The Auburn University Speech and Hearing Clinic is offering a Hearing Aid Open House, demonstrating the latest hearing aid technology.
It will be in the speech and hearing clinic in Haley Center.
The open house will be held June 10th-12th from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Those attending will be seen by appointments only.
The open house will be free of charge, but space is limited so appointments should be made as soon as possible.
Throughout the year, the speech and hearing clinic will do free screenings that take about 15 minutes.
During the open house, the patient will receive a full audiological evaluation, which takes about one hour.
The clinic holds an open house once a year that is sponsored by different companies.
ReSound will be sponsoring this year's open house and will be demonstrating their new line of hearing aids.
The company is going to train the audiology students on how to program and use their products.
The students will get experience with products and patient care.
"We get the clinical hours, experience and are able to work with the patients," said Laura Bradley, a first year audiology doctorate student. "ReSound donated 40 hearing aids to the program this year."
With people using mp3 players such as iPods and other portable audio and video playing technology, Bradley thinks there will be an increasing number in hearing aid users.
"iPods are still a new technology, so they are doing studies now to see how they will affect our hearing," Bradley said. "It is recommended that if you are going to be listening to it at full volume, only do it for a short amount of time."
Another increasing field is conservation technology.
Since people are becoming more aware of hearing loss, they are trying harder to prevent it.
Bradley said there will definitely be an increase in the hearing industry because baby boomers are getting older.
"If you really think you have hearing loss, the open house is a great opportunity because it is a free test, and you get the latest technology," Bradley said. "There is a lot of frustration and isolation that people have when hearing is impaired."
The students hosted a similar program this past semester.
"Last semester we offered an aural hearing class for people and their families who experience hearing loss to give them information on better ways to cope," Bradley said.
The longer a person goes without using a hearing aid, the longer it takes to retrain the brain to hear with one.
"I thought the open house would be good because I've been needing to go, and since it's with Auburn I figured I would go because it's close," said Susanna Pate, a senior in early childhood education. "I've really been noticing my hearing loss while doing my practicum with the kids. They talk really low and I can't hear them."
Pate said she has always been aware of her hearing problem, and she knows she will need a hearing aid to teach and hear students in a classroom.
"I think it's a really good opportunity, and people should take advantage of it," said Emily Harmon, a senior in nursing. "Especially with our generation, we listen to music with iPods and we aren't aware of how loud we are listening to the music."
Harmon said the open house will give people who may not have the opportunity a chance to get a free and complete hearing exam.
"In nursing school we would set up health fairs and take people's blood pressure for free, and it's not that people don't want it tested, they just usually don't have access to stuff like that," Harmon said.
The clinic offers other services including balance and hearing tests, and encourages anyone suffering from hearing loss to visit the office.
To schedule an appointment call 334-844-9600.
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