Miss-Delectable
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The Modesto Bee | Warnings fell on deaf ears
Growing up in the 1960s, loud music was a social staple for Ruthann Cage. Highlights of her youth included coveted tickets to The Beatles and The Rolling Stones in Chicago in 1964. At college parties, Cage occasionally joined a band on stage, "banging a tambourine with the other sorority girls."
Decades later, Cage found herself straining to hear conversations.
She could no longer distinguish consonants. Names such as "Harry" became "fairy."
"My co-workers would have to speak up. I found I was reading lips," said Cage, now 59 and interim director of the economic development partnership at North Carolina State University.
With a family history of hearing problems, Cage had her hearing tested. The tests showed she had lost 40 percent of the hearing in both ears.
Baby boomers are finding that their parents were right: Rock 'n' roll was bad for them. Now they are expected to pump up the number of people suffering hearing loss from 32.5 million to 40 million by 2025, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. And because people have continued to listen to loud music through small devices (think ear buds), those numbers are only expected to go up.
All of that is music to the ears of those who sell hearing aids.
Sales now total about $4 billion annually, according to the Better Hearing Institute, a nonprofit educational group. Fitters are rushing to open new offices to keep up with demand. And manufacturers are scrambling to make products more appealing in style (snakeskin) and size (too small to be seen) and with better technology.
But the high-style look comes with high prices. Retailers — audiologists and licensed fitters — routinely add 100 percent markups to manufacturers' prices, said Don Schum, vice president for audiology of Oticon, a Danish company that is the world's second-largest hearing-aid manufacturer. Many of the devices retail for $2,000 to $3,000 each.
Manufacturers and retailers say prices reflect expensive research, quality improvements and overhead costs. That offers little solace to wearers who must pay the cost themselves: Hearing-aid purchases generally aren't covered by health insurance or Medicare.
Retiree James McGrath spent $3,400 for a pair of hearing aids to correct hearing loss he traces to Navy duty next to a five-inch cannon during the Korean War.
"It certainly was a hardship," said McGrath, 75.
Government policymakers have been reluctant to require more coverage or provide it though Medicare. With prices of hearing aids showing few signs of coming down and the numbers of sufferers rising, more people will face a difficult choice: Ante up big bucks for a hearing aid or keep screaming "What?" into the telephone.
"I don't want to create an alarm, but it is a big issue," said Sergei Kochkin, executive director of the Better Hearing Institute.
Much of the increase in hearing loss can be attributed to population growth. Older Americans' hearing loss often could be traced to industrial sources and service during WWII or the Korea war. Though Occupational Safety and Health Administration rules have reduced workplace noise, recreational sources such as amplified music have joined firecrackers, hunting and construction din as potential causes.
Boomers are "the first generation where rock 'n' roll has had a negative impact on hearing," Kochkin said. "But an iPod is louder than a stereo. They're probably in more danger now than when you were a child." Already, one in 14 of those age 29 to 40 have hearing loss, according to the Better Hearing Institute.
Jerry Hatfield-Berrang owns five Audibel hearing-aid centers (Welcome to Audibel Hearing). His business is up 15 to 20 percent in the past two or three years. Sales totaled $1 million during the first half of 2007, he said, adding that many of the new customers are baby boomers.
Wearers "used to be Grandma Jones sitting in the rocking chair, but now people want to stay in the game of life, and hearing is vital," Hatfield-Berrang said.
Growing up in the 1960s, loud music was a social staple for Ruthann Cage. Highlights of her youth included coveted tickets to The Beatles and The Rolling Stones in Chicago in 1964. At college parties, Cage occasionally joined a band on stage, "banging a tambourine with the other sorority girls."
Decades later, Cage found herself straining to hear conversations.
She could no longer distinguish consonants. Names such as "Harry" became "fairy."
"My co-workers would have to speak up. I found I was reading lips," said Cage, now 59 and interim director of the economic development partnership at North Carolina State University.
With a family history of hearing problems, Cage had her hearing tested. The tests showed she had lost 40 percent of the hearing in both ears.
Baby boomers are finding that their parents were right: Rock 'n' roll was bad for them. Now they are expected to pump up the number of people suffering hearing loss from 32.5 million to 40 million by 2025, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders. And because people have continued to listen to loud music through small devices (think ear buds), those numbers are only expected to go up.
All of that is music to the ears of those who sell hearing aids.
Sales now total about $4 billion annually, according to the Better Hearing Institute, a nonprofit educational group. Fitters are rushing to open new offices to keep up with demand. And manufacturers are scrambling to make products more appealing in style (snakeskin) and size (too small to be seen) and with better technology.
But the high-style look comes with high prices. Retailers — audiologists and licensed fitters — routinely add 100 percent markups to manufacturers' prices, said Don Schum, vice president for audiology of Oticon, a Danish company that is the world's second-largest hearing-aid manufacturer. Many of the devices retail for $2,000 to $3,000 each.
Manufacturers and retailers say prices reflect expensive research, quality improvements and overhead costs. That offers little solace to wearers who must pay the cost themselves: Hearing-aid purchases generally aren't covered by health insurance or Medicare.
Retiree James McGrath spent $3,400 for a pair of hearing aids to correct hearing loss he traces to Navy duty next to a five-inch cannon during the Korean War.
"It certainly was a hardship," said McGrath, 75.
Government policymakers have been reluctant to require more coverage or provide it though Medicare. With prices of hearing aids showing few signs of coming down and the numbers of sufferers rising, more people will face a difficult choice: Ante up big bucks for a hearing aid or keep screaming "What?" into the telephone.
"I don't want to create an alarm, but it is a big issue," said Sergei Kochkin, executive director of the Better Hearing Institute.
Much of the increase in hearing loss can be attributed to population growth. Older Americans' hearing loss often could be traced to industrial sources and service during WWII or the Korea war. Though Occupational Safety and Health Administration rules have reduced workplace noise, recreational sources such as amplified music have joined firecrackers, hunting and construction din as potential causes.
Boomers are "the first generation where rock 'n' roll has had a negative impact on hearing," Kochkin said. "But an iPod is louder than a stereo. They're probably in more danger now than when you were a child." Already, one in 14 of those age 29 to 40 have hearing loss, according to the Better Hearing Institute.
Jerry Hatfield-Berrang owns five Audibel hearing-aid centers (Welcome to Audibel Hearing). His business is up 15 to 20 percent in the past two or three years. Sales totaled $1 million during the first half of 2007, he said, adding that many of the new customers are baby boomers.
Wearers "used to be Grandma Jones sitting in the rocking chair, but now people want to stay in the game of life, and hearing is vital," Hatfield-Berrang said.