GN Hearing today announced the appointment of Monte Dillow as the new president of Beltone.

Beltone is the Chicagoland-based hearing care leader with more than 1,500 hearing centers in North America. In this role, Dillow will build on Beltone’s trusted brand name and leading technology to increase the number of hearing care centers, giving more people with hearing loss access to Beltone’s unparalleled levels of service. Read More on the Beltone Corporate website!

We are proud to announce that our president, Bari Grohler, won the 2018 President Cup for being North America’s best dealer in 2017.

Bari was inducted into Beltone’s prestigious President’s Club. This award is given to one person each year.

Over 80 dealers and friends flew in from all over the US on Sept 7-8th to celebrate the occasion with a dinner and speeches at the Princess Anne Country Club on Friday night. On Saturday night, the Beltone family did a harbor cruise aboard the Spirit of Norfolk. Below is an oil portrait of Bari that will be placed at the Beltone headquarters in Chicago.

Bari has shown an incredible commitment to excellence, as well as understanding the “Beltone Way”, which means she places each Beltone patient in front of everything else. Bari has successfully embraced the Beltone family spirit, not only following in her parents and brother’s footsteps, but bringing her own two sons into the practice with her. Congratulations again on this fantastic achievement!

Having the Tough Conversation

You’ve noticed for a while now that your mom, grandparent, uncle, or dear friend doesn’t seem to be hearing quite as clearly as they once did. You’ve had a nagging sensation that something is wrong, but you’ve put it off, hoping it will go away. It hasn’t gone away. In fact, it seems be getting worse. One day, your loved one cups their hand to their ear and says, “What was that?” – for the third time this week. Finally, you realize it’s time to have “the talk.” It’s not easy to talk to a loved one about getting their hearing tested. People are private, defensive, or too stubborn to ask for help. And other times they simply don’t think there’s a problem. So how do you talk to a loved one about getting their hearing tested?

1. Ask but Don’t Push

To begin with, you will want to approach the subject matter-of-factly. Start by asking in a calm voice: “Mom / Uncle Fred / Gramps / Sarah, have you noticed any difficulties recently hearing things? I’m only asking because I’ve

How Do I Know If I Have Tinnitus?

Symptoms of Tinnitus

You’ve just settled into bed after a long day at work and you find yourself trying to tune out the buzzing noise you hear in your ears. Does this sound familiar? If so, you may have subjective tinnitus. This kind of tinnitus, which accounts for 95% of tinnitus cases, is the sensation of hearing sound when no external sound is present. People with tinnitus often describe hearing the following sounds: 1321

Chicago Bears Owner Discusses His Hearing Problem

Missing the Big Game

Brian McCaskey couldn’t watch a single play when the Bears lost to the Giants in an NFC divisional playoff game in 1991.  Not because the loss kept him from caring, but because he suffered from debilitating vertigo in his hotel that same morning. Doctors eventually diagnosed McCaskey, the second youngest son of Ed and Virginia McCaskey with Meniere’s disease.  Meniere’s disease is an inner ear disorder that is accompanied by ringing sounds and hearing loss.  These hearing difficulties continued for a while, limiting the function of his right ear.  McCaskey visited emergency rooms numerous times while trying a variety of different medications to help.  “With each attack I’d lose more hearing” McCaskey said.

Diagnosing the Problem

Defined medically, McCaskey suffers from a sensorineural loss — damage to the hair cells in the sensory hearing organ called the cochlea. Addressing the issue seven years ago after he lost hearing in his good ear required surgery called endolymphatic sac decompression and shunt insertion, a procedure deemed necessary when conservative treatment fails. It involved going into the part of the

5 Reasons Why to NOT Put Off Hearing Health

When it comes to your health, it’s best to never procrastinate when you think there are issues. A growth on your skin shouldn’t be ignored, a pain in your joints or backs can’t be ignored, and even your own hearing, shouldn’t be taken lightly. Here are 5 reasons why you should definitely not be putting off checking on your hearing health.

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Relationship Between Winter & Hearing Loss

When it comes to hearing loss, it can come from a variety of sources.  Some hearing losses stem from some genetic disorder, others come from improper hearing or ear care such as enduring loud noises or improperly cleanig.  Hearing loss can even come from something as simple as the aging process.  One particular source however, many do not think about; cold weather.

According to new research, hearing loss can stem from extensive exposure to cold weather.  When the temperature drops, the risk of ringing in the ears and hearing loss increases. This is because there is a higher risk of rogue bones growing in the ear canal along with hardening of ear wax.

Bone growth in the ear canal is known as surfer’s ear because this condition is fairly common among those who surf, as they spend a lot of time in colder water. This condition forms on the top of existing bone in the ears and travels down the canal to the ear drum. The condition can potentially lead to hearing loss and also results in constant pain and ringing in the ears.

Why pretending to hear is bad and how to break the habit

This may be a familiar scene to you;  you are out with a group of friends, and you start chatting with someone you haven’t met before. The conversations going on next to you are quite loud and there may be music on louder than it needs to be.  Once your conversation starts, you are comfortable as you hear the basics such as their name and where they are from, but when the speaker goes to lengthier, more detailed information, you begin to lose context.  The music and surrounding conversations creep into your ears and take over the voice of the person right across from you.

Unfortunately, you don’t do anything about it.  You let the person go along speaking, missing some key details because we don’t let the other person know, we just can’t hear them.

Why do we pretend to hear?

The easy answer is, we are just too polite.  After having had

What Type of Hearing Aid is Right For You?

Years ago, people shopping for hearing aids had limited options. But technology has come a long way. Many of today’s hearing aids are so small, they’re virtually undetectable when worn.

How can they be so tiny? Today’s digital hearing aids have microphones that transmit sound to a small computer chip, which adjusts the volume and amplifies the sound frequencies needed to help improve your hearing.

The shell of a custom hearing aid is made from a mold of the user’s ear. Shells come in a variety of shapes, styles and colors to better fit the user’s level of hearing loss, daily routines, and cosmetic preferences.

Six Hearing Aid Shell Styles

Choosing what hearing aid will work for you is a personal decision. What works for one person may not for another, even if both have almost identical audiograms (charts that show the degree of hearing loss for low-, middle-, and high-pitched sounds).

As you work with your hearing care professional trying different styles, it’s important to remember most hearing aids will never completely remove background noise. They are able to vastly improve your hearing. However, due to the way we process

5 Ways You’re Damaging Your Hearing

Your ears are more sensitive than you think.  When you are young and carefree, playing your music loudly, going to concerts, or heading out to loud bars, doesn’t seem like much of an issue.  The real fact however, is that once ears are damaged, hearing loss cannot be reversed.  Below is a list of things you need to be concerned when thinking about preserving the health of your ears.

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