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Episode 2121 Transcript:



Announcer

And now America's Healthcare Advocate, Cary Hall.

00;00;05;29 - 00;00;28;22

Cary Hall

Hello, America. Welcome to America's Healthcare Advocates. Show broadcasting coast to coast across the USA. Here on the HIA Radio Network, you can find out more about us by going to our website: AmericasHealthCareAdvocate.com. Also, all these shows are posted on 15 podcast platforms, including Rumble, by the way, which we just did again today, and our YouTube platform.

00;00;28;22 - 00;00;49;28

Cary Hall

We've got about almost a half a million views up there. You can like us, you can subscribe. It doesn't cost anything. If you want to go up on the YouTube platform or on those podcast platforms. So all these shows where we record them with video, then we put them up there after we do them, and you can listen to them up there or subscribe so you can hear what we are talking about that might be of interest to you.

00;00;50;05 - 00;01;14;01

Cary Hall

If you are chronologically challenged and are looking for Medicare, please give Carolee Steele a call over at RPS Benefits by Design. She's an expert. She can help you show you all the options in the marketplace. There are a lot of changes coming. It'd be a great time to call and just have her take a look at your plan and review it. And by the way, if you are looking for group health insurance, I had a company call me out of Columbia, Missouri last week.

00;01;14;08 - 00;01;43;00

Cary Hall

They were on, a very old Blue Cross and Blue Shield plan. They were a heating and air conditioning company. The premiums had gotten completely out of hand. The policy was 20 years old, actually. Maria Ahlers helped them find something significantly less money continued with great benefits. So they can help you once again, the phone number (877) 385-2224. Anywhere in the country, it doesn't matter where you are, they can help you wherever you might be.

00;01;43;00 - 00;02;05;18

Cary Hall

All right. Joining me in studio again today Shannon Schneller. Welcome back. What are we in our fourth one now I think yeah something like that okay. So Shannon Schneller is the CEO and founder of Focus Hearing. They are the folks that I go to that, you know, got my hearing aid straightened out. You know, they've done a great job for me and for my wife Lauren also, in studio with me Len Randazzo.

00;02;05;18 - 00;02;06;02

Cary Hall

Hey, Len.

00;02;06;02 - 00;02;06;26

Len Randazzo

Good morning.

00;02;06;27 - 00;02;27;13

Cary Hall

So this man is usually the man that handles everything here at Cumulus. He is our rep does a great job. But I'm driving down the, the road on a Saturday after Shannon’s last show aired. And he calls me up and he goes, are those guys really, really that good at what they do? And I went on to tell him, yeah, that and a bag of chips, actually, if you want to know.

00;02;27;18 - 00;02;45;29

Cary Hall

Well, he went to Shannon. I'm going to have him talk about his experience so you can see what it was like for him to go and the difference he had between that and the other people he was working with. And then we've got a really special guest after that. Our producer, Dave Thiessen, is going to sneak out from behind the cameras today.

00;02;45;29 - 00;03;06;05

Cary Hall

You're actually going to see who he is, and he's going to talk about what his experience and Focus Hearing was. So you'll get to hear from a couple of folks that have actually been there and done what needs to get done. But let's let's just start by talking about what you guys do, why I think it's so different than what I call the conglom-o, or the national firms or the franchise firms or whatever.

00;03;06;07 - 00;03;28;18

Cary Hall

And it's certainly different than what you see on television when people are going to order a hearing aid. I always find that amusing because I'm like, how do they know what you're hearing issues are if they can't test you until you order this thing off the television? So, so so let's just start with about what you guys do, what you offer, and then how you interface with various insurance programs.

00;03;28;18 - 00;03;29;05

Cary Hall

Shannon.

00;03;29;08 - 00;03;51;08

Shannon Schneller

So I mean state guidelines, we all of our professional lives, our industry, we have guidelines that we have to follow. So of course we're going to do those. We just feel that going above and beyond that is really important. What makes us different. And the individual plan of the person that's in front of you, because not everybody is the same.

00;03;51;08 - 00;04;08;17

Shannon Schneller

You can have ten people with the same hearing loss, and that hearing aid is going to sound ten different ways. So there's a little bit of art, a lot of science behind it. And we just believe in doing what's best for the patient in front of us. And that doesn't always mean that you're getting a new hearing aid every time you come in as a new patient.

00;04;08;17 - 00;04;29;06

Cary Hall

No, it doesn't. And that's really funny because the hearing aids I'm wearing, okay, when I first came in, you didn't sell me those hearing aids. Okay? You did convince me to get the second one that I got. I only had one for one ear because I'm deaf on one side. And you got me a transmitter. But, they weren't working right, and I couldn't get it straightened out, and I couldn't get, it’s got great software.

00;04;29;13 - 00;04;54;13

Cary Hall

I couldn't get it to work. Didn't know how to down. You guys did the whole thing. And I have been back on several occasions when I had issues. Okay. And did the walk in, walked right in your customer service, your folks at the front desk were right there. Took care of the problem. I got back out in like ten minutes. In the past, you know, when I was dealing with another company, you'd have to get an appointment that might be a week out or two weeks out.

00;04;54;14 - 00;05;14;00

Cary Hall

Meanwhile this isn’t working and I can't hear and I'm going nuts, okay. Because I've become so dependent on these things, because they make such a difference for me that without them I'm like, I'm lost. I mean, it's, you know, it's like they can't see. Yeah, I can see, but I can't hear and it drives me nuts. Or, you know, I'll forget.

00;05;14;00 - 00;05;29;05

Cary Hall

I'll walk out of the house and I'll get halfway down, the road from my house, and I'm a mile away, and, Oh, God, I forgot the hearing aids. You. I gotta turn around. Go back. Yeah, I and I do, because they become that critical to me. So the first time you told me this, I was completely shocked.

00;05;29;07 - 00;05;52;25

Cary Hall

78% of the people in this country don't treat hearing loss. The 12 we got, we've got like 12% of the people that are actually treating it. And the rest of the people letting it go untreated. So talk about what happens as a result of that, because there are so many issues that come with that. If you don't take care of it, let's just talk about that a little bit.

00;05;52;26 - 00;06;10;21

Shannon Schneller

Well, I just think about my patients. What I see in front of me, the degrees of hearing loss is what's really can set the tone for your experience. It's always so much easier to adjust to a hearing aid when you're at a mild to moderate hearing loss, because you're not having to make this huge jump back to normal.

00;06;10;23 - 00;06;26;09

Shannon Schneller

If you can catch it earlier, your transition just is so much easier for the patient. And it kind of goes back to, you know, ten hearing losses that look the same. But those hearing aids are going to sound different. It's about your preference about your tolerance. It's also in the booth what is your best case scenario.

00;06;26;09 - 00;06;42;01

Shannon Schneller

Because that's not the same for everybody. And so it's important for us to set realistic expectations about what we can do for you and what we can't. And I think that's what's fair for me to inform the patient, look, I can do this. I know you want me to be able to do this, but that's just not in the bag for you.

00;06;42;01 - 00;06;45;07

Shannon Schneller

And because the nature of the beast. We waited too long.

00;06;45;11 - 00;07;05;15

Cary Hall

Stop right there. We waited too long. Right. Okay. I didn't wait too long, but I went through three different sets of hearing aids with three different companies before I finally found you guys and was able to get myself set up. And now, you know, I've. My hearing is great. I mean, I could sit in a restaurant, if I really want to, and listen to four tables around me.

00;07;05;17 - 00;07;16;09

Cary Hall

Don't do that, folks. It's annoying. But I'm just saying.. The hearing has made an enormous difference to me. So waiting is not a good thing, right?

00;07;16;11 - 00;07;40;18

Shannon Schneller

I mean, let's say you come in and you have hearing loss and you're just not quite ready, and then you wait 4 or 5 years, maybe longer than that. You come back, your audiogram, the graph, your blue and red dots might look the same. You're hearing has not changed the response. Your ability to process and understand speech is what typically changes and degrades, and that even translates over to how you hear in noise.

00;07;40;20 - 00;08;04;02

Shannon Schneller

So when those neurological pathways between the air in the brain don't stay stimulated, that ability to understand that speech processing is what degrades. And that's what a lot of patients don't realize, that we waited too long. And I can only take you to 80% speech understanding. That 20% is gone forever. And that's just a fair expectation. I don't want to promise the moon when I know I can't give that to you.

00;08;04;04 - 00;08;11;05

Shannon Schneller

And maybe that's, a big part of why patients respond to us. Because we're not going to make promises that we can't keep.

00;08;11;06 - 00;08;29;06

Cary Hall

Yeah, but conversely, the other thing is, if you don't do it, it's going to keep degrading. I remember this, Laurie being told this because she was the first one I had the issue. The longer that you wait, the more the more difficult it's going to be to get you back to any level, because it's going to continue to degrade.

00;08;29;06 - 00;08;40;20

Shannon Schneller

Just like if you have a broken arm and you don't do your physical therapy, you're not going to get your full range of motion back if you don't do the work. So it's it's always easier to take the cast off. Get in your PT. Get your arm back. Don't wait.

00;08;40;22 - 00;08;43;16

Cary Hall

Same thing, but you have to teat it like that.

00;08;43;16 - 00;08;43;20

Shannon Schneller

Very similar. Yeah.

00;08;43;20 - 00;08;54;23

Cary Hall

And that's a great analogy that there's something you can see and you know, this is something you can't see. And it's gradual, okay. But people around you are going to notice it and you're going to notice it.

00;08;54;26 - 00;09;07;04

Shannon Schneller

And that's typically how the process happens. Is that the nature of hearing loss is that it's so slow and gradual you don't realize it. So you're walking around where you are swearing you're at normal, but your loved ones are complaining. You're not. You're not at normal.

00;09;07;04 - 00;09;08;02

Shannon Schneller

So that's the case.

00;09;08;02 - 00;09;24;01

Cary Hall

So it does make a difference, folks. If you want some help, if you want an evaluation, if you just want to know where you're at, here's what you need to do. Give them a call (913) 754-2144. They've got two locations easy to get to. If you want help, they can do it or go to the website.

00;09;24;01 - 00;09;46;10

Cary Hall

MyFocusHearing.com. MyFocusHearing.com. When we come back from the break. We're going to talk a little more about this. And we're going to talk about how it ties into cognitive decline. And for all of us out there that are chronologically challenged that's a real issue. Stay tuned. We'll be right back after the break. You're listening to America’s Health Care Advocate broadcasting here on the HIA Radio Network.

00;09;46;12 - 00;09;56;10

Cary Hall

Coast to coast across the USA. Don't go anywhere.

00;09;56;13 - 00;10;20;26

Cary Hall

You. Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate show, broadcasting coast to coast across the USA here on the HIA Radio Network. If you have a question or comment like that gentleman in Columbia, Missouri, send me an email. I'll get back to you. I'll be happy to help you with anything that I can. Also, you know, if you want to help, maybe you've got a husband.

00;10;20;29 - 00;10;43;05

Cary Hall

It's too stubborn to go get the hearing test. And you're telling the guy, look, you're not hearing what I'm telling you, or turn the clothes. Maybe we get rid of the closed caption on TV. If you actually got your hearing checked and got a hearing aid. Well, I would suggest you have him listen to this broadcast on the podcast or on the YouTube channel so he can actually understand what we're talking about and why.

00;10;43;08 - 00;11;08;11

Cary Hall

If you don't do something about this, it gets progressively worse. That's the point. Okay. So if you want an evaluation, it costs nothing to go in and sit down with Shannon and her folks and let her tell you what the problem is. And here's what the solutions are. You can do that by calling (913) 754-2144. They've got two locations you can easily get to them.

00;11;08;18 - 00;11;35;12

Cary Hall

The website MyFocusHearing.com MyFocusHearing.com. This isn't conglom-o franchise. You know some nationally advertised. These are local folks right here in our community that know what they're doing and do it very well. So let's get to this cognitive decline thing because this is an issue, you know, if you're a seasoned citizen okay. Which you're not. But there's two of us in here actually three because we're going to bring Dave up behind the microphone.

00;11;35;14 - 00;11;59;29

Cary Hall

If this is something you think about okay I mean I take a supplement. Okay. And I do it every night specifically developed for cognitive. To enhance cognitive and not face cognitive decline. I've got two companies, one I own and one I own part of that I'm, you know, I'm 76 years old, and I'm as busy as I've ever been, so that's important to me.

00;12;00;04 - 00;12;14;11

Cary Hall

Now, you talk about this hearing thing. Okay. So you here, you've you're a lot of people working past 65, 70 now a lot of people. Okay. And so what happens is you don't pay attention to this. And then so what happens from a cognitive standpoint.

00;12;14;11 - 00;12;19;12

Shannon Schneller

Well comes to the whole hearing system. It is truly I use it or lose it system.

00;12;19;14 - 00;12;20;06

Cary Hall

Repeat that.

00;12;20;07 - 00;12;22;02

Shannon Schneller

It's a use it or lose it okay.

00;12;22;02 - 00;12;29;10

Cary Hall

So it's just like you know when you talk about exercise. Get out. Exercise. Whatever, use it or lose it. Same deal, different day.

00;12;29;12 - 00;12;47;02

Shannon Schneller

Right. It's just about, you know, what does your system look like? Can we reactivate it when you have untreated hearing loss? I don't know if you're aware of this, but as of right now, untreated hearing loss, that's the number one modifiable risk factor for dementia. Everything else.

00;12;47;02 - 00;12;48;23

Cary Hall

Is just that's the first time I've heard that

00;12;48;23 - 00;12;49;25

Shannon Schneller

it's just a toss of the dice.

00;12;49;28 - 00;12;52;10

Cary Hall

The number one modifier.

00;12;52;12 - 00;12;53;22

Shannon Schneller

Modifiable Risk Factor.

00;12;55;02 - 00;12;59;04

Cary Hall

Meaning you can slow it down, stop it, or do whatever you need to do if you.

00;12;59;04 - 00;13;14;07

Shannon Schneller

Yeah, that's the only thing that you can control. While the studies up to this point, I know they're looking about diet and other things, how that affects. But if you really think about the risks of dementia and untreated hearing loss, and you can actually do something about it, that's pretty powerful.

00;13;14;09 - 00;13;15;20

Cary Hall

Oh, yeah.

00;13;15;22 - 00;13;27;03

Shannon Schneller

You know, and we all want to age well, I know I do. And if there's anything that I can do to help that process slow down, I'm going to do the best I can to make that happen.

00;13;27;07 - 00;13;47;15

Cary Hall

You know, I told this story before I was standing in my, in Pasco, Washington. And in my, at my son in law's parents farm, that big alfalfa farm and the grandkids are running around and Evelyn then the oldest was, I think, four years old. And she came up to me and she was talking to me, and I didn't hear a thing she was saying.

00;13;47;17 - 00;14;10;06

Cary Hall

And Sean, look, she goes, Cary, Cary, Evelyn's trying to talk to you. And I'm like, there she was right at my legs, standing there looking at me. Talk to me, I didn't hear. I said, you know what, I got a problem here, right? I didn't hear her. Well, I got six grandkids, okay? And it's important that I, you know, that you can understand them, hear what they're trying to say, interact with them.

00;14;10;06 - 00;14;26;20

Cary Hall

Those are all critical things. So for me, that was the one that pushed it over, that pushed the button. That was like, okay, I gotta do something about this, right? Okay. Because I'm not interacting with my family. The other thing that drove me nuts was trying to watch a television show, not understand what the hell they were saying.

00;14;26;22 - 00;14;56;11

Cary Hall

Yeah, and I got news for you can't closed caption, Fox news. Okay. All right. Yeah, I don't bother with CNN. I'm just telling you. Okay. Straight up. Okay. Or CNBC, you know, you're looking at what's going on in the markets. You can close caption TV shows but you can't or movies, but so being able to hear what people are saying when you said not understanding people, I remember sitting at luncheon meetings, business meetings one night in particular, I had with the folks over Blue Cross, and we were at Jacks Stack Barbecue.

00;14;56;12 - 00;15;15;19

Cary Hall

There were four of these people at lunch with me, and I'm asking people to repeat like two and three times what the hell they're saying. It's noisy in there. I couldn't hear it. Now I go to the restaurant setting on my phone. I push the button and they dials me in to what the people that are sitting near me and I am not hearing, you know,

00;15;15;22 - 00;15;23;15

Cary Hall

If you leave it on the regular sound, you're picking up sound from other tables, but it works amazingly well. So you, as you said, you can correct it, right?

00;15;23;15 - 00;15;25;02

Shannon Schneller

Yes, absolutely.

00;15;25;04 - 00;15;29;26

Cary Hall

And and stop dealing with the annoyance of not understanding people.

00;15;29;26 - 00;15;35;24

Shannon Schneller

Well, you don't realize as time goes on the things that your body has to do to accommodate hearing loss.

00;15;35;24 - 00;15;36;20

Cary Hall

Okay.

00;15;36;23 - 00;15;58;16

Shannon Schneller

You’re lip reading, you don't even know you're doing it. That's just the body being the amazing thing that it is to compensate. So you’re lip reading, you're leaning, you're positioning yourself in certain areas to give you the best fighting chance. And there just becomes like this mental and physical load to pull this off on a daily basis. By the end of the day, there's a level of exhaustion that doesn't need to be there.

00;15;58;18 - 00;16;07;16

Shannon Schneller

You know, if we can fix your hearing, then you're not having to mentally and physically do all those things to cope with your hearing loss. It's just make it easier for you.

00;16;07;20 - 00;16;28;27

Cary Hall

Yeah, because that's it. And that's exactly what I used to do. In fact, I used to position most until you convinced me to get the second hearing aid because I'm deaf on one side, I had a brain tumor in ‘85. I lost the hearing over there. I was lucky that that's all I lost. And I would set so that if I'm at a business meeting, the people I'm doing business with are on this side of me.

00;16;29;01 - 00;16;50;29

Cary Hall

I don't want them on the other side because I couldn't hear a damn thing they say right now, it doesn't matter. Because this, this piece that you got me transmits sound from that ear over to this hearing aid that does a great job, and I can hear what's going on. Boy, what a difference that made. And I even after I got the hearing aid, I remember you said you don't really have to do this, but I'm telling you, I'm like, okay, Shannon. I'm going to listen to you.

00;16;50;29 - 00;16;54;13

Cary Hall

And I did it like, oh, Lord have mercy. This really works.

00;16;54;13 - 00;16;58;28

Shannon Schneller

Yeah. It's not you don't have a blind spot. Your echolocation is back. Yeah. You can tell here sounds are coming from.

00;16;58;28 - 00;17;16;17

Cary Hall

Yeah. Yes. It just made a huge difference. Right. So that's really interesting. I had no idea that it played this big a role in cog. I mean, I knew it was important in cognitive decline right here, that that's the one factor that can turn that to a certain degree. I'd say that's pretty important.

00;17;16;18 - 00;17;36;29

Shannon Schneller

Well, and you partner that with, you know, if you're not hearing and then you start to withdraw and then you don't, you're not hanging out with your family and, you know, your relationship starts to degrade. You're just not doing the things that you usually do. And then you start to isolate. And then the isolation is where that cognitive factor comes in.

00;17;36;29 - 00;17;44;17

Shannon Schneller

It's like when you're not engaging with your family and your relationships, that's when things start to slow down. And that's the concern.

00;17;44;17 - 00;18;00;26

Cary Hall

And then that causes friction in the family and a whole bunch of things. And again, you know, like I said, there are a lot of us that are working past retirement age of 65, 64, whatever it is, if you're doing that and you can't function in the business environment, you're dealing with people a lot younger than you are.

00;18;00;27 - 00;18;18;00

Cary Hall

They're kind of looking at you like, what's the matter with you? You know, it's it's not a good thing. So it makes sense, you know, to find out. Now, take the time and find out, okay. It's simple enough to do. You can call (913) 754-2144, make an appointment, go in and see Shannon or one of her techs.

00;18;18;00 - 00;18;33;15

Cary Hall

They'll be happy to take you through the process or go to the website. My focus here. Income. We come back from the break Len Randazzo's going to tells his story, and then we're going to drag Dave Thiessen out from behind the cameras and he's going to tell us his story. So stay tuned. We'll be right back after the break.

00;18;33;15 - 00;18;52;22

Cary Hall

You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate Broadcasting Coast to coast across the USA here on the HIA Radio Network.

00;18;52;24 - 00;19;15;26

Cary Hall

Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate show, broadcasting coast to coast across the USA. Speaking of which, I want to do a shout out to 98.7FM in WBFD in Bedford, Pennsylvania. They're one of our newest affiliates. Happy to have you folks on board. And listening to America's Healthcare Advocate here as part of our America's Healthcare Advocate family.

00;19;15;26 - 00;19;36;01

Cary Hall

So hello to everybody in Bedford, Pennsylvania. In studio with me again, Shannon Schneller from Focus Hearing. She's the CEO and the founder, my producers, Mr.. Dave Thiessen behind the cameras, who will not be behind the cameras a little later on today. And Garner Cowdrey here of behind the microphones in our Cumulus studios, our flagship studios here in Overland Park Kansas.

00;19;36;01 - 00;19;53;29

Cary Hall

All right. So now we're going to switch to Len. And this is a funny story because like I said, I think I'm coming back from Bible study because we're on at 8:00 and, but and I, we start at seven and we don't usually get out to 830 or 9. And I get this phone call from Len and he goes, I just listened to that show.

00;19;54;02 - 00;19;58;06

Cary Hall

And are they really that good, Cary? Take it. Len.

00;19;58;08 - 00;20;36;01

Len Randazzo

Yes, I was really impressed with the information that you were explaining and, and how you service people. And when I called Cary, I was really impressed with the demeanor and also the focus that you have on setting up people correctly. And I could tell just from that show that there was passion in what you do. When I called after talking to Cary, I spoke to your gal at the front desk, and she was equally as helpful.

00;20;36;01 - 00;21;06;27

Len Randazzo

And then when I walked in to talk with you, I just felt a total difference. The place that I was at, as you aptly said, conglom-o. It was a factory. You know, they had rooms like and they just whipping you in and whipping you out of there. And no matter how many questions I had and I went through two, this is now my second set with this company, and I was very frustrated because I was like, these are expensive propositions, you know, $5,000.

00;21;06;28 - 00;21;08;04

Cary Hall

$2,500 apiece, you know.

00;21;08;04 - 00;21;33;07

Len Randazzo

And I was feeling like I should be able to demo multiple things. And then you guys can hone in, you know, the technology is amazing. And I am very happy about how the app works. And viewing things that way. And the other one that I had previous had a better app, but this one was a little bit different.

00;21;33;10 - 00;21;57;29

Len Randazzo

My hearing pattern is a lot different than most because being around radio so much, listening to things at decibels that probably most people don't do, and I'm sure I've done some damage. So the highs and the lows for me are very different than most people's problems. And then on top of that, I have tinnitus. And so the ringing in the ears.

00;21;57;29 - 00;22;23;06

Len Randazzo

So it's just another level of, you know, factoring things in. And when I came in you explained what you said before about where you can possibly get me to, but it was more about how can I help you? And that's what made me feel great. And then you also said something to the effect of, did you ever have a background test?

00;22;23;09 - 00;22;28;22

Len Randazzo

And that just blew me away. I didn't know what you were talking about. So explain the background test. Right?

00;22;28;24 - 00;22;44;20

Shannon Schneller

Well, and that's one thing that we did as a practice, just believe is very, very important because when we're testing in the booth, we want to know what is your best case scenario. But that's in a booth in quiet. That is not the same and does not translate over to how you hear when you're in a crowd.

00;22;44;22 - 00;23;08;11

Shannon Schneller

So if you don't test for that, the provider is literally guessing and majority of the time it's not even close to what you think it would be, because you can have somebody that's great in the booth. And yes, they have a moderate hearing loss. You put them in background noise and somebody just completely falls apart. Yeah. And if you're not prepared for that and I don't prepare you for that, you're thinking, I just spent all this money and I still I'm still not hearing in this restaurant.

00;23;08;14 - 00;23;28;12

Shannon Schneller

You know. And when you came to me, you have great hearing aids. They're like one and a half, two years old. This wasn't necessarily about you and I needing to discuss you needing new hearing aids. We just needed to fix what you have and maximize what you could and couldn't do. And, and in your case, it just we just manipulated what you already had built on what the professionals did before me.

00;23;28;14 - 00;23;34;23

Shannon Schneller

Right. And just changed a few things, tweaked a few things. Just based on what you told me you liked, what you didn't like, what you're struggling with. Right.

00;23;34;26 - 00;24;01;10

Len Randazzo

So I had been through several adjustments with the other firm, and what was different was they just did the manual things that, based on what I told them, for example, like with my wife, was in the kitchen and she opened tinfoil. Oh, that would send me through the roof. It was just, you know, and if I didn't have my hearing aids in, it would not have had that effect.

00;24;01;13 - 00;24;26;00

Len Randazzo

So it was having these day to day things that are in our life that you have to put up with or do that were not the same. So I was trying to explain those things to them, and then they just did what the mechanical things to do. When we sat down, and you went through those things with me, you asked all of those type of things, and I felt so much different.

00;24;26;00 - 00;24;54;19

Len Randazzo

I felt like I had somebody that was more of a qualifier and more of a, you know, saying, this is how we can help this. And and maybe we couldn't do this, but how we can get to you having a better quality of interpreting things, like you said before, which I thought was fascinating. I didn't realize how how the human brain has to be conditioned itself when hearing loss happens.

00;24;54;27 - 00;24;56;01

Len Randazzo

Tell me more again.

00;24;56;03 - 00;25;17;25

Shannon Schneller

So what you were mentioning is it's very common, especially for a patient that has high frequency hearing loss. Those that part of your hearing system is not used to being stimulated. So then all of a sudden you're hearing aid is giving you this audibility for sounds you're not used to hearing. Dishes banging and clanging. You flush the toilet, you know, ice cube machine, all those high frequency sounds you're not used to hearing.

00;25;17;27 - 00;25;33;15

Shannon Schneller

Your ear is very sensitive to that. And so if I just correct you all at once and then you're having to get used to it, you don't want to wear them, you're going to take them out, put them in the drawer. Yeah. It's more about let's introduce you to sound. Where you’re comfortable? Let's tweak it. Is that too much?

00;25;33;15 - 00;25;43;29

Shannon Schneller

Okay, let's go back down. Let's have you wear it there. Get used to that. And then as you acclimate, then I'll bump you a little bit next time instead of just taking this huge jump. You just can't tolerate it.

00;25;43;29 - 00;26;08;15

Len Randazzo

Yeah, I feel so much better after walking out of our visit. After the tweaking that you did compared to the four and five visits that I had had that I was still in, in my opinion, la la land, was that so? It really, you know, puts the emphasis on, and I got it in the title of your business “Focus Hearing”.

00;26;08;17 - 00;26;11;09

Len Randazzo

I mean, you know, it's perfectly said.

00;26;11;09 - 00;26;36;07

Cary Hall

We’re going to have to use that line somewhere, Len. It's really pretty good. You know, it's funny because, you know, customer service. I say, in this country, the word service has gone out of customer service. I'll give you another example. I have, a sleep apnea machine. I have one that I travel with. I travel if I don't travel with it on vacation, you know, Laurie spends most of the nights awake.

00;26;36;10 - 00;27;05;25

Cary Hall

So obviously I travel with it. I needed a new mask. I reached out to the company. You can only do it online. Made eight phone calls in two days. Spent over three hours trying to get something done. Finally the people were nice enough. Finally the owner of the company called me back, was responsive, got it done. But my point in telling that story is there's no damn service in customer service and you can go spend.

00;27;05;27 - 00;27;30;23

Cary Hall

He spent the same amount of money I did these these hearing aids, although I got a nice discount because I'm I have Blue Cross and Blue Shield and they have Blue 365 with discount programs. And by the way, they take all the insurance products Medicare Advantage. If you have an allocation on your Medicare Advantage plan, they take it. And also they accept the discounts from Blue Cross and other carriers to to reduce the cost.

00;27;30;28 - 00;27;45;25

Cary Hall

But it was the same thing. But they weren't working and I was pulling my hair out. Same thing as Len. Okay. So to me, that customer service piece, that's if that's not as important, maybe it's more important for me.

00;27;45;25 - 00;28;04;18

Shannon Schneller

I would wholeheartedly agree with that. Hearing aids, especially with Bluetooth, connectivity, the streaming, there are things that are going to come up and it's it's just a service based product. It's not like I'm just going to fit you with the hearing aid. Oh good luck. I'll see you in a couple of years. You know, you need cleaning.

00;28;04;18 - 00;28;10;06

Shannon Schneller

You need support. You need Bluetooth support. You need all those little things. I don't want you waiting two weeks.

00;28;10;09 - 00;28;10;28

Cary Hall

I can't do it

00;28;10;28 - 00;28;11;20

Shannon Schneller

To see me.

00;28;11;20 - 00;28;12;06

Cary Hall

Well, that's what I was saying before..

00;28;12;09 - 00;28;28;03

Shannon Schneller

If that's something that my tech's up front can just. Oh my gosh. Yeah. You're, da da da, 10 seconds later, you're on your way. And that's what we're very passionate about. And I know we have our set walk in hours between 10 and 3. And that's just because we feel it's very important to staff enough to handle the traffic.

00;28;28;07 - 00;28;49;25

Cary Hall

Yeah, but the point is, and Len, I think you’ll agree. I could never get into the other, you know, I had to make it. I couldn't walk in. Oh, there open at 10. I'm going to be there at 10:15, walk in, get my problem solved 15 minutes later out the door and I'm done. Okay. That to me was an enormous difference that you have walk in, you can walk in, you can get service in, you walk out.

00;28;49;25 - 00;29;03;07

Cary Hall

Yeah. You can make an appointment if you need an evaluation, whatever. But the fact that you've got that and that those girls up front know how to do all of that stuff to fix these things, adjust these things. To me, that's half the battle.

00;29;03;09 - 00;29;03;28

Shannon Schneller

I know you can.

00;29;04;00 - 00;29;08;03

Cary Hall

You can have the damn equitment. Right? But if you don't know how to make it work, it doesn't do you a lot of good, right?

00;29;08;03 - 00;29;10;02

Shannon Schneller

Or you leave on vacation and your hearing aid just died.

00;29;10;03 - 00;29;10;07

Cary Hall

Yeah.

00;29;10;07 - 00;29;12;00

Shannon Schneller

And you need a new wire. Yeah.

00;29;12;05 - 00;29;13;06

Shannon Schneller

You can't get it for two weeks.

00;29;13;06 - 00;29;22;18

Len Randazzo

It's it's an amazing thing because the equipment is the same across every company you're going to do. I mean, there's little differences here and there differences. The difference is the service.

00;29;22;20 - 00;29;23;08

Cary Hall

The difference is the service.

00;29;23;08 - 00;29;25;01

Len Randazzo

And that’s what I’m so excited about.

00;29;25;03 - 00;29;44;24

Cary Hall

You heard it from Len. And that's absolutely correct. And that's it. The difference is the service. And so if you want that service (913) 754-2144 you've got a set of hearing aids. They're not working. Go in and talk to them. They'll help you fix it. If you need new ones. They'll tell you that if you don't Len didn't need new ones.

00;29;44;24 - 00;30;05;27

Cary Hall

He needed the ones he had fixed. Go in and see them. They're happy to do it. Or the website. MyFocusHearing.com. MyFocusHearing.com. Stay tuned. We're right back. After the break we're going to bring Dave Thiessen out from behind the cameras. Get ready for this.

00;30;05;29 - 00;30;26;22

Cary Hall

Welcome back. You're listening to America's Healthcare Advocate show broadcasting coast to coast across the USA here on the HIA Radio Network. Once again, we're on all those podcast platforms. We're up on our own YouTube platform. You want to tell somebody about this show? Maybe it's a spouse. Maybe, hey, maybe it's your grandfather or your father or your uncle, you know, have them go listen to it.

00;30;26;27 - 00;30;52;12

Cary Hall

They'll learn why they need to do something about this before it gets to be significantly worse. It's the folks are at Focus Hearing, and they really do a wonderful job. Shannon Schneller is the CEO, the president, the founder. She's sitting here in studio with me. The phone number there is (913) 754 2144, (913) 754-2144 for the website. MyFocusHearing.com. There the best in town.

00;30;52;15 - 00;31;00;18

Cary Hall

I know because I use them. All right Dave. We actually got him out. So to the whole lot this is Dave and you've never seen him before.

00;31;00;20 - 00;31;01;20

David Thiessen

No you have not.

00;31;01;26 - 00;31;10;20

Cary Hall

There you go. See. And so Dave you went in for an evaluation. What was your experience like. What did you think of what you experienced?

00;31;10;23 - 00;31;30;29

David Thiessen

Well, first of all, I don't always listen to your show while I'm recording your show. But once I listen back, I hear all the details and I edit the sound. And, you know, I'd been noticing some issues. So it was like, well, I'm, I'm going to go in. And finally, you know, there's a connection. There's somebody that I think I can believe in what they say.

00;31;30;29 - 00;32;02;04

David Thiessen

And they're not just, you know, selling some sort of 1940s technology. And I kind of have a high standard, I think, I mean, I've been in the audio business for a long time. But even before video. So coming in, it was a pleasant experience. You've got a very nice staff. I immediately felt once talking to you that you understood what I was talking about and what I would need, and we went in for the test in the actual booth.

00;32;02;06 - 00;32;28;01

David Thiessen

And I know what an acoustically, you know, quiet booth sounds like and, that did. And kind of understanding that what you put everybody through is fascinating to me. But I see why you're successful because you were very thorough and how you went through it. You listened, you understood what I was talking about, and then you know about all of the different possibilities and options, insurance plans and whatnot.

00;32;28;01 - 00;32;44;12

David Thiessen

So it was a wonderful experience. I think that I'm ready to make that decision. I still haven’t pulled the trigger on it. And when I do, Cary's going to be mad at me because I'll be able to run all of the gear really fast and on my phone.

00;32;44;13 - 00;32;46;17

David Thiessen

And, Cary did you know it could do this?

00;32;46;22 - 00;33;05;07

Cary Hall

How long have you been doing radio? And I'm trying to do here's create a perspective of people. Dave listens to things a lot different than you and I do because he produces all of these shows he and Garner together produce all these shows and understanding the levels, how they sound, everything.

00;33;05;13 - 00;33;06;11

Cary Hall

How long you've been doing this?

00;33;06;11 - 00;33;42;05

David Thiessen

At 14, I was a DJ. I worked continuously in radio for 35 years. And during that time I’ve mixed, many commercials for radio, even national ones. And then I've done, audio for film. I mean, I've always been able to listen through deeper into music mixes and that sort of thing. So when I started noticing issues, it was like, oh, this is bad, and I don't think I will be anywhere near satisfied unless I think I'm getting.

00;33;42;08 - 00;34;07;13

David Thiessen

I mean, I already know what it's supposed to sound like. A lot of people really don't pay attention to that, but I do. I know that the timbre, I know the various, depths of sound and placement of where voices are and that stuff is it's always been aware to me much deeper than the average person. So, I'm kind of, you know, thinking that I want something is going to solve as many of those problems as, as possible as it can do.

00;34;07;20 - 00;34;30;22

Shannon Schneller

I just, I just remember you coming in and, our conversation, I could tell. And I just hope everyone understands that I'm not just. I'm not a pressure person. Like, this is where we're at. You're telling me what issues you're noticing. They probably all correlate to where you're hearing loss is, you know, tell me about the impact that has.

00;34;30;29 - 00;34;42;20

Shannon Schneller

Are you ready? And if you're not, we have that conversation too. Yes. There are risks to not proceeding, but I'm not going to beat you down. You know, a reluctant patient doesn't make a good patient. So, I.

00;34;42;20 - 00;35;03;00

David Thiessen

Remember the first show you did with us, like, a year or two back. And some of the things you were saying at that time, I was thinking to myself, when I'm facing forward, if my wife turns her head and faces back, I can't hear a word she says, and she thinks I'm ignoring her. Of course. And you had pretty much laid that out.

00;35;03;00 - 00;35;13;07

David Thiessen

And I'm like, wow, that's validation for what's going on. So very helpful in that area. You know just the practical condition that you're in when you've got a hearing issue.

00;35;13;10 - 00;35;24;06

Shannon Schneller

You're in the sound and mixing. So when I have a patient, you give me what their issues are in my mind. I can usually tell what we're going to be dealing with just because I know where all those sounds occur. Yeah. Similar to you.

00;35;24;08 - 00;35;45;22

David Thiessen

And I had family members that my wife's got many aunts, uncles and her mother, they're in their 80s and they're all in different places, but they've all got some issue to deal with. And you hear it from that side of it. And they don't have a good experience. They don't live here locally, but they don't have a good experience finding the right solution.

00;35;45;22 - 00;35;49;19

David Thiessen

They have many complaints about devices, about people in that situation.

00;35;49;25 - 00;36;06;21

Cary Hall

Firts of all they bought them off television, some of them pretty much okay. And that's that's one of the dumbest. I'm sorry, folks, that's one of the dumbest damn things you can do. I tell you the same thing about Medicare. I'll tell you the same thing about these about hearing devices at that one size does not fit all. And you've heard two examples of that today and I'm the 3rd example.

00;36;06;22 - 00;36;30;24

Cary Hall

Am I right now that you can't get a size 44 overcoat to fit everybody? Okay. It's just that simple. And these things are tailored to the individual. Dave’s got a much different sense of what hearing should be then what Len had, than what I had. All of us went to Shannon, she recognizes each of us as different, and each of us is being treated differently, and that is what's important.

00;36;30;27 - 00;36;46;05

Shannon Schneller

Well, behind what I do, you have to balance the science and the art. Yes. You have you hearing loss, is where we're at, these are our targets. This is where I want you to be. But, can you walk around every day wearing it like that. Probably not the first 30 to 60 days. I'm just not going to do that to you.

00;36;46;05 - 00;37;03;19

Shannon Schneller

I want you to be successful in the long term, and that's going to be comfort while you adjust. And everybody's pace is different. But I just want to keep maximizing as we can as you tolerate. And everybody is very different. It's just like when you're watching TV, some people just really play with the volume a lot, and some people just sit there and watch it.

00;37;03;22 - 00;37;08;29

Shannon Schneller

And so it's part of what I do is just listen to the patient. They'll tell you what they need.

00;37;09;02 - 00;37;30;07

Cary Hall

Yeah. So we run these shows nationally and I run Shannon’s shows nationally, even though she's here in Overland Park. The reason I do that is because she educates people. You listen to what she's saying, she's educating you. What I'm going to say to you if you're not here in the KC Metro, if you're in Lawrence or you're in Topeka or whatever, take the time and drive down here, go see them, okay?

00;37;30;07 - 00;37;53;19

Cary Hall

And and get the proper care you need rather than spinning your wheels doing something. It's not going to work. But if you know you're listening to us, you know, whether Bedford, Pennsylvania, or you're in Alaska or you're in Redlands, California, find a local, provider that does this. Look and find out what they're all about, okay? And do not use these conglom-o franchise outfits.

00;37;53;19 - 00;38;08;09

Cary Hall

You heard Len say it. It's like a factory. You're in there and you're out of there. You're in there and you're out of there. And then when you try to get help, you can't get the help. And that's half the battle right there. So it's critically important. Thank you for coming in here again and doing this. You did a great job.

00;38;08;16 - 00;38;32;21

Cary Hall

Once again. If you want their phone number is (913) 754 2144. The website myfocushearing.com. And now I leave you with this thought from Albert Einstein, the one who follows the crowd, they usually get no further than the crowd. The one who walks alone is likely to find himself in places no one has ever been. Remember, friends, it's a funny thing about life.

00;38;32;24 - 00;38;48;20

Cary Hall

If you refuse to accept anything but the very best, you most often get it. Thank you for listening to America's Healthcare Advocate Show. Broadcasting coast to coast across the USA. Goodbye America.

00;38;48;23 - 00;38;55;10

Cary Hall