Community News
New Community Partnership

We are excited to announce a community partnership with Volunteer Cowichan (VC) in Cowichan Valley. Together, we will help residents find and link to local health and wellness resources, support and services. For 44+ years, VC has been a leader in community promoting, mobilizing and celebrating volunteers. They have many programs that support older adults and youth. You can find more about VC in this newsletter, on their website and on the WellnessHub Vancouver Island. While you are on the Hub, don’t forget to enter this month’s contest for a chance to win 2 x 10 Flex Pass tickets to the Nanaimo NigthOwls Baseball Club games.

How Artificial Intelligence Helps With Hearing Loss

One of the reasons that makes it difficult to address hearing loss is that the way in which each individual experiences hearing loss can be a bit different, which is why a visit to a trained hearing professional is important. Different environments with varying amounts of noise adds an additional layer of complexity to the problem.

A hearing solution that works well for you for having a conversation at home may not work well in a noisy restaurant. If you have any experience with hearing loss, you may understand that the solution isn’t as simple as just making everything louder.

Hearing loss research has seen significant advancements from using artificial intelligence (AI). AI is a system that uses data to recognize patterns, which can then be applied to solve problems. With large amounts of data, AI is able to navigate through complex problems involving many variables.

We will take you through how AI has been used for hearing loss so far and the potential for AI to help with hearing loss in the future.

Current uses of AI in hearing loss

You may have already encountered the use of AI already without knowing it. A common use of AI is to recognize speech. This technology has been applied to provide automated closed captioning for video services to help those with hearing loss.

Some audiologists have started to also use AI to help fit hearing aids. In these cases, the audiologist would play different sounds for you, and software with AI functions would provide suggestions to tune the hearing aid.

To provide a more direct impact on hearing loss, AI is used in increasingly sophisticated hearing aids. Early uses of AI were used to create pre-trained models for different environments. The hearing aid would then have different modes with different frequencies preset for environments such as being at home, in restaurants, or in front of the television.

Newer hearing aids with AI are able to listen to the environment and automatically make adjustments as necessary. These hearing aids can actively lower background noise while also working to increase the volume of voices, making it easier to hear speech.

Future uses of AI in hearing loss

AI is being used to help achieve the aim of getting as close as possible to replicating how the brain hears sounds without hearing loss. Hearing aids with AI technology will automatically adjust to best match each individual’s hearing needs.

AI is able to create a balanced, personalized output by scanning the sounds in an environment, identifying the elements of different sounds, and understanding how to process each element. By listening to the voices that you hear often, the AI could emphasize voices from certain individuals while reducing others.

More advanced use of AI may be able to tackle some of the trickiest situations for people with hearing loss, such as focusing on conversations between multiple people in a noisy environment. Further in the future, to prioritize the voice of interest, which may constantly shift among speakers, the AI could determine which voice to focus on by tracking the neural activity of the brain.

Another possibility to focus on a particular speaker in the future would be to use augmented reality (AR) glasses, which is a pair of glasses that provides information to the wearer. Eye-tracking technology would allow the AI to know in which direction to focus while the glasses could provide automated captions to supplement the speech in case the wearer still has trouble making out the speech.

While the future is full of bright possibilities when applying AI to help with hearing loss, a lot of work is still required to get there. Luckily, we have seen considerable progress. Advanced hearing aids are already able to suppress unwanted noise to allow you to focus on voices. All it takes is a visit to a trained practitioner, such as the professionals at NexGen Hearing, to get a hearing aid expertly adjusted to your individual hearing needs.

Sources:

https://www.healthyhearing.com/report/53168-Hearing-aids-artificial-intelligence-deep-learning-oticon

https://www.hearsoundly.com/guides/best-ai-hearing-aids

https://sfaudiology.com/the-future-of-hearing-devices-deep-neural-networks-artificial-intelligence/

https://www.nature.com/articles/s42256-021-00394-z

Normal Forgetfulness or Dementia?

As we age, it’s normal to experience more frequent instances of memory loss. Some common symptoms of normal memory loss include transience, when the brain forgets some memories over time, and absentmindedness, where you may forget something because you weren’t focused on it. Other factors can also contribute to normal memory loss, such as depression and other mental health issues. Memory loss that involves the following can be cause for concern and should be addressed by a doctor: 1) Forgetting important information, like names. 2) Being extremely disoriented in unfamiliar environments. 3) Major personality changes like aggressiveness or impulsivity.

The Wellness Hub Vancouver Island

Looking for more local health and wellness information? Check out the Wellness Hub Vancouver Island. It features hundreds of local business and practitioners offering services and products, health tips on a variety of topics, podcasts, reviews and more. It is easy to search, access and share information. While you are on the Wellness Hub, don’t forget to enter the April Contest for a Wellness Basket sponsored by Bonneau Gifts. The draw date is April 30, 2022.

Great Socks for Travel

Many of us have compression socks for traveling. On the day of travel, put them on when you get up; that is when your legs are less swollen. This allows your body to adapt to the socks. Make sure to leave them on for a few hours after you land to again allow your body to adapt. Wearing the socks for the extra time can reduce any swelling of the legs much more effectively than if they are taken straight off. Travel socks do not work unless you wear them. If the ones you have are not comfortable, look for a different kind.

Canada’s Low Risk Gambling Guidelines

Have you heard of Canada’s Low-Risk Gambling Guidelines? Guideline 1) Gamble no more than 1% of household income: For example, a Household income of $70,000 before tax should gamble no more than $58 per month. Guideline 2) Gamble no more than 4 days per month, which works out to roughly once a week. Guideline 3) Avoid regularly gambling at more than 2 types of games: For example, lotteries and slots, scratch tickets and bingo, OR poker and VLTs. 3+ forms of gambling substantially increase the risk of developing a gambling problem. Check them out at GamblingGuidelines.ca #LRGG.

Can You Do a Pelvic Tilt?

When people try to do a pelvic tilt, they usually 1) try to suck their abs in like a posing bodybuilder, (2) push their back out like a Halloween cat silhouette, or (3) squeeze their bum forward like a scared dog. Do any of these moves sound athletic? The majority of people cannot perform or sustain a pelvic tilt properly. If you can’t tilt your pelvis, you can become constipated, lose range of hip and shoulder mobility, get bunions (they are not genetic!), lose bladder control, and no matter how many ab exercises you do, your belly will not get smaller. I can help.

Product Feature: The Abena Difference

Comfort | Dignity | Confidence | Freedom are all qualities of the Abena incontinence management products and are just the tip of the iceberg of what makes them unique. Abena’s product specialists work closely together with nurses to develop products with industry-leading absorbency and specialty features. It has a holistic approach to healthcare that personalizes products to suit your lifestyle. Incontinence care should never be ‘one size fits all’. Abena products are designed with a highly absorbent core, are fully breathable, are guaranteed skin-friendly and are certified eco-friendly. We are pleased to offer Abena incontinence management products.

Related Fall Risks

In addition to mobility, there are other risk factors that can lead to falling: Sensory Deficits; problems with sensation, whether it be with the eyes, ears or feeling in the feet, can increase your risk of falling. Have your eyesight and hearing checked regularly and talk to your doctor if you’re experiencing numbness in your feet. Low Blood Pressure; when we quickly go from lying or sitting to standing, our blood pressure drops, this can interfere with balance, vision and coordination. If you feel dizzy or lightheaded when standing, sit down until your head clears, stand up slowly and ensure you have good footing before taking a step.

Profile: MEND Mobile Health

Mend is defined as “the act of curing, repairing and reforming”. That is exactly what the health practitioners at MEND can do for you in the comfort of your own home. They are Kinesiologists, Acupuncturists, Athletic Therapists, Exercise Physiologists and Personal Trainers. “Making small changes in your routine can have huge impacts on whole-body health, the healing process and general well-being.” MEND practitioners can help you *Build strength to keep up with the grandkids, * Improve your balance and mobility, * Recover from surgery/injury and *So much more. Contact them today to find out how they can help you Mend.

Health Benefits of Knitting

Did you know that knitting has mental health benefits? Knitting involves the movement of the hands and fingers. This active finger and wrist movement, dexterity and fine motor coordination can facilitate improvements in other functional skills. Recent studies show that knitting can help with: ▪Lowering blood pressure, ▪Reducing depression and anxiety, ▪Slowing onset of dementia, ▪Distracting from chronic pain, ▪Increasing sense of wellbeing, ▪Reducing loneliness and isolation. Knitting is one of many activities offered and encouraged at Sherwood House.