Zounds Hearing - Latest Hearing Aid Technology Improves Quality of Life

Many of our HandyPro customers suffer with some degree of hearing loss. In fact, millions of Americans are in the same boat. We sat down with local business owner Glenn Harbold of Zounds Hearing to discuss some of the issues facing people with hearing loss today, as well as to learn more about the options available to those seeking treatment.

“Our mission is to help the world hear better,” shared Harbold. “Hearing loss is something that is a very widespread and serious issue. There are approximately 48 million Americans who struggle with hearing loss, and the vast majority of those people can be helped with the modern hearing aid technology that’s available and that Zounds offers to the world.”

There are many places people can go to get their hearing tested, but what makes the difference between a run-of-the-mill clinical reading and an effective personalized solution? “What makes Zounds unique,” Harbold said, “is really a combination of the product, the service, and the value that we offer to our clients. Everyone’s hearing loss is different, everyone’s needs are different, and everyone has a different set of priorities and goals in terms of what they want to be able to do to improve their hearing. … The most critical thing that people need to understand when they go to address their hearing loss is that they really need to find a company and a specialist that is going to work to understand their needs and their individual struggle.”

There’s the clinical side of understanding hearing loss from a medical point of view—such as where the damage exists and what options are available for treatment—but there’s also a personal, emotional component that is encompassed by an individual’s desires to achieve normalized hearing and a better quality of life. “Fixing someone’s hearing loss,” Harbold said, “is not just a matter of doing a simple clinical test, mapping and programming the hearing aids to their loss and saying, ‘Hey, you’re good to go. Call us if you need us.’ There’s a process that people need to go through, and it starts with that clinical testing, but it’s really a counseling process. What is your lifestyle like? What do you struggle with? The hearing profile can only tell the specialists so much; it’s really about talking to that person and understanding [their needs].”

The Future of Hearing Aids

What comes next for the hearing impaired community? There is certainly a long history of people who have been frustrated with the options available to them, the quality of the solutions, and the too-often-hefty price tag of hearing aids. “The challenge has been that, historically, hearing aids have not been very effective for a lot of people, “ said Harbold. “They were very expensive, and at the end of the day, the majority of people just didn’t want to wear them. They either didn’t want to spend the money on them and didn’t think they would actually help or, in some cases, they didn’t find them aesthetically pleasing. The stigma attached with wearing hearing aids had people resisting and not wanting to be seen wearing them.”

“The future,” Harbold went on, “thanks to advances that have been made—particularly with a company like Zounds—is that hearing aids are more comfortable, more discreet, they perform better, and in some cases, as with Zounds, the prices have come down. There are more affordable solutions for really quality, high-end hearing aids that didn’t exist previously. We think that’s going to start to break down some of those old barriers, and that we’ll see the adaption rate of hearing aids increase over time.”

Here at HandyPro, we make your well-being our priority. Our interview series goes hand-in-hand with that effort, and we hope you find it helpful! For more information on how we can help you make your home a home for life, visit us at www.StayAtHomeModificationsInc.com or call me (Brian Pritchard) at 216-212-7531.

If you’d like to learn more about Zounds Hearing or have your hearing tested by one of their specialists, you can schedule an appointment at either their Brooklyn or Mayfield Heights location by contacting them at 216-377-5520 or visiting them on the web at www.ZoundsCleveland.com.

To listen to the full audio of the interview, please click on the player below...