The Hear Center of Pasadena: Affordable hearing and speech services

According to Hearing Health Foundation nearly 50 million Americans experience hearing loss and 1 in 5 children between the ages of 12-19 have reported hearing loss due to loud noise.

I suffered a life altering hearing loss over 22 years ago forcing me out of teaching sixth graders and learning the art of the writer. A few months ago I purchased new hearing aids from the Hear Center, a non-profit organization founded in 1954 offering complete and affordable hearing and speech services to Southern California.

Since the Hear Center is non-profit, I didn’t have to pay the commission fee. According to The Hearing Review this fee can usually run from 10% to 50% depending on the provider and manufacturer. Roughly speaking, by taking a trip to Pasadena, I saved around $2000.

The Hear Center’s vision is “to offer complete and affordable hearing and speech services” helping people at all stages of life to participate in the hearing and speaking world. The Pasadena center is well known for their Pediatric Audiology as well as providing services for adults and seniors.

When a child is tested at the Hear Center the audiologist measures the ability the eardrum has to vibrate when struck by sound, and how well the tiny bones of the ear are functioning. This is known as impedance.

The audiologist will also measure the pressure in the space behind the eardrum that contains those tiny bones. For tympanometry they check ear canal pressure.

For kids over 3, the audiologist will play a fun game to measure a child’s hearing ability—Conditioned Play Audiometry (CPA). Having the child listen to sounds through headphones and respond to those noises by moving a toy performs this. Speech testing is implemented by having a child repeat words or point to pictures.

From 5 years and above children raise a hand or push a button in response to a noise stimulus, just like how adults are treated.

The Hear Center is opened Monday thru Thursdays from 8:00 AM – 6:00 PM and is located at 301 East Del Mar Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91101. Their phone number is 626-796-2016 with [email protected] as their e-mail.

If you or your child is suffering from hearing loss and would like to save thousands of dollars in the process, the Hear Center maybe the answer you’ve been looking for.