Raise your hand if you, too, have trouble hearing your dining companions in a restaurant or understanding the actors at your local theater. Working hard to comprehend dialogue and to hear what’s going on is an all too common effort for many of us once we reach a certain age. For Dr. Jan Blustein of NYU, hearing loss has been a personal problem for several decades and it’s become the focus of her research as well. Dr Blustein realized that health care settings are often noisy places and thus pose challenges for older patients who need to follow care directions. Her analysis has just been published in the British Medical Journal, and she recently sat down with an editor from that journal to discuss the prevalence of hearing loss and the need to pay attention to noise levels. So turn up the volume and listen to Dr. Blustein Here. And do the noise levels of some public places worry you, either because you fear the impact on your hearing or are afraid you’ll miss out on conversation? Well, apparently, there’s an app for that! Check out the latest tech devices to help you measure noise levels by Reading Here.