Testimonials

I've been a patient of Dr. Jina's since 2006. Wearing conventional hearing aids tremendously helped my hearing loss, but I could never get them just quite right. They wouldn't stay in, they needed regular cleaning, the constant changing of batteries and the tune-ups all took time and effort for both of us, but hearing aids were my only option and the best technology on the market, until now. Now I wear the Lyric, and what a difference! I never have to worry about them falling out because they are "in my ears" and completely invisible! The sound is superior, I never have to change a battery or worry about them getting wet. I feel like I don't even have a hearing loss anymore!

- Harry W. - Nashville, TN

Dr. Scherer (or Dr. Jina as she wishes to be called) has been working with me for approximately 6 months now, helping me service my old aids and purchasing new aids. Let me introduce myself and my hearing aid experience so you can appreciate what I have to say.

My name is Dr. Craig Coulam and I have a congenital hearing loss condition. I first obtained bilateral hearing aids as a teenager and have had multiple aids over the past 50+ years, encompassing both analog and digital circuitry. I have a degree in electrical engineering and a MD degree, so I feel I know and understand pretty well hearing loss physiology and the needed electronics to help people with such a deficit, including myself.

My last set of aids were Widex brand, in-the-canal aids, and I had them for approximately 7-8 years. I decided to purchase new ones (Phonak, behind-the-ear aids) because of advances in the electronic circuitry, water resistance and chip making capabilities. Both the Widex and Phonak aids were/are of top quality and had digital circuitry. My Phonak aids also came with inherent Bluetooth circuitry built in.

The process of choosing an aid first requires an audiogram to be obtained so an appropriate type of aid can be chosen. Dr. Jina is first rate in this process, doing both a sound (frequency) and word recognition evaluation of my hearing deficit. With respect to choosing hearing aids, she has a very good command of "what's out there" in both aid designs and aid capabilities, including both the low end aids and the top of the line aids. I picked Phonak because of the small behind-the-ear aid size, the aid reserve volume power availability, and inherent Bluetooth capabilities. The Bluetooth circuitry allows one to use the Bluetooth-equiped telephones (regular and cell), listen to the audio portion of TV programs, and listen to iPod recorded music directly through the aids.

After purchasing the aids, then comes the process of customizing them to my particular hearing deficits and sound reproduction desires. This is a multiple step process as the aid is "tuned" to me. Again, Dr.Jina proved to be very competent in the process and very patient with my requests. The final tuning (although not necessarily the last available) is arriving shortly, just in advance of my scheduled vacation. Aid tuning considerations consist of setting an appropriate regular volume, and also the excessive-loudness range settings and attenuation, speech understanding in high/moderate/low noise backgrounds, speech understanding and music appreciation with frequency-band adjustments, and the operation of the aids using the Bluetooth accessories which may accompany them.

One thing I have learned over the years is that digital aids give me better sound discrimination than analog aids, but are somewhat harder to adjust ("tune") to the patient. I can honestly say that I personally and technically appreciated Dr Jina's audiology expertise and highly recommend her for evaluating your hearing problems and, if necessary, hearing aid selection and fitting.

- Craig M Coulam MD, PhD