23-year-old KB has worked with audiologist Marylyn Koble for over ten years. KB was diagnosed with severe hearing loss as a child. Since then, Marylyn has helped KB through several sets of hearing aids to accommodate changing hearing needs, changing anatomy, and especially to take advantage of changing technology.
KB loved when hearing aid and Bluetooth technology let her use her iPhone for phone calls, listening to music and conversations using FaceTime, among other things. But that technology required an intermediary accessory to connect the hearing aid and her phone and when her recent Bluetooth-enabled hearing aids had begun to fail, she and Marylyn faced another transition.
KB has a very precise sense of what she likes in a hearing aid, according to Marylyn, and especially what she doesn’t like. Even when Marylyn’s scientific objectives are met and her measurements point to a good fit, the final word is always KB’s.
“It is not unusual for KB to go through multiple sets of hearing aids when transitioning to something new,” said Marylyn. And KB is “very expressive,” according to Marylyn, so she knows immediately when KB likes something or not. When it came for the latest upgrade, she had tried on not one but two different hearing aids—neither of which stayed in for even an hour. And then KB had the new ones out and the old ones back in.
“Then I fitted her with ReSound ENZO,” said Marylyn. “I turned them on and her whole demeanor changed. Her face relaxed, lit up, she smiled so I could tell we were on the right track.”
KB was very happy with ReSound ENZO because of the sound quality (the hearing aid required few adjustments from the very beginning) and the fact that it allowed her to use technology to communicate with friends without an intermediary device. In fact, she and Marylyn routinely exchange texts and talk through FaceTime.
A few days later Marylyn texted KB to ask what she thought of ReSound ENZO. Marylyn said, “Her response was simply ‘I love them!’ and that she can ‘hear perfectly.’”