05:43 PM PST on Thursday, January 12, 2006

JEAN ENERSEN / KING 5 News

Gerald Blackwill thought a hearing aid would be the answer to his problems, but it wasn't.

"It's frustrating because you really want to understand what somebody's telling you," he said.

KING

The computer program helps train the ear.

"No matter how good the hearing aids are, you're not going to achieve maximal communication skills without some kind of training," said Dr. Robert Sweetow, an audiologist.

That's why Sweetow helped develop an interactive computer program called Listening and Communication Enhancement, or "LACE."

"The hearing aid is designed to get the sound into your ear and up to your brain, but what your brain does with it is not going to be a function of the hearing aid," he said.

LACE helps patients develop better listening skills. It trains people to focus on one voice when two people are talking. As the brain gets conditioned, it gets easier.

"I think it's a really good training tool," said Blackwell.

Studies show LACE can improve comprehension by up to 30 percent.

"That could be the difference between hearing the person next to you and the person two seats down in a restaurant,” said Sweetow.

For Blackwell, it also meant the difference between interacting with people and isolation.

In a new study that hasn't been published yet, 80 percent of patients who complete the LACE program show improvement.

Currently, the LACE program can only be used by people who have computers, but in the fall, a portable device will be available that will allow anyone to train. In a new study that has not been published yet, 80 percent of patients who complete the "lace" program showed improvement.

Researchers are working on creating a portable device that will allow anyone to train at home.

More details

About 28 million Americans suffer from hearing loss. As baby boomers reach retirement age starting in 2010, this number is expected to rapidly climb and nearly double by the year 2030. The prevalence of hearing loss increases with age, up to one in three over age 65 suffer from it. Hearing loss typically develops over a period of 25 to 30 years. Among seniors, hearing loss is the third most prevalent, but treatable, disabling condition behind arthritis and hypertension.

While the vast majority of Americans with hearing loss have tried hearing aids, only 22 percent currently use them saying they do not really help. Only 5 percent of hearing loss in adults can be improved through medical or surgical treatment.

The treatment for hearing loss depends on the cause. A bacterial infection of the middle ear can be treated with antibiotics; blockages of the outer and middle ears can be cleared; damaged eardrums can be repaired surgically; and ossicles affected by otosclerosis can be replaced with artificial bones.

Some causes of sensorineural hearing loss can also be improved. For example, an acoustic neuroma can be removed surgically. If there is no cure for the hearing loss (as with age- related hearing loss), a hearing aid for one or both ears is really the only help available and with so many complaints that they do not help, many people are simply left with no options.