This Mother's Day, Tamra Dale
reflects on how addressing her hearing health has enhanced her
connection with her children now and in the years to come.
PALM
BEACH GARDENS, Fla., May 9, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- Tamra Dale, former
finance executive turned self-proclaimed family "CFO"
(chief-flourishing-officer) to three kids, has had a challenging
hearing health journey.
"I started to notice my hearing loss in my early 30's, before I
had children. The TV always sounded too loud when I turned it on,
but when I turned the volume down, I was unable to hear it, leading
me to turn it back up. Then, the next time I watched, I'd again
notice the volume was too loud, rinse and repeat over and over,"
Dale said. "That's what brought me to an audiologist for the first
time in the 1990's."
Given Dale's age, the first audiologist she saw didn't believe
her– asserting that she's too young to have hearing loss. After
demanding a test, her suspicion was confirmed; but she was told
there was nothing to be done. "The audiologist said I needed to
wait for hearing to get worse, or technology to get better," she
added.
Fortunately, a lot has changed since then. Advancements in
hearing aid technology have significantly improved the wearer
experience, and we now know that you're never too young to have
hearing loss. After decades of suboptimal experiences with several
different audiologists and hearing aid solutions, Dale turned to
HearUSA in the fall of 2023 to get fitted for top-of-the-line
Signia hearing aids. Since then, her life has changed – and much
for the better.
"Visiting HearUSA allowed me to truly address my hearing health
in a way that I wasn't able to before," she said. "My top priority
is being fully present for my children and spouse. If you can't
hear, you can't communicate and connect – and connecting with my
family is the most important thing to me. Now, after many years of
trying different solutions, I don't miss things like I used
to."
Missing Moments with Noise-Induced Hearing Loss
Before Dale became a full-time stay-at-home mom, she began her
finance career working as a clerk on a trading floor – a
notoriously noisy environment – in which she was exposed to loud
sounds constantly. Time at the gym was also marked by hours of loud
headphone use.
As she worked her way up the corporate ladder, she was
eventually stationed in the back office to oversee risk management.
There, she was exposed to a cacophony of loudly ringing phones. "I
spent years amid the noise, and I believe it took a serious toll on
my hearing," she explained.
A few years later, she began to receive feedback in smaller
group environments that she "wasn't catching things." She also
started to notice, as a new mom to three kids under three years
old, that she was struggling to hear sounds that required her
attention.
"It was hard to hear my kids outdoors, especially without walls
to contain the noise, like playgrounds or museums. That's when we
started to use a lot of signaling and pointing," she said. "I had
to rely on other parents because I was missing sounds at the
playground, which was upsetting. There is nothing more valuable
than being present in those fleeting moments with your
children."
Tamra's son, Austin (18), recalls several instances in his
childhood in which his mom's hearing loss was most apparent.
"My mom used to make tea all the time, and I would be in the
middle of doing homework and the kettle would make a high-pitched
steam sound when it was ready," he said. "She was right next to me
– and it would get to the point that it was getting very loud, and
I'd need to get up and turn it off because she didn't hear it."
Incidents like these prompted Dale to return to an audiologist,
and while she was fitted for hearing aids this time, they did
little to solve the issues she experienced.
In fact, Austin was convinced
that his mom's hearing would worsen to the point that she would not
be able to hear him. "As I was going into high school, I was
worried that I would need to learn American Sign Language, so I
took three years of classes partially out of the fear that there
would come a time that she couldn't hear me," he confessed.
A Challenging Hearing Aid Journey
In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic hit and face masks were the
norm, Dale realized that she was relying very heavily on
lip-reading, even with another relatively new pair of hearing
aids.
At the same time, more and more studies came out linking hearing
loss to cognitive decline, instilling new fears into Dale about her
health. "The thing that scared me the most about hearing loss is
that when it goes untreated for a long time, it can cause
irreparable damage," she said. "I want to be here for my kids as
they grow into adulthood – so I knew my current hearing aid
solution wasn't doing me any favors."
Dale pursued yet another pair of hearing aids, but she felt that
she had to speak quietly because her voice sounded so loud in her
head. "I went for a mid-range price option, but the technology
wasn't up-to-par. I was still missing the natural flow of
conversations, like when a person would turn their head instead of
looking directly at me, and was generally uncomfortable trying to
hear in large rooms or outdoors."
Seeking Help from HearUSA
In the fall of 2023, Dale visited Dr. Natalie Calderon, AuD, at a HearUSA location in
her current home of Los Angeles to
be fitted for a new pair of hearing aids. Calderon patiently
listened to her concerns and recommended the Signia Pure
Charge&Go IX hearing aids, which feature cutting-edge
technology to help wearers navigate group conversations in noisy
environments, among many other benefits.
"Even though I had recently purchased hearing aids, and I was
reluctant to invest in a new pair financially, I knew that there
was no better investment than staying engaged with my children,"
Dale explained. "Plus, HearUSA offers flexible financing plans that
made it a lot easier for us to manage the purchase."
Dale's new Signia hearing aids finally addressed the hearing
challenges she had experienced for decades and now allow her to be
fully present with her children. They leverage AI/machine learning
to make automatic adjustments depending on the hearing setting,
allowing Tamra to avoid a lot of the "tampering" with settings she
experienced previously. However, she is able to adjust various
settings such as volume control and hearing directionality through
the compatible Signia app when desired.
"My hearing aids self-teach and make it so easy for me to be in
different environments with my children without fiddling with my
phone to change settings," she said. "I was able to attend my son's
choir concert and hear every voice and sound despite being in a
noisy concert hall. It's a major quality-of-life booster."
Addressing Hearing Health is Vital to Quality of Life
According to Austin, he has
witnessed a transformation in his mom's hearing health journey. "I
can't remember a time before my mom had hearing aids, but this time
it's different," he said. "It's a relief to see her happy and
engaged with life."
"Nothing matters more than being present for family time," Dale
said. "I always send people to HearUSA and tell people to 'get
checked' so you won't miss out on life. With hearing loss, you do
miss a lot and unfortunately people stop engaging with you and you
stop engaging with the world, so it's imperative to act
quickly."
She continued, "There's a natural distancing in your
relationships with hearing loss, so I want to make sure that as I
age, I'm still my kids' first phone call as they move away to
college and grow into adults. Texting is one thing, but speaking to
your children is another. I want to be there through their
victories and challenges and hear the excitement in their voices.
That's the most important thing as a mom: you want to maintain that
connection."
For more information on HearUSA, visit www.hearusa.com. For the
press kit, click here.
About HearUSA
HearUSA is a global leader in hearing
health. With our extensive network coverage, advanced online
services, and pioneering technology, we are on a mission to make
hearing care simpler and more accessible than ever before, setting
a new standard in modern hearing care. Drawing on the expertise and
hearing care services of over 380 owned hearing centers and more
than 4,000 network hearing care professionals, we are helping more
people take charge of their hearing health, making wonderful sound
part of their everyday life. Find out more about us at
HearUSA.com.
Media Contact
Griffin360
Tom Terzulli
212-481-3456 x11
377492@email4pr.com
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SOURCE HearUSA