Broadcast Retirement Network’s Jeffrey Snyder discusses ways to maintain your hearing in the New Year with Towson University’s Julie A. Norin, Au.D., CCC-A.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Good morning, Julie, so great to see you. Thanks for joining us on the program this morning.
Julie A. Norin, Au.D., CCC-A, Towson University
Good morning, thank you for having me. It’s always a pleasure.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
And you’re joining us from afar, so congratulations on that. I hope you’re having wonderful weather than those of us on the Northeast of the United States today.
Julie A. Norin, Au.D., CCC-A, Towson University
Yes, thank you. It is lovely to be warm for a short period.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah, absolutely. Let’s talk about, the calendar’s flipped. It’s 2026.
People are dialing in their investment portfolios, but let’s talk about something very important. Let’s talk about our hearing and our ear health. What are some of the things we should be thinking about as we, in terms of our hearing health in 2026?
Julie A. Norin, Au.D., CCC-A, Towson University
Well, I always encourage people, if they have any questions or concerns about their hearing, to always reach out and consult an audiologist or a hearing healthcare professional, because there’s a lot of information out there. There are a lot of options in terms of being able to address any hearing difficulty that you might be experiencing, but it’s always good to have that starting point where you can talk to someone who isn’t a professional and has the expertise and understands the steps that should be taken in order to address any hearing difficulty.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
And the point is, you don’t have to go it alone. And there are experts like yourself who can listen to what the patient says and then do the appropriate steps, such as doing a hearing test or looking inside the ear canal, et cetera.
Julie A. Norin, Au.D., CCC-A, Towson University
Exactly, yeah, especially, and I’m glad you mentioned that, because a lot of people do feel like they’re having difficulty. They don’t know where to go or who to speak to. And very often, an individual might feel as though maybe they have their ears clogged.
Maybe it’s just an issue of earwax and they need someone to just take a peek in their ears and let them know if that’s something that can be treated easily.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
And do you think ear, I’m gonna say ear treatment, ear prevention, it’s something that’s often overlooked by many of us, including from the younger ages and people in their late teens to people my age in their fifties.
Julie A. Norin, Au.D., CCC-A, Towson University
Yeah, I do, unfortunately. I think that our healthcare providers are very good once we get to be in our fifties and our sixties and upwards of checking in on regular issues, such as our blood pressure and our kidney function and all sorts of other health issues. And it’s rare that a healthcare provider brings hearing healthcare to our attention.
And it is starting to become a concern the younger we are because there is such frequent use of personal listening devices like AirPods and headphones. And especially for people that are in their fifties and sixties, that was the age, that population that really enjoyed going to listen to live music, especially rock music and other noisy events. And so there is that likelihood that there could be some sort of hearing loss brewing that should be identified.
And the sooner we can identify it and address it, the better off we will be.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah, and I’ll point out that we were the first generation, I’m a Gen Xer as well. We were the first generation to have the Sony Walkman. So if you’re not aware what the Sony Walkman is, folks, look it up.
Julie, what are the, I’m kidding, people should know, but in terms of the signs of hearing loss, how would I know that I’m starting to lose my hearing? I mean, beyond the obvious, like I can’t hear.
Julie A. Norin, Au.D., CCC-A, Towson University
Right, so usually the first thing that we might notice is we’re having difficulty hearing conversation in any kind of background noise. So we could be in a restaurant sitting across the table from someone or in a group situation, and just feel like we’re not getting 100% of what everybody is saying around us. So certainly listening in background noise becomes more difficult.
Hearing on the telephone or hearing anything coming out of your television in terms of dialogue also becomes more difficult. And hearing higher pitched voices like women’s voices or young children’s voices might become difficult as well. So a lot of people will start saying that they’re just having trouble hearing conversation because everybody mumbles.
But that’s what’s happening is we’re losing that ability to hear those higher pitched softer sounds. And it really does sound like everybody’s mumbling. But the truth is it’s more likely that there’s something going on with our hearing than it is that everybody’s mumbling.
The other thing that people might notice is they’re asking people to repeat what’s being said frequently. So a lot of times if you have a frequent communication partner like a spouse or a family member, you might be finding that you’re just not hearing them all the time and you’re asking them to repeat themselves.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah, and Julie, hearing loss can lead to other maladies. I’ve been reading about dementia, Alzheimer’s. If you lose your hearing, it kind of isolate you.
Julie A. Norin, Au.D., CCC-A, Towson University
It does. And what happens is our brain starts to just really forget what certain sounds are supposed to sound like. And so it just becomes harder to decipher what we’re hearing.
And then over time, because a hearing loss makes it so difficult to engage in conversation, there tends to be a withdrawal because it’s just easier to not engage in the conversation than it is to continually make the attempt and have to ask people to repeat what they’re saying. And not understand what we’re hearing. So unfortunately, there’s a lot of connection between a lot of psychosocial side effects of hearing loss, such as depression and isolation.
And then over time, because the brain’s not receiving all of that stimulation and engagement, there have been studies that show that there’s a correlation to cognitive decline as well.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Well, Julie, we’ve had a great discussion. We’ve got about a minute left. I wonder if you might, for our audience, just kind of recap some of the key takeaways from our discussion.
Julie A. Norin, Au.D., CCC-A, Towson University
Absolutely. My biggest, my first and foremost key takeaway would be to, if you feel like you’re having any kind of difficulty with your hearing, reach out to a hearing healthcare professional. It’s very easy to find an audiologist, someone who is licensed and certified online, doing a quick Google search, reach out, schedule an appointment to do an initial baseline hearing evaluation.
Just to know where you are at this point in time. My next takeaway would be talk to your friends and family, because they’re the ones that are communicating with you. Often, they’ll be able to tell you if they think that you’re experiencing any issues.
And third, there are a lot of resources that are out there online, a lot of websites. One person that I would recommend strongly would be Dr. Cliff Olson. He can be found on YouTube.
He’s got a lot of really helpful, educational, easy to follow videos that are really helpful for anyone who’s interested in hearing healthcare.
Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network
Yeah, well, Julie, we’ve had a great discussion. And candidly, you don’t have to lose your hearing as you age. You can take preventative steps to keep your health and keep your hearing.
Julie Noren, always great to see you. Thanks so much for joining us. And we look forward to having you back again very soon.
Julie A. Norin, Au.D., CCC-A, Towson University
Thank you again.