The science of fitting hearing aids has certainly changed over the years. When I began, hearing aids were analog and could often only be adjusted by rotating a few dials on the faceplate of a hearing aid with a tiny screwdriver. For some models there was only one dial for low frequency and another for high frequency.

“All I want is to be able to hear people speak clearly!!!”

It’s an almost desperate request and I’ve heard it many times in the years that I have been dispensing hearing aids.

To be able to hear speech clearly in the presence of noise seems like such a simple request. Yet not one taken lightly by myself, the company I work for, or the manufacturers I represent.

Consider the size of a hearing aid microphone. It can be smaller than a kernel of corn, and still we expect it to pick up the sound of speech clearly and deliver it to the listener’s hearing impaired ear, at a distance of sometimes over twenty feet or more, and still not pick up unwanted sound or noise in the process. It can be a challenge.

We like challenges. The good news is that technology is only getting better and faster. Like all things electronic, the evolution of change is fast paced and innovation abounds.

The future is now!! From analog hearing aids with tiny dials, the next big step was in the mid ‘90s when digital sound processing was introduced. This allowed us to more accurately manipulate sound and shape frequencies for better understanding of speech.

Today new features include lightning fast Voice IQ technology, a leading noise reduction and speech preservation system that gives users the best opportunity to hear clearly. Today hearing aids are self-learning; gradually adjusting to a client’s volume control preferences. Hearing aids can even be adjusted via a touch-tone phone to enhance client convenience and can be made so small as to be completely invisible and beyond detection in the ear canal.

Today a powerful hearing aid doesn’t have to mean having a large, brown device attached to you. Power and accuracy can be packed into very compact and ergonomic shapes that disappear behind the ear.

As a hearing aid practitioner, I can’t bring back hearing that has been permanently diminished by time and noise exposure, but I can provide discreet, accurate and comfortable options to enhance the sounds of life and get you back into the world of great conversations. It all starts with a phone call. To have your hearing tested, please call or email us or click here to book an appointment.

Adele Collingwood BC-HIS

I first met Gisela for a hearing aid cleaning. She had gotten a behind-the-ear hearing aid about 2 years before from another supplier. She’s 80 years old and only has hearing on her right side.

For the last 2 years Gisela has only understood about 10% of what’s been said to her. Her family was losing hope and getting frustrated – they felt they were being abusive to her because they had to yell at her all the time. They couldn’t even go shopping with Gisela without getting nasty looks from people because they couldn’t communicate without raising their voices!

We decided to do a hearing test to see where she was at so we could make some adjustments to her current hearing aid. I did everything I could to try and help Gisela hear better and understand me. We spent a lot of time trying to fine-tune her hearing aid.

Finally, we decided to try a demo hearing aid. I put one in and asked Gisela a question – to her daughter’s amazement and Gisela’s shock, she was able to answer it right away! I was surprised, Gisela’s daughter was almost in tears and Gisela was just amazed. With such remarkable results with just a demo, we ordered Gisela a new hearing aid.

We custom fit the new hearing aid to Gisela when it came in and the success is incredible. I can’t believe the results we’ve had! For 2 years Gisela has been lost and alone. Her family has been frustrated and exhausted, and now, just like that, Gisela is back living and loving life with her family!

It’s days like this that make all the imperfect ones just disappear. It’s days like this that make me thankful I get to do what I do!

~Jackie Brosius, BC-HIS

My late father, Louis Nedelec, was one of the first Hearing Aid Audiologists in Edmonton and opened his first office in the downtown Hudson Bay store on Jasper and 101 Street. It was a small shared space with optometrist Dr. Donald Hamm.

We were the “Hudson Bay Hearing Center” and dad’s office was no larger than 12 feet by 12 feet with a shared receptionist and waiting room. Everything was in that small office, his audiometer, filing cabinet and desk. All faculties of the business were done in that room from consultations to fitting hearing aids to paying his invoices to manufactures for product and there were not many at that time. We dealt with Audiotone, Siemens, Phillips and Starkey.

Hearing aids were also not a thing of beauty. They were large ugly devices that either were hung behind your ear or worn in the temple of your eyeglasses (a nice supplement to Dr. Hamm’s business) and the big ol’ body worn device.

I often wonder what my father would think of today’s technology from invisible devices that hide deep in your ear canal to software in these devices that is faster than most computers.

Yes, the times they have been changing and I think my late father would be beside himself wondering how to fine tune one of these state of the art hearing aids without a screwdriver.