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| Dr. Lance F. Greer, Au.D., FAAA |
Similarities
of Phones and Hearing Instruments
This past
spring break, I took my family to San Antonio to visit all of the interesting
sites to see, including the Alamo, the Riverwalk and the historic little German
village of Gruene. I was very fascinated
with the whole trip and the history of that area as were my wife and
children. One of the stores that we all
enjoyed to spend some time in was an antique store in Gruene. We rummaged through interesting items that
were much older than the era of my childhood, which was only the late 70’s to
early 80’s.
I ran across
an item that, due to it being in the store, was considered an antique but that
was a common household item when I was a boy.
In fact we had one in the home I grew up in. It was a wall mounted telephone with the
rotary dial with the long extension cord.
I am not even talking of the really old, first generation rotary dial,
wall mounted phone. I don’t consider
myself old by any means, but I was interested because in that moment it dawned
on me that by phone standards today, this phone was truly a relic.
In the short
span of 35 years since my childhood, phone technology has come a long, long way. Now we have phones that have a mirade of
features such as; call waiting, call forwarding, caller ID and voicemail to
only name a few. Additionally we have
smart phones that contain not only these features but capabilities that allow
you to surf the internet, trade stocks and turn on the AC to your home before
you arrive home from a vacation. It is
truly amazing what has happened with telephone technology in the past 30-40
years.
Very often,
I have people that come into my office who are skeptical about getting help
with their hearing loss because all that they can think of is what Uncle Bob
used to wear over 30 years ago. They are
afraid of a big, clunky hearing aid that the whole world can see. I would be afraid too if this was all the
working knowledge of hearing ads were. I
think I would be afraid to build a home today thinking that all I would get by
way of communicating with my friends and family was an big boxy rotary dial
telephone that required me to wander no further than about 10 feet of where it
was mounted on the wall like was the case when I was a child.
Today,
hearing care solutions are so different than what they were 30 years ago, even
5-10 years ago. We now have solutions that are 100% invisible and can be worn
for 3 months straight without having to take them out of the ear or change the
battery. We have solutions that if lost
can be found using GPS technology or that can link your hearing devices with
your smart or cell phone wirelessly via blue tooth technology for premium voice
reception directed right into your ears.
Just keep in mind that hearing care solutions today are nothing like
what Uncle Bob use to wear 30 years ago.
For the latest on advanced hearing care solutions contact Dr. Lance Greer at Advanced Hearing & Balance located at the Coral Desert Health Center, 1490 E. Foremaster Dr. #360, St. George, UT or by calling 435-215-1402. For more information go to http://www.hearingaiddoctor.com.
- Hearing Aid Sales, Service and Counseling Specialist
- Earmold and Hearing Protection Specialist
- Diagnostic Medical Hearing Assessments for Adults and Children
- Diagnostic Balance and Dizziness Assessment of Adults
- Vestibular Rehabilitation Specialist
- Industrial Hearing Conservation Specialist
