Highlighting Howard Co. Business
Hearing the beautiful sounds
“Blindness separates us from things, but deafness separates us from people.” Helen Keller
The first hearing aid was created in the 17th century. More modern hearing aids followed the invention of the telephone. Next came the electric hearing aid in 1898. The late 20th century was when the first digital hearing aid was commercially distributed to the public. Following that the invention of the carbon microphone, transmitters, digital signal processing chips (DSP) and computer technology has brought hearing aids to what they are today.
Hearing loss can have a huge impact on a person’s life, causing problems in relationships, work and emotional well being
A concerned husband went to the doctor to talk about his wife, he said “Doctor, I think my wife is losing her hearing. She never hears me the first time I say something and always asks me to repeat things.”
“Well” the doctor replies “go home and stand about 15 feet from her and say something to her. If she doesn’t respond move closer, and say it again. Keep doing this until she answers. This will give us an idea about the severity of her deafness.”
The husband goes home and does exactly as instructed. He starts off about 15 feet away from his wife who is in the kitchen chopping vegetables. “Honey, what’s for dinner?”
He hears no response. He moves about five feet closer and asks again. No reply. He moves closer again. Still no reply. He gets fed up and moves right behind her, about an inch away and asks again, “Honey, what’s for dinner?”
She replies “for the fourth time, vegetable stew!” Beltone is celebrating its 80th anniversary. Beltone was founded in 1940 by Sam Posen in Chicago Illinois. Their first hearing aid was a model H. Currently Beltone has over 1500 independently owned “hearing care centers” in the United States, and are also located in Canada and 40 countries worldwide.
Garrett Morgan and his family own and operate all the Beltones in West Texas. There are five centers in the Permian Basin including the Big Spring loction - serving Big Spring for 60 years - at 104 W. Marcy Drive. They also have centers in Lubbock, Amarillo and Plainview. His sister-in-law, Dr. Tonia Fleming, is over the center in Lubbock. She works closely with Texas Tech audiology department. Fourth year audiology interns known as (AUD’S) are a part of that center. His wife has been a part of the company for 16 years. They have two sons, Avery 13 and Dax 11 both are on all their advertising. Dax has already expressed an interest in becoming the third generation to work with Beltone.
While hearing aids can open up the world for those who are dealing with hearing loss, not everyone with hearing loss will benefit from hearing aids.
“Only 1 in 5 people who could benefit from hearing aids wear them. The earlier hearing loss is detected the better their quality of hearing will be with hearing aids, also they will maintain their hearing longer,” he said “When hearing loss is age related people will usually go seven to 10 years before seeking help.”
He continued, “I recommend people have an evaluation at age 40 and every year after that even if they do not see a problem.”
Beltone offers free testing and evaluations, this sets a base line, therefore early detection can help the patient retain their quality of hearing longer. According to Garrett, most of the time people who have damage to their inner ear or the nerve that links the ear with the brain is caused by disease, aging, prolonged exposer to loud noise or medication.
“Hearing is a window into a person’s over-all health,” he said. “Sometimes a hearing test will detect other health problems such as heart trouble, Diabetes 2, blood pressure problems, and on occasions have identified tumors.”
Untreated hearing loss to isolation,
depression and increases the chances of Alzheimer’s, Dementia, short term memory loss and balance disorders. Hearing loss that is caused by problems with the ear canal, eardrum or middle ear can require surgery or other medications. When this occurs, they refer them to an ENT (ears, nose and throat doctor)
“My older brother, Chris Morgan who currently coaches for the Atlanta Falcons, told me that when he was coaching for the Seattle Sea Hawks.one night they set the record for the loudest stadium That means the noise level was over 135 decibels. Anyone there that night will have some hearing damage, it only takes one incident to show up later in life. At age 65, 30% need hearing aids, and at age 70 it is closer to 50%. Constant exposer to loud noise will damage hearing. Those numbers go up for anyone living and working in the Permian Basin. The oil field and construction in this area is very damaging to everyone regardless of age. Hunting without hearing protection can lead to damage. Even someone who is taking a concealed handgun class should wear hearing protection.
“I cannot stress how important protecting our hearing is,”garrett said. “Twenty percent of teenagers, by the time they are 19, will have noticeable hearing loss, this is self-induced by wearing headphones. No one should wear headphones for longer than 30 minutes a day and always below 80 decibels. Parents should monitor the amount of time spent in band halls, and sporting events and take precautions. Using household tools or lawn equipment without ear protection will certainly do damage. Tinnitus (a constant ringing in the ear and often a feeling of being off balance) is the number one war related problem they are seeing more often and in younger patients.”
Garrett said, over the years, their patients have become friends and family. One patient became a very close friend. On Thursdays, they would meet at Del’s for lunch until he had to move to Dallas. One day Garrett was in the back of the office when the receptionist came back flustered and told him there was a man in the front office with a shotgun. Not sure what was happening Garrett went to the front office. There was his friend with his favorite shotgun. He wanted Garrett to have the gun and had brought it to him.
“After everyone started breathing again, we all laughed about it; that meant a lot to me,” Garrett said. “He wanted me to have something that was important to him.”
Belton has won four awards this year: A Silver 2020 Stevie Winner for sales and customer service, Big Innovation for 2020, World changing Ideas and the Edison Award for innovation and innovators Beltone was the first to partner with Apple, the first to create Bluetooth hearing app and the first to connect to iphone and other smart phones and now android. Even before the pandemic they launched Remote Care. This allowed patients to make their appointment and receive adjustments by phone. Starting in March they went live so patients could been seen and helped. During this time of wearing mask patients had difficulties hearing even with the assistance of hearing aids. Belton just released an app called Hearmax. This allows the patient to control the volume, filter background noise, enhance speech clarity, control bass, midrange and treble from their phone. Patients can also do speech therapy from their phones Speech therapy is as important for improved hearing as the aids. The app has different programs for different environments: restaurants, outdoor, church, and meetings. The app also has a feature titled “find my hearing aids” to assist patients who lose them. The new hearing aids have a whistle stop feature that keeps them from reverberation and are cosmetically almost invisible. Now wireless devices, tv’s and phones can be connected to hearing aids. Also, a patient can have a microphone that clips to their clothes that helps them hear their own voice so they can control their volume.
Males struggle with a females or small children’s voices because of pitch. Low tones are usually the first range to disappear. There is a big difference between volume and clarity, loudness and comprehension. Just because volume is increased does not mean the person having trouble will hear better. Most patients can hear they just can’t distinguish between sounds. Untreated hearing loss leads to Auditory deprivation. This is the brains ability to detect certain sounds such as soft speech, unfortunately there is no cure for this. Hearing aids help the brain tune in sound. They also help with clarity; this is a way of balancing frequency to a normal level. Hearing aids are a prescription designed for each individual. Belton evaluates each patient’s hearing as well as how they comprehend words in each ear separately.
Beltone makes swim molds, in ear monitors for musicians and IFB’S (the ear monitors that news reporters use on location coverage), police officers and air traffic controllers. For hunters, and competition shooting they do custom fit hearing protection. Garrett works with all the school districts testing students and checking classroom settings.
Garrett uses the business as a ministry. They partner with United Way to “give the gift of hearing.” The foundation has fit over 100 hearing aids per year for residents in need. Texas Department of Rehabilitation Services offers one device, such as tablets or smart phones every five years free to qualified applicants. They also offer caption phones free which are usually installed in 24 to 72 hours.
Different needs determine price. Evaluations and testing are free, as well as follow up care. They will see veterans at no cost and clean hearing aids or adjust them. Prices can range from $100’s to $1000’s of dollars, however most insurances will cover part of the cost. Several Medicare plans have a discount program for hearing aids. Beltone participates in managed care on a national level. To help patients on fixed incomes, they offer financing for hearing aids as low as $27 a month with 0% interest and no down payment. There is also a leasing program which mean the patient never buys batteries. “Hearing aid scams are everywhere he said. “They are basically just amplifiers and do not address the actual problem.”
June 1-5 Beltone is offering a Stimulus program: Free hearing exam, wax check and removal, tablet, tv link, lifetime follow up care, smart phone service, caption phone technology and instant rebates. Call Garrett and his staff at 432-263-6181 for more information. Visit the website at beltonewesttexas. com.