02-20-2018
As a “younger” member of the hearing loss club, I was embarrassed about adding hearing aids to my recently started list of “old guy implements” like reading glasses. The TV volume level was steadily climbing, much to the chagrin of my last daughter at home during her summers off between university sessions and I found my self saying “What?” on an increasingly regular basis, especially when conversing with the female half of our staff at work. A couple of visits to unnamed chain store hearing aid peddlers on the insistence of my GP left me with a less than appreciative feeling about their intentions. Both chains wanted me to commit to a hearing aid purchase within 1 hour of arrival with little information about my options and little more than a promise of “free batteries for life”.
Being a professional procrastinator for most of my adult life, I was able to push my hearing loss issues to the back burner for a couple of years until it became overly evident that it was seriously impacting my ability to effectively communicate with my co-workers and the valued customers in my business. This was the proverbial straw that broke my back. It was also making me look older every time I asked the questions, “What?”, “What did you say?”, “Can you please repeat that one more time?”. I finally decided to hit the internet to see if there were any alternatives to the chain-store hearing aid peddlers and found that there was a rather large group of very satisfied patients that had met with Dr Joyce Chen. I promptly made an appointment with Joyce and hoped for the best.
I could not have asked for a more caring, knowledgeable, professional and friendly audiologist if I tried. From the onset of my first appointment, Joyce made me feel very comfortable about the whole process and she explained that we were not going to find a solution for me that day and possibly not for the next few months, but that we would definitely find the “right” solution for my hearing needs.
Being a performing musician with monthly gigs had me very nervous about how hearing aids would affect my ability to play and hear my performances and Joyce was very aware of this concern. In the end I had trialed 4 different brands of hearing aids over the course of a couple of months until we were able to find the “sound” I was hoping for. Joyce was not only very patient throughout the entire process, she encouraged me to come into the office as often as I deemed necessary for adjustments to the hearing aids to make them work for me. She also did not talk about the prices of the various brands/models I was trying so I would specifically focus on the quality of the sound without letting the price get in the way of my evaluation. At one point I was pretty sure that she was seeing me more than any of her other patients combined but never once did she make me feel like I was imposing on her generosity of time. In fact, since I have settled on my brand and sound settings (RESOUND was the best choice for my music), Joyce has called me every few months to ask how everything is sounding and insists that I come in for a quick check-up/adjustment if I so much as mention any issue with the sound.
To say that hearing aids have positively impacted my life in every way would be a gross understatement and to say that my experience with Dr Chen at Okanagan Hearing Center has been highly rewarding would be an even greater understatement. If you or anyone you love are having reservations regarding meeting with an audiologist about hearing aids for the first time, I can only say this, “Call Dr. Joyce Chen and make an appointment, today!”
Thank-you Joyce for bringing back communication to my world, it was long overdue and, with the stealthy new designs, not even embarrassing for me because no one knows I’m wearing them!