Julie Raney is a certified and licensed audiologist. She has a B.S. in Communication Sciences and Disorders and a Master’s Degree in Audiology from Idaho State University. She has worked as a clinical audiologist in Colorado since 2005. She specializes in hearing amplification for adults and delivers her services in both English and Sign Language.

Are your current hearing aids addressing all your hearing needs?

Think about the variety of different listening situations that you typically experience, and how well you feel your hearing aids help you in each of these situations. Rate your listening satisfaction in each of these situations, while considering how often they occur and their importance to you. If you find multiple and/or important situations where your current hearing aids are performing less than satisfactorily, it could be time to invest in newer technology.

Speaking on the phone
Dining out at restaurants with friends and family
Family gatherings
Spending time outdoors
Watching TV
Listening to or playing music
Attending lectures or other public speaking events

A change in lifestyle

Your hearing aids should fit your lifestyle—not the other way around. A new career decision, marriage, or family member may add joy to your life, but it can also mean more demand on your hearing abilities. For instance, conferences at work or new social activities during the weekends may require you to transition from occasionally wearing hearing aids to wearing them all day. It is important to always be attentive and aware of how well your hearing aids are performing, especially in new settings.

Are your hearing aids sent in for repairs all too often?

Hearing aids consist of sensitive electronic components that can be damaged by exposure to humidity, earwax, debris, and sweat. Depending on environmental conditions, individual ear characteristics, and wearing habits, some people will experience more hearing aid breakdowns than others. If you live in hot and humid regions, tend to produce excessive earwax, or lead a physically active lifestyle, you may have to replace your hearing aids more often.

Changes in Your Health

If you’ve been diagnosed with arthritis and find it hard to use the various switches and change the settings on your hearing aid, we recommend investing in hearing aids with bigger battery doors and automated noise/sound control to reduce the amount of fiddling you have to do with your hearing aids. Cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy may also experience accelerated hearing loss due to treatments.

Hearing Aid Maintenance and Care

As with all things related to your hearing and hearing aids, you can rely on us at New Leaf Hearing Clinic to be your best source of information and advice. When considering the need for new hearing aids, make an appointment with us to accomplish these three things:

Have your current hearing aids professionally checked and cleaned.
Have your hearing evaluated if you have not had it done in the last year. Hearing loss often progresses over time, and it is important to make sure that your impression of the hearing aids’ inadequacy isn’t actually due to a change in your hearing. Oftentimes, your current hearing aids can be reprogrammed to accommodate minor changes in hearing ability. Nevertheless, it is possible that your hearing loss has progressed beyond the amplification capability of your current hearing aids
Discuss the latest hearing technology available. Like all things digital, hearing aid technology has advanced by leaps and bounds just within the past few years. In the world we live in today, technology changes so rapidly that sometimes it is difficult to keep up. Some of the innovations of modern hearing aids will make you wonder how you ever lived with out them. With these advances in technology come better, smaller, more discrete, and even more affordable hearing aids that are worth the upgrade.

New Leaf Hearing Clinic

Have you been struggling with your hearing aids? Are they not performing as well as they once did? Or – are you interested in new features and technology that your current pair of hearing aids don’t offer? Whatever the reason, feel free to contact us at New Leaf Hearing Clinic. We can help you determine whether new hearing aids are a good option for you. Don’t delay any longer and schedule an appointment with New Leaf Hearing today.