Original Appointment 9-4-15: Over the past several years, I've been dealing with a steady hearing loss in both ears. I've visited an audiologist that was associated with my ENT physician. Yes, he conducted a comprehensive hearing test, and yes, discussed my hearing aid options. I can't put my finger on it, but I just wasn't comfortable with him. I finally gave up looking for a solution to my hearing problems. I figured I would simply 'live with it." As time passed, my wife directed my attention to Advanced Hearing Aid Solutions. I made the first appointment, and upon my arrival, I was immediately impressed. Mr. Ham had a way about him that put me at ease, at once. We had a brief discussion, then proceeded with the hearing test. This wasn't just a cursory hearing test either. Mr. Ham took the time to explain, in detail, every nuance of what was taking place, and what he was looking for in my performance. As it turns out, my hearing had taken a nosedive since my last audiologist visit, and was now falling within the realm of a severe hearing loss. After taking a good deal of time, explaining the results of the test, we discussed my hearing instrument options. After a while, we had mutually agreed on the Siemens Binax 7 hearing aids. Mr. Ham took even more time by actually demonstrating the hearing aids, and assisted me by offering direction in completing the insurance paperwork, and explaining everything that would be taking place in the immediate future. I left the initial appointment feeling completely satisfied, and I knew I was in the best hands I could be in. My hearing problems had finally been EXPLAINED to me, and I was excited about receiving my hearing aids.
Second Appointment 9-25-15: I arrived at Mr. Ham's office and was greeted again, like a family member, as opposed to just a client. He had my hearing aids already attached to his computer, and was ready to start programming them. Even though, everything was set to go, we didn't get right down to business. Mr. Ham took the time to simply chat, and make me feel at home. In this day and age of everything moving at breakneck speed, and nobody seeming to care much about anyone other than themselves, I found this to be most refreshing. Along with being the consummate professional, Mr. Ham is so very personable. We started discussing the available programming options, and performance parameters of my new hearing aids. Mr. Ham admitted he was giving me more information than I could retain in just one visit, and I assure you, he was right! I had NO IDEA my new hearing aids could do everything he was telling me. They are pretty amazing instruments. He not only explained what they could do, but explained HOW and WHY they did it. I admitted I was pretty overwhelmed with all the information. Mr. Ham clearly understood, and explained that in order for me to get really comfortable with my new instruments, it would take a number of appointments in order for adjustments and programming to take place, and that there was a learning curve that I was looking at. This learning curve would be taking up to 8 weeks. We got to the business of setting up a "baseline" for the performance of my hearing aids. At this point in time, I basically control the volume, and one single program on the instruments. He instructed me when, and for how long to wear them for the first two weeks. While initializing the hearing aids, Mr. Ham turned his computer monitor around so I could actually see what was going on, while he was setting things up. I'm VERY pleased so far. My next appointment is on the 9th of October. We'll see how we can "tweak" my hearing aids again, at that point. I'll have another post following that appointment. At this point in time, I would recommend Mr. Ham and his staff to ANYONE that's experiencing hearing difficulties. read more