How's your hearing in background noise?

Listening is really hard work, especially in noisy or busy places. As we age, the brain cells designed to filter noise don’t work as well as they used to, so it gets harder and harder to focus on the speech you want to hear. This occurs even with normal hearing, but a hearing loss makes it much more difficult.  

The good news is it’s possible to train our ears and brain to listen and there are many digital training programs to help! We've listed a few of our favorites below (but there are many more available).

LACE – Listening and Communication Enhancement. This program was developed by a crew at the University of California, San Francisco and is backed by loads of research. The biggest advantage of this program is its well-researched background and proven to work. The downside is that it’s a bit expensive and you must be very dedicated to the program for the results to show. I think of it like physical therapy – you’ll get out what you put in (true for all things!).

Angel Sound. This program is also backed up by research and it’s FREE. There are a number of different types of training programs within Angel Sound. The potential disadvantage is that it’s geared a bit more towards children than adults and it’s not Mac compatible. For a free program though, it’s really impressive and you can do some great brain training through this site!

clEAR. This is another well-backed, research-oriented program designed to maximize your success with your hearing aids or cochlear implants (or it’s an option if you haven’t purchased devices yet). This program also has a cost but it’s one the most user-friendly and well-designed auditory training programs available today. The games are interactive and the researchers are constantly working on the design to enhance the experience.

Before starting any training program, it's important to get a baseline hearing test. If you have difficulty hearing in noise, talk with your audiologist and learn about your best options.