HLAA Convention 2010 Special: Opening Session, Keynote - Part 3

[Guest guest]

NVRC News - June 19, 2010

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Opening Session and Keynote Address, Part 3

By Cheryl Heppner, 6/19/10

Barbara Kelley welcomed the 59 veterans of Operation Freedom and Operation

Enduring Freedom who were attending the conference and then introduced as a

" friend to HLAA " Dr. Lucille Beck, Director of Audiology/Speech Pathology,

Office of Patient Care Services, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Dr. Beck shared that HLAA founder Rocky Stone was a veteran and a patient of

hers who challenged her throughout her career and in all the work she did.

Today's Department of Veterans Affairs is the second largest cabinet-level

department after the Department of Defense and has the largest integrated

health care system in the U.S. It includes 155 hospitals, 135 community

living centers, and 209 veteran counseling centers.

The Veterans Administration's audiology mission includes high quality

support of training developing audiologists and research to improve the

technology, methodology, treatment and efficacy of hearing loss. Some

statistics shared by Dr. Beck:

- There are 778 audiologists working for the VA and 19 are doing research.

- Since November 2009, the VA has had contracts with 9 manufacturers for

digital hearing aids.

- The Department of Defense and other government agencies use VA contracts.

- In 2009, there were 475,945 hearing aids provided to 238,601 veterans - a

25% increase over 2008.

- The VA is 18% of the hearing aid market in the U.S.

- Cochlear implants are provided by the VA at 16 centers and make up 12% of

the U.S. market.

- Over 1.2 million veterans have a service-connected disability for hearing

and tinnitus; 639,029 for tinnitus and 570,966 for hearing loss.

- Tinnitus and hearing loss are the #1 and #2 disabilities of veterans.

Tinnitus has been associated with brain injury, noise exposure, hearing

loss, ear disease, and many medical conditions and medications. A Defense

Center of Excellence for Hearing Loss was required in the National Defense

Authorization Act of 2009 to prevent, diagnose, mitigate, treat and

rehabilitate hearing loss. It also established a Hearing Loss and Auditory

System Injury Registry and outreach to consumer and veteran advocacy groups,

professional organizations, academic institutions, and federal agencies.

A Research Working Group was established to develop a research agenda.

Recommendations include that the NIDCD support research to improve and lower

the cost of hearing aids.

Among the things brought up are:

- People with mild to moderate hearing loss are least likely to be screened

and get, or use, hearing aids because they think they can get along without

help.

- We know if we can intervene early, we can prevent psychosocial problems

caused by hearing loss.

- Moderate hearing loss causes substantial communication problems but people

with this loss can be successful hearing aid users.

NIDCD invited 20 individuals with varied expertise to participate and add

their knowledge and experience. Battat of HLAA is one of those

participating and her work is much appreciated.

(NVRC Note: Every 10 years, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

(HHS) sets and monitors a group of national health objectives focusing on

increasing the quality and years of healthy life, and eliminating health

disparities. Healthy People 2020 is currently assessing the objectives of

the past decade, measuring the impact of its prevention activity, and

developing new 10-year targets. You can find the full list of

recommendations for the hearing and other sensory community at

http://tinyurl.com/24hgqjw). Here are a selected few:

ENT-VSL HP2020-1: Decrease otitis media in children and adolescents.

ENT-VSL HP2020-2: Increase the proportion of persons with hearing

impairments who have ever used a hearing aid or assistive listening devices

or who have cochlear implants.

ENT-VSL HP2020-3: Increase the proportion of persons who have had a hearing

examination on schedule.

ENT-VSL HP2020-4: Increase the number of persons who are referred by their

primary care physician or other health care provider for hearing evaluation

and treatment.

ENT-VSL HP2020-5: Increase the use of ear protection devices.

ENT-VSL HP2020-6: Reduce the proportion of adolescents who have elevated

hearing thresholds, or audiometric notches, in high frequencies (3, 4, or 6

kHz) in both ears, signifying noise-induced hearing loss.

ENT-VSL HP2020-7: Reduce the proportion of adults who have elevated hearing

thresholds, or audiometric notches, in high frequencies (3, 4, or 6 kHz) in

both ears, signifying noise-induced hearing loss.

ENT-VSL HP2020-8: Increase the proportion of newborns who are screened for

hearing loss by no later than age 1 month, have audiologic evaluation by age

3 months, and are enrolled in appropriate intervention services by age 6

months.

ENT-VSL HP2020-9: Increase the proportion for adults bothered by tinnitus

who have seen a doctor or other health care professionals.

ENT-VSL HP2020-10: Increase the proportion of adults, for whom tinnitus is

a moderate to severe problem, who have tried appropriate treatments.

ENT-VSL HP2020-22: (Developmental) Increase the proportion of persons with

communication disorders in the past 12 months whose personal or social

functioning at home, school, or work improved after participation in

speech-language therapy or other rehabilitative or intervention services.

ENT-VSL HP2020-23: (Developmental) Increase the proportion of persons with

hearing loss and other sensory or communication disorders who have used

Internet resources for health care information, guidance, or advice in the

past 12 months.

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