Question
What resources does Phonak have to help treat complex listening needs?
Answer
When it comes to the treatment of hearing loss, it is important to discuss hearing and listening goals as it relates to the patients’ lifestyle and environments in which they would like to be successful. It is also important to determine the needs from the significant other or family perspective as hearing loss may affect all communication partners. When patients arrive with presbycusis, we are typically well-versed in hearing instruments and features designed to help in both quiet and noisy situations and determine the use of accessories based on the patient’s feedback during the trial period and beyond. With the use of hearing aid apps, patients can get even more out of their hearing instruments regarding real-time adjustments in challenging listening situations and remote support when appropriate.
When patients with more complex listening needs enter our offices, there are more considerations to be made when it comes to solutions and counseling patients and family members. For patients with severe-to-profound hearing loss, there is generally both inner and outer hair cell damage resulting in decreased auditory resolution, challenges in hearing in quiet, in noise, and over distance. For children, tweens, teens, and young adults with hearing loss, there needs to be considerations to not only hear at home, but also in the car, at school, on the playground, while connecting with friends in-person or online, and everywhere else their growing minds take them. Both the severe-to-profound population and the babies, teens, and young adult population have unique needs and often require more than “just” a hearing aid and often require some professional development to stay up to date with latest treatment options and outcomes.
For patients with severe-to-profound hearing loss, Phonak has made public the “Guidelines for Best Practice in the Audiological Management of Adults with Severe and Profound Hearing Loss”, published in Seminars in Hearing. These guidelines have been published utilizing the best evidence-based practice and specific recommendations on expert advice. The expert panel consensus recommends counseling on the continuum of hearing technologies, utilizing fitting approaches beyond first fit, immediate consideration of remote microphones, communication training and strategies, and an early focus on tinnitus.
For patients under 21, Phonak’s three Pediatric Focus papers delve into specific matters when choosing and fitting hearing solutions on babies, children, tweens, teens, and young adults. In partnership with our Pediatric Advisory Board, these papers discuss considering directional microphones in hearing aid fittings for pediatrics, hearing aid coupling options for children, and hearing aid prescription and fine-tuning.
Patients with complex listening needs come with a unique set of challenges and need careful consideration when evaluating solutions and fitting approaches with hearing instruments, apps, and remote microphone systems. As power and pediatrics have been part of Phonak’s DNA for over 50 years, we have been able to develop life-changing technologies and partner with experts in these fields to help you manage these patients successfully.
For more information, visit Phonak.com or reach out directly to your Phonak representative.
