Every Practice Should Do This: The In-Office Hearing Aid Demo!!!

Speaker: Blaise Delfino 

You're tuned into the Hearing Matters podcast, the show that discusses hearing technology best practices, and a growing national epidemic hearing loss. Before we kick this episode off, a special thank you to our partners: 

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The All in one patient communication and engagement platform. Redux faster, drier, smarter, verified fader plugs, the world's first custom adjustable ear plug. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to yet another Hearing Matters podcast. I'm hoping everyone had a wonderful weekend this past weekend. My wife and I and my in-laws, we actually went to a rodeo. It was I believe, my second rodeo experience and it was, uh, pretty cool. We had a lot of fun. The weather was beautiful and uh, I would probably say my favorite rodeo game that they did, uh, if you will, was the barrel racing. Barrel racing was very cool. I think one of the, uh, the contestants scored like 17 second barrel race. That was, that was pretty quick. But uh, yeah, I'm hoping everyone had a wonderful weekend and I'm sure everyone is gearing up for the Thanksgiving holiday. I am super excited to have some ham, have some Turkey, and my favorite part of the meal stuffing. 

Super excited for that. Today's episode is going to be geared towards our fellow hearing healthcare professionals, but I am in belief that this episode is also going to help individuals who are currently on their journey to better hearing and maybe they have not visited a hearing healthcare professional just yet and they're in the discovery phase, looking at different resources, listening to different resources. And today is going to really discuss the in-office hearing aid demo. Now being in private practice owning a private practice, the hearing aid demo in my opinion, is so important. So if we understand that patients will usually wait seven to 10 years to actually address their hearing loss, this means that when these patients come in through your office doors, we need to ensure that, for lack of a better term, us hearing healthcare professionals are on our A game. We need to make sure that these patients have the best experience possible and one way to ensure that they have the best experience possible is to actually conduct the in-office demo. 

So understanding these patients have waited quite some time to address their hearing loss. It is up to us to ensure they have the best, best experience possible. And what we would do and what we still do at my family's private practice is new patients usually are scheduled for 60 to 90 minutes. And these are patients who have never worn hearing aids before. And one of the reasons that we decided to schedule patients for, you know, 90 minutes, an hour and a half, is because we really emphasize and emphasize the educational part of the appointment. Patients coming to us, they know that they present with some type of hearing loss, but we wanna ensure that they know the type and agree of hearing loss, our hearing aid a solution for them and if they are, which ones are going to be best for them. So ensuring that these patients are scheduled with the allotted amount of time to ensure that they walk away confident in number one, their provider in you, but also confident in their decision to move forward with hearing aids. 

So your new patient, they've walked through the door, you've greeted them at the door, they've handed you the completed paperwork, and now you're going to conduct that case history, complete the comprehensive audiological evaluation with speech and noise testing, temp manometry, perhaps auto acoustic emissions, the whole kitten caboodle. You've conducted this comprehensive hearing evaluation. Now we're going to review the patient's audiometric data with them. And to my fellow hearing healthcare professionals, I've learned through my experience, it is so important to keep the audiometric review simple because most patients don't understand the difference between a moderate, severe and severe hearing loss. They don't know the difference between conductive and sensory neural. But this is an opportunity for you to educate these patients on the different parts of the ear, the different types of hearing loss and degrees of hearing loss, but really keeping it simple. So after we would test our patients with that comprehensive audiological evaluation, we bring these patients into the technology suite and we review the hearing test results with them. 

Now we always go what we call beyond the audiogram. What do I mean by this? Well, we always conduct speech and noise testing and one of the many reasons we conduct speech and noise testing is because this tells us how well or how poor a patient performs in complex listening situations like a restaurant or a meeting or crowd like setting. So when we're going beyond the audiogram and we are telling the patient, number one, you do present with a hearing loss. Number two, I don't need to refer you to an ear, nose, and throat doctor for further investigation. And number three, Mr. Smith, you are a candidate for hearing technology. To my fellow hearing healthcare professionals, it is at this point in time you do not want to, for lack of a better term, word vomit on the patient with all of the different pathologies and the different brands. 

And this style of hearing aid is going to be better than the other style, or this brand is better than the other brand. This is an opportunity for us as the hearing healthcare professional to continue to listen. But now what we want to do is demonstrate what hearing technology can do. Again, we don't wanna overcomplicate this. I would always tell patients, Mr. Smith, you're here today because you struggle to understand speech and noise such as restaurants, crowds, and meetings. The goal of a hearing instrument is to increase speech understanding and decrease overall listening effort. And what hearing aids are able to do is they make really loud sounds soft and really soft sounds loud, and what needs to be at the forefront of what the patient is hearing. That is human connected speech. We want to ensure that the hearing aids are enhancing human connected speech and of course the non-PE sounds in the patient's environment. 

When we're reviewing the patient's hearing test results and letting them know that a hearing aid or hearing aids are the best treatment solution for them, we need to ensure that they are able to try the hearing aid in the office. Now, disclaimer here, every office is different. I totally understand that everyone has a different model. The model that we've implemented at audiology services and the model that I personally believe in is patients need to have the opportunity to feel the hearing aids during their appointment, put the hearing aids on and actually hear them. So the in-office hearing aid demo, after we've reviewed the audiometric data, we've explained the difference between speech and quiet and speech and noise scores. And after we've educated the patients on what the hearing aids intended use is again to increase speech understanding and decrease listening effort. This is when I would ask the patient to bring me through their typical day. 

What is a typical day like for you, Mrs. Smith, as you are getting the hearing technology ready for them to demo, they're telling you what their social activity level is like, what they like to do with their family, what they like to do with their friends. And what you are doing is you are listening twice as much as you're speaking. This is allowing you the hearing healthcare provider to make the best and strongest recommendation for that patient. So this is how I would set up the in-office hearing aid demo. When new patients would come into the office, we would always recommend them bring a familiar voice. This could be a a spouse, this could be a family friend, this could be just a friend or or a coworker, someone that they like trust and respect to bring them to this really important appointment. And here's why. 

After we've reviewed the hearing test results, now what I'm doing is I am programming the hearing aids to the patient's audiometric data. So the hearing test that we just conducted, I've programmed the hearing aids to that audiometric data. Now I'm putting the hearing aids on that patient and the hearing aids are muted. They're not off, but they are muted. What I've done is I have connected my Bluetooth speaker to my iPad and I have restaurant background noise playing in the background. And before I put the restaurant background noise on, I have let the patient know, number one, you're going to hear what hearing aids sound like. So when you start talking to me, your own voice is gonna sound different. It's essentially gonna sound like you're in a tunnel, but over time your brain is going to acclimate or get used to this new hearing world. 

And then I would turn to the spouse or the friend and I would say, right now you play a very important role during this demo. Mrs. Smith hasn't heard with increased clarity for many years. So when I turn those hearing aids on, it's gonna be a new hearing world. So the familiar voice, whether that be the spouse or the friend, is always the first person speaking to the patient that has the demo hearing aids on. So I would put the speaker behind the patient and the familiar voice would be about five to six feet away from that patient. We would try to simulate that being in a restaurant or a diner. So the hearing aids are muted, I have the restaurant background noise playing. The familiar voice is talking to the patient. Then I unmute the hearing aids and the patient's eyes are always the first sign of, wow, the hearing aids are on, the hearing aids are working and they sound really clear. 

So what we're doing here again is we are reintroducing the brain to sound and we are letting the patient experience this new hearing world that they reported and have reported. Speech understanding and noise has always been the most difficult for them to understand for many years. It is during this in-office hearing aid demo that the patient is truly able to understand speech with increased clarity. And during my time as a full-time practicing hearing healthcare provider, the patients always listen with their eyes and the importance of conducting this in-office hearing aid demo number one, the patient is now able to leave your office and leave that appointment. Understanding what hearing aids sound like. Now, there's also a disclaimer here as well. There are some hearing healthcare providers I'm sure that are listening right now that will say, well, you just best fit the hearing technology or you just best fit the hearing aids and to consumers listening right now, that is true. 

And whenever I would put the hearing aids on the patient, I would say, this is close to what your new hearing world will sound like, but it's not going to be exact because while they are close to your targets for best speech understanding and intelligibility, this is more or less an idea of what it will sound like because when we fit patients with their hearing technology that they purchase, we always conduct something called real ear measurement. Again, the goal here is to allow the patient to experience what an increased speech understanding situation actually sounds like. Because if you just have patients come to your office and you review the audiometric data with them, you tell them that they have a hearing loss and then you say your new hearing technology is going to cost you about $5,500 for the pair with a three year warranty, I can get you fit next week. 

That's not the best experience in my professional opinion. Again, every office is different and I totally understand that. But the importance of the in-office demo is this patient now has a frame of reference. They are now able to say, wow, I went to audiology services. I had the chance to meet with Blaze. He conducted an in-office hearing aid demo. Now the additional takeaways with this in-office demo is number one, we have displayed to the patient how the hearing aids actually work in a noisy situation. And it's so important that we educate our patients on this is that the hearing aids are really doing the work through what we call adaptive directionality. And one way that I would let my patients know what this means is that the hearing aids are scanning your environment over a hundred times per second and they are looking for human speech. 

And when they hear human speech, they're going to lock onto that speech output. Now, the other pros, if you will, of conducting in-office hearing aid demos is you are learning about the patient's lifestyle. Because when these hearing aids are on the patient's ears and they're listening and they're talking to their loved one, the interaction that you're seeing between the patient and their spouse is absolutely incredible. I've always loved doing this. So what the patient is going to do is they're gonna tell you, this would be so great in church, or this is going to be so wonderful during the holidays when I babysit my grandchildren. They're already sharing with you the hearing care provider, the use cases that they know they're going to be able to utilize hearing aids in. During this in-office hearing aid demo. We would also review with the patient how to take the hearing aids out, how to put the hearing aids back in. 

And yes, I understand this is a a long appointment, but here's the thing. We want to ensure that when patients left and when patients leave our office, they're educated and in the event they were to go to another hearing healthcare provider, we know that we have completely over delivered and they've had the greatest experience possible and they know that we support them not only with the hearing technology, but also counseling. So during this in-office hearing a demo, as we're talking to the patient, they're talking to their loved ones, we're learning about their lifestyle, but also their dexterity. So we would have a mirror right in front of the patient and I would review with them how to put the hearing aid in and how to take the hearing aid out. And this is why we did that to those tuned in right now is because as a hearing healthcare professional, I want to learn about the patient's dexterity. 

We would always, and we still do, we demo in the office receiver in the canal hearing aids. However, if a patient has arthritis or they have decreased dexterity or they they have macular degeneration or decreased vision, chances are we are not going to fit this particular patient with a receiver in the canal with a dome on the end. There's going to be some sort of customized component aka and ear mold attached to that rick hearing aid receiver in the canal, or we're going full custom rechargeable. This is why these in-office demos are so valuable not only to the patient but also to the provider that's going to be fitting this individual with the in-office demo. We also reviewed, and this is where speech and noise scores come in, when you understand a patient's lifestyle, when they've had the opportunity to hear the increase in speech understanding and intelligibility in a noisy environment. 

And then when you are actually able to show the patient you have a severe speech and noise score, but we're gonna retest you with the hearing aids in and they now show you a normal to near normal speech and noise score with the hearing aids, that patient is going to walk away and say, wow, I am making a data driven decision. I'm not just buying something that I'm throwing behind my ear and hoping that the hearing aids work. The in-office demo is a way in which ladies and gentlemen, we are able to create that experience for our patients because if they do go to another office that does conduct these comprehensive in-office demos, chances are that patient may end up choosing that provider because they took additional time to show them that it's not just about the hearing aid, it is about the counseling component tied to our hearing healthcare model. 

And I believe that's a really good segue. Again, another disclaimer here to some of our consumers is that not all offices are actually going to conduct in office hearing aid demos. Some offices, they'll have trial periods and that's usually mandated by the state. So for example, Pennsylvania 30 day trial period that is granted to the patient. Some offices do 75 day trial periods, some offices do 90 day trial periods. Personally, as a hearing healthcare professional, I am part of the camp that if you are aware in the hearing aids 14 hours a day for 30 days, research has shown that your brain has acclimated to that new hearing technology. Now, here is the reverse side of that. If the patient is not wearing the hearing aids for 14 hours a day, maybe they're wearing them seven hours a day, that acclimation period's gonna be about 60 days. 

But again, for those consumers tuned in right now, not every office is going to conduct an in-office hearing aid demo. Or if they do, every office might have their own spin on how they demo the hearing aids. But I am going to encourage my fellow hearing healthcare professionals because more times than not the hearing healthcare professionals that I do talk to in our industry, they are conducting in office hearing aid demos because they understand the value of it. The ability to program the hearing aids digitally in the office and the patient having the ability to experience what increased speech understanding and noisy situations is like is absolutely incredible. And I would challenge some of my fellow hearing healthcare professionals when we would conduct in-office hearing aid demos. It usually wouldn't be during the in-office demo, but it would maybe be their, the patient's second or third follow up. 

What we would do is we would conduct speech and noise testing in the sound field, so you know, do quick speech and noise testing in the sound field. And oftentimes our patients would score with severe speech and noise scores. Then after you've programmed the patient's hearing aids to their type and degree of hearing loss and you've counseled them, put them back into the booth, run quick speech and noise testing in the sound field with the hearing aids, you can even put it on their restaurant program. And what we would see nine times outta 10 is that these patients would present with normal to near normal speech and noise scores. When we showed our patients this data, they were so confident in their decision moving forward with hearing aids, they were so happy they reported of, you know, yes, I have noticed when I am in a restaurant type setting, I am understanding speech with greater intelligibility speech, understanding the in-office hearing aid demo is something that I absolutely, wholeheartedly believe every hearing healthcare professional should be conducting. 

And to the consumers out there, how amazing is it for you? You know, first of all, I want to take some time and just say congratulations on you taking this first step towards better hearing. You're tuned into this episode right now. You've waited years to do something about your hearing loss, to address your hearing loss. I'm sure you've been a family functions, you know, Thanksgiving is coming up. You may be feeling anxious about talking to family and friends around the table, and I just wanna say, it's okay. You're making the right decision. I would highly recommend in your area looking for a trusted hearing healthcare provider. Read their Google reviews, call them up, interview them. Make sure that whichever hearing healthcare provider you are going to choose as your hearing home if you will. You trust them, you like them, and of course, respect them because every hearing healthcare provider that I've personally met, they love what they do. 

They love helping patients hear life's story. And to our consumers, when you do go to that first hearing evaluation, I would absolutely ask the audiologist or hearing healthcare professional what their protocol is for in-office hearing demos or what their trial period is like. You know, I'm sure there are some hearing healthcare professionals tuned in right now who say, you know what? I don't really believe in in-office demos because it doesn't provide that clear picture of, you know, we haven't conducted real air measurement. And I get it. That's okay. The goal of the in-office hearing aid demo number one is to introduce that patient's brain to what sound is going to sound like they've waited seven to 10 years. So if they just come to your office and you show them a graph, say they have hearing aids and they need to invest thousands of dollars into their hearing healthcare journey, that's not the best experience in my professional opinion. 

So implementing fun office demos like I've described, I have personally found that patients feel comfortable with you. They feel comfortable moving forward with their new hearing technology, and they're going to tell their friends and their family about the amazing experience that they had because it really is a presentation to your patients and they've waited long enough to do something about their hearing loss. Now they're looking to you, the Hearing healthcare professional to bring them throughout this journey. I hope everyone learned a little bit about the importance of in-office hearing aid demos. I wanted to share my personal and professional experience in private practice implementing the hearing aid demo. On behalf of Hearing Matters podcast, I'd like to extend our gratitude and thank you for, for the consistent support. Your support really does mean the world to us. Share this episode with someone who may have just started their new hearing journey. You're tuned in to the Hearing Matters podcast, the show that discusses hearing technology best practices, and a growing national epidemic hearing loss. Until next time, hear life story.