This episode of Sound Advice takes you inside Audiological Services of Iowa, where Doug Leonard shares the nuances of patient experiences with hearing loss. Explore the patient-centered approach that helps individuals recognize, accept, and adapt to hearing changes. Discover how personal stories and expert care can empower patients to take control of their hearing health, and learn why calling for a screening might be the first step towards a brighter auditory future.
It's Sound Advice with audiologist Doug Leonard. We've been using the month of February to talk about really attitudes and frustration with hearing loss, and it's been a great topic to talk about. And now we're going to talk about Doug's attitude. When you come in to see the folks at Audiological Services of Iowa, Doug, one thing you have to assess is where that patient is at on their treatment journey. In other words, they've come through the door, but that doesn't mean they're ready to do something right at that moment.
Yeah, that's a good point, John. You can have, you could have five different patients that come in and we do an evaluation on them. They all have the same hearing loss, but they're not all ready to take action. You know, the easiest patient to help the ideal patient from my perspective is somebody who recognizes that they're having a problem. They're not in denial about it. They're frustrated by that problem. And I, and we, we hope people don't have terrible feelings of despair about their hearing loss, but you know, they're, they're motivated by the frustration and And then that same patient has the ability to adapt and change and go through rehabilitation and adapt to wearing hearing aids and learn how to hear again. That's the ideal patient. Of course, not everybody's like that. Some people come in and they're in the denial phase. They're only there because their spouse told them they had to come or their kids told them they had to come. That patient is not in the same spot as that patient. The ideal patient that we talked about.
And by the way, nobody starts at the ideal one. They always start at the denying.
Right. Well, you know, they say that the average patient has a hearing loss for at least seven years prior to even scheduling a hearing evaluation. And, you know, so there's a long time and there's a ramp up to that. I wish everybody were motivated immediately, but that's not the case. And that's because hearing loss happens gradually. So when you're working with a patient, you just have to realize where they're at in their journey. If they're in denial still, well, that appointment's not going to be about getting them hearing aids. That appointment's going to be about doing a good diagnostic evaluation, good case history with them, trying to explain the results in a way that they understand and maybe accept. But they're going to go out the door still. They're not ready to do anything. And that's fine. I don't want to have that patient get hearing aids just because I told them to or their kids or their spouse told them to. It might take them a few weeks or a few months or even a couple years down the road. They might come back in and see us again. And that's fine.
Yeah, and an audiologist assists you on that journey, but the patient is the one who ultimately makes the decisions. But you've got lots of things at your disposal like demos and things like that and adaptive tools that you can offer as a solution, as a help.
Yeah, I mean, demos are great. That's a great way for them to recognize that they're having a problem, you know, because then they realize how much they're not hearing, you know. they don't understand what they don't hear. You know, the other thing is, is just other patient referrals. You know, it's great that we've been coming to Carroll now for 25 years almost, basically, and So I have a ton of patients that are around that have gone through that journey, and it might be a friend of theirs. It might be a fellow parishioner at their church or a coworker. So, you know, you can rely on other people and their experiences as well.
That knowledge that you have working with a lot of different folks helps you every time you deal with a new patient coming through the door. So, Doug, what's the number at ASI, Audiological Services of Iowa, if anybody's got questions? They want to set up a screening. They want to find out more. What do they do?
Yeah, I'd love to talk to them, John. It's 792-5933.
So again, give them a call and ask questions. That's the best thing you can do is get information and start learning about your problems and how to maybe correct those with Audiological Services of Iowa.
