A few years ago, a man brought his 102 year old mother into my office. He stated that they thought she had dementia, but her physician wanted to rule out hearing loss. Her audiological examination demonstrated a severe flat 70-80 dB hearing loss bilaterally with 60% discrimination. I explained that she would benefit from amplification, and we decided on a low-cost, easy-to-use device to see if it would provide any benefit.
Two weeks later I am playing golf and this man comes over to me and says with great joy, “You gave my mother a hearing device a couple of weeks ago. I can’t believe the difference in her, it is like she is a different person. She talks all the time and we are having great conversations.”
The friend I was playing golf with looked at me and said “Wow, you change people’s lives!” It was a great reminder why I love being an audiologist.