• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
Family Hearing and Balance Center

Family Hearing and Balance Center

Doctors of Audiology

  • Family & Cardinal Main Page
  • Contact our Audiologists
  • Meet Our Audiologists
  • Hearing Aid Videos
  • Hearing Aid Labs
    • Jabra Enhance Plus – Over The Counter Hearing Aids
    • Resound
    • Oticon
    • Signia
    • Widex
    • Noise & Swim Plugs
    • Phonak
    • Unitron
    • Starkey
    • Audiograms Explained
  • Tinnitus
    • Tinnitus affects quality of life
    • Counseling Tinnitus and Misophonia
    • Levo
    • Resound
    • Widex Zen
    • Neuromonics
    • OasisPro
  • Balance Testing
  • Cochlear Implant Mapping
  • CaptionCall Phone
  • Show Search
Hide Search

To Hear Or Not To Hear? Dr. Amy Welman, Audiologist at Family Hearing and Balance Center

Isn’t “technology” an intimidating word? But, it’s part of our world now, from hybrid cars to Bluetooth connectivity and even the remote control for your television.

Recently, I’ve been talking with a lot of my Senior patients regarding new technology in hearing aids. Although I know new technology has its benefits, is smarter, and is able to improve speech quality better than in the past, I often wonder if my patients understand how much new technology can help. A lot of discussion starts with, “Well, I’m already “blankety blank” years old and don’t know how much time I have left, so I’m not sure about getting hearing aids.” That’s a very understandable statement, and my response is always the same: Getting hearing aids is about quality of life, about communicating with family, especially in “the last few years”.

A surprising fact is that many people have the newest smartphones, so I wonder if they “only have a few years left”, why did they buy the newest smartphone technology? The answer: it makes life easier, and they can stay connected with people they love. Isn’t that how hearing aids help us, too? If you do the math, over a five year period monthly cell phone bills, new upgrades, and data plans typically all add up to be more than the cost of a pair of hearing aids.

So it’s not the cost, it’s the negative stereotype that follows hearing aids that causes people to hesitate on purchasing hearing aids. I want to help people to start thinking about hearing aids as the tool to communicating with their grandson, to being able to talk to their sister in another state through the phone, and catching the punchline of the joke when they’re with their friends, or even hearing their loved one whisper “I love you.”

It’s not about technology, or cost, or brand, it’s about connecting with your world and the people in it.

 

Written by: Dr. Amy Welman

Editor: Dale Hansen, Practice Administrator


 

Written by:
Rich
Published on:
July 31, 2014
Thoughts:
4 Comments

Categories: Community Outreach, New Technology, Patient care, SliderTags: Au.D, ear doctor, family hearing and balance center.cardinal hearing centers, family hearing and cardinal hearing centers, Hearing Aids, hearing loss

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Explore more

Previous Blogs

Footer

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Sign up to receive an email every time we post a new blog!

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Contact Us

Akron  330-644-1932

Northfield  330-468-4288

Log in

  • No Surprise Act
  • Diversity Statement*Privacy Policy