Hearing Aids

Fashion designer Pauline Trigere is putting her stylish stamp on some traditionally unstylish--and, in some cases, downright ugly--accessories that are commonly used by older people. She is working with Gold Violin, a Web site and catalog company, to make items like eyeglass cases, pillboxes and hearing-aid pouches in printed fabrics and ostrich-embossed leather. "Practicality has always been very important in my life and my designs.

Food and Drug Administration officials announced they had approved a device that gives some people with a rare type of hearing loss the ability to detect some sounds and speech. The device is designed to treat patients with a condition called neurofibromatosis type 2, in which tumors grow on nerves in the brain. Removing the tumors requires severing the auditory nerve, leading to total hearing loss. About 1 in 40,000 Americans has the genetic condition, according to device maker Cochlear Corp.

Federal health officials approved a novel surgically implanted ear device that may help Americans frustrated with regular hearing aids to hear better. Symphonix Inc.'s Vibrant Soundbridge is for a type of moderate-to-severe hearing loss that afflicts millions of Americans. The loss is caused by problems with nerves vital for sound. Regular hearing aids help many of these people by magnifying sound.

Some tips for jewelry purchases. * Ask about the store's refund and return policies before you buy. * Check for the appropriate markings on metal jewelry. * For simple gold jewelry, without special design or workmanship, comparison shop for the best price based on the item's gram weight and the price of gold. * Ask if the pearls are natural, cultured or imitation. * Ask whether the gemstone is natural, laboratory-created or imitation. * Ask if the gemstone has been treated.

SERVICES * Hearing test: Exams, which take 30 to 40 minutes and cost $60 to $90, are covered by most health plans if you go through your doctor. Your doctor can refer you to an audiologist, or you can call the American Speech-Language-Hearing Assn., the American Academy of Audiology ([800] 222-2336), or your state licensing board. * Hearing aids: Some fit in the ear canal and can barely be seen. New models, including implantable aids, are under development.

Beverly Biderman hops into the Saab convertible of the producer who wants to make a movie of her life, and roars over to Venice Beach to check out the sights: tarot card readers, near-naked roller-bladers, a one-man-band. Outside a T-shirt booth, Biderman pulls some delicate electronics out of a box, and a mini-crowd starts gathering around her, as if it's thinking: What's this performance about? Biderman's "performance" today is about two things: What it's like to hear poorly.

If hearing loss can have a huge effect on people's lives, so, too, can a strange, unpleasant hearing "gain." Imagine constantly living with buzzes and hums that sound perfectly real and yet only you can hear. Imagine never being able to escape those sounds, no matter how far you travel into the wilderness or however silent the outside world. This odd condition, in medical lingo, is known as tinnitus. Beethoven (though he's better known for going deaf) was afflicted by it.

Over the centuries, many creative devices were designed to help people hear better. Here is a look at how hearing aids have evolved. Late 1700s-1800s Conversation tubes: The narrow end was placed in a person's ear canal, and people spoke into the wide end, achieving modest amplification. 1800s Beginning in the early 17th century, people placed rams' horns to their ears to amplify sounds. In later centuries, people used many types of ear trumpets, like this one from the 1800s.

Edward W. Johnson, 81, audiologist who persuaded Ronald Reagan to wear a hearing aid. Johnson was admissions director at Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota when one of his daughters was diagnosed as deaf. That discovery led him to change careers: In 1951, he enrolled in the audiology program at USC. In 1955 he joined the Otologic Medical Group in Los Angeles as director of clinical audiology, a position he held for 30 years. During that time he treated many famous patients.

A dilemma exists in the provision of speech and hearing services to low-income children covered under the California Children's Services, or CCS, and Medi-Cal programs. While the number of children requiring such services (diagnostic evaluations, hearing aids, therapy and associated services) is experiencing a dramatic increase, the number of audiologists and speech pathologists able and willing to provide these services is declining.