Budget 2012, changes have been made to the amount of assistance available and to the frequency of the claim:

• The frequency of the grant for hearing aids will change from 2 years to 4 years. (January 2012).
• The maximum grant available for one hearing aid will change from €760 to €500 and from €1,520 to €1,000 for two hearing aids. (January 2012). www.welfare.ie/EN/Topics/Budget/Bud12/Pages/bud12s17.aspx
•  

Further details about this grant www.welfare.ie/EN/Schemes/DentalOpticalAndHearingBenefits/Pages/Aural.aspx

Aural Benefit for January 2012;

Hearing aids may be provided by suppliers who have a contract with the Department of Social Protection. The Department pays half the cost of a hearing aid subject to a fixed maximum of €500 for each hearing aid every four years. It also pays half the cost of repairs to aids.

Application forms are available in our offices, please contact Celtic Hearing for details.

We have teamed up with Friends of FAID Ireland. Friends of FAID Ireland is a charity that supports the Father Andeweg school of the deaf in Beiruit, Lebanon. They are looking for old BTE (behind the ear) hearing aids, with a telecoil. All donations can be sent to us by post or just drop them into one of our offices and we will arrange delivery to Friends of FAID Ireland or you can contact their them directly by clicking onto their website.

www.friendsoffaid.ie/friendsoffaid/Home.html. 

The Father Andeweg Institute for the Deaf F.A.I.D. is a school for Deaf Children in Lebanon, it was founded by a Dutch Anglican clergyman Father Andy Andeweg. It is a christian school that caters for all children who are deaf or hard of hearing regardless of their religion, ethnic origin or financial ability to pay.  At the moment there are 73 pupils in the school age 3-18 years, 26 resident and 47 day pupils. 

Free remote control and Phone Dex. With every pair of Widex hearing aids purchased receive a free remote control to turn your hearing aids up and down and mobile a phone Dex device which allows you to directly hear phone conversations through your hearing aids valued at €350.

maps.google.ie/coupons/page

 Main Features of Widex Hearing Aids.

·        Interear – transmission and synchronisation of data to replicate natural hearing and interear volume control.

·        Wireless, remote control available,  TV-dex and mobile phone-dex available they connect wireless to your phone or tv.

·        Natural Sound perception using TruSound Softener which is designed to handle sudden impulses sounds with comfort and clarity.

·        Richer fuller sound for the hearing impaired by using a fuller bandwidth.

·        Speech enhancer- allows for clearer speech perception in background noise.

·        Feedback canceller to eliminate whistling.

·        Digital pinna effect – helps locate sound from any direction.

·        Audibility extender- improves the perception of important speech sounds especially in the high frequencies.

·        Zen program for tinnitus suffers.

·        Reverse focus- enables you to hear people behind you. 

WHO: Adult onset hearing loss has great impact on our lives Adult onset hearing loss is one of the 10 afflictions with the greatest impact on quality of life. According to ”The European Health Report 2005”, issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO), adult onset hearing loss is on the top-10 list of most impactful conditions in terms of human costs in 47 of the 52 European countries. Adult onset hearing loss is ranked highest (and worst) in Monaco, in third place. It is ranked fourth in Israel and San Marino. In 12 European countries, hearing loss is seen as the fifth most impactful affliction, with Austria, France, Greece, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland among these countries. In the remaining countries, adult onset hearing loss ranks between sixth and 10th on the list. The most commonly higher-ranked disorders in terms of adverse impact on quality of life include depressive disorders, heart disease and cerebrovascular disease. The yardstick employed by WHO in determining thye impacts of various disorders is the DALY, a recognized measure of overall disease burden. DALY, or ”disability-adjusted life year” uses time as a measurement of chronic illness, both time lost due to premature death and time spent disabled by disease. One DALY is equal to one year of healthy life lost. http://www.hear-it.org/page.dsp?page=6596

Very simply put: a hearing aid is a device used to help hard of hearing people to hear sounds better. A digital hearing aid achieves this by receiving sounds through a number of microphones, processing the sound and outputting it into your ear. The processing of the sound is performed by what is essentially a mini computer inside the hearing aid.

Noise reduction

Noise is unwanted sound. As mentioned above, noise reduction is extremely beneficial in hearing aids to enable the wearer to more easily hear the sound they are interested in. Digital Noise Reduction (DNR) technology in hearing aids can often cause a problem when listening to music – the aid will identify the music as noise and attempt to drown it out. For this reason, many aids come with a separate programme (see below) specifically for music.

Feedback reduction

Similar to noise reduction. Aids will provide dedicated processing to avoid feedback noise.

Programmes

Hearing aids are worn in many different environments and situations. For this reason, most digital aids have a number of programmes. A programme is a set of instructions for the hearing aid, it tells it how much noise or feedback reduction to apply, what the volume setting should be and so on. The wearer is able to switch between programmes using a button on the shell or on a remote control.

Directional microphones

Some aids have more than one microphone. This not only helps to get a better range of hearing, it can also be used to improve noise reduction. If you are listening to someone directly in front of you, it is possible to turn off the backward-facing microphone to eliminate noise from behind – some aids may do this automatically, some may allow the wearer to switch too.

Moving from analogue to digital hearing aids

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObWRS_fYs08

Starkey Laboratories, Inc., one of the world’s leading hearing technology companies, is proud to announce it has been named an International 2011 Design and Engineering Awards Honoree for OtoLens, the world’s first custom invisible-in-the-canal hearing aid. This is the third consecutive year Starkey has been an Honoree – having won for S Series™ with Sweep™ Technology and Zōn^TM previously. The CES is the preeminent trade association promoting growth in the consumer technology industry.

OtoLens is the only custom invisible-in-the-canal hearing aid available on the market today. Designed to deliver high quality, customization and performance, OtoLens harnesses the power of Voice iQ, Starkey’s noise management and speech preservation system designed to be so fast and smart it may reduce the noise between syllables. OtoLens overcomes the hearing aid stigma by allowing a hearing impaired person to wear a hearing instrument that no one else can see.

“We are thrilled to be the recipient of an award from the premier voice in consumer electronics,”said Jerry Ruzicka, President of Starkey. “By incorporating state-of-the-art systems and technology, OtoLens has effectively become ‘the contact lens for the ear’ providing the consumers with an exciting new option for their hearing health care.”

The International CES, which is sponsored, produced and managed by the Consumer Electronics Association, is the world’s largest consumer electronics tradeshow. The 2011 International CES will be held Jan. 6-9 in Las Vegas, Nev.

About Starkey^®
Starkey Laboratories, Inc. is a privately held, global hearing technology company headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minn. The company is recognized for its innovative design, development and distribution of comprehensive digital hearing systems. Founded in 1967, Starkey currently employs more than 3,250 people, operates 22 facilities and conducts business in more than 100 markets worldwide. For more information, visit starkey.com.