Why Hearing Protection Should be a Part of Every Hearing Aid Practice

Dr. Grace Sturdivant, of OtoPro Technologies, joins Dave during National Protect Your Hearing Month to share how she got into the hearing conservation business, why more hearing care professionals should embrace and sell hearing protection products in their practices, and how focusing on the needs of patients always leads to good things.

Link to full transcript

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:02

Welcome to Starkey Soundbites. I'm your host, Dave Fabry, Starkey's Chief Innovation Officer, and uh it's my great pleasure this month to have Dr. Grace Steerdevent with us during October, which is uh a topic near and dear to my heart Protect Your Hearing Month and also Audiology Awareness Month. So, in my case, long before I was interested in becoming an audiologist, I grew up wanting to be a veterinarian, but long before I ever even thought audiology was going to become my career, I was a drummer and I was a motorcyclist, and I had a lawnmower business part-time, and um I abused the heck out of my ears. And like many kids, kind of you kind of thought that it was bulletproof. The hearing was bulletproof and took it for granted until uh, and I even remember playing on the cymbals until my ears rang, thinking that that was pretty cool. Now they won't stop ringing. So um, you know, I'm delighted to have you on the podcast today to talk a little bit about your expertise as an audiologist and your focus in your practice and your business on uh hearing preservation. And really, you know, it would seem counterintuitive for a manufacturer of hearing instruments to want to focus someone who's trying to prevent hearing loss uh on this podcast. But um, as we all know way too well, um uh there's plenty of business for us all. And if we can prevent hearing loss that is unintended from occupational or non-occupational means, that's a good thing. So, so Grace, you know, it's it's a pleasure to have you here today.

SPEAKER_00 1:39

Hey, thank you so much. I'm really honored. I was thrilled when I received the invitation. I've listened to the podcast, and I was fascinated when I learned a few episodes ago about your history as you're with your aspirations of being a veterinarian. Um, so you're doing a great job with this, and I'm honored to be included. Well, and I'm excited to talk about hearing protection.

SPEAKER_02 1:59

Well, let's let's begin, though, before the hearing protection. Uh again, Audiology Awareness Month is October. Tell me about your life as an audiologist. What's your origin story? Why why did you uh want to become somebody who would focus on hearing and balance and preventing hearing loss as a career?

SPEAKER_00 2:18

Sure. Well, you know, to I'll I'll keep this very brief. I'll give you the Cliff Notes version. But I grew up, I'm I live in Mississippi. I grew up in a little town called Grenada, Mississippi, and grew up in a in a family of uh my dad is an avid outdoorsman and a big hunter. And so grew up around guns and shooting and riding four-wheelers or ATVs, I think as the rest of the world calls them. Um, lots of noise, like most of us did, with no really acknowledgement toward hearing protection. Um fast forward, I was in college trying to figure out what I wanted to do. I've always been trained in music and loved music. So I studied music for a while, uh, studied biology for a while. And then I was watching my mother, who's a speech language pathologist, and thought maybe that's what I'd want to do.

SPEAKER_01 3:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

And during those classes, I watched a documentary of a child receiving a cochlear implant.

unknown 3:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:09

And it clicked. And I thought, this is this is what it's going to be for me is helping people to hear and connect with the world through their ears. So um went to Vanderbilt, got my doctorate, had plans on um having a specialized practice for musicians in the music industry. Um, but my love life had other plans. I fell in love with a boy that's also from Mississippi and we moved back here. Uh, then I joined the faculty at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and was vice chief of audiology at that department for a little while. And my clinical niche grew into the area of adults who had hearing loss and some form of dementia. And I was seeing firsthand in clinic uh what I was reading about that was coming out of the University of Colorado and Johns Hopkins at the time, and started diving into that topic and wrote a little bit, spoke a little bit about it, ended up on the Achieve study where we were a data data collection site in Franklin's Achieve Study. I was becoming compelled to help my friends and family that that you know, I grew up in this world of all this noise with no thought for hearing protection. And so I started telling them. I started doing the research about what products are available, what features are available. And I said, all you've got to do is make an appointment to come see me in clinic. And they wouldn't do it. They were not gonna take time out of their schedule. So I started a little LLC and packed up my little bag and started going to friends' houses after work.

SPEAKER_02 4:39

House calls, house calls, yes.

SPEAKER_00 4:41

House calls, old school house calls. Yeah, and um had no idea how well received that service delivery model was going to be. You know, that's really that is how yeah, you know, it's I'm sure you're wondering how's this all gonna tie back together, starting with, well, I grew up on born on a cold night in Granada, raised by wolves.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 5:03

It's all come full circle now. Yeah. And I firmly believe that my focus in hearing protection is this the center of the Venn diagram of my life experiences, my training and education, and then this area I'm so passionate about. It's all it's all coming together right there in the middle of that Venn diagram. And for that, I'm very, very grateful.

SPEAKER_02 5:26

Yeah, and I mean, what a gift to be able to have that compendium of experiences that prepared you for exactly what you want to be doing, where you're where you are, and and right now at this point, when we're seeing more awareness for the importance of protecting your hearing, as well as raising awareness for the importance of doing something if and when you do have a hearing loss at any age in life. And so, I mean, your background indeed seems like it's perfectly suited for doing what you do. And few people can actually say that they manage to unify what they love to do with what they're good at. And that, in essence, is the definition, as far as I'm concerned, of finding your passion. And it's clear you have.

SPEAKER_00 6:13

I I I I agree with you. Um, one point that you said in the introduction that I thought was was very on point is it may be counterintuitive to think that hearing protection can help your hearing aid practice. And I would say that is one thing that I vastly underestimated as I was getting into this little niche of hearing protection, which is by the way, not such a little niche after all. And what's happening and what I'm seeing happen now on an international level is people are being funneled into these hearing aid clinics to get their ear mold impressions made for what they perceive as a consumer electronic product, not a medical device. And that's an important shift. So they go in to see this audiologist locally, get their ears molded, and they say, Well, you know, I might as well get my hearing tested. They're getting diagnosed earlier, right? And they're getting hearing aids earlier. You know, this what's the statistics? Seven to 10 years from the time you notice a hearing problem to when you do something about it. By focusing on hearing protection and and angling it as a consumer electronic hearing enhancement and protection product line that is just a cool gadget, another essential piece of gear in your kit, whether you're a musician or a hunter or a whatever. That shift in perspective is getting people in the doors of good hearing aid clinics and getting them diagnosed and treated far earlier. It will change that statistic.

SPEAKER_02 7:46

Well, it's a qualified lead. If you I mean, it's a lead generation mechanism to get those patients, potential patients in younger under the guise of indeed preventing hearing loss. But it's very likely, like me, they've already had some damage done before they there's still a gap from the moment that they uh were exposed through occupational or non-occupational noise, and they were alerted to the need to protect their hearing. And so that that is, I couldn't agree more with you about the the fact that this really fills out uh your entire uh scope of practice, beginning with awareness of hearing loss and with an effort to then shorten that time between uh um you know acknowledgement that they have a hearing loss and acceptance that they need to do something about it. And it and it's almost like I'll show I'll have my okay boomer moment for the day. Um there was um this uh commercial that I had when I was growing up where it was Palm Olive Liquid, where two people, oh, they're they're one woman's getting her nails done, the other woman's doing it, and they're talking about dishwashing liquid, which is ridiculous. You know, two women, of course, that's what they're gonna want to talk about in the beauty parlor.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

Right.

SPEAKER_02 8:59

But but the one woman is uh talking about how mild it is on her hands, and the other one who's uh soaking, getting her nails done, says, Oh, I'll have to try it. And she says, Well, you're already soaking in it. And with regards to hearing protection and a device that can now um provide multiple functions, and we're gonna dive into that in a moment, um, you're you can already be soaking in it and and diffusing that stigma with the use and the words, hearing aids, by talking about devices that are designed to prevent hearing loss. But then they may say, you know, I really like that I get a little bit of boost when I'm using these and they're helping me hear better. Then you can, you know, say, well, let's do a diagnostic exam and proceed on that part of the journey.

SPEAKER_00 9:43

Right. I'm saying, let's make hearing protection cool. Let's let it do some cool things, which we will talk about, I'm sure. But a really encouraging and exciting thing for audiologists who largely are feeling a lot of uncertainty with the status of where we are in our field and things coming down the pipeline. I am seeing that when the when the people that are in their 40s, 50s, and they're noticing some loss and they want to stabilize that hearing where it is using protection, that they may already have some hearing loss, but they are very adamant that their children be protected, whether they're in a marching band, whether they're in music lessons, or the number of young shooters that are getting into 4-H and getting into play shooting and hunting, the people are much more quick, less hesitant to invest in quality protection for their kids that their kids will actually use.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:39

And so what I envision, which is a little Pollyanna, but by the end of my career as an audiologist, I would love to be able to see that children, specifically who are involved in music and shooting sports and race car driving, yeah, are establishing a point of care at prevention stage and monitoring, monitoring, monitoring. Um, still counseling people, you know, we can't guarantee that when you're shooting a 180-decibel rifle, that you're not going to get hearing protection just by occluding your ear canals. No. But we can give people the most realistic tools, continue doing what they enjoy, and then monitor very closely so that we're on top of it.

SPEAKER_02 11:23

Yeah. You're putting it top of mind, and they're getting into that funnel earlier. Uh as you know, and with your background, uh, undergraduate background with speech and language pathology, that inextricable bond between speech and hearing and language development. And for some of those kids who might be exposed at a young age and and you know, not already. I mean, and and we'll talk a little bit about the the what we're seeing is that increase in noise-induced hearing loss in children, even teens in this country. Um, I I love your vision. So now let's go into when you started doing this. What was the first catalyst? You kind of alluded to that earlier, but you sort of said it really started as a uh an extension of your friends and your environment and then making these house calls because they were resistant to coming into a clinic or facility, which I think is in itself an interesting comment. But was that the catalyst then when you realized this is something that I can really add to my scope of practice that will help in meaningful ways?

SPEAKER_00 12:28

I started out thinking that the this the service delivery has got to be different because it's unrealistic to think that people are going to flock to our clinic doors for these services, because it's hard enough to get them to flock when they're debilitated by a hearing loss. When they're not affected by hearing loss, they're not coming. So you've got to go to where they are. And so this is how I think hearing aid practices could best market themselves with clinical outreach outside the walls of their clinic. And instead of when they're when they're doing outreach, I see it as far more um far better recepted by the community when they are communicating protection instead of just sending out flyers that you know, we have great prices on hearing aids or a BOGO special right now. That's not getting people's attention. But when you come at it as a hearing expert, with education about hearing and healthy hearing and hearing health care, changing that language, shifting that that the semantics of it, quite honestly, that's what reaches people. So I knew this was going to be a way for me to recruit people into our hearing aid clinic.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 13:42

What I what was the catalyst was when um I had I did not I grew up in a hunting family, but not a clay shooting family.

SPEAKER_01 13:50

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 13:50

And clay shooting is a whole world and culture of itself. It's a huge industry. And there's a clay shooting facility here in my backyard, basically, where uh we host some regional events. There was a big regional shoot where people were there from all over the country. And somebody said, you know what, Grace, you should go set up as a vendor out there and just see what happens. So I set up a tent. And when I tell you, when people heard that an actual doctor of audiology was there talking to people about their hearing and educating people, oh, and by the way, she'll also mold you for some good products in that order. That priority is very important.

SPEAKER_01 14:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:31

Um, people were lined up, lined up. I came home blissfully exhausted with boxes of ear mold impressions, and and I thought, oh my word, this is incredible. Well, what did those people do? They went back to where they live in their home clubs, and they started telling people, and I started getting requests from all over the country. And so the next couple of years were spent. I I've I have traveled a lot um to fit groups, to set up at shooting events, and I had no idea how well received it was going to be. Um and just educating people. And then when you when you're operating from that point of, I truly care about your hearing, and this is a passion for me, the sales come. The sales just come. And because I've been purely focused on protection with this practice, um, I am making referrals left and right every day to other practices to focus on hearing aids. Because I had no idea that hearing protection was going to be um such an untapped market that it was going to take not only my full time, but now our whole team of people that have been hired their full time, just managing protection and then getting people referred to quality clinics for the hearing aid part. Wow. I'm and and people have asked, well, Grace, you could be making a fortune in hearing aids, but with the way this business has positioned itself, I would I and I personally think that everyone needs a local point of care for the hearing aid part. I can do lots of great telehealth type follow-ups on protection. We can troubleshoot. I can even check fit visually.

SPEAKER_02 16:16

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 16:17

But for hearing, I did hearing aids long enough in clinic. That is a personal relationship. And so I'm committed to, I mean, sure, I it's it's sacrificing that whole vertical of as a business person. But if I'm really in this for the good of the patient, I am going to vet all the clinics in that area and I'm gonna say, this is where I would send my sister or my dad in your town.

SPEAKER_01 16:42

That's fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 16:42

And then we send them there, and and and then they've got their local point of care for the hearing aids, and then we continue follow-up and follow up with people to make sure that they have all the protection they need.

SPEAKER_02 16:53

Wow, that is awesome. So um, so you know, you broke one of the barriers, I think, in terms of um one of the one of the things that I've seen in in my background as an audiologist, and I worked about 15 years at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. I learned a lot about the business of dispensing hearing aids. I had great mentors in Daryl Rose and Wayne Olsen and Chris Bauk and Martin Robinet. And um, but I learned a lot about the business of dispensing hearing aids from Bud Freeman. And he was a dispenser who had an affiliation with Mayo, but wasn't a Mao employee. But he would have frequent um, you know, he would go to events and he would go to senior centers. And now it was a hearing aid practice, but what it taught me was just what you articulated at the beginning of this: that so many times for people uh they don't want to go into a clinic for this type of a process, but if you come to them, they'll wait in line. If you build it, they will come. Uh they said, you know, in the in Shoeless Joe. And you have built this uh practice that um now can keep you and and all of the people in your practice busy full time without um uh you know, now now a lot of people doing hearing aids may wish, you know, but that they're they're always worried about the threats of different things. But this to me is a prime example of the way that you can serve the needs of the patient, go meet the patient where they are, and provide a service that could prevent hearing loss before it occurs. So when you go to these uh events, let's let's go back to the the one with the clay shooting. Um and um so when you're making impressions and you're they're automatically going to come in. Will you ever make impressions for somebody and refer them elsewhere at something like that if there is Oh absolutely, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 18:49

And honestly, I again, I mean I just I firmly believe that if you continue doing the next right thing, success will follow. I've had people who have um custom hearing protection and they need to get remolded. They didn't buy it from me, but they'll come up and they'll say, you know, the company told me I just need to send them new ear mold impressions. And I say, sure, I'll do that for you.

SPEAKER_02 19:12

And then do you do you establish a charge for that? A lot of practitioners are gonna say, well, how do you how do you make money off of this? And you can say, follow your passion, and the rest will fall into play. But for someone coming into this business There's gotta be a margin. There's gotta be a margin. So how do you how do you structure that to the degree that you're comfortable talking about it?

SPEAKER_00 19:31

Sure. No, absolutely. We have a um, it's all listed on my website and it's all subject to change at any time. What is that website? Podcast Odoprotechnologies.com, O T-O-P-Rotechnologies.com.

SPEAKER_01 19:45

Great.

SPEAKER_00 19:46

Um, because it does change from time to time. But we have uh not only the margin built into the product sale, but we also charge a professional services fee in addition to the shipping.

unknown 19:56

Great.

SPEAKER_00 19:56

And so depending on the situation, um, sometimes I'll be set up at a charity event, for example. Here's here's a great example. Um I was at a big shoot with 200 shooters in Peoria, Illinois last week. And I was offering complimentary complimentary ear mold impressions. And when you got your ear mold impressions made, you you entered, you gave me all your data, your customer data, because data's the new goal. Yeah right, Dave? Yeah, it is. And um, and and once you do that, your name was entered to win a gift card for hearing protection that was drawn. Got it. So all those people got complimentary ear mold impressions. And then this week, our Odo Pro team is calling every individual person to talk about what they might need hearing protection for, which product, which whatever might work best for them. And then we can do the whole process because we have those impressions. So that's just one example of how it can work. Um, but then other times, if people just want to wait and have me take the impressions or have whoever we're sending them to take the impressions, we will just charge a service fee for that and hold on to it. And then when they place the order, they'll just pay for product and shipping.

SPEAKER_01 21:06

Perfect.

SPEAKER_00 21:06

There's lots of different ways you can do it.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:09

Because we have so many people across the US, now Canada, Australia, that are coming to our website and checking out, uh, when they indicate that they need a referral, which we love, we put them into these audiology practices, and those practices set their own pricing. So, and they are there is a wide range. I mean, as you can imagine, if you're in Los Angeles, you're gonna expect to pay a bit more for that appointment than you are if you live in Jackson, Mississippi.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:35

So um, OdoPro is not, you know, we're we we are all about supporting each other as audiologists. I firmly believe there's room at the table for all of us. There's plenty of work to be done. And if we support each other, we're gonna be able to move the needle. If we get into that scarcity mindset, we're not. Nobody's gonna go anywhere. So when we refer people to these practices, they can charge whatever they want for the service of molding their ears. And I encourage them to get them in for a hearing test and a consultation while they're there. Capitalize on this is a this is your referral of someone who's seeking quality hearing protection. And if they're not already, they will be a hearing aid candidate in the future.

SPEAKER_02 22:14

Yeah, for sure. And I love the way you've you've looked to see, you know, where there wasn't uh there was a need in the market, there was no one filling that role. You ran boldly into it, designed what works for you in your market. I love that it it you know, as you carefully articulated the order when you went to the to the first event, you know, you're you're a doctor of audiology who that is then focused on the other cascading events. But first and foremost, the doctor of audiology focused on the patient, and the needs of the patient are the only needs that matter. Um education first. And education. Yeah, before you start worrying about uh how am I gonna monetize this.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

And so the education piece builds the trust.

SPEAKER_02 23:00

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 23:00

And once you've established that, um, I'm I'm just not a pushy salesperson, and I don't think there's any need to be.

SPEAKER_01 23:07

Right.

SPEAKER_00 23:07

Because once you establish trust and they know that, you know, if they've got something weird happening with their ear, who are they gonna they're gonna call you?

SPEAKER_02 23:14

They're gonna call you. Yeah, they're gonna call you.

SPEAKER_00 23:15

And they're gonna ask you where to go. Um, and so it's I just couldn't speak more um emphatically about the the the necessity of being an expert on whatever topic you're going out and reaching. So whether it's hearing protection, whether it's like I love what Madison Levine is doing in Charlotte, North Carolina with balance right now. I mean, in addition to her incredible hearing aid practice, she's the outreach and establishing herself as the expert source in her area for this specialty. So I mean, heck yeah, if somebody calls me in the Charlotte area, I know exactly where I'm sending them. Okay, you know, and and I couldn't, I I want to support her, I cheer for her. Um, and that if because that's what we all need to be doing. Um, you there's a lot of responsibility and work that goes into um being a professional like an audiologist. Yeah. Because we have um, we we are really bound ethically to remain to continue learning and to continue being an expert. Um so you can't rest on your laurels of, oh, well, this is just how we've been doing it forever. Um, you've really got to stay challenged because if you want to establish that trust, you've got to truly be the expert.

SPEAKER_02 24:34

Yeah, that's that's the the hard part. No greater burden than a great responsibility to continue learning and continue to maintain that expert status. And I think that means that you have to be aware of the products that are out there, the services, the types of technologies available. Um, what percentage would you say? You you you've highlighted the ear mold impression part of this process uh several times. What percentage of the form factors are custom versus stock, sort of the triple flange or something like that? And how do you differentiate that beyond just the price point?

SPEAKER_00 25:09

Until June. So Odo Pro was started in fall of 2018, didn't really get ramped up until later on in 2020, honestly, when the Phantom came out. Thanks for that. And um it was not until June of 2022, just a few months ago, that I dispensed anything that was non-custom.

SPEAKER_02 25:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 25:30

Everything up until that point was custom. I'm just a firm believer that, and I tell people all the time, the most important aspect to any hearing protector is the fit. Yeah, we've got to make sure it fits you appropriate appropriately.

SPEAKER_02 25:43

Especially for these types of products. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:45

Right. There's got to be a complete acoustic seal. And so we've we've got to make sure there's no air leakage and that it's not wiggling its way out. Um, up until June, if we couldn't do custom, I was meticulously teaching people how to wear foam earplugs correctly.

SPEAKER_01 26:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:04

Which is hard. It's hard.

SPEAKER_00 26:06

And not many ears can do it.

SPEAKER_02 26:08

Right.

SPEAKER_00 26:08

Um, because they just don't stay put, and then you're just setting yourself up for damage. So um I had some exposure with uh a guy named Steven Ranella. Okay. He's out of Bozeman, Montana. He's an ultimate outdoorsman. Um, he has the meat eater show on Netflix and a cult following podcast, books, the whole thing. And when I was introduced to him and his team, we spent a long time talking. And he said, you know, if we're gonna have you on the podcast, this this was something that I would say has been a realization of mine. I wish I had done sooner. Um he said, you know, if we're gonna have you on the podcast, so much of our listenership is just never gonna pay more than$100 for a set of earplugs. It's not in the cards for them. Right. You know, these are people that are out hunting public land, you know, they're it's it's not, you know, you gotta have something that's more accessible financially for people. And so that's when I started doing um a triple flanged filtered product.

SPEAKER_01 27:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:15

And um I'm so thankful that I did for a couple of reasons. I'm still educating people that if you start with that non-custom product, let's make sure you're in the appropriate ear tip size. You have four different sizes to choose from. And then when the time is right, we are still encouraging you to get the custom piece built. And so what we're doing is we we're doing the non-custom product, and then at any time, people can go to the website and just purchase the custom sleeve and move that high-end filter from the non-custom to the custom so that it's an upgrade, and then all in, they've only paid as much as what they would have if they had done the custom version to begin with.

SPEAKER_02 28:00

Again, a great, a great way to get them in and get them thinking about it and then migrate into that higher end.

SPEAKER_00 28:06

Exactly. What I didn't consider about that is that now that we have that, when I go set up at a at a chute, that's something that people can purchase and wear that day and wear for the next two, three weeks while they're waiting on their custom product.

SPEAKER_02 28:21

Good idea. And then they haven't spent in total any more than what they would have if they just went out on that high end. You get them in early, get them hooked on the product.

SPEAKER_00 28:29

Precisely. And so that um that's something I'm really thankful to. I mean, not only was the meat eater exposure just incredible for the um building awareness about hearing protection, but uh that bringing that product into the marketplace um has been a fantastic tool that has allowed us to reach significantly more people.

SPEAKER_02 28:50

Well, I love that you've got those different solutions for different budgets, for different needs. Um, but also I love your commitment to making ear mold impressions and making them properly. I mean, I think an entire generation of audiologists with the ease of fitting of ricks with a dome tip um have forgotten the art and science of making effective ear mold impressions, and particularly for what you're doing, that is critical.

SPEAKER_00 29:15

You'd also be surprised. This was a shock to me, especially in the clay shooting world. There are there are people, and this may come as a shock to some people, all y'all just listening to this podcast. There are people who set up as vendors at these events, and they've never ever been taught anything about the ear. And they are shooting impression material into people's ears without looking in the ear first.

SPEAKER_02 29:40

Oh goodness, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:42

They're just jamming impression material in it. Can you imagine?

SPEAKER_02 29:46

No, no, it's terrifying.

SPEAKER_00 29:48

There's there's it's terrifying. I I was at the Greater Houston Sports Club um a couple months ago, and there was a guy who said, Oh, you know, I've had so-and-so mold my ears so many times, and um, you know, he also sells like shooting glasses and all these accessories, and oh, by the way, I'll shoot some goo in your ears and we'll make some custom plugs. And so um I said, Well, how about you give me a shot at this? Let's see.

SPEAKER_01 30:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:13

And I look in his ears, he was so impacted with wax. And and I I I had him set up with drops, and he went, I sent him, I sent him to go lie down on each side like this, with drops setting up, you know, both sides. And then I'm trying to scoop it out with my curette, and I'm like, look, I'm so sorry, but this is gonna be a little bit of a process.

SPEAKER_02 30:34

Process, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:35

I'm gonna refer you to an ENT in Houston that can get this professionally cleaned out, but please do not let anybody just poke anything in your ears until this is taken care of.

SPEAKER_02 30:44

No, making adding insult to injury on this.

SPEAKER_00 30:47

That's right. Literally. So um there are other people out there trying to reach this population who should not be.

SPEAKER_02 30:55

No.

SPEAKER_00 30:55

This is where audiologists need to be.

SPEAKER_02 30:58

This is our scope of practice, and this is it fits, it differentiates you. You've established such a differentiation in this space. Right. Using your expertise, serving the needs of individuals who are at risk of hearing. I mean, there's so many, I could go on and on and on with how many ways you've you've just um blown this out of the water. It's great.

SPEAKER_00 31:19

Well, thank you. I I honestly I can't take a whole lot of credit. I I I honestly feel like I've been very short-sighted along the way. I mean, if I had had any idea that this was what this could become, first of all, I probably would have talked myself out of it because it would have sounded so ridiculous at the time. But it's truly been, I mean, like I say, it's not that I had some genius vision back in 2018. It's just been a continual process of these baby steps and then pivoting toward what works. And there we go. That's it. I mean, I'm I'm at the point now where um finally I'm a believer enough in my own business where there's there's strategy that's happening and and there's lots of of growth that's more strategic at this point. But it took me a long time, even myself, to believe that this could boom the way it is.

SPEAKER_01 32:12

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 32:13

And and there's plenty, and and I and I don't say this to tout my own to tout my own business. I say this to encourage audiologists and practice owners that there is room at the table. There is work to be done. And um, from a consumer protection standpoint, for those examples I just gave, I mean, this is our responsibility. Audiologists can and should be the gatekeepers to hearing health care. And to be the gatekeeper, you've got to get out in front of it and reach people, try to reach people before the problem starts, instead of letting these unqualified people or the uh like I'm not gonna name brands, but you know, the the brands that sell headphones and earphones and all that. Somehow people are are investing in that instead of being guided through those decisions with an audiologist. And we've we've got to shift our focus. It's a it's been a laudable mantra that we've had throughout my career thus far that we need to diagnose and treat early. Diagnose and treat early. But I think it is time we know too much. Yeah, we've we've got to we've got to go beyond that. We've got to go beyond that.

SPEAKER_02 33:25

I um uh, you know, the time has just flown by, and uh, you know, we have to have you back on the program to talk more. There's a lot more I want to talk about about the different types of individuals and the type of noise that they're exposed to, but we're gonna have to save that for a different day because as I said, you've provided so much information in a short amount of time. Um, I think in the interest of protect your hearing month, let me uh ask a final question and say, as somebody focused on protecting hearing loss before it occurs, what are some of your favorite sounds that you want to protect?

SPEAKER_00 33:59

Oh, favorite sounds. I have three little girls, and um, right now, two of them are auditioning for the sound of music in our local theater. And I could, we have been acting out the sound of music with so long farewell on our staircase since they could talk. I love it. And so right now, that is the most joyful sound is hearing them sing like Doray Me and So Long Farewell from the Sound of Music.

SPEAKER_02 34:22

Oh, I can I can now I'm not gonna be able to get that out of my head for the rest of the day. So thank you very much for that.

SPEAKER_00 34:28

And you're welcome.

SPEAKER_02 34:30

And uh and thank you so much for spending time today on the podcast. And give your um website one more time for uh for our listeners so that they can go there and get additional information.

SPEAKER_00 34:41

Thank you. Otoprotechnologies.com. Oto P R O Technologies.com.

SPEAKER_02 34:48

Thank you. And uh and again, I would point you to Starkey's website or Soundgear's website. Uh we'll, like I said, I definitely want to get you back on the on the podcast to talk more about some of the technology that we didn't have time for today. But thank you for the wealth of information. Uh, and and I applaud you for your passion and in driving after your passion. And it's so great to have seen you and spent the time with you here today. If you enjoyed this podcast on sound bites, um please like us on your favorite platform. Uh hit subscribe if you don't want to miss a single episode like this one. And uh and uh Dr. Grace Sturdivant, thank you so much for being with us today.

SPEAKER_00 35:27

Thank you, Dave. It's an honor.