Margaret's Story

"I didn't realize how much I was missing until I put them in for the first time. I cried — I could hear my granddaughter whispering to me."

The Challenge

Margaret, a retired teacher from Lexington, had been gradually losing her hearing for over a decade. Like many people, she adapted — reading lips, sitting closer to speakers, and turning up the TV. Her family noticed before she did. Family dinners became frustrating, and she started declining invitations to restaurants and gatherings because she couldn't keep up with conversations.

"I knew something was wrong when my daughter asked me a question from three feet away and I had no idea she'd spoken," Margaret recalls. "That was my wake-up call."

The Evaluation

Margaret scheduled a free hearing evaluation at our Lexington office. Her audiogram revealed moderate-to-severe sensorineural hearing loss in both ears — particularly in the higher frequencies, which is why she struggled with softer voices and consonant sounds.

"Andres explained everything clearly. He showed me the audiogram and said, 'This is why you can hear people talking but can't make out the words.' It finally made sense."

The Fitting

Margaret was fitted with Phonak Audéo Lumity rechargeable hearing aids — a receiver-in-canal style that was nearly invisible on her ear. The fitting included Live Speech Mapping, which verified in real time that the hearing aids were delivering the right amplification at every frequency.

"I remember when he played a sentence through the speaker and I could see on the screen that it was reaching my hearing level. Then he had my daughter say the same sentence, and I could hear every word. That's when the tears started."

The Outcome

After six months with hearing aids, Margaret reports transformative changes in her daily life:

• Family gatherings — She can follow conversations at the dinner table again, even when multiple people are talking
• TV volume — Down from 45 to 22. "My husband thanks Andres every time we watch a show together."
• Phone calls — She uses Bluetooth streaming directly to her hearing aids for crystal-clear calls
• Confidence — She's back to volunteering at her church and attending her book club
• Safety — She can hear the doorbell, oven timer, and her smoke detectors again

Margaret's Advice

"Don't wait as long as I did. I wasted years nodding along to conversations I couldn't actually hear. Getting tested is free, and if you need hearing aids, the technology today is incredible — they're tiny, they connect to your phone, and they just work. I wish I'd done this five years ago."