Robillard Hearing Centres is excited to announce that JB and Julia Robillard will be traveling with the Starkey Hearing Foundation to China to deliver the gift of hearing. The team will be providing more than 6,000 hearing aids to children and adults in need.

For 10 days, Robillard Hearing Centres will help the Starkey Hearing Foundation team of audiologists and staff, deliver the gift of hearing by fitting each of the recipients with their very own custom-made hearing device.

“We are very excited to be joining the Starkey Hearing Foundation on this mission, this will be a great experience for us.” said JB Robillard. “The Foundation is bringing understanding to people around the world through hearing care. We are honoured to do our part in delivering the gift of hearing to those in need.”

Starkey Hearing Foundation’s China mission is just one of the many missions that are conducted throughout the year to deliver the gift of hearing around the world. As a member of President Clinton’s Global Initiative, Starkey Hearing Foundation has pledged to fit one million hearing aids by the end of the decade.

Photo of Bill Clinton and JB Robillard

For more Information about Starkey Hearing Foundation, visit www.starkeyhearingfoundation.org.

Born with two, use the two! At Robillard Hearing Centres we suggest the use of binaural amplification over the use of monaural amplification. Like using glasses instead of a monocle to correct your eyes. Using two hearing aids instead of a single aid will help maintain the natural use and function of both ears working together.

When sound is directed into the canal, hitting the eardrum, exciting your auditory nerve, your brain is able to process and understand where the sound is coming from. If you have the same hearing loss in both ears but only amplify one side, you’re not able to stimulate both nerves; therefore, not allowing your brain to comprehend the direction of signal.

 If you only corrected one eye, you would find depth an issue. If you only stimulated one ear, you would have difficulty with localization of different sounds. Another risk of stimulating one ear over two is loss in neural stimulation between the brain and ear, what we call auditory deprivation. By amplifying only one side, when two ears have a hearing loss, the non-amplified ear will become lazy and over time harder to fit with prescribed amplification.  A monaural fitting is less effective with speech in noise, communication between ears, and balance between the ears; this is due to auditory deprivation.

Another benefit would be increasing speech understanding/ intelligibility. When wearing two aids versus one, you would notice wearing two aids results in clearer speech with average listening situations. When using two ears with proper amplification, clients will also notice about 10dB more in natural volume. If we speak at about 55dB, while ambient room noise is 40dB, 10dB is a significant difference. Balance is key for a fuller sound and proper neural stimulation.

We carry a variety of hearing aids that suit binaural use, working together to create a comfortable amplified sound for those in need. Please contact our offices with any questions or for more information.

 Cat Kasko

H.I.D

Use it or lose it! Like going to the gym and working on a certain muscle to gain strength, hearing is quite similar. We have approximately 3500 tiny hair cells situated in one inner row and 13,500 hair cells in three to four outer rows within our main organ of hearing (Organ of Corti). Without stimulation, these cells get lazy and die off. Unlike muscle stimulation, these cells will not grow back. Prolonging the use of your good hair cell activity for hearing requires strength training and stimulation. If a hearing loss is present and is ignored, you’re risking the positive activity from those remaining good hair cells. Our specialized tests help us understand what parts of your hearing organ need stimulation, and are able to benefit from prescribed hearing amplification systems.

Cat Kasko

H.I.D

Tune in this Saturday, April 9th, at Noon for Experts On Call on CFRA 580 AM, for a discussion on hearing loss and hearing solutions. JB Robillard, President of Robillard Hearing Centres, will be discussing the latest developments within the Hearing Health industry. Feel free to call in with any hearing related questions. This Saturday at Noon on CFRA, hosted by Norman Jack.

Do you have difficulty hearing noise? A quick hearing in noise test or HINT is a great way to measure your sound to noise ratio (SNR) which is basically your ability to hear in noise. It’s also an effective test in determining the best possible solution for a hearing loss as well as providing realistic expectations concerning amplification (hearing aids).  Contact any of our locations for more information, or to have your SNR measured.

JB Robillard

President, Robillard Hearing Centres

You hear with your ears. You can train your brain to listen. LACE – Listening and Communications Enhancement – is a personal computer software program that helps you train your brain to listen better. LACE is designed to help you adjust during your hearing aid trial period. But LACE can also be used by anyone – with or without hearing loss – who wants to build listening confidence in difficult hearing situations.

LACE® is a home-based, self-paced listening training program.

• Runs on Windows or Macintosh PCs and DVD players
• Simple and intuitive – even for computerphobes
• Helps compensate for hearing loss by strengthening thinking and memory skills and providing communications strategies.
• Automatically transmits your results to your health care provider for easy tracking of your progress.
• Teaches you how to conquer listening challenges, like noisy restaurants, so you can enjoy daily activities more.

Turn in to CFRA “Experts on Call” on January 8th at Noon to learn more about the new LACE program.