was while training at UAB that I met Dr. Michael Sillers. It is my great privilege to call Dr. Sillers my mentor and friend. We have known each other for over a decade now, and I am absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to join Dr. Sillers and the Alabama Nasal and Sinus Center in providing the best in otolaryngology care to the people of Birmingham and surrounding areas.