The Magic Of Hearing Aids

Most magicians are unwilling to share their secrets. Chad Lau isn’t most magicians. He’s a scientist who blends science into his performance and willingly shares how he makes the back of an ordinary playing card change colors.

“I use Icy Hot®,” Chad offers. “The Icy Hot changes the temperature of the card, so what the audience sees is the back of the card changing colors. The color of the card will go from green to blue as it’s getting cold and then to red as it’s getting hot.”

What Chad doesn’t share is how or when he applies the Icy Hot to the card. Some things must remain a secret. But Chad makes no secret of his passion for magic. It’s a passion that’s been burning since childhood.

“I love to perform, and for my magic shows I have created a character that is an extension of my own personality,” he adds. “That character is a scientist just like I am, and I perform family-friendly shows at birthday parties, award events, even some wedding receptions.”

Chad, a 41-year-old electrical engineer, recently became the beneficiary of a magical blend of science himself when his ability to hear clearly out of both ears was restored after years of struggling with significant hearing loss.

“I first noticed I had a problem about 12 years ago,” Chad relates. “For the longest time before that, I was listening to music with a set of headphones that I thought were broken because I couldn’t hear anything out of my left ear.

“One day, I decided to turn the headphones around. That’s when I realized I had a hearing problem in my left ear. But it wasn’t until recently that I realized that I really needed to do something about it.”

A precious moment missed is what prompted Chad into action.

“I was out picking strawberries with my wife and 6-year-old daughter, and my daughter was singing a song from the movie Frozen,” Chad relates. “In this song, one character sings a refrain that’s repeated by another character, and that’s what my daughter was doing.

“She was singing the refrain and another little girl across the field was responding just like they do in the movie. It was a really cute moment, but I missed it because I couldn’t hear the girls singing and didn’t even know about it until my wife told me.

“After that, I decided that I didn’t want to miss any more moments like that because I’ll never get them back, and that’s when I decided to do something about my hearing. I’d been in denial for too long, so that’s when I decided to go EarCare.”

Taking the Initiative

EarCare, with locations in Melbourne, Merritt Island and Indian Harbour Beach, is co-owned by Karen Cowan-Oberbeck, AuD, FAAA, CCC-A, a board-certified doctor of audiology, and her husband, Glenn A. Oberbeck, NBC-HIS, a licensed hearing instrument specialist.

During Chad’s initial visit to EarCare, his hearing was tested by Dr. Cowan-Oberbeck. The exam revealed that Chad had a moderate sensorineural hearing loss, the kind that causes him to miss the sound of his daughter singing, and many other sounds as well.

“I was missing a lot of speech, especially in my left ear, and high frequencies in both ears,” Chad explains. “That’s why I never really got into popular music. I love music, but I had a hard time hearing and understanding the lyrics in pop and rock songs.

“Not only that, but when I was in graduate school, I hardly ever went out with friends to restaurants and places like that because I had such a hard time hearing people and didn’t want to admit that I couldn’t understand what they were saying.”

That Chad began to lose his hearing at an early age is not unusual. According EarCare’s Andrew Clarke, BC-HIS, hearing loss often begins to affect people in their 30s and 40s, but many do not take steps to address the matter until later in life.

Untreated hearing loss affects communication, balance and brain function. With untreated hearing loss, your brain essentially starts robbing from other parts of the brain to compensate. If you give your brain good information (with properly fitted hearing aids) it works better, more efficiently.

“That’s why I really applaud Chad for what he’s done,” Andrew adds. “Here’s a guy who took the initiative to take care of this problem at an early age, which is what we encourage everyone to do. If you’re having a problem, don’t wait. Come and see us.”

Following his exam, Chad was fit with the hearing aid model recommended by Andrew, the Genesis AI from Starkey, one the most advanced on the market.

Prior to the release of this device, the most advanced hearing aids could be programmed by using an app on a smartphone. The wearer had to change the program whenever their environment changed. The Genesis AI devices are what Andrew refers to as “self-learning” devices, which means they adjust to changes in the listening environmental on their own. They also have a longer battery life than most hearing devices.

“From a user’s standpoint, it’s much easier to adapt to these hearing aids because the hearing aid is providing so much support and removing that need to constantly manipulate the hearing aid,” Andrew adds. “That’s the game-changer.”

Life-Changing Decision

The Genesis AI has proven to be a life-changer for Chad.

“The morning after I was fit with my hearing aids, I took my dog out for a walk,” Chad says. “As we were walking around our neighborhood, I could hear hundreds of birds, which was great. Before that, I might have heard five or 10.

“When I got home, I said to my wife, I had no idea we were living in a bird sanctuary. She said, Yes. You didn’t know it because you could never hear them all. I was absolutely thrilled by that because I love the sounds of nature, and now, I can hear them all.”

It’s not just the sounds of nature that Chad hears clearly.

“Shortly after I received my hearing aids, I was stunned by the sound of the air conditioner turning on in our house and learned that our dishwasher is not as quiet as the manufacturer says,” Chad offers “But I don’t mind hearing those things.

“Like I said, I was in denial for too long about my hearing, so I could not be happier with my decision to get hearing aids. They’re allowing me to communicate better with my wife, daughter and co-workers, and that’s what matters most.

“And I could not be happier with my decision to go EarCare. Everyone there is so helpful, and they did a great job evaluating me and recommending the right hearing aids. They’re all great people, and I absolutely recommend them 100 percent.”