Sounds good: Hearing care retailer opens new space in Huntington Beach
Like many medical issues, early screening can be a benefit to detect hearing loss.
According to the Hearing Loss Assn. of America, it takes the average person seven years from the time they suspect they might have a hearing loss to the time they seek treatment.
One local option to get on top of things recently opened in Huntington Beach, where leading hearing care retailer HearUSA has opened a new Hearing Center of the Future.
The center features include state-of-the-art technologies, interactive displays and expert advice from licensed hearing care professionals, or HCPs. The new location also features a HearUSA HearAcademy Learning Center, one of just two in the country, where current HCPs can stay up to date on new technologies, and those looking to forward their careers can participate in the Hearing Instrument Specialist (HIS) Apprentice Program.
The other HearAcademy Learning Center opened in Pam Beach Gardens, Fla. earlier this year, so the Surf City location serves as a West Coast hub, said Dr. Katherine Yeh, a HearUSA doctor of audiology who works there. Recently, a representative from Widex hearing aids made an appearance to show off the product and how to program it and make adjustments.
“Every couple of months or so, we have a deep dive,” Yeh said. “There are students who come in and go through training. We have a whole classroom in the back and they’re trained to make sure they’re ready for their licensing exam, and they get sponsored by an HCP too to kind of show them the ropes. You have to have a sponsor for about a year, and then you can take the exam to become a licensed hearing aid dispenser.”
Yeh works with hearing aid dispenser Vanessa Espinoza to see patients at the Huntington Beach location all day. She performs a comprehensive hearing test on potential patients, consisting of three parts — tones, words and full sentences with background noise.
She will then go over options for hearing aids if necessary, either behind-the-ear or in-ear models. HearUSA is contracted with Kaiser medical insurance, Yeh said, but will work with different insurance companies and third-party groups.
She added that purchases comes with a three-year warranty.
“I always have a demo pair ready,” Yeh said. “It’s very immediate, which is good. We can do same-day fits. If they’re willing to move forward and they want to try it out, we can fit them and they can go home with a pair today.”
Though hearing aids are expensive, they are less cumbersome than they used to be. Espinoza has been with the company as an HCP for six years, but in the industry for nearly two decades.
“We’re not the cheapest out there, but we’re also not the most expensive, from my experience,” Espinoza said. “I’ve seen people go up to like $12,000 on hearing aids. We never really do that. Even if you didn’t have insurance, we would still give you promotional pricing.”
HearUSA moved out of its previously listed Huntington Beach location, which was technically near the city border and in Westminster, earlier this year. The new space has a layout to accommodate the learning center, which also accommodates employees from the corporate office in Florida.
“It’s still very new, but it’s giving [the apprentices] an opportunity to learn everything and get ready for the practical exam and the written test, too, which is a little bit harder to pass,” Espinoza said. “They learn how to go inside of people’s ears, what to look for, how to make impressions of ears for people that need ear molds, how to repair hearing aids in office, reading hearing tests.
“It’s an actual classroom setting, which is pretty exciting.”
The company also offers room for growth, she said, as many of the HCPs start as front desk staff before working their way up.
“It’s good, because then clients get to see you grow too,” Espinoza said. “It’s a familiar face, somebody that they’re comfortable with and they’ve been seeing for years.”
HearUSA also has several other Orange County hearing centers, including one in Costa Mesa.
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.
