Understanding the Diversity of Hearing Aids: A Matter of Personal Preference

Hearing loss is a common condition that can significantly impact one's quality of life. Fortunately, technological advancements have led to the development of a wide range of hearing aids, catering to different needs and preferences. Choosing the right hearing aid can be a subjective process, as each type comes with its own set of pros and cons. This article aims to shed light on the variety of hearing aids available, emphasizing the importance of personal preference in making a decision.

1. Behind-the-Ear (BTE) Hearing Aids: BTE hearing aids are worn behind the ear and are suitable for various degrees of hearing loss. They are generally more powerful and offer a longer battery life compared to other types. The larger size can accommodate additional features such as telecoil, directional microphones, and wireless connectivity. However, some individuals may find them less discreet or uncomfortable to wear.

2. In-the-Ear (ITE) Hearing Aids: ITE hearing aids are custom-made to fit entirely in the outer ear. They are more visible than some other styles but offer a better cosmetic appeal compared to BTE aids. ITE aids are easy to handle and can include features like volume control and directional microphones. Due to their smaller size, battery life may be shorter, and they may not be suitable for individuals with severe hearing loss.

3. In-the-Canal (ITC) and Completely-in-the-Canal (CIC) Hearing Aids: ITC and CIC hearing aids are discreet options that fit partially or completely inside the ear canal, making them less noticeable. They provide natural sound perception and can be customized to match the individual's ear canal shape. These aids may lack additional features like manual controls or wireless connectivity, and individuals with dexterity issues may find them difficult to handle.

4. Receiver-in-Canal (RIC) and Receiver-in-the-Ear (RITE) Hearing Aids: RIC and RITE hearing aids are similar to BTE aids but with the receiver placed in the ear canal. They offer excellent sound quality, comfort, and discretion. The separate receiver allows for better sound transmission and reduces occlusion, which can cause a "plugged" feeling. These aids may require more maintenance due to the receiver's proximity to earwax and moisture.

5. Extended Wear Hearing Aids: Extended wear hearing aids are inserted deep into the ear canal by a hearing care professional and can be worn for several months at a time. They offer convenience and near-invisibility, as they remain in the ear 24/7, even during showering or sleeping. However, they are not suitable for all types of hearing loss and may require professional assistance for insertion and removal.

Thus when it comes to choosing the right hearing aid, there is no "one-size-fits-all" solution. Each type of hearing aid has its own advantages and limitations. Personal preferences, lifestyle, degree of hearing loss, budget, and individual needs should all be considered.

To make an informed decision, it is crucial to consult with a hearing care professional who can assess your hearing and guide you in finding the hearing aids that best suit your specific requirements. Remember, a hearing aid review may reflect personal experiences but may not necessarily indicate whether the device is good or bad for your particular needs.

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World Hearing Day, March 3rd

Do you drink bottled water or eat beef, pork, chicken or dairy products?

Doug Ford.

The name brings fear to the minds of many people in Ontario.

Doug Ford is the Premier of Ontario, and he is a jerk. A real nasty jerk. He wants to dump nuclear waste in Bruce County, close to the town of Teeswater. The Teeswater River (and the underground aquifer beneath the region) supplies the drinking water to:

• Tens of thousands of people.
• Dairy cows.
• Water for agricultural farming (corn, potatoes, soy beans and more).
• Water for Aquafina bottled water.
• Cattle, pigs, turkeys and chickens. Bruce County is the Beef Capital of North America, but it also produces a lot of other meat products.

If you live Ontario you've eaten food many times from Bruce County. Guaranteed. You've drank the milk. You've eaten the cheese. You've eaten beef, pork, turkey and chicken. You've eaten the corn, the potatoes, the soy products. You've drank Aquafina water.

Even if you are a vegan and don't eat milk and dairy, you should still care where your soy products and other vegetables are grown and where your bottled water comes from.

And that is why you should care.

If you care about what you eat, then you should protect what you eat. Learn more at:

https://www.protectsouthbruce-nodgr.org/

If you care write to Doug Ford. Tweet him. Phone him and leave an angry voicemail.

Share this post. Copy/paste it to other websites. Share it on Facebook. Share it on Twitter. Share the memes below.

Show that you care about your food and where it comes from.

Protect your food and your health from Doug Ford.

The Best Dentist in Toronto - Part Two

Two years we wrote a review for Archer Dental, titled "The Best Dentist in Toronto - Part One".

During that review we stated our intention to try and find other equally good dentists.

Unfortunately thus far we have not managed to find any other dentist to equal it.

Also NOW Magazine's 2016 Reader's Choice Awards has just voted Archer Dental to be the Best Dental Practice in Toronto. So apparently we are not alone in that assessment.

Archer Dental has two locations:

Archer Dental Rosedale

600 Sherbourne Street, Suite 810
Toronto, ON M4X 1W4

416.964.0010
info@archerdental.ca

Archer Dental Runnymede

625 Runnymede Road
Toronto, Ontario M6S 3A3

416.763.2000
 runnymededental@drarcher.ca

The Best Dentist in Toronto - Part One

Back in September I decided to go on a quest to find The Best Dentist in Toronto.

Now granted, Toronto has over 1000 dentists according to Yelp (or 800+ dentists according to Google) which means I could go to a new dentist every day for 2 to 3 years and still not try every dentist in Toronto. So trying each and every dentist in Toronto is impractical.

So instead what I have decided to do is to start at the top of the list.

When you Google 'toronto dentist' the first page comes up with a list of map locations of dentists, followed by 4 pages that are directories for dentists. The first dental practice listed is "Archer Dental".

(Plus my friend Robert recommended the place, so that is another reason.)

Archer Dental, according to my research, was listed as the Best Dentist in Toronto by NOW Magazine in 2013, so I think it is a good place to begin my series of dentist reviews. However let me backtrack a bit here and take us back to 2003 so I can review a different dental practice for comparison purposes.

In June 2003 I had was getting read to leave Canada and go overseas to South Korea. Since I didn't know what the dentists would be like in South Korea I opted to have a visit to the dentist before I left and hopefully I could forego visiting any dentists for the year I was in SK.

The dental office I went to was the dental office at York University's York Lanes, now known as York Lanes Dental Office.

I had already been to the York Lanes Dental Office several times before - without incident - but during that final trip I was given a deep cleaning by a new dental hygienist who - as best as I can tell was just fresh out of dental school or was still a student. What followed was the most painful experience of my entire life. It was absolute torture. It went on for what felt like hours.

When the dental hygienist was done I was missing part of my gums. They had literally torn my gums to pieces and one of the pieces was missing, completely cut out.

Thus began a very long period in my life in which I swore I would never go to another dentist again. Ever. Instead I embarked on a daily brushing / mouthwash ritual that sometimes included me taking a toothbrush with me to events so I could immediately brush my teeth after eating.

And believe me when I say I was paranoid about my teeth. I would brush too hard, I use mouthwash a lot (I have become a bit of an expert on mouthwashes and really should post a detailed review on them sometime), and I am a big fan of using sugarfree gum when I am outdoors so I clean my teeth using the gum.

It was 11 years and 3 months before I finally went to see another dentist, in September 2014.

When I finally made the decision to visit a dentist it was because I thought I had a chip in my tooth. But what I thought was a chip was actually a build up of 11 years worth of "calculus". It was not the tooth which had chipped, it was the calculus build up which had chipped. (Calculus chipping off is actually a good thing, but to my tongue it felt like a chip in my tooth.)

Despite all of my paranoid brushing time had still built up a layer of calculus on one small section of my teeth I wasn't brushing properly. My bad. Need to brush there more often.

So let us go back to the present.

I arrived at Archer Dental slightly early (about 9:50 or so AM, for a 10 AM appointment) on September 25th. I was given a very comprehensive form to fill out, covering everything from whether I was diabetic to what kind of medications I was on.

Once that was done I sat there and waited, playing with my phone because the choices of reading material available in the waiting room was limited to women's magazines and National Geographic. Oh what I would give for a Lee Valley catalogue for men to read... Seriously, they should add that to the pile of magazines on the shelf. Lee Valley catalogues are free and men LOVE reading anything that has tools or tech items in them. Add a Wired magazine subscription, plus a Lee Valley catalogue subscription and any man visiting their waiting room would be quite happy. I think I will bring along a Lee Valley catalogue during my next visit and surreptitiously leave it behind for other men to read. (I think the reason why it was mostly women's magazines because it is usually mothers who end up taking the kids to the dentist instead of fathers.)

Fortunately I did not have to wait that long. You know how most dentists make you wait FOREVER before you actually get to see them? Well my wait really was not that long. I was early after all, but I do believe my appointment actually started on schedule.

I was introduced to my dental hygienist for the day, Mary, who was extremely polite, considerate and willing to explain everything as we went along. I met Dr Archer later on, who likewise exemplified those values I find to be so important in a dentist. It was Mary however who ended up cleaning and also deep cleaning my teeth - and removing 11 years worth of calculus from my teeth, making me feel like I had a brand new set of teeth. And she did it while being as gentle and as understanding as possible. (That doesn't mean I wasn't in pain during the deep cleaning, that stuff is still painful - but at least she didn't rip my gums to pieces like that dental hygienist at York Dental.)

Afterwards I felt like I had been given a brand new lease on life. Like I was suddenly going to live long and have a fuller life. I was so happy with the results I promised to bring flowers the next time I visit, which will likely include a thank you note too.

When was the last time you went to a dentist and was so happy with the results you wanted to bring them flowers?

I am visiting Archer Dental again in a few weeks for a 2nd deep cleaning. After that I may end up becoming a regular visitor, but I also will be continuing my search for The Best Dentist in Toronto - which means I will need to explore and experiment with other dentists in Toronto and see how they stack up and compare with Archer Dental for their level of quality service.

Subscribe to Product Reviews Canada and read more reviews of dentists in Toronto in the future as I explore other dentists and try to determine which is the best. For now, the best dentist office in Toronto is Archer Dental.

Sometimes the customer is a moron

Ever heard the phrase "The customer is always right."

You know who invented that phrased? Customers that complain a lot and always try to get their way. (And then whine about it when they don't get their way.)

Truth be told, if you've ever worked in the service industry (doesn't matter what sector, any kind of service will do) you eventually meet a customer who starts demanding freebies, exceptions to the rule, and complains very loudly.

We all do it sometimes, especially when the situation warrants it.

But when you are on the receiving end of a customer who is verbally abusive (and I would argue "crazy") and thinks that they are entitled to an exception to your company policy, well then you have one solution.

Tell the customer to leave and take their business elsewhere.

Why? Because sometimes dealing with crazy customers just isn't worth it.

True, bending over backwards for customers makes for great customer service relationships. But sometimes customers are just demanding things that they have no entitlement for.

Take for example a dentist who receives people on an appointment basis. What happens when you don't show up for your appointment?

Well, the dentist charges you a fee because you missed your appointment and didn't show up. (And this fee is not covered by insurance by the way. YOU pay the fee if you miss the appointment.)

So imagine for example if the dentist gets a crazy person who refuses to pay the fee for missing their appointment, what do you think the dentist will do?

Answer - Refuse to serve that person until they agree to pay the fee. Why? Because they have Term of Service agreement wherein if you agree to schedule a cleaning for your teeth, then you are automatically agreeing to a ToS that says you also agree to pay any fees if you miss your appointment.

And such Terms of Service are normal for many industries. Dentists, personal trainers, massage therapists, basically anyone who works on an appointment basis.

On the other hand some businesses are more products based - and products come with warranties.

So for example if you go to an Audiologist in Mississauga and you purchase a Clarity XL-30 Amplified Telephone (a special telephone for people who have hearing difficulties), well then it comes with an one year warranty from the manufacturer.

Which means as long as the warranty is still good, you're fine. The manufacturer covers the cost of replacing or fixing your telephone. Which means the hearing clinic in Mississauga will be fine with providing you with full service to help you to fix or replace your phone. If however your warranty has expired, then they just have to point to the warranty and give you two options:

1. Pay to have it sent to the manufacturer and have it repaired.

2. Buy a new telephone with a new warranty.

Places like the above mentioned audiologist / hearing clinic always have great records for customer service - largely because they have warranties, receipts, records of clients, and they don't work on an appointment basis. If someone is late for showing up to purchase hearing aids or special telephones for the hearing impaired, or if they forget to show up, do you know what happens? The customer shows up later eventually anyway and it changes nothing for the audiologist working there.

But for the poor dentist or anyone working on a strict appointment based schedule, they don't just have appointments - they have a freaking WAITING ROOM with magazines and other things to keep you occupied. So you go there for your appointment, and then you WAIT for the dentist to be ready for you.

And if you don't show up, well then you get charged a fee.

At which point you have to wonder, what percentage of dentist customers complain about the extra fee for missing their cleaning, because the vast majority of people just nod, realize they are in the wrong, and then pay the fee.

It is really just the 1% of customers out there who want to be "squeaky wheels who get the grease" who would refuse to pay the fee.

At which point the dentist - or more precisely, the secretary working for the dentist - points to the Terms of Service agreement in the Fine Print.

At which point only a very small percentage of crazy / cheap people will complain about it. The chances of meeting one of these people is multiplied by the number of cheap people out there, multiplied by the percentage of people who feel they are entitled, and multiplied again by the number of people who like to argue and complain loudly until they are blue in the face.

In other words (since we are dealing with small percentages) the final number is pretty small and very rare.

But when you meet one of those crazy customers you understand and realize the same thing:

Those people are freaking lunatics.

Last Defense Utensil Wipes - Good or overly paranoid?

Okay so the makers of Last Defense Utensil Wipes emailed me last week asking if they could send me samples of their product. Which they did.

What it is - in case you did not read the image up above - is disinfectant wipes meant to be used on utensils, glasses, tea cups, etc., basically for anyone who is super paranoid about germs.

Now I do see a real world application for this, namely people with low immune systems like people suffering from HIV / AIDS (who have no immune system at all because the HIV virus killed it).

However for the vast majority of people, worrying about germs is largely just that: Worry and paranoia.

The truth is the vast majority of germs is not going to be spread via utensils and cups at restaurants. It is going to be spread by touching door handles and door knobs, or even just coughed into the air and be attached to water molecules, in which case you will just breathe in the germs...

So unless you are planning to start wearing a face mask over your mouth and nose all the time when outdoors, chances are likely you are going to be exposing yourself to germs.

In which case there are now designer germ masks in a variety of different colours and patterns to choose from.

Back to the Last Defense Utensil Wipes I should probably say that they do work and disinfect whatever it is you are cleaning with them.

Probably. I don't have a microscope that can see germs, so I am only guessing. I cannot tell you whether they work or not at cleaning germs away.

But it probably does do what it says.

In which case you have to ask yourself, how paranoid art thou?

Well if you are the type of person who worries about the cleanliness of restaurants then maybe you should not be eating in public in the first place. Just stay at home, never leave home and eat only things you grow in your private greenhouse.

Conclusions...

The product probably does work, but it is one of those niche products that really only appeal to people who are paranoid about eating in public places where germs are in the very air you are breathing anyway.

So if you get sick, don't blame the Last Defense Utensil Wipes because it is not their fault. They are probably doing their job. You breathed in the germs from the air anyway because that is the nature of the world we live in.

Pneumonia Vaccine

I am currently getting over a bout of pneumonia and did some research on it.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) pneumonia kills 1.2 million children per year. Over a 20 year period that is 24 million people.

Adults and the elderly also regularly die from pneumonia, but mostly it strikes children.

Pneumonia is (for all age groups) one of the leading causes of death. 7% of all deaths is caused by pneumonia.

Even industrialized countries are not immune. In the USA pneumonia is the 8th leading cause of death.

The silly thing is that pneumonia is easily treatable with antibiotics or vaccination.

The vaccine, which creates an immunity to the most common virus and bacterial forms of pneumonia, is quite cheap. Costs less than $10 to have the vaccine.

In contrast if you get sick the cost of getting the antibiotics from a pharmacy sets you back $31 and change (like it did me yesterday). My conclusion? Vaccination is cheaper and pneumonia knocked me off my feet for 5 days, causing a loss in income for those days.

The silly thing is that because pneumonia feels like the common cold most people don't think of it as being deadly - because they don't take it seriously.

But when you realize that 7% of all deaths is caused by pneumonia then you start to realize this is a largely preventable death.

In 2012 pneumonia killed approx. 175,000 Americans.

(2.5 million Americans died in 2012 from a variety of causes, many of which are preventable through exercise and diet.)