Have you ever asked yourself the question… “How well should I be hearing?” I have had many people over the last 45 years ask me if I can make them hear better. Hear better with their hearing that they have without hearing aids. I also have numerous people ask me if I can make them hear better than their current hearing aids. They may be wearing hearing aids that have been purchased from our office and are several years old and they have out lived their usefulness. Patients also will come to us for 2nd opinions on their hearing aids that they have purchased from another hearing center in our area. EVERYONE wants to hear the best that they possibly can. We do a ton of 2nd opinions as we are the oldest hearing center in this county at 56 years and personally I have 46 years experience testing, fitting and improving our community’s hearing. So… do we just say yes? No. No we do not.

First we sit down to counsel and find out why the patient is unhappy with their hearing and or hearing aids. We determine from this meeting their needs and desires. Their lifestyles and their expectations. We determine through a self evaluation questionnaire the degree of hearing difficulty that the patient actually determines for themself. After visual examination of the ears and removal of wax if necessary…and if a medical referral is not necessary, we will then perform the hearing evaluation. If the patient is currently wearing the hearing instruments we will analyze them and make sure they are running to manufacture specifications and determine the fitting range and capabilities of their current aids.

A complete diagnostic hearing evaluation is INVALUABLE. It not only tells us the degree of hearing loss, but; it also tells us how well we can expect you to understand once we fit you with hearing aids. Special speech testing in noise with sentences makes it very clear to both the patient and to us the degree of difficulty you will have in groups, restaurants, various background noise. Different types of testing with this systems helps us determine exactly the best style and technology level to provide you with the best hearing. We are often told by the patient.. this is the most thorough test I ever had.. no one has ever tested this before. My last test took 15 minutes. That is just not acceptable. We also perform testing in noise using different types of technology levels to determine what level of technology it will take to actually get you YOUR best speech understanding in noise. This test is eye opening for the patients, us, and their spouse. We strive to be the best. THE VERY BEST and we have been voted the best by the people in this county for over 25 years straight. BEST HEARING AID CENTER and BEST HEARING SPECIALIST. That is why you came in. To get the BEST hearing. Not 80% better. Not 70% better… you don’t want to miss 3 words out of 10.. do you? No.. you want to hear the best that you can. Everyone has different hearing needs and brain capabilities. This is why all the major manufacturers have 6-7 different levels of technologies. For different brain needs. Different hearing needs. When you go to an eye doctor to get glasses.. you don’t say.. I just want tunnel vision like a horse with blinders on. Getting hearing aids that do not fit your entire hearing spectrum and your prescriptive needs is pretty much the same thing. When people say…” they are just amplifiers… what they are really saying is they don’t have the capability to provide for your hearing prescription.”

So after obtaining all the necessary information we now can develop your personalized plan. What will provide you with the very best hearing possible. What level and style of hearing aids do you need for your life style and communication needs. What level of technology will fit your hearing loss to help keep you from getting cognitive decline/dementia/and Alzheimer’s? Several months ago, Myself and our other Hearing Specialist, Gabriel Purvis underwent training and obtained our certification for “Certified Dementia Practitioner” so that we would obtain additional knowledge needed to best help our patients.

Just so you know: THE NUMBER 1..MOST IMPORTANT ACTIVITY THAT A PERSON CAN DO TO SLOW DOWN COGNITIVE DECLINE THAT LEADS TO DEMENTIA AND ALZHEIMER’S IS TO WEAR APPROPRIATELY FITTING HEARING AIDS. That means correcting all the area’s of your hearing loss… not just a few frequencies. Not just hearing a little bit better. It means getting all the auditory stimulus to the brain that is correctable. You hear with your brain and you need to protect it.

Yesterday, I had a patient come in for his 1st check up. I asked him how he was doing as he is very active, physically.. sweats a lot… and still running his business. He is 79. Has tinnitus. This was his first set of hearing aids. His response; “ Really Good. Actually, I am kind of surprised how good I am doing”. I have no issues really.” My response; “Well, you purchased my recommendation. These Starkey Edge Hearing Aids are the best on the market. No one has A.I., gyroscopes, and neuroprocessors that analyze speech and competing sounds in a 360 degree pattern rapidly. Your hearing aids make almost 20 billion automatic adjustments in a 24 hour period. They work hard so your brain doesn’t have to.”

Starkey was started by Bill Austin over 58 years ago. He just turned 83 and is still active in his Family company that employs over 4600 people in Eden Prairie, Mn. They have over 2300 engineers and 1400 Doctors of Audiology working tirelessly to build and deliver the most advanced and reliable hearing devices available today.

So.. how well should you hear? In my opinion… as well as we can possible make you. If you need us.. We strive to provide you with your best hearing journey possible! To Hear Better Is To Live Better! Call (863) 385-3497.

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