As an RCA Engineering alumnus, I’ve always had a soft spot for their NBC Division; and this sentimentality still exists to this day, even though Comcast now is the owner. Imagine my delight when my friend & crack Audiologist Dr A U Bankaitis posted this clip of a seven-plus minute segment on this mornings’ NBC Today show featuring an interview by Matt Lauer of hearing loss sufferer Jim McDade & his Audiologist Dr Shelley Borgia (e-mail) of Park Avenue Acoustics; and also of Lauer getting his hearing tested by her; and finally a “dog and pony” show of the various hearing instruments on the market:
…And much to NBC’s credit, the video is fully captioned: Thank you.
But, as I listened to it, something struck me a bit odd: Listen carefully to McDade speak in this clip:
Does something sound a little out-of-whack to you, too? Here is what was said:
Matt Lauer: 39-year-old Jim McDade is a true child of the 80′s growing up with headphones.
Jim McDade: I would wake up in the morning and my ears would be throbbing.
but compare it to his speech formation. Something smells a bit ripe to you too now, doesn’t it?
Perhaps the answer is in this next clip, starting at 6:20. Turn on the captions so you can follow the exact dialog:
From the transcript:
Matt Lauer: These are a little larger over here?
Shelley Borgia: These are the older traditional hearing devices.
ML: That made him cringe.
SB: Yes.
ML: Those are the ones that worried you?
Jim McDade: I had to grow up in grade school with something like that [Emphasis added].
Whoa! Looks like we caught Jim McDade and Dr Shelley Borgia being a bit less-than-truthful about the cause of his (McDades’) deafness: Although the “Advocacy Journalism” message of the NBC Today segment is that loud headphone usage can lead to hearing loss — And it certainly can; and may in fact have exacerbated his deafness – there is more to the story, with his childhood hearing loss significant enough to both require his need for hearing aids .AND. affect his speech production.
What makes this segment less-than honest is that, except for the slight speech impediment and McDades’ offhand admission of wearing hearing aids in grade school, we would have never known the cause of his problems is not as advertised. I’ll give Matt Lauer a pass on this, as he is neither an expert; and also maybe his “crap detector” had been been turned down a bit because he’s dealing with the identification of his own mild hearing loss.
On the other hand, I fault both Borgia and McDade for their less-than fully truthful, agenda-driven statements, as when pertinent facts to a story are withheld, the issue of iPod-induced hearing damage loses credibility; and for this they should both be reprimanded.
- Audiologist Shelley Borgia, AuD, of Park Avenue Acoustics in NYC, who was less-than 100% truthful in her appearance on NBC Today
As a side note, there may indeed be a real issue of McDade not wanting to show he wears hearing aids: Perhaps he was teased & bullied when he wore them in grade school, as kids can be merciless, especially on the playground. Fortunately, in the last several years, I’ve been receiving anecdotal reports that this has subsided; and in fact we are seeing more and more kids strutting their ear hardware, as you can see from this photo gallery I’ve assembled.
I’m 23 years old and have significant high-frequency hearing loss and mild tinnitus as a direct result of sleeping with headphones on for much of my youth. Even if the cause of McDade’s hearing loss was not completely honest in the report, the message is still true. I would assume that most of the “dishonesty” was more a case of sloppy or selective editing, as there would be no reason for McDade or any professional audiologist to lie about something like that, while there is a distinct advantage for the media.
Comment by Sean — August 16, 2011 @ 4:59 pm
Sean, first off we’re sorry to read you have noise-induced hearing loss. In any case, the message is needlessly diluted because of the dishonesty… And it has — As far as we can tell — nothing to do with selective editing.
Comment by Dan Schwartz — August 17, 2011 @ 4:14 am
Hearing today is all about Technology and the advances seen in recent years. It has been created to house up-to-date discussion on hearing aids. Options discussed ranged from patient education and training to clear labeling, online videos, training of professionals, as well as health provider input into the results. The panel’s summary, however, showed no agreement on which one or more options the FDA should pursue. This is very useful information for me. Thanks for sharing…
audiologists
Comment by audiologists — September 22, 2011 @ 6:42 am
In rare cases, using one hearing aid may be recommended. If the hearing is either too good, or too severe in one ear, that a hearing aid would not provide benefit, two hearing aids are often not recommended.
Reference: http://www.hiddenhearing.ie/
Comment by Rose winslet — April 12, 2013 @ 6:58 am
Anytime an official, especially in the science and medical fields, lies at all they are telling people not to trust them. Whether or not the lie is a large one or a tiny one, it is still a lie. If you find one lie, why should anyone believe the rest of it? In these fields it is completely stupid to lie since you endanger the trust of everyone who uses those services. By endangering that trust, you discourage people from using these necessary services. It also makes it VERY difficult for those who need your help to make an informed decision.
Trust is earned, you cannot earn it by lying, even a little. And you can lose all of it with one lie.
Comment by JCal — May 17, 2013 @ 4:18 pm
Words of Wisdom from Texas…
Comment by Dan Schwartz — May 17, 2013 @ 5:13 pm
My sense is we are dealing with two issues. One is that he does have a childhood hearing loss – COMPOUNDED by headphone introduced amplification. That is my sense. Without asking them I could not be certain. My speech has always been good for a deaf person, but it has also deteriorated as I have have aged.
Comment by Don Liveley — May 17, 2013 @ 8:08 pm
Don, we don’t know from the information given; but it could be determined from the childhood and adult audiograms.
As for McDade’s flawed speech production due to his childhood deafness, you probably wouldn’t be able to detect it since you have a CI; and in fact I had difficulty since I’m severely deaf myself: In fact, I had two experienced speech-language pathologists who have normal hearing listen to him speak; and they agreed he had a moderate, perhaps moderate-severe hearing loss as a child.
We have repeatedly asked Dr Borgia to comment: Perhaps you can get an answer from her. You can visit her website, call her at 212-354-2360, or e-mail her at sborgia@nycears.com
Comment by Dan Schwartz — May 17, 2013 @ 8:59 pm