“As like many others, I ignored the fact my hearing was not good and always thought my only issue was not being able to hear the TV. My biggest concern was hearing aids make you look old.

“My fear was that I would not get used to wearing hearing aids or my glasses would make them uncomfortable.

“I have known for years that I had a loss of hearing of my high pitch. I was being tested annually at work so that’s how I knew it was high pitch. After I retired in 2012, I wasn’t getting tested anymore and it seemed to get worse.

“My biggest concern was I would get irritated at people talking to me thinking that it was their fault that I couldn’t hear what they were saying because they were not speaking up loud enough.

“Throughout the years, I knew that I favored my left ear over my right ear. I didn’t realize it was really bad until I rolled over in bed. I immediately knew I had hearing loss in my right ear because I could no longer hear the tv when I rolled over.

“Knowing my father has almost 100% hearing loss, I knew I had to do something. I learned I also had it in my left ear which was surprising.

While hearing loss can often be disguised for many years, Betty first came to terms with her hearing loss when she was at a staff meeting and “was unable to hear the full message of the meeting.”

Her knowledge of hearing aids wasn’t huge, and her biggest concern was the “availability of new and improved hearing aids.”

Beverly, like many others, was initially wary of hearing aids and the technology available.

While it was intimidating at first, she was impressed that the team “took the time and explained everything and answered all of my questions.”

When asked how hearing aids have made a difference to her life, she says.

Often, it takes people many years to recognize they have a hearing loss. This can be due to a range of factors such as fears of looking old, price, or lack of awareness.

For Bobby, he followed down this familiar pathway and it was his family that first pointed it out.

“My family realized that I had a hearing problem, I was still in denial about my hearing loss.”

Carl has had an unfortunate history of hearing loss concerns throughout his life. As a result, he has to wear his hearing aids all the time.

While not many people truly know what to expect when they visit an audiologist for the first time, Carl included, his first impressions were that they were “people that truly wanted to help my hearing.”

It was a common occurrence for Craig to ask others to repeat themselves several times and he recalls it became “very annoying”.

Initially, he was “concerned if it was going to be money well spent.” However, the receptionist and Dr. Martinez made him feel comfortable as soon as he walked through the door.

Since then, there have been many ways in which hearing aids have impacted his life, but the biggest difference is to his social skills.

“I didn’t realize that my hearing was not as good as I thought until it was pointed out by family members.

“I didn’t know what to expect, but I was definitely at the right place. They are amazing.

“The ability to hear is so very important! It has been absolutely lifesaving.