- With Mayo Clinic geriatrician
Paul Y. Takahashi, M.D.
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Paul Y. Takahashi, M.D.
Paul Y. Takahashi, M.D.
"The Internet will impact the lives of all patients young and old. Older and mature patients are no exception to this information explosion." — Dr. Takahashi
Dr. Paul Yoshio Takahashi works with elderly patients as a member of the geriatric consultative group at Mayo Clinic. He works in all medical settings, including the outpatient clinic, the hospital, the nursing home and occasionally the patient's home. He is especially interested in strategies for successful aging, preventing elder abuse and mistreatment, and cognitive screening in elderly patients.
Dr. Takahashi is a consultant, Department of Medicine, Division of Community Medicine, at Mayo Clinic. He is an assistant professor of medicine at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and a fellow of the American College of Physicians. He had a fellowship in geriatric medicine at Mayo Graduate School of Medicine from 1997 to 1998.
Dr. Takahashi cares for all of a patient's acute needs and chronic problems and focuses on specialty issues such as memory problems, safety in the home, healthy aging, proper medications and end-of-life concerns.
He sees the Internet playing a growing role in the health information field.
"Patients and their families want and expect the most up-to-date information about life, health, disease and death. Healthy aging as a concept has grown quickly over the last 20 years as we have all lived longer and hopefully better," he says. "I expect that Mayo Clinic will be a significant part of this growing movement of a healthy maturity."
Dr. Takahashi, a native of Pittsfield, Ill., joined Mayo Clinic in 1998 and is board certified in internal medicine with added qualification in geriatric medicine. He is a fellow of the American Geriatrics Society.
Treatments and drugs (2)
- High-frequency hearing loss: Can hearing aids help?
- Cochlear implants: Who are they for?
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Question
High-frequency hearing loss: Can hearing aids help?
Many years ago, I was diagnosed with high-frequency hearing loss. I was told that hearing aids probably wouldn't help. Recently, I've seen advertisements claiming new technology in hearing aids can fix all hearing problems. Am I a candidate for hearing aids now?
Answer
from Paul Y. Takahashi, M.D.
Yes. In recent years, hearing aid manufacturers have made great strides in developing hearing aids that are effective for all types of hearing loss — including high-frequency hearing loss.
High-frequency hearing loss has long posed special challenges for those with hearing loss and for hearing aid manufacturers. People with high-frequency hearing loss have trouble hearing higher pitches, such as women's and children's voices, and certain parts of speech, such as consonants. They find it especially difficult to converse in groups or to hear amid background noise.
Conventional hearing aids hadn't been able to significantly improve high-frequency hearing loss because they didn't selectively amplify the high frequencies as well as the digital circuits that are available today can. Also, high-frequency gain was often inadequate due to difficulty with feedback, which is better controlled with digital circuits.
The advent of digital technology, however, has resulted in significant hearing aid improvements. Digital hearing aids can be programmed and adjusted to match an individual's unique hearing loss. With digital programmable hearing aids, a computer chip converts incoming sounds into digital code, then analyzes and adjusts the amplification based on your specific needs as revealed by your audiogram. The signals are then converted back into sound waves and delivered to your ears. The result is sound that's more finely tuned to your hearing loss.
Additionally, open-fit hearing aids — which leave your ear at least partially open — have become popular for high-frequency hearing loss. Open-fit hearing aids allow low-frequency sound into the ear normally, so that only high-frequency sounds are amplified.
To find the best hearing aid for your situation, make an appointment with an audiologist to have your hearing tested and to discuss your communication needs. Together, you can decide which features will be most helpful for your hearing loss. Because it may take some time to get used to a hearing aid, most manufacturers allow a 30- to 60-day trial period during which you can "try out" the hearing aid and return it for a refund if you're not satisfied.
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