The University of Rhode Island Speech and Hearing Centers<\/a> are helping give the \u201cgift of hearing\u201d to members of the community not just during this holiday season, but all year long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The center, part of the College of Health Sciences<\/a>, has partnered with the Ocean State Center for Independent Living to provide hearing aids and associated services to those who otherwise wouldn\u2019t be able to afford the costly devices that medical insurance does not always cover. Those in need of hearing services can apply for the \u201cGift of Hearing\u201d through an OSCIL grant for either no-cost or reduced-cost hearing aid service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnybody who qualifies then comes to us to receive the aids and hearing aid services,\u201d said Rachel Smith<\/a>, director of the Speech and Hearing Centers. \u201cWe provide hearing tests, as well as the devices themselves, and any follow-up services they need. We recommend hearing testing once a year, which is paid for either with health insurance or through the grant for those who don\u2019t have insurance. We can reprogram the aids based on any changes in a client\u2019s hearing. If anybody has a complaint or an issue, they can come back and see me and not be charged for the service.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n That is a valuable service for those who may not be able to afford hearing aids, which can cost anywhere from $2,000 to $6,000 or more, depending on the extent of the client\u2019s hearing loss and the level of technology the client needs. That cost covers just the devices, not the testing and follow-up appointments needed to keep them in good working order. Through the partnership with OSCIL, Smith provides all services for free. Those who qualify for the reduced-cost program pay as little as $600, total.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The partnership is part of OSCIL\u2019s mission to help people of all ages and abilities live independently, \u201chave equal opportunities, full participation, and complete integration into society.\u201d Having the ability to hear and interact with others is an important part of living independently and simply taking part in society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOne of my least favorite things to hear is when patients say what they used to do,\u201d said Smith, who relayed the story of an older woman with hearing loss who would take part in a quilting circle, but found she couldn\u2019t follow the conversation and had even been ridiculed by another member of the group for a misunderstanding. \u201cSo now she doesn\u2019t go, and that\u2019s really sad. This is something that is your quality of life, that makes you enjoy time, and if you\u2019re not participating in that because of your hearing loss, you\u2019re just missing out on so much, and becoming more and more isolated. My hope is by providing hearing aids, we\u2019re able to get them back out in the real world again, and just being part of the group.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Smith and the staff and graduate students in the Audiology Center help reintegrate clients by providing high-quality hearing aids tuned to the client\u2019s specific hearing needs. A small computer in each aid can be programmed based on the client\u2019s lifestyle and hearing evaluation performed in the clinic. The computer recognizes the environment the wearer is in, and the hearing aids adjust based on the different environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs humans, we really like speech; that\u2019s our communication. The biggest thing the hearing aids are doing is searching for speech,\u201d Smith said. \u201cIt\u2019s not just amplifying everything; it amplifies what the client needs. Sort of like the levels on a stereo. We match the aids to the client\u2019s need so it\u2019s not blasting them out where they don\u2019t need it, and offering more power where they do. You can\u2019t take loud sounds away, but the computer directs the aid to pick up sounds you need most.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beyond the mental health benefits of living independently and reintegrating into society, there are potential physical benefits to improving one\u2019s hearing, especially for brain health. While the ears take in sound, it is the brain that processes and interprets those sounds. For those who struggle just to hear sounds in the first place, their brains are working double-time, and can tire out, potentially contributing to cognitive decline and neurodegenerative disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBasically, your brain is a muscle that needs to exercise,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThe part of the brain that processes sounds, if it\u2019s getting sounds into it, it\u2019s exercising. So when more challenging listening comes into play, like speech, the brain is stronger. It\u2019s ready to listen. If someone has a hearing loss, without hearing aids, the brain is not getting the sounds, so that part of the brain isn\u2019t getting the exercise it needs to keep it processing speech. The hope is with hearing aids, giving you access to those sounds, your brain doesn\u2019t have to work quite as hard to hear, so it can actually use the energy to process the sounds instead of trying to listen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Clients do not need to take part in the OSCIL partnership to benefit from the services the URI Audiology Clinic provides. It is a full-service clinic available to the public at Independence Square on the Kingston campus and in Pawtucket, offering hearing tests for adults and children, and hearing aids for adults. The clinic accepts health insurance, including Medicaid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To schedule an appointment with the URI Speech and Hearing Center, visit uri.edu\/speech-hearing<\/a> or call 401-874-5969. To apply for the \u201cGift of Hearing\u201d program, visit oscil.org<\/a> or call 401-738-1013.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Partnership provides hearing aids, services to those in need at full-service audiology clinic on University of Rhode Island campus The University of Rhode Island Speech and Hearing Centers are helping give the \u201cgift of hearing\u201d to members of the community not just during this holiday season, but all year long. The center, part of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1710,"featured_media":10682,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1710"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10681"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10681\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10683,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10681\/revisions\/10683"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/chs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}