Having taken the chance to leave a comfortable job in 2016, I am happy to say that my leap of faith has been a success. Hearing World has expanded to three offices and has been able to help hundreds of people lead better, more engaging lives. While it’s nice to celebrate business success, seeing people come back and allowing me to continue to work on their hearing aids to help them achieve the best hearing possible has given me unexplainable joy.
I want to thank every customer that has given me the opportunity to help them hear better and allowed me to be a vital part of their lives. Having had the South Loop and Schererville offices open for five years, I recognized that people who had purchased hearing aids on the Chicago North Side were struggling to make the journey down to the South Loop, and therefore were not receiving the hearing care they deserved. In January 2021, I took the step of opening an office in Parkridge. Hearing World Parkridge was slow to get going at first, but in recent months it has become very busy. Initially, staff were able to help with scheduling and billing, which allowed me more time with customers. However, as the business grew, and more people came through our doors, we needed additional help. I took the decision to hire someone who could give customers the required attention to detail in order to help them achieve the best hearing possible. After months of searching, we were fortunate to find someone all the way from Donegal, Ireland. Hannah Galvin. Hannah obtained her master’s degree in audiology through University College Cork and she brings many years of clinical audiology experience to the team. She also brings a passion for hearing and shares Hearing World’s values of care. Her attention to detail ensures that the standard of care she provides is of the very highest. Hannah was born in Chicago; her parents owned Galvin’s bar in the northwest side of the city, and she is happy to be back amongst family and friends where the Galvin name has been held in such high regard. Having worn hearing aids for 30 years, I am continually striving to identify ways to hear more speech sounds. I encourage all people to reach out to Hearing World to see what extra hearing gains we can help them with.
The more problems you can bring to us, the more we can help you with. Our focus is ensuring you have better hearing. We have accomplished this though: ● Hearing Tests - Comprehensive Evaluation: we conduct all the necessary hearing tests to ensure we achieve a full understanding of the words our customers are missing out on.
● Cleanings: oftentimes, wax on the speaker, or dust on the microphones will reduce the input of sound into the hearing aids. ● Adjustments: be it a boost in speech clearness, or a reduction in background noise, we continue to make multiple adjustments with our customers. As hearing aids get older, they deteriorate with wear and tear. A boost in volume can take you closer to better hearing.
● Accessories: almost all our hearing aids connect directly to iPhone and Android. This allows our wearers to hear a phone conversation through their hearing aids if they opt to do so. We have also provided options for TV streaming direct into the hearing aids.
● Remote Adjustments: the latest hearing aid technology allows us to take control of your hearing aids for follow-up device care. We can talk with you through the hearing aids while you see our faces on a ‘FaceTime’-like feature, and we can make adjustments to your hearing aids remotely. This option is strictly for follow-up. We have investigated conducting direct sales to consumers in this way. However, we have found that it is not possible to provide customers with a good initial fit remotely. We also found that customers often need to come into the office if there are issues.
● Discrete: we supply invisible hearing aids that don’t compensate when it comes to quality of hearing. We have provided successful fittings for customers who were originally told that they were not candidates for these hearing aids. We offer free initial consultations to evaluate and give realistic expectations regarding this option.
● Insurance: we have been able to bill all insurance providers in the past, and while initially we saw only union insurance plans pay for hearing aids, more recently, we are seeing an increasing number of insurance plans pay towards hearing aids.
● Technology: unfortunately, hearing aids don’t last forever and can deteriorate like any electronic device. The newest technology allows us the best chance at the best hearing. We don’t recommend new hearing aids unless you are having problems hearing or if your current ones are not meeting your needs.
● Technology access. While working in different audiology settings and companies, I found myself wanting to do more for the customer, and felt I was restricted while working for someone else. Having accounts with every manufacturer has allowed us to give people better care and better hearing. With Hearing World, we have access to all manufacturers’ latest technology, and can supply.
● Health: untreated hearing can lead to cognitive decline and, in some cases, if hearing is not treated correctly then it can speed up the process of dementia. People who wear hearing aids spend less time trying to figure what people are saying and more time taking in information. If we don’t hear well, we don’t remember well. There are many scholarly articles online backing these claims and we are happy to provide them to anyone if they want to email us. At Hearing World, our mindset is to be excited about what can go right as opposed to focusing on what can go wrong. I recommend that people struggling with hearing loss take a similar approach to their hearing. We are now in a position where manufacturers are supplying us with trial hearing aids so, customers can try before committing to buy. Therefore, there is nothing to lose, and a lot can go right!
