Dr. Robert Sweetow explained, "No matter how good the hearing aids are, you're not going to achieve maximal communication skills without some kind of training."

That's why the audiologist and colleagues created an interactive computer program called listening and communication enhancement or "LACE."

"The hearing aid is designed to get the sound into your ear and up to your brain, but what your brain does with it is not going to be a function of the hearing aid," Sweetow said.

LACE helps patients develop better listening skills through a series of exercises. In this one, try to hear the male voice.

Did you get that? The spine consists of 24 segments of bone. The exercise trains people to focus on one voice when two people are talking. As the brain gets conditioned, it gets easier. Listen again.

Blackwill said, "I think it's a really good training tool."

Studies show LACE can improve listening and comprehension by up to 30 percent.

"That could be the difference between hearing the person next to you and the person two seats down in a restaurant," Blackwill stated.

For him, it also meant the difference between interacting with people and isolation.

Patients are asked to work with lace 30 minutes a day, five days a week for a month. In a new study that hasn't been published yet, 80 percent of patients who complete the "LACE" program showed improvement.

Researchers are working on creating a portable device that will allow anyone to train at home.

Background Information:

HEARING LOSS: About 28 million Americans suffer from hearing loss. As baby boomers reach retirement age starting in 2010, this number is expected to rapidly climb and nearly double by the year 2030. The prevalence of hearing loss increases with age, up to one in three over age 65 suffer from it. Hearing loss typically develops over a period of 25 to 30 years. Among seniors, hearing loss is the third most prevalent, but treatable, disabling condition behind arthritis and hypertension. While the vast majority of Americans with hearing loss have tried hearing aids, only 22 percent currently use them saying they do not really help. Only 5percent of hearing loss in adults can be improved through medical or surgical treatment.

TREATMENTS: The treatment for hearing loss depends on the cause. A bacterial infection of the middle ear can be treated with antibiotics; blockages of the outer and middle ears can be cleared; damaged eardrums can be repaired surgically; and ossicles affected by otosclerosis can be replaced with artificial bones. Some causes of sensorineural hearing loss can also be improved. For example, an acoustic neuroma can be removed surgically. If there is no cure for the hearing loss (as with age-related hearing loss), a hearing aid for one or both ears is really the only help available and with so many complaints that they do not help, many people are simply left with no options.

LACE: Robert Sweetow, Ph.D., director of audiology at UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco, and his colleagues have developed a tool to help hard-of-hearing people, whether or not they use hearing aids, learn skills that help them become better listeners. Consequently, that helps them improve how much speech they understand. The device is called LACE (Listening and Auditory Communication Enhancement). For four weeks, a user spends one half-hour, five days a week working with the computer program to help enhance listening skills. The user gets immediate feedback regarding correct comprehension and can monitor his or her improvement from the beginning of therapy. In addition, the patient's audiologist can observe progress via computer modem at a remote location. Currently, the LACE program can only be used by people who have computers, but in the fall, a portable device will be available that will allow anyone to train. In a new study that has not been published yet, 80 percent of patients who complete the "lace" program showed improvement. Researchers are working on creating a portable device that will allow anyone to train at home.

By Ivanhoe Newswire