Telemedicine
Due to our current crisis, you may feel as though your hearing health is not a priority. However, hearing is now more important than ever before.
How can we understand what is going on around us if we are unable to receive the message? Hearing enables us to interact with the world. Hearing loss affects the way we are able to do that.
If you miss part of the message, you can miss the entire message.
Right now, it’s important to protect ourselves when out and about. Everyone is (or should) be wearing masks to help reduce the chance of becoming infected or spreading the virus.
However, those with hearing loss may find that it’s more difficult to understand people without being able to “see” their lips. One way of helping to compensate for a hearing deficit is using lip reading. Even people with “normal” hearing lip read to a certain extent. Options for clear masks are being explored, which would allow a persons’ mouth to be visible however these masks are not available yet for the general public. For those with hearing loss, utilizing hearing aids will give the best auditory input, especially in the absence of visual cues.
So, you may wonder, what can I do? My hearing aid is not working (or maybe I don’t have a hearing aid at all), everything is closed? How can I get help?
Telemedicine or telehealth is probably a term that you’ve been hearing a lot lately. This allows you to connect with your health provider from home using your smart phone, tablet, or computer. Telemedicine has really made it possible for health care professionals to continue to provide care while adhering to the new social distancing guidelines.
Now another term you may be familiar with is “connectivity”. One of the biggest technological breakthroughs in hearing health care has been Bluetooth streaming. Most hearing aids are now able to connect to your smart phone like a Bluetooth headset. This enables you to make phone calls and listen to music directly through your hearing aids. So how does this relate to Telemedicine? Well if your hearing aid can connect directly to your cell phone, then there is a very good chance that your hearing care provider can also adjust your hearing aids using that same technology!
Remote programming allows the audiologist to connect to your hearing aids using your hearing aid remote application. With most hearing aids, this app is the same one that you use to make volume adjustments to your hearing aid and is accessed from your smart phone. You will need the app downloaded onto your smart device and depending on the maker of your hearing aid, remote programming may be limited to the type of smart phone that you have. You can always contact your audiologist to find out how this works.
Just remember, you are not alone. If your hearing aid does not have remote programming options, there are still solutions available for you. Maybe you need new technology or you’ve had a hearing test and hearing aids were recommended but you were not ready at that time. It’s not too late. We are here to help. Please contact our office if you have any questions or concerns.
Hearing Aid Remote Apps
This is a list of hearing aid apps for the majority of the manufacturers.
To get more information click on the icons
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How to access the Phonak App
Info about the App
To access the Phonak App Store
To access the Google Play Store
Phonak: Available in Marvel and B-Direct product line.
To access information on the Phonak services click on each icon for more information.
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How to access the Resound App
Info about the App
To access the Resound App Store
To access the Google Play Store
Resound: Available with Quattro platform
To access information on the Resound services click on each icon for more information.
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How to access the Starkey App and Info about the App
To access the Starkey App Store
To access the Google Play Store
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How to access the Oticon App
Info about the App
To access the Oticon App Store
To access the Google Play Store
Oticon: Available with OPN and OPN S platform
To access information on the Oticon services click on each icon for more information.
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How to access the Signa/Tru Hearing App
Info about the App
To access the Signa/ Tru Hearing App Store
To access the Google Play Store
Signia/Tru Hearing: Available for most signia products
To access information on the Signia/Tru Hearing services click on each icon for more information.
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How to access the Unitron App and Info about the App
To access the Unitron App Store
To access the Google Play Store
Remote programming is not available at this time
Starkey: Available on newest Starkey products
To access information on the Starkey services click on each icon for more information.
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How to access the Widex App and Info about the App
To access the Widex App Store
To access the Google Play Store
Remote programming is not available at this time
Widex: Available in Evoke and Beyond Platform
To access information on the Starkey services click on each icon for more information.
Unitron: Available on the Discover and Tempus platforms:
To access information on the Unitron services click on each icon for more information.
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How to access the Widex App and Info about the App
To access the Widex App Store
To access the Google Play Store
Remote programming is not available at this time
Widex: Available in Evoke and Beyond Platform
To access information on the Starkey services click on each icon for more information.