www.coastalhearing.com

sbmccorry@coastalhearing.com

Coastal Ear, Nose and Throat Urges Area Residents to Listen Up in a Down Economy
and Address Hearing Loss During Better Hearing and Speech Month

Neptune, May 1, 2009—May 1 marks the start of Better Hearing and Speech Month, a month dedicated to educating consumers about the need to assure that their hearing is healthy. This year, Coastal Ear, Nose and Throat is joining with the Better Hearing Institute (BHI) to educate Americans on how hearing health affects job security, performance, and employment opportunities. Coastal Ear, Nose and Throat is encouraging people of all ages who are either seeking employment or who want to protect their jobs to make sure that unaddressed hearing loss doesn’t pose a barrier to employment success. BHI is offering an online hearing test where people can quickly and confidentially assess if they need a comprehensive hearing check by Coastal’s hearing professionals. Please visit our website at http://www.coastalhearing.com/ under helpful links to take the Better Hearing Institute hearing test.
“Never before has good hearing been so important,” says Suzanne McCorry, an audiologist in Neptune. “Hearing your best can be a smart job security strategy in a tough job market. How an employee is perceived by employers is effected by how he or she hears. Job candidates need to sound sharp during an interview. And employees who aren’t sure what an employer is asking can’t answer their best.”
According to the International Listening Association (ILA), listening is one of the top skills employers seek in entry-level employees and in those being promoted. Individual performance in an organization is found to be directly related to listening ability or perceived listening effectiveness.
When people with even mild hearing loss use hearing aids, they improve their job performance, increase their earning potential, enhance their communication skills, improve their professional and interpersonal relationships, stave off depression, and better their quality of life.
According to a BHI national study—“Impact of Hearing Loss on Household Income"—Americans with unaddressed hearing loss make less money than people with normal hearing. The study found that wearing a hearing aid reduces the amount of income lost. Specifically, untreated hearing loss negatively affects household income, on average, up to $23,000 per year depending on the degree of hearing loss. The use of hearing aids mitigates those negative effects by about 50 percent.

“Treating hearing loss early is no longer an option,” says Sergei Kochkin, PhD, Executive Director of BHI. “It is a career imperative. Great workplace communication is critical to both job performance and to getting a job. Great communication starts with great listening. And great listening starts with the ability to hear. We urge everyone to take that first, most critical step to ensuring career success by visiting http://www.hearingcheck.org/. Do it today.“
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Suzanne McCorry is Director of Audiology at Coastal Ear, Nose and Throat in Neptune, NJ, and can be contacted at 732-280-7855; sbmccorry@coastalhearing.com; http://www.coastalhearing.com/