When Theresa Jabaley, owner and clinical audiologist of Advanced Hearing Services near Millennium Park in downtown Chicago tells people that she is an audiologist, their usual response is to cup their hand around their ear and say "Huh?"
An audiologist works with people who have hearing or balance problems. They use audiometers and other tools to asses the extent of the problem and how it might affect the person's daily life. Besides providing technological help, like hearing aides, to patients, the audiologist also councils patients on adjustment to hearing loss and how to use their hearing instruments.
Jabaley, who has been practicing since 1963, went to college when, at the time, there were not many job options for women. She was studying at Vanderbilt as an undergraduate when her friend, who was taking an audiology class, asked her to be one of the test subjects for a hearing assessment assignment.
"I asked, ‘What is audiology?'" Jabaley says. "It seemed more interesting than being a teacher, so I took undergrad classes and then applied at Northwestern, which is how I ended up here."
At the time a master's degree was all that was necessary, but now to practice, an audiologist must attain a doctorate. After completing her masters, Jabaley went on to work in a non-for profit hospital where she specialized in early intervention, which is helping young children with hearing problems. Later, after the hospital became for-profit and her position was cut, she started her own practice, where she seems many artists, musicians and actors.
Sometimes when working with her patients, she is stressed by the limitations of how much she can help people. The best hearing aides are very expensive, and Medicare doesn't pay for hearing aides.
"I wish I could just give hearing aides to people," Jabaley says. "It's hard for me to compromise when I know that they would do better with a product that is out of the question for them."
The process
During an appointment, Jabaley takes the time to find out about each of her patients. She learns about their family history and their daily lives to try to figure out what might be the cause of their hearing loss.
She then conducts a hearing test that last around 45 minutes to an hour. After she gets the results she makes sure to explain them to the patient and discuss solutions such as hearing aides, amplification devices, or lip reading classes.
"Hearing loss is very isolating to people," Jabaley says. "When they can't respond or laugh at the jokes it's stressful. It consumes a great deal of energy to always be concentrating and always be guessing and to feel like everyone is getting it but you."
Over the course of the 48 years she has been a practicing audiologist, Jabaley has seen an increase in recognition of her field and more awareness of the problem of hearing loss, which is satisfying she says. More and more she sees parents who are concerned about their children's hearing and the potential effect of personal stereos on their hearing.
She has also witnessed the improvement of hearing aides. People didn't used to like to wear hearing aides at concerts or restaurants because the quality of sound was not very good, she says. But now people wear hearing aides everywhere and the quality of sound has improved greatly.
Recently Jabaley saw a 30-year-old business woman who had experienced hearing loss for half of her life.
"When I programmed her hearing aides and put them on her, she cried," Jabaley says. "It was the first time she heard the way you and I hear. That makes me feel that I had an effect on someone's life, not just their hearing loss or their understanding."
An audiologist works with people who have hearing or balance problems. They use audiometers and other tools to asses the extent of the problem and how it might affect the person's daily life. Besides providing technological help, like hearing aides, to patients, the audiologist also councils patients on adjustment to hearing loss and how to use their hearing instruments.
"I asked, ‘What is audiology?'" Jabaley says. "It seemed more interesting than being a teacher, so I took undergrad classes and then applied at Northwestern, which is how I ended up here."
At the time a master's degree was all that was necessary, but now to practice, an audiologist must attain a doctorate. After completing her masters, Jabaley went on to work in a non-for profit hospital where she specialized in early intervention, which is helping young children with hearing problems. Later, after the hospital became for-profit and her position was cut, she started her own practice, where she seems many artists, musicians and actors.
Sometimes when working with her patients, she is stressed by the limitations of how much she can help people. The best hearing aides are very expensive, and Medicare doesn't pay for hearing aides.
"I wish I could just give hearing aides to people," Jabaley says. "It's hard for me to compromise when I know that they would do better with a product that is out of the question for them."
The process
During an appointment, Jabaley takes the time to find out about each of her patients. She learns about their family history and their daily lives to try to figure out what might be the cause of their hearing loss.
She then conducts a hearing test that last around 45 minutes to an hour. After she gets the results she makes sure to explain them to the patient and discuss solutions such as hearing aides, amplification devices, or lip reading classes.
"Hearing loss is very isolating to people," Jabaley says. "When they can't respond or laugh at the jokes it's stressful. It consumes a great deal of energy to always be concentrating and always be guessing and to feel like everyone is getting it but you."
Over the course of the 48 years she has been a practicing audiologist, Jabaley has seen an increase in recognition of her field and more awareness of the problem of hearing loss, which is satisfying she says. More and more she sees parents who are concerned about their children's hearing and the potential effect of personal stereos on their hearing.
She has also witnessed the improvement of hearing aides. People didn't used to like to wear hearing aides at concerts or restaurants because the quality of sound was not very good, she says. But now people wear hearing aides everywhere and the quality of sound has improved greatly.
Recently Jabaley saw a 30-year-old business woman who had experienced hearing loss for half of her life.
"When I programmed her hearing aides and put them on her, she cried," Jabaley says. "It was the first time she heard the way you and I hear. That makes me feel that I had an effect on someone's life, not just their hearing loss or their understanding."