Recently I had a patient in our office and we were talking about hearing care in general and the extent in which we can program and fine-tune for changes in hearing needs. She relayed that she thought it was amazing all the things that we actually did during a simple “cleaning appointment” at our office. I chuckled and agreed. Then I broke it down for her. She then Said: “You should write an article on what happens behind the scenes during an appointment at your office!” What a GREAT IDEA!! Thanks Sharon!!

So to start at the beginning… a Simple Cleaning appointment can range from 15 minutes to 45 minutes. Upon arriving in the office you are escorted to the “tech center” and your hearing instruments are surrendered (lol) to our staff and they are cleaned, ear and vacuumed. Ear buds, wax guards, and mic covers ore replaced…While you sit an visit with us. Next they are hooked up to the computer to read the instruments to see if they have any firmware updates to load. If you have a smart phone we will check and update the phone for you. At this point to make the hearing instruments connect and run properly with your cell phone they usually will need to be deleted and re-initialized with the phone….. Yes… we do all of that for you as well. One person told me today.. this is better than going to the phone store. (I was actually showing him while trying to figure out his flip phone; how to block unwanted calls!)

Now that the Hearing Instruments are cleaned, updated and the phone is also up to date… It is time to continue the “cleaning” part of the appointment. The dreaded ear wax. You are now escorted to one of the exam/fitting rooms and your Hearing Practitioner will take over for the rest of your appointment. Your ears are visually inspected for ear wax or anything else that may be lingering. We then remove ear wax if necessary. Analyze the hearing instruments and put them in the ReDux drying machine. There is always moisture attacking hearing instruments in Florida due to our wonderful humidity. So the ReDux machine is just a great preventive measure. It heats dry air to 212 degrees to evaporate water and oils. It has saved many hearing instruments. We also inspect the entire ear for any type of sign of skin cancers or
suspicious spots that may occur. Our camera’s magnify up to 40x thus; even a speck is very noticeable and we appreciate the fact that you can not see behind your head.

Next step is to analyze the instruments in the lab. Once everything checks out we hook them to the programming computer to check the data log in the hearing instruments to make sure your prescription and adjustments are appropriate for you hearing loss and your lifestyle needs. The data log in your hearing instruments actually breaks down listening environments that your have been in since your last visit and gives useful information as to how your processors and microphones have been functioning in your “real world”. This will be explained to you as well. If you need or would like some changes we do this at this point. Once programmed.. your hearing instruments are re-paired to your phone. The connection to the APP is checked.. if issues, then that is also deleted and re-loaded for you. Once everything checks out to be working perfectly then your next appointment is set for you to ensure that you have the VERY BEST hearing possible to help you “HEAR BETTER & LIVE BETTER!” We strive to provide our community with the very best in patient care! We Care! If you are experiencing hearing difficulties give us a call today! (863) 385-3497. To Hear Better IS to Live Better!!! Thanks again Sharon!!

By: Roseann B. Kiefer, B.A., BC-HIS