Issue 18.15
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 myriad 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. Greer at Advanced Hearing & Balance Specialists, 435-319-4701.