Judy Huch

I run two private practices in Tucson, Arizona. I have always had a fascination with how things (from toasters to wireless) and people work, and audiology has given me a place to study both. I have been dispensing hearing aids for 20 years. I obtained my first license before I finished graduate school, when I was VERY young, and have owned, leased, contracted, and administrated in the hearing field, and became a landlord, in the past 15 years. I have also had publications in text books and trade journals focusing on patient satisfaction and hearing aid fittings. I hope to learn more through this editorial and blogging experience as well as share some of my journey in private practice. I live in a suburb of Tucson with my patient and understanding husband, Rick (who I must say is a top notch architect who designed and built the best Hearing Centers!) and my two sons, who make my heart swell and give me other wonderful perspectives on life! As do the myriad pets we seem to keep collecting.

Featured image for “Not-So-Ancient Mariners and Noise-Induced Hearing Loss”

Not-So-Ancient Mariners and Noise-Induced Hearing Loss

HHTM Staff: Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) has been the subject of many posts at HHTM and we have discussed that not everyone self-induces their NIHL. Those who serve in our armed forces get theirs the old fashioned way — by daily exposure to hazardous levels of workplace noise or as warfighters in high noise combat conditions. Today’s post looks at

Featured image for “Call of the Wild: Noises You Need to Hear Even if You Don’t Want To”

Call of the Wild: Noises You Need to Hear Even if You Don’t Want To

This section has been highlighting noise of all types. Unscientific polls in our offices asked clients on their preference for noisy (20% voted for it) or silent (80%want it) lifestyles. In general, the research and the readers agree that noise distracts, interferes with speech understanding, and contributes to cognitive overload. All well and good, but whether you LIKE noise or

Featured image for “This Old House: Noises You Need to Hear”

This Old House: Noises You Need to Hear

HHTM Staff: Do we discuss the sounds that people need to hear? There are times in the office people will state they don’t need to hear those annoying softer sounds, but here we highlight and pass along some areas we don’t normally think of. What’s Your House Saying to You? My soft water conditioner hummed along in a remote

Featured image for “Hunting, the Holy Grail of Fall”

Hunting, the Holy Grail of Fall

By Patty Tillman Johnson From the HHTM Editor: Today’s post continues the series on noise in a variety of forms. Please welcome Patty Tillman Johnson, AuD, as this week’s guest writer; her article on noise exposure from hunting firearms and remedies for the same, will have follow up posts. It’s that time of year again: hunting season! Depending

Featured image for “Is Noise the New Sugar?”

Is Noise the New Sugar?

HHTM Staff: We mention at HHTM that Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) is so much a part of the everyday life of Audiologists that we tend to take it for granted, assuming that everyone knows how bad Noise is for your hearing. This thought has prompted some self evaluation which will produce more posts on Noise which define NIHL and

Featured image for “Missing the Obvious: Why Audiologists Cannot Take Short-Cuts”

Missing the Obvious: Why Audiologists Cannot Take Short-Cuts

We like to keep it light and easy here at HHTM, if for no other reason than getting older and not hearing well is hard sledding, so why make a visit to an audiologist any harder than it has to be? But, like the proverbial duck floating smoothly on the surface, there’s a whole lotta action going on below the

Featured image for “Missing the Obvious and the Occult: Why Audiologists Can’t Take Shortcuts”

Missing the Obvious and the Occult: Why Audiologists Can’t Take Shortcuts

HHTM Staff All of us have taken shortcuts on the calculated risk that the odds are on our and the patient’s side. Short cuts are just that — they save time and eliminate sidetracks. In the case of hearing loss, shortcuts allow the clinician to cut to the chase and fit hearing aids so the person can hear better. The

Featured image for “Noisy Hospitals…and a New Role for Hospital Gowns?”

Noisy Hospitals…and a New Role for Hospital Gowns?

HHTM Staff: Most of us have been hospitalized overnight at some point and ALL of us can report that hospitals are noisy places. We didn’t need research to tell us that, but there is now research confirming hospital noise, providing noise level data, and measuring noise effects on sleep. Read on for this and our fanciful solutions. The study,

Featured image for “Hearing Loss and Vision Problems Go Together as We Age”

Hearing Loss and Vision Problems Go Together as We Age

HHTM Staff: Preliminary research from Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute in San Francisco suggests certain vision problems in older adults is associated with a 50% higher risk of hearing loss. Here is a summary of the research by Marilyn Schneck and colleagues: 446 adults with a mean age of 79.9 years had their hearing screened and underwent an extensive series of

Featured image for “Cheers! Hearing Health, Dementia Prevention and Beer May Mix”

Cheers! Hearing Health, Dementia Prevention and Beer May Mix

HHTM Staff: Regular readers of HHTM know that we are keenly interested in research related to Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia as well as general aspects of physical and mental health, especially as they relate to hearing loss. Links between uncorrected hearing loss and mental disorders (depression, dementia) are fast becoming clear, though causal relationships remain unclear. What we do