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Read the full transcript here

As technology moves forward, it continuously helps improve the tools that audiologists use to help their patients. Dr Jodi Sasaki-Miraglia has dedicated her career to focus on the technological side of hearing aids and find ways that technology can shape the future of hearing devices. She is the director of professional education manager at WIDEX USA, and has been working as an audiologist for almost 20 years. In this episode, Dr. Sasaki-Miraglia speaks with host Dr. Lilach Saperstein about the latest innovations in Hearing Aid Technology.  

This week on the All About Audiology podcast:   

• 3:40 – People with hearing challenges have greatly benefited from online meeting spaces (such as Zoom) and have also benefited from engaging in social media since one can seamlessly engage with others through connecting their hearing devices to such platforms. 

• 5:55 – The cost of hearing aids are often inclusive of the care and services of an audiologist or other licensed hearing care professional. They can help guide an individual through the hearing care process since there is not a one-size-fits-all process.

• 11:00 – With the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in hearing devices, such as Widex’s use of My Sound, one can focus on a specific location in which they want to tune into. AI can also allow hearing aids to be adjusted to a specific environment that a hearing aid user finds themselves in.  

• 14:30 – Hearing aids will become a part of your body. By the time a user gets up, they should be excited to put their ears on! 

• 22:30 – Individuals should not fit their own ears. You want to go to a licensed hearing care professional and make sure that your chosen device is going to fit seamlessly on your ear and that the device will not damage your hearing.

• 25:00 – Many licensed hearing care professionals carry multiple hearing aid brands at their clinic. If you need hearing aid devices, you should try a few on in order to find the right fit. Eventually, the devices may be on your ears every day and you’ll want the most comfortable fit.

For more resources and research visit:

All About Audiology Website 

All About Audiology Facebook group  

All About Audiology Instagram

https://www.patreon.com/join/allaboutaudiology

Mentioned in this episode:

Dr. Franklin Lin from John Hopkins

Related Episodes

Kids at home: Tips & Fun Games. (for children with hearing aids or cochlear implants)

All About Protecting Our Hearing- episode 23 w/ Cornelius Maxwell

Troubleshooting Hearing Aids & Cochlear Implants – All About YOU! Episode 24

All About YOU! Episode 28 Benefits and Limitations of Hearing Aids + SPEAK UP!

All About Reverse-Slope Hearing Loss- Episode 49 with Natalia Popham

All about YOU: Genetic Hearing Loss Life Experience” – Episode 65 with Olivia Rains

Next time on All About Audiology: 

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Transcript:

(Intro) Jodi Sasaki-Miraglia:

And the nice thing with our Widex and the data collection that’s anonymous is that real users are providing us with real insights to shape tomorrow’s sound. And the fact that we’ve been doing this now [for] three years and learning from people who really use our devices in these environments allows the technology to really help the person who’s wearing it [And] not from the programming perspective [that is created to pick up on] this is what I think you need to be listening to. It really is honing in on Person-centered care.

Dr. Lilach Saperstein:

Welcome back to the All About Audiology Podcast. I’m your host, Dr. Lilach Saperstein, and this is the show where we talk about audiology and how it affects your life. It’s not just about audiograms and x’s and o’s and hearing aids. It’s about how it affects your life and your relationships and your communication. 

So today we’re doing something a little bit different on the podcast, and we’re going to be speaking with Dr. Jodi Sasaki-Miraglia, all about the latest and greatest in hearing aid technology. And this is something that I am very interested in catching up on seeing that I’m out of school for a few years – What’s going on clinically? – And I think that for many of you listening, we always have questions. How do we support the families that we work with or how do we wrap our head around all this new information as parents? So let’s talk about hearing aids. Welcome Jodi to the podcast.

JSM:

Thank you for inviting me. I’m excited to be here.

LS:

What has your journey been as an audiologist and working in different settings and now your industry. So tell us a bit about that.

JSM:

Hearing loss is near and dear to my heart. My grandparents both had hearing loss. My father has hearing loss and so does my mother. So, I really do believe audiology picked me. No, I didn’t pick audiology, it was sort of in my genes to be in this path. Almost 20 years now into audiology, it’s never gotten old. If anything it’s gotten more exciting and more specifically on the hearing device side of things, I really can see firsthand how technology has really helped my family. 

And then more importantly, [for] those tuning in – families, audiologists, other hearing care professionals – how technology has helped us [as audiologists] help more people, not only here in the US but really, I know your podcast reaches far beyond the US. And be able to help so many more people. And hearing devices today is not like what we even thought of five years ago. So, hopefully, if my smile comes through my voice, my hope is that everybody tuning in knows that there’s so much more that technology has to offer and every year that technology continues to move forward outside of the hearing device industry, it helps our industry – [as it] help[s] professionals be able to help more patients. And on the patient end – user end – for them to just have more tools to equalize the playing field so that the hearing doesn’t hold them back anymore. And they can do what they want to do on their own. 

So as an audiologist, I’m from Hawaii, originally, so even the word audiologist was not a common thing back in the islands. And when I went to school in Colorado – I was realizing the world was a bigger place, how hearing impacts communication, and not in a good way, unless you go and get treated, [or] get guided by a professional that’s licensed in the state or the country that you’re in. And allowing a professional to help guide you through the journey of hearing care and how much hopefully more impactful it becomes and how much more educated you can become once you are learning what is out there, instead of maybe what you’ve heard through the Internet or what you’ve Googled online, and there’s some really great opportunities there.

LS:

[In terms of] What you said about technology moving so quickly and changing all the time. I remember hearing all of our professors saying that, and they were teaching things and saying, even five years ago it was different. Even two years ago it was different. And they were being frustrated because they had to constantly update their course material. [laughs]

JSM:

Yes.

LS:

To teach the latest stuff. I’m just thinking back [to when] I graduated in