After spending more than a decade testing and treating thousands of patients, Dr. Ivory has identified the three most critical elements of success in a hearing treatment program. Dr. Ivory follows his proven process every day in his clinics, resulting in better than 98% patient satisfaction.
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Re-Wiring Your Brain for Better Hearing
Hearing aid success rate in the United States has consistently been reported to be about 60%. This means that approximately 40% of patients who invest their time and financial resources on hearing aids aren’t satisfied.
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How many friends or family members do you personally know who have said the following (maybe you’ve said it yourself):
Unfortunately, we hear these complaints all the time from patients coming into our clinic from other providers. At La Cañada Hearing Aids & Audiology Hearing, we believe this is unacceptable.
We believe that hearing is very important to your overall health and if you have hearing loss you deserve a treatment program that works for you seamlessly, all day, every day.
That’s why Dr. Kevin Ivory developed the ListeningBrain® Process
Dr. Ivory follows his proven process every day in his clinics, resulting in better than 98% patient satisfaction.
And how can you avoid wasting thousands of dollars on a treatment that doesn’t work and doesn’t provide an actual solution?
Dr. Ivory, in addition to years of education and clinical training, takes a special personal interest in studying two fields, through which he developed the ListeningBrain® Process: Neuroscience and Human Behavior
What he found is that the current “Gold Standard” approach to treating hearing loss is ineffective for many patients. Even worse, he found that many hearing providers don’t even follow “Gold Standard” clinical best practices, and instead operate as churn and burn salesmen, leading to even lower patient success rates.
Through spending more than a decade testing and treating thousands of patients, Dr. Ivory has identified the three most critical elements of success in a hearing treatment program:
Many patients who are researching hearing aids have a difficult time identifying what they truly need, so they opt to shop based on the lowest price, or are lured in by “too good to be true” advertising.
In turn, many patients end up purchasing very basic hearing amplifiers that are inappropriate in terms of power output and also inappropriate for hearing in the noisy environments they need help in most.
A reputable hearing care provider will guide you to a hearing aid solution that is most appropriate for your unique listening situation.
But good hearing aids are just the foundation of a good treatment program. Without the following, they are almost worthless.
In many states, including California, verification of best fit isn’t a legal requirement for hearing aid fitting.
Many hearing providers simply use what is known as the “Manufacturer First Fit”, which is an estimated prescription based on an average ear canal size and shape. Then they ask for your feedback on the sound quality to make manual adjustments.
The reality is that this fitting method is no better than going to the eye doctor, and the optometrist laying out a pile of glasses on the table with varying prescriptions and telling you to try them on and tell him which you like the best.
Hearing devices should be programmed using “in situ” or Real Ear testing. These tests measure the output of the devices in the ear canal. Without this testing, you will be wearing devices that are just a rough approximation of what you should be hearing, at best.
If you invested any amount of money towards better hearing outcomes, wouldn’t you want your prescription to be better than a guess?
If you go to most any reputable audiologist, there’s a good chance you’ll receive at least a technology recommendation that’s appropriate. If you’re lucky, you’ll also find a provider that also uses in-ear verification to ensure that you’re fit to the proper prescription.
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However, this critical third step is generally missing from most treatment programs.
At La Cañada Hearing Aids & Audiology Dr. Ivory has found that a Brain Re-Training Process is one of the most critical elements of success with any new hearing loss treatment program.
Here is the typical experience at most audiology clinics that follow established best practices:
We have found that this is when most hearing aid failures happen.
You get home, and everything is too loud. The toilet flushing, the A/C unit, the ice maker.
This is overwhelming.
If you’re like many patients, maybe you make it a day or two wearing them consistently. Then you decide you don’t need to wear them in the morning because you’re just at home with your spouse.
Over time a daily habit is never established. You’ll put them on when you “need them”.
By integrating our knowledge of neurology, neuroplasticity (the brain’s ability to lose and re-grow neural connections as needed), human behavior, habit formation, and positive psychology, we are able to help our patients experience success rates with better hearing with nearly 100% success.
If you’re like most of our patients, you’ve probably had hearing loss for a number of years to some degree before seeking hearing treatment.
Your brain has gotten used to not hearing what you should be.
If you start wearing hearing aids and all of a sudden hear everything, it’s overwhelming.
When done properly, we believe hearing loss treatment should be more like physical therapy for your ears than getting a pair of glasses.
Your brain needs to gradually re-learn how to hear.
So instead of setting you to your full prescription right away, Dr. Ivory starts you off at a comfortable sound level that will give you initial benefit with communication and speech clarity, while also allowing your brain to adjust and adapt to the noisy world of sound, again. This is done at a slow enough pace so that your brain adapts to the increased hearing ability without you ever noticing. In most cases, we are “un-doing” years worth of hearing loss, so we don’t expect to make all those substantial changes in just one appointment.
Over the course of the first few weeks, Dr. Ivory uses a variety of treatment approaches and will use special programming options inside of your devices so that they will automatically and very gradually build to your full prescription. There is much more to this process and what we do to optimize your long-term success, but we can’t give away all our trade secrets here!
By doing this, we find that our patients wear their devices, on average, around 12 hours a day. You build the habit of wearing them daily. This is one of the key differentiators between success and failure with hearing aids.
5 Steps to Better Hearing
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We will go in-depth to measure how you are hearing and determine your brain's speech processing abilities. Our industry-leading hearing test protocols will rule out any treatable medical conditions that could be causing your hearing problems, and give us a clear picture of your hearing abilities and options for treatment.
Then, with a combination of questionnaires, interview questions, and diagnostic technology, Dr. Ivory will work with you to determine your listening concerns,
ListeningBrain® Technology, the new generation of hearing loss technology, is designed to treat the cognitive impairments of hearing loss. Unlike traditional hearing aids that are manufactured to simply make things louder, today’s treatment options have been hand-selected by Dr. Ivory to restore clarity of speech in all listening situations, including rooms with significant background noise. There are several ListeningBrain® Technology options available depending upon the results of your hearing evaluation.
Technology Stimulation of the auditory system has a positive impact on the entire brain – and needs to be delivered at a conservative pace to ensure a successful treatment. The La Cañada Hearing Aids & Audiology ListeningBrain® System method of adapting clarity and volume levels within the first few months has been shown to have the most effective treatment rate – with the highest patient satisfaction.
It is critical that treatment be scientifically verified and validated. 'In-Situ' or real-ear measurements provide a method to objectively assess the accuracy and stimulation levels of ListeningBrain® Technology when placed in your ear. These measurements are considered the gold standard method for achieving a proper clarity and stimulation.
Your hearing needs will continue to change throughout your life, and we value our ongoing relationship you. We commit to working with you for many years to come. Our comprehensive treatment programs include service, cleanings, discounted supplies, annual hearing evaluations and ongoing support. When you work with our practice, you have a partner in enhanced hearing and improved quality of life, and we will always look forward to seeing you whenever you need our help.
Book a consultation with Dr. Kevin Ivory to start hearing better today.
