Our new location!

We have completed our move to the new location! Our new address is:
1911 Wilshire Blvd.
Santa Monica Ca 90403
(310)829-6444

Please begin using our new phone number immediately. We had some problems the last few days. Verizon was supposed to forward calls to our new number but didn't. We apologize for any inconvenience that may have caused. We believe we have contacted everyone who left a message.
Anyhow, our team has been working hard to organize everything at the new place and we are almost there!
It is our hope that most will find our new location more convenient. We have a parking lot in the back and plenty of metered spots in front. We are close to both Saint Johns and UCLA/Santa Monica Hospitals and many of the worlds best doctors. It is sad to leave Downtown Santa Monica but, as George Jefferson used to say, "We're moving on up!"

Big Business VS Small Business

It seems like more and more Hearing Aid Manufacturers are opening up or buying Hearing Aid Clinics. This may mean that the end is nearing for the "Little Guys." Back in the day, most Hearing Aid Clinics were run by individuals or were family run. These clinics were able to provide a level of service and personal touch that cannot be achieved in a big corporate environment. The more detached that the leaders of a company are, the harder it is to create a caring, friendly place to go to.
These clinics can usually only offer the one manufacturers product. This puts you the consumer at a disadvantage because it limits your choice, which is not a good thing.
Supporting local business, supporting small business, supporting individual business, and supporting family business is what you are doing when you choose Arcade Hearing Aid Center. We appreciate your support and hope we can continue to remain independent. We firmly believe that individual and personalized service is one of the major factors of success with hearing instruments. We are thankful for all of our supporters and look forward serving you well into the future.

Farewell to Downtown Santa Monica

A couple of months ago the owners of our building on 2nd Street announced their plans to demolish the building and go "bigger and better." Arcade Hearing Aid Center moved into the "Arcade" style building in 1950 when it was brand new. After 62 years there, it is going to be a little emotional leaving.
The good news is we have found another location in Santa Monica and are already preparing for our grand re-opening on November 1st.
Our new location is 1911 Wilshire Blvd. near 20th Street. We believe this location will be more convenient for our valued patients as it is very close to both St. John's and Santa Monica/UCLA Hospitals and many of the worlds finest Doctors. There is parking available in the back and usually ample street parking as well. We feel very fortunate that this space was available. Our former space was a great location but it continues to get more congested and parking can be a huge issue.
As for our phone numbers, it appears we will not be able to keep the ones we have been using for over 60 years, because we are moving to a different zone in Santa Monica. At least for the first few months we can be reached thru the old numbers but eventually that will change. We will inform via our website www.arcadehearing.net and our patient newsletter.
We hope to make this move as seamless as possible and will be open our normal hours.
We invite everyone to come see our new location. See you soon!
Update! Our new phone number is (310)829-6444 and fax is (310)829-6777
We will be forwarding calls from our old number for a few months if you forget but eventually we will completely transition to the new numbers.

What is SoundRecover and do I need it?

High frequency hearing loss is the most common type of hearing loss and has historically been the most challenging type of hearing loss to fit successfully. Until recently, that is. With Swiss manufacturer Phonak's SoundRecover, high frequency information can now be heard in a comfortable and seamless way.
SoundRecover was introduced a few years ago and has been tremendous! In our clinics, and around the world new and experienced hearing aid users and the professionals who fit them are singing the praises of Phonak products and the success of SoundRecover.
SoundRecover takes high frequency sounds and moves them over to lower frequencies, where hearing is usually better. The Phonak engineers call this frequency compression. Other companies have similar frequency transposition in their hearing aids, but none of them have had the end-user acceptability of Phonak.
Some may ask; Why not just crank up the gain/volume at those high frequencies where the hearing loss is the worse? That actually is becoming more and more possible now that
feedback suppression has improved so dramatically in the last few years. The simple answer is sound quality. Too many highs versus mid and low frequencies can make the sound tinny, brassy, microphony(sic), shrill, and just downright annoying! So we wind up turning them down to get rid of the poor sound quality and essentially give up on the high frequencies! When I fit peole with SoundRecover, I feel like Im not just giving up on the highs but helping people reach new heights. When people tell me they're hearing sounds they never heard before and understanding better than ever that is awesome!

Remote Microphones and Bluetooth/Wireless

One of the most under-utilized technologies available today for people with hearing problems is the Remote Microphone. Until recently, remote mics have only been available thru expensive and cumbersome FM systems. FM mics worked great, however, because it required wearing a bulky Behind the Ear(BTE) hearing instrument and a boot added onto the hearing instrument, along with a transmitter, and the fact it can add thousands of dollars onto the cost, most people chose not to use FM.
In 2012, things are different. The Hearing Industry has introduced an exciting new technology and actually offers it a fraction of the cost of the previous technology. Still, less than 10% of Hearing Aid users opt in to utilize it.
Resound and Oticon are the two leaders in this technology. Oticon requires using their Streamer with their wireless hearing instruments. Resound does not require a streamer and is therefore less cumbersome.
I believe we will be seeing more companies coming out with similar devices because it is truly a great, relatively inexpensive technology.

Too much already!

How long are we going to let ourselves keep damaging our hearing? Now that the civilized world has laws protecting our health in public places (like smoking bans), can we now include our hearing as something we would like to protect?
A recent study by the House Ear Clinic confirmed what many of us already knew, exposure to loud noise, such as that which we experience in a music concert, can cause irreversible damage to our hearing and can cause tinnitus. Hearing tests on individuals who just attended a concert without earplugs show a decrease in hearing following the concert and many cases of tinnitus. Tinnitus is a noise in the ear, usually a ringing or buzzing TTS stands for Temporary Threshold Shift and is common after attending a concert. With TTS, the hair cells in the inner ear are "knocked down" by the physical force of the loud sound waves. Many times they will recover but sometimes they don't. If they don't recover, this can become a permanent condition and something that will have to be dealt with the rest of your life!
What can be done about this? Well, for one, you can avoid loud music altogether. Don't go to concerts, don't use headphones, and don't crank up your home or car stereo. However, there are many people who cannot avoid these things or simply don't want to give these things up. For those people it is imperative that earplugs are used when exposed to these situations. We can also turn down the volume and take lots of breaks. If you do experience a sudden onset of hearing loss or tinnitus it is extremely important to get to an Ear Nose Throat Doctor(ENT) ASAP. A Hearing Test is also strongly recommended.
What about those who are ignorant about the harmful effects of loud noise? Many of these people find out about it after it's too late and the damage has been done. Do we continue to make people find out about noise damage the hard way? Many of these "victims" are teenagers and kids and we simply are not doing enough to protect them from permanent ear damage.
So what can we do? It sometimes is very difficult to convince others to turn it down or even just to wear earplugs. Even when venues hand out earplugs free of charge, many still choose to expose their ears and decline to use them so they can get the "full experience."
I believe that in the near future any public place will have regulations in place that limit the decibel levels to less harmful, and in my opinion, more enjoyable listening levels. In the meantime, listener beware!

What is SSD and is there any hope?

SSD stands for Single Sided Deafness. It is used to describe the hearing of someone who has normal hearing in one ear and a "complete loss" in the other ear. Until recently, the options for help were very limited and not very effective.
People with SSD now have some hope! The BAHA has been effectively treating SSD for a few years now. It usually is done with a surgical implant behind the pinna, which allows a processor to snap off and on. Most procedures are done unilaterally on the bad ear. The processor receives the sound, amplifies it, then sends it via bone conduction where it is heard in the better cochlea. There is also a headband version. The BAHA is not classified as a hearing aid and in many cases may be covered by insurance.
Another option that has come out recently is Phonak's new Cros hearing aid. I have personally fit over a dozen patients with this and nobody has returned it! All of my patients, wether with a Cros or a bi-Cros, have reported significant improvement with this device. Battery life can be short (2-3 days) but it is worth the extra hassle.
Just a couple of years ago I had to counsel SSD sufferers that there really was no effective solution available. Now I am happy to report that this is no longer true! With the improvement in wireless technology, Phonak has managed to deliver this exceptional product in a discreet and comfortable package.