health

Improving
The

Senses

Doctors use
latest technology
to help patients
improve hearing,
breathing .

JOYCE WISWELL
SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

ABOVE: Dr. Michael Stone
performs a balloon sinus
dilation in his office.

132

May 25 • 2017

S

helia Eisenberg admits that her hearing loss was driving
people over age 60.
everyone around her crazy.
While a sudden change in vision sends most people running to
“I had tried hearing aids, but I just couldn’t get those darn
the doctor, many don’t treat their hearing loss with the same sense
things into my very narrow ear canals,” she said. “My kids were
of urgency. In fact, Weingarten said, many wait seven to 10 years
really getting aggravated with me and my husband finally forced
before seeking help.
me — and I do mean force — to try again. When I went to the
“What are you missing by not being able to hear? The answer is,
doctor I was furious and said, ‘Why am I doing this? This is ridicu- a lot. I’d much rather participate in society with a hearing aid than
lous!’”
to isolate myself from friends and family,” he said. “How important
Eisenberg, 77, now finds her stubbornness ridiculous. She hadn’t is hearing the shofar on Yom Kippur? That lets you know the value
realized how far the technology had come in hearing aids and
of hearing.”
was thrilled to learn of the Receiver-in-the-Ear option. Also called
(Incidentally, check out Weingarten blowing the sho-
Over-the-Ear, it’s so tiny that it’s hard to see — even when you’re
far for 1 minute, 12 seconds — perhaps the longest single
looking for it.
breath ever recorded — on Yom Kippur 2010 at youtube.com/
“My friends keep looking at me, saying, ‘Where are they?’”
watch?v=QLi36r_bk_Y. He and his wife, Janet, founded the Grosse
Eisenberg laughed.
Pointe Jewish Council in 1988.)
Restored hearing means the West Bloomfield resident can once
Hearing loss has been associated with depression, paranoia,
again fully participate in life.
behavior changes and the worsening of dementia. To diagnose it,
“It reopened my world,” she said. “I don’t feel isolated. I am right the patient sits in a tiny booth (reminiscent of an old-time record-
in the middle of things, and I can keep up and participate.”
ing studio) and undergoes a hearing test by responding
That’s music to the ears of her physician, Jeffrey
to prompts heard through headphones. The results are
Weingarten, M.D. “A lot of people underestimate the
shown in an audiogram that charts the way each ear
power of hearing loss,” he said. “It can be a social or a pro-
responds to specific sounds.
fessional disability.”
“Hearing loss is actually a medical disorder,” Weingarten
When dealing with patients who fear hearing aids will
said, noting that an otolaryngologist has medical school
make them look old, Weingarten’s colleagues at Ear, Nose
and five years of ear-nose-throat training.
& Throat Consultants in Southfield like to call him in for
Hearing aids can be purchased from any number of
something of a parlor trick. He’ll pretend he’s not wearing
sources. “You can go to a box store and get a discounted
his hearing aids, but then pull them out of his ears to illus- Dr. Jeffrey
hearing aid, but they are not telling you what caused your
Weingarten
trate just how virtually invisible they are.
hearing loss,” Weingarten said. “We don’t sell hearing aids;
The benefits, Weingarten said, go far beyond cosmetic.
we dispense them.”
Hearing loss is the third most common health problem in the
And, he said, you get what you pay for. Hearing aids are often
United States, after arthritis and cardiac issues. Some 45 million
not covered by insurance and good ones run from $3,000 to $6,000
Americans have treatable hearing loss, including one in three
a pair. (Some people wear just one but, Weingarten said, “that’s

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