Bloomsburg Graduate Helps Patients Hear Life's Story

Transcript

Blaise Delfino: 0:06

You're tuned in to the Hearing Matters Podcast. The show that discusses hearing technology, best practices and a growing national epidemic - hearing loss. Before we kick this episode off, a special thank you to our partners.

Starkey: 0:22

Hear Better. Live Better. Weave: the all in one patient communication and engagement platform. Redux: Faster. Dryer. Smarter. Verified. Fader Plugs: The world's first custom adjustable ear plug. Welcome to the hearing matters podcast. I'm your host, Blaise Delfino and joining me today, I have the one the only Meghan Okken from Audiology Services. Meghan, welcome to the Hearing Matters Podcast!

Meghan Okken: 1:01

Thank you. I'm glad to be back. It's been a while since my last episode here. So it's good to be back and give an update to everyone.

Blaise Delfino: 1:09

Meghan, what is so cool. The last time you were on the hearing matters podcast as a guest was August 4th of 2020. Two years later, here you are back on the show. So much has changed. You've been involved with the hearing matters podcast with social media, the transcriptions. So to have you back on the show is so cool, so awesome. And to see your growth the past two years as a hearing healthcare provider is so amazing. So Megan, like I said earlier, you know the last time you were a guest on the show was August 4 2020. And during this time you were an intern here at audiology services. Now if we fast forward two years later, you are now a full time employee at audiology services, fitting patients with hearing technology and treating patients with hearing loss. You've been quite busy the past two years and recently you graduated from Bloomsburg, University of Pennsylvania. What was y our major? And what inspired you to work with patients with hearing loss?

Meghan Okken: 2:23

Yeah, so like you said, I graduated in May from Bloomsburg. I really enjoyed my time there and I graduated with a degree in speech pathology and audiology. The two are combined for an undergrad. And I think now they call it Communication Science disorders. But when I started it was Speech Pathology and Audiology. And now I'm here and it's great. And I love I love working here and being here and working with the patients. What inspired me to work with patients who present with hearing loss, I think. So I kind of have a unique story in which I originally wanted to go to school for speech pathology. That was always my plan. And up until I think it was quite literally last summer I texted you and I was like, I think I'm going through a crisis. I don't know what to do. I want to do audiology, but I don't want to be an audiologist. So what's a good midpoint? Or what's something that I can do? And I was really nervous because I was going into my senior year of college and wanted to change my career path completely. So scary time. Yeah, absolutely. So I think you literally answered my texts and you're like, come in tomorrow, we'll lay out all your options, we'll figure something out. Don't worry about it, don't stress over it, we got you covered. So we came in laid out all of our options. And I think something that I never knew going through my undergrad was that there are so many different routes you can take within the major Yes. So you don't have to just be an audiologist. And you don't have to just be a speech pathologist or a speech therapist. So what I wanted to do was work with hearing aids when he worked with hearing technology. So I decided to get my h i s and become a hearing instrument specialist. And that was the route that I wanted to take and you were like, Okay, let's get you in the summer, you'll do a lot more hands on work. And I was really excited. And I was nervous because you know, I I didn't know if this was really what was the best path for me at the time. And I ended up falling in love with it. And here I am. And I love it and I enjoy what I do. Megan, what impressed me and impresses me so much about you is number one, your work ethic. And number two, your passion for helping patients. When you started here, the summer of 2020 as an intern. That was a time in which you were sort of exploring your options, right and towards the end of the summer. I could definitely see such

Blaise Delfino: 4:59

A different Megan, if you will, because it's sort of like that spark happened. And you said to yourself, wow, hearing technology and hearing aids are really cool. They're not these big clunky things that everyone's so used to seeing in the, you know, the newspaper ads. They're very discreet, very stylish, and our patients right now listening, I'm sure are echoing everything I'm saying and that your passion bleeds through everything that you say in a session with a patient, you're so passionate. And I believe that that is so important when you are working with the hearing impaired, Magen fitting hearing aids. At first, when you hear about this, it may not sound so exciting, but oh my gosh, there is so much technology embedded in these devices that literally helps a patient's brain. The hearing aids help a patient here better Live better. The hearing aids, increased speech understanding and decrease listening effort. Tell us what you like most about fitting patients with hearing loss? Yes, so

Meghan Okken: 6:06

my favorite appointment in general is a first fitting, and that's because these patients most of the time have never worn hearing technology before, right. So they're coming in, they're a little nervous, they don't know what to expect. But I also like to have fun at my appointments with my patients, I like to build good rapport with them, learn a little bit about them what their lifestyle is like. And that also helps me make a good recommendation for them and helps me decide what settings they may need or what situations they meet might need a little bit more help in? I would say my favorite thing about a first fitting is probably just the overall wow factor. Right? Yeah, they're hearing for the first time with such great clarity. They're like, wow, I really couldn't hear could I

Blaise Delfino: 6:51

know, yes, that shocked? Right, right.

Meghan Okken: 6:53

And there. They said through the appointment, they have a smile on their face, they're hearing their wife or husband or whoever they may be with. And they're like, Wow, you're gonna have to be careful about what you're saying. So it's really cool. And I just love, you know, being able to make that impact on these patients, making sure that they can hear what other people are saying, whether it's their wife, their husband, their children, their grandchildren, a thing we see a lot is, I want to be able to hear my grandchildren, I want to be able to be a part of their lives. So being able to make that happen for them is really cool.

Blaise Delfino: 7:28

Megan to echo all of the amazing statements you just made there with the first fitting patients are coming in, and they may be thinking to themselves, are these hearing aids going to help me? I've had friends tell me their hearing aids never worked. So they wear them in the drawer? What is the mindset that you as a hearing healthcare professional go into the first fitting with? Because making the patient feel really comfortable? I think is really important for that first fitting, am I correct?

Meghan Okken: 7:58

Yeah, absolutely. And I think a good mindset to go into that first fitting is we're going to make it fun for this patient. If I was all hearing aids, 24/7, everyone would be bored. I wouldn't like what I do, I wouldn't enjoy what I do. So I think just going in with the mindset of okay, we're gonna have fun we're going to help another patient today is that's what makes it all worth it.

Blaise Delfino: 8:20

Megan, new hearing aid users will typically wait seven to 10 years to address their hearing loss. So when you were talking about the first fitting, and it's a new hearing aid user, they most likely waited 10 years to address their hearing loss. Can you share with our listeners the importance of visiting a hearing care provider? And what is the experience like for these patients at audiology services, who may be anxious to visit a hearing healthcare provider?

Meghan Okken: 8:53

The importance of visiting a hearing healthcare provider, right? This is something we talk about a lot, but I always like to make the analogy of an eye doctor. So you go to the eye doctor, right? You might have a small vision screening at your normal, you know, everyday family doctor, but then you go to the eye doctor, right and they make a prescription for you. They make a prescription for your vision loss. So you wouldn't go online and you wouldn't say, okay, these these eyeglasses, they're they're made for severe vision loss, right? It's the same thing with hearing aids. You want something that's going to fit your prescription for your type and degree of hearing loss. So going to online stores and getting amplifiers really is what they are would be like getting glasses or wearing someone else's glasses that might actually hurt your vision. So it's the same thing with hearing aids where it might hurt your hearing rather than aiding you.

Blaise Delfino: 9:47

Absolutely so fitting the patient's type and degree of hearing loss with technology specific to their type and degree of hearing loss, lifestyle dexterity. You bring up a really, really good point and that the experience here, and from what I've seen, and from what I've personally experienced is that personal experience, getting to know the patient, right, getting to know what their social activity level is really important. So when patients come here, not only for their first fitting, but their follow ups and cleaning checks and annual hearing evaluations, what can patients expect the experience to be?

Meghan Okken: 10:27

Like I said, we like to have fun, right? I like to learn about the patients build rapport with the patients, I want them to not dread coming here.

Blaise Delfino: 10:36

That's important. Yeah, of course.

Meghan Okken: 10:40

So you know, you go to the dentist, and you're like, oh, no, I have another cleaning, they're gonna, you know, scratch my teeth, and whatever it may be, and it's uncomfortable. And it's just kind of like a negative thought overall, right? So I don't want our patients to feel that way coming in, right. So I like to have a lot of fun, talk to them, see what vacations they were on, how are their grandchildren doing whatever it may be. And I think it's important that if someone is anxious coming in, and I think that's mostly because it's not typical that we go to the ear doctor, right. And we go out and get our teeth checked, we go and get our eyes checked, we go and get physicals every year, but we never go and get our hearing checked. And I think that's why there's so much anxiety surrounding hearing healthcare in general. But it's important to kind of relieve that anxiety from the patients. So just making sure that they're comfortable laying out what what we're going to do at this appointment for them. This is what you should expect. This is what it's going to sound like, this is what we're going to do today. And I feel like they really seem to take that and they're like, Okay, and it's really not as bad as I thought it would be right?

Blaise Delfino: 11:45

I like the analogy that you bring up with the dentist and I know your sister is studying to become a dentist dentists now. You know, I don't really look, I don't think anyone looks forward to getting their their teeth clean, because then it's like, well, what if they find a cavity or the sound of the drill can provoke anxiety. And that is human nature that is definitely human to feel anxious about a scenario that you may not understand what the experience may be like. So Megan, to kind of dovetail off that. One of the reasons that we started the hearing matters podcast was for the patients at audiology services. And one of the earlier episodes that we released was what to expect at your initial hearing evaluation. And we would send this episode via email to every single new patient. And the majority of these patients. What did they report to us, they listened to the episode. And it made for such a positive experience. You know, we are on a mission to raise awareness of overall hearing health care, and the tagline of audiology services is to hear life's story. And you do such an incredible job of making the patients feel so comfortable. Because something that I admire about you, Megan is that you listen twice as much as you speak, we have two ears and one mouth. So listen twice as much as we speak. I think the philosopher Epictetus actually said that many, many years ago. But the point being is that I've seen you in sessions with patients and you are listening to the patient to learn about them to understand what it is they need to hear better, and then live better. So Megan, when you fit a patient with hearing aids are what we refer to as hearing technology. Does treatment just end there? Like what additional outcome measurements do you implement to ensure that your patient is experiencing maximum benefit from their hearing aids?

Meghan Okken: 13:51

Right? So in general, we don't just fit a patient with hearing instruments event send them on their way, we have follow up appointments, we see them at least every six months, if not more often than that. So we also conduct real ear measurement, which is fine tuning the hearing instruments to your type and degree of hearing loss, a fab or abbreviated profile of hearing aid benefit, which which is an outcome measurement. Right? So how well does this patient hear aided and unaided in background noise, reverberation, adversity, to sound all those kinds of factors that play into their hearing aids or their hearing loss? Or their hearing journey? Sure, as well as functional gain testing, which is something that Dr. Delfino usually will conduct to see again, how well do they hear with the hearing instruments in versus how well do they hear with them out right salutely. So we want to make sure that these hearing instruments are working for them, and they're providing or they're receiving best benefit from the hearing instruments themselves.

Blaise Delfino: 15:38

And the outcome measurements are so important, especially real ear measurement, real ear measurement. Megan, as we've discussed is really the goal. old standard in audiology. And really your measurement measures and ensures that the hearing aid is it's a tool to ensure that the hearing aid is programmed to the patient's hearing loss. Now, this is where art and science comes in, right Megan, because some patients may say that their 100% Target, especially if they are current hearing aid users may say that's a little too loud. Really, your measurement allows us as providers to have a really, really amazing for lack of a better term starting point. And then we take the patient's subjectivity into consideration to then further program the hearing aids. That's something that I've seen you do time and time again, with that, really your measurement. And then even bringing that patient down to 80% acclimatization level to then build up their brain to kind of get used to that sound. I don't want to nerd out too much right now about really your measurement. But it's a tool that is essential. And of course, the a fab. How fun is that to show the patients?

Meghan Okken: 16:54

Oh, they love it, they love it. I love our patients. So we can pull it up on the screen. And it gives you a nice little chart. So it shows the percentage of benefit that you're receiving from the hearing instruments. So how much of a benefit? Are you getting in background noise with the hearing instruments? Of course, we go through a list of I believe it's like 24 questions. Yes. And they're all subjective to different situations that you may be in during your daily life. So is the toilet running too loud for you on a scale of A, B, C or D? Right? And then they of course answer with and without the hearing instruments. So we're able to get those levels of how much benefit are you receiving from the hearing instruments.

Blaise Delfino: 17:35

What I think is so amazing about the implementation of the a fab specific to hear at audiology services is that our patients, every single patient fit experiences a 55 Zero a 50% increase in understanding in speech and noise. That is amazing. We wouldn't even know that data if we didn't conduct the a fab. So I've heard patients ask you do these hearing aids really work? How do you know we've conducted outcome measurements with hundreds of patients? And we know that when we fit our patients with their hearing technology, they are incredibly happy? And it's because of you Megan, it's because of Dr. Delfino. It's because of the team here at audiology services that provides that first class care, I think is really, really important. Megan, many of your patients have reported how much they enjoy working with you and are just so impressed with your knowledge of hearing health care and hearing aids in general. What does an appointment with hearing care provider? Megan Oaken look like?

Meghan Okken: 18:48

That's a good question. And you know, I think every appointment is unique in its own way. It depends on what the patient is coming in for, are they coming in? Because they have tinnitus? Are they coming in? Because they have hearing loss? You know, it just it really changes per appointment, but the average appointment would be, you know, I introduced myself it's so nice to meet you. Here's who I am. So you know who you're working with. Right? Tell me a little bit about yourself. What's your everyday like? What do go out to concerts a lot? Are you around family a lot? What is your lifestyle like on a scale of zero to 10? Are you very active? Are you not so active? Do you have pets, everything that I can learn about these patients just so that I can make the best recommendation for them and do the best that I can to make sure that these hearing instruments will benefit the best that they can.

Blaise Delfino: 19:39

And I love the one of the core values there, have fun, having fun in the session and ensuring that the patient is comfortable making what I think is an amazing tool that the team here at Audiology Services uses is a phone system called weave. And when we talk about patient experience and when we talk about you know what a hearing healthcare session looks like with Megan Ogun weave is a tool that it's a telecommunications tool. It's our phone system that we use, that allows us to not only communicate with team members internally, but we can actually text message our patients and I have heard so many patients tell me and share with you. MEGAN I texted you via weave and you texted me right back with the answer. When we talk about experience especially as it relates to private audiology practice being in private practice. You have to make sure that the communication with your patients is first class, and I think that the team here does that really well. Creating that experience for the patients. What do you like most about the weave communication system that we use here in the office?

Meghan Okken: 20:54

Yeah. So I like honestly, that they can text us, right? It's so much easier. If they call, you know, there's a bunch of people calling at the same time, you might have to be put on hold whatever it may be, of course, we try to accommodate and manage all of these phone calls coming in and get back to every single patient that calls but also that, you know, you can just send us a quick text, can I get in? Or my hearing instrument? I think the wax guard is clogged, whatever it may be, can you just take a look at it for me real quick? Okay, come in on Tuesday, and we'll we'll take a look at it for you, does this time work for you? Or even just confirming appointments, or I love when the patients will leave? And they'll be like, Oh, just send me a text when my next appointment is? And I'm like, okay, yeah, we will.

Blaise Delfino: 21:36

And the weave platform allows us to remain in constant contact with our patients, because we live in a day and age now where responsiveness is essential. And that's I saw a LinkedIn post about this actually, Megan about responsiveness. And I think that the team here at Audiology Services does that really well. Being responsive to text messages. And what I love most about the web system is that internal communication that we can talk to each other, back and forth. But again, we ensure that we implement different platforms with the end goal of providing the best experience possible to the patient. This essentially dovetails into our next question here, Megan, the future of hearing healthcare. Wow, what are you most excited about?

Meghan Okken: 22:30

You know, there's a lot that I'm most excited about. There's a few things. And I mean, one, of course being we always talk about how much hearing technology has changed over the years, right. So it's kind of cool. And I'm excited to see how much it continues to change and improve over the next however many years, right? Because I don't plan on leaving this field for a while. So it's

Blaise Delfino: 22:52

great to hear Megan, because you're very good at what you do. So thank you continue.

Meghan Okken: 22:58

But yeah, I think it's just gonna be really cool to kind of see, you know, we think that this is so modern, but what is it going to be like 10 years from now, right? Because you're thinking there's so much technology in these little hearing instruments, how much Could it really change. But I'm excited to see how much it changes, right, and how much it improves and how much more we can add into the patient experience with these hearing instruments. But also, I mean, just to see the impact that's made on the hearing healthcare field in general, raising awareness. So it's cool to be a part of this movement of raising awareness of hearing health care. So we have the hearing matters podcast, and we have a few colleagues and people in the industry that are also doing the best that they can to raise awareness for hearing health care. So I I'm curious, and I'm excited to see what comes from it, and how, how much of an impact we can all make together and see just the changes of are people coming in more regularly for hearing evaluations, right? Yeah. Are they starting to be more aware and educated of what hearing technology is and what it does for you, more educated about their hearing loss or hearing sensitivity, tinnitus, whatever it may be, but just that whole education aspect of the general public? And also, I would say another big thing for me is so Starkey recently teamed up with Special Olympics. Yes. How cool is that? It's very cool. Throughout college, I took many special education classes. This was something that I was also very passionate about. If I didn't do speech pathology and audiology, I would probably do something in special education. I was in a program called Best Buddies, where you get matched up with someone with special needs, and you kind of hang out with them and you make a really big impact on their life. And my best buddy, actually, she was in Special Olympics. She She plays Oh, yeah, she plays gold and bocce

Blaise Delfino: 24:57

ball. Oh, that is so cool. Yeah. So

Meghan Okken: 25:00

I was like, when I first heard this, I was like, Oh my gosh, there's no way like the two things that I love the most are coming together and making an impact. And it's so cool to see that like, Bill Austin himself is fitting these athletes with hearing instruments, and not only giving them ears but also giving them a voice and raising awareness of Special Olympics and people with special needs as well. So that's so cool. So it's just little things like that, that it's just I can't wait to see what they do within their partnership. And I'm excited. I'm just excited.

Blaise Delfino: 25:32

It is the inclusion revolution. Yeah, absolutely. You know, Megan to echo that. It was so cool to just hear you and see you say all that because your passion like I said earlier just bleeds through to to help it individuals with hearing loss. Thank you for all that you are doing for the field because your passion is one of the many reasons why so many patients are going to continue to hear life's story. And like I said, I've heard from so many of the patients here, how much they enjoy working with you, and how much they're impressed with how much you know about hearing technology and overall hearing healthcare. I think what was so cool is that, so you've been involved, you've been part of the hearing matters podcast team, really, since its inception, and running the social media and conducting the transcription, and how much that's assisted you and just learning the language of overall hearing health care. But when we talk about the future of hearing healthcare and what we're most excited about you bring up such a good point. Yeah, there are other content creators that are creating content to raise awareness of overall hearing health care. And I think us being fellow content creators, you sort of have to step back and see what we've been able to do. You know, you have the hearing tracker podcast, Dr. Ben Thompson. All of these, you know, Madison Levine, from Levine hearing, I believe she's in North Carolina, there are so many thought leaders out there that are creating first class content. And it takes a lot of time, effort and energy and attitude create that constantly. So on behalf of hearing matters, thank all of you, who we just mentioned, for all of your efforts, what you continue to do for the hearing healthcare industry. The future is bright. I mean, when we talk about fall detection, Starkey was the first hearing aid company to actually embed artificial intelligence in their hearing technology. And one of the features was that fall detection. So what will hearing aids do in five years? 10 years? 20 years? We don't know. That's the million dollar question. That's the million dollar question. Megan, as we near the end of this episode, what advice would you give to individuals who are a little nervous to visit an audiologist or hearing healthcare professional?

Meghan Okken: 28:06

I would say you know, it never hurts to ask questions. I love answering questions when patients come in, ask away I'm that's what I'm here for. Right? So any question you have any slight nervousness or anxiousness that you have, feel free to tell me about it, okay. And all in all, address that and make sure that you're comfortable coming in and make sure that you know what's going on and you're educated when you're coming in and leaving. So I would say ask the right questions so you can hear life story.

Blaise Delfino: 28:35

You're tuned in to the hearing matters podcast, the show that discusses hearing technology, best practices, the growing national epidemic, hearing loss. On this episode, we had Megan Okin share her story and how she got into the hearing healthcare industry. Megan, thank you so much for joining us on the hearing matters podcast. I am personally very excited for your success, and to hear all of the patient's success stories that you and Dr. Gregory Delfino continue to help on the road to better hearing. Until next time here life story