Meet Robert...
“The clarity of these 360™+ hearing instruments is just amazing..." |
Robert Mooney’s interest in hearing instruments goes beyond his desire to hear more clearly. Robert is a full-time, 2nd year student in a Hearing Instrument Specialist college program. He hopes to help people with hearing loss once he graduates next year.
Robert has had a hearing loss since he was very young. He believes he was about six years old when he was formally diagnosed.
As an experienced hearing aid wearer, Robert wanted hearing instruments that could keep up with his active lifestyle. Between his part-time job in a grocery store, his college courses and recreational sports, he needed hearing instruments that would keep him connected, be dependable, and withstand the rigors of multiple sports.
With his 360+™ hearing instruments, Robert’s ability to hear his co-workers and customers while at work has improved dramatically. If asked to help locate a product, he can hear customers the first time without having to ask them to repeat themselves. He feels more confident dealing with the public, and he does not have to explain that he has a hearing loss because he can hear what is being said. He also notices that when he is in the cooler, which is a noisy environment with fans blowing, he can now hear his manager speaking to him from behind.
“The clarity of these 360+ hearing instruments is just amazing compared to my previous hearing aids. I find that I can even hear birds in the morning. I haven’t heard a bird since I was a kid,” Robert says.
"With these hearing aids, you just let them do the work.”
While at school, the multidirectional microphones in 360+ allow Robert to focus on his teachers’ speech while reducing background noise.
When playing basketball twice a week, his 360+ hearing instruments are not affected by the perspiration and demands of the sport, remaining nice and snug in his ears. He notes that his other hearing aids bothered him when playing sports. He would have to clean them more often as they would get clogged during the game. With his 360+ hearing aids, he can hear sounds from different directions and from behind, allowing him to pass the ball to his teammates more frequently. He is also impressed by how well they performed while kayaking one day*. He ended up getting soaked in the process and his 360+ hearing instruments continued to function normally.
Robert likes the convenience of the Smart Control 360 remote. The remote control’s buttons light up in the dark making it convenient to change programs and adjust the volume in dimly lit conditions such as a movie theatre.
Overall, he is enjoying being able to hear others when there is background noise and he has more confidence when using the telephone.
“With my previous hearing aids, I could not hear many frequencies and I missed a lot of words. I can hear everything with more clarity now and I don’t have to lean into people to hear what they are saying. With these hearing aids, you just let them do the work.”
Robert’s audiogram illustrating his bilateralsevere sloping to profound sensorineural hearing loss.