Services

Great Lakes Hearing Aid Services

As “Hearing CareGivers^®” we understand taking care of your hearing aids and hearing devices is just as important as having your hearing loss tested accurately. The best fit begins with an accurate hearing test so you can be properly fit with the best hearing aid for your unique hearing loss and lifestyle.

Our “Hearing CareGivers^®” are State licensed hearing specialists who deliver high quality hearing services, for all your in office care and at home care services.

“Providing the highest quality and lowest cost at home hearing tests and hearing device services for hard of hearing seniors has been “the gold standard” of our family business since 1968.”

It’s no secret that we take pride in serving you! That’s why more than 83% of our business comes from word-of-mouth referrals.

Our convenient in-office hearing loss and hearing aid services provide a balance of personal attention and unmatched professional service. Our Great Lakes Hearing Aid CareGivers^® are committed to offering you the latest cutting edge technology and to help keep you hearing clearly “and” understanding speech to your very best ability, even in noisy situations.

Great Lakes Hearing CareGivers^® Hearing Test Services

Great Lakes Hearing CareGivers^® take pride in offering a comprehensive medical “hearing screening test” for your insurance company, at no charge to you. We also offer a “complete hearing test and diagnostic evaluation,” offering in office or at home care for Greater Grand Rapids seniors.

This “complete hearing test” also evaluates the causes of your hearing loss, whether it’s a gradual sensorineural hearing loss, a conductive hearing loss or even a sudden hearing loss. Our licensed “Hearing CareGivers^®” carefully cover an “8 point medical criteria,” which includes a FREE Otoscopic Video Examination (OVE) of your outer ear, ear canal and ear drum!

During your hearing evaluation you can actually see your own eardrum live, in real-time, on our High Definition Video Monitor. If there is ever any medical problem detected, we will take a picture of your ear for your medical file and refer you to our local Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) doctor.

Your Personal Audiogram

An audiogram is graph that charts your hearing test results.

We use headphones that send pure tone sound waves to test for air conductive hearing loss and a bone oscillator hearing device to test for sensorineural hearing loss.

This sophisticated hearing device used for testing your hearing threshold is called an audiometer. Our State certified and licensed hearing specialist/”Hearing CareGiver^®” will accurately verify the softest levels of calibrated pure tone sound waves to chart your best “hearing threshold”. (The softest level at which the sounds can be heard is recorded as the threshold of hearing.)

Testing your hearing for the softest, most comfortable and uncomfortable sound levels helps your “Hearing CareGiver^®” chart out your true “dynamic range” of hearing. This information is vital for selecting the best corrective hearing device technology for you.

Once your “hearing thresholds” in both ears are recorded on your audiogram for both pure tone air and the sensorineural bone conduction testing via your ear’s mastoid bone and we’ve confirmed there are no medical problems, then we begin the speech testing.

Audiometric Speech Hearing Testing

A hearing test which evaluates your ability to understand speech clearly is very important.  Being able to hear sounds and being able to understand speech are two vital readings necessary to measure how much a hearing aid will be able to help you communicate.

Your ability to hear and understand speech at the softest level 50% of the time will be carefully recorded on the audiogram for each ear separately. This helps us find your best ear. Everyone has a dominant ear, just as you also have a dominant eye, arm and leg.

Once your “most comfortable” and “uncomfortable levels” for understanding speech are recorded, your “Hearing CareGiver^®” will test your listening and speech discrimination abilities in each ear separately and then in both ears together.

Amazingly, this speech and hearing test will often show how you can understand speech up to 4 times better when using both ears, even at a lower volume level.

This phenomenon is called “binaural hearing” and allows you to separate noise out from information when trying to listen in noisy social environments. Listening with both ears balanced also helps you detect the speed and direction of moving objects like cars.

Even when just one ear tests at normal hearing levels, if your other ear suffers a little hearing loss you will have trouble separating noises from information, as well as detecting what direction sounds are coming from.

Another term for “binaural hearing” is called “brain stem fusion.”

Did you know the sound that goes in your right ear is understood in your left brain and sounds your hear in your left ear are processed in the right side?

That’s why having your hearing perfectly balanced helps you understand speech better.

Hearing aids and various hearing devices can be customized to each ear separately according to the information gathered from your hearing test and speech evaluation.

This allows your Hearing CareGiver® to electronically and acoustically tune your custom hearing aid. Like a fine stereo system, one that’s just right for your comfortable levels, it protects you from uncomfortable noises and balances soft speech sounds so both sides of your brain can better understand the spoken word . . . no matter what social situation you find yourself in.

Live Speech Mapping & Programming

Immediately after your hearing and speech tests have been recorded on your audiogram, your “Hearing CareGiver^®” can begin demonstrating how well you can hear and understands familiar speech patterns.

Live Speech Mapping actually helps program your digital hearing aids using microphone probes along with a familiar voice test. This demonstrates how well you can understand your family members by letting you experience the benefits of a hearing aid prescription live, on–the-spot. 

This technology can also help gather information to tune-up your existing hearing aids as well. Always remember to bring a family member with you for this hearing test and bring any old hearing aids you may have too.

Our goal is that everyone leaves our office hearing and understanding speech better than when they first walked in.

Great Lakes Hearing Clinical Reports

We also provide clinical reports for your doctor, insurance company or Third Party participants, in compliance with Michigan State Laws, including HIPAA.

Cleaning, Tuning and Servicing Hearing Aids

Great Lakes Hearing Aid Company offers the “Aura-Care” technology combined with a 12 point hearing aid check up.

“Aura Care” 15 Point Hearing Aid Check Up:

1. Inspect Battery
2. Clean Battery Contacts  
3. Check Volume Control
4. Clean Vents
5. Vacuum Dry Moisture
6. Check T-Coil                        
7. Check Switches
8. Aura Vibe                              
9. Check Nubbin (hook)
10. Clean Receiver Screen
11. Inspect Microphone Screen
12. Inspect Casing Integrity
13. Buff and Polish
14. Integrity Meter Test
15. Replace Receiver Tube (BTE)

Great Lakes Hearing Aid Repair

Great Lakes Hearing Aid Company services all major manufacturers, including recertification, factory repairs and in-office repairs when possible.

Great Lakes Hearing Aid Computer Analysis

Our CareGivers® use a sophisticated Hearing Electronic Tester (HAT) to measure the audiometric response curves of your hearing aids to make sure they comply with the manufacturers original factory specifications.

Computer Programming for Hearing Aids

We carry a current and complete line of software from all major manufacturers to program and update your hearing instruments. If you are disappointed with your present hearing instruments, we may be able to fine tune them to improve your hearing and understanding.

Great Lakes Hearing Loss Education

At Great Lakes Hearing we believe the more you know about what hearing loss is and how it can be corrected the more comfortable your new hearing experience will be.

A hearing aid can never restore perfect hearing and results vary with from person to person, mush like eye glasses.

Understanding your hearing loss, experiencing the quality help that’s available and participating in an ongoing aural rehabilitation program is essential to having a happy hearing experience. 

That’s why our “Hearing CareGivers^®” are personally dedicated to helping people with hearing loss and partial deafness, because loving what we can do for you is the recipe for success.

Great lakes Hearing Aid Retailer

Great Lakes Hearing Aid Company was awarded the “2009 INTEGRITY AWARD” from The Better Business Bureau in Western Michigan, meaning we are a business you can trust!

Great Lakes Hearing Aid Company prides itself giving you the best hearing prescriptions at the best price for your budget. That’s why we specialize in all the best major brands of hearing aids, digital hearing systems and hearing devices available in the marketplace today.

Great Lakes Hearing Aid Company services and carries all major brands and their software. We further guarantee all our recommendations and hearing aid fittings are satisfactory by using the latest cutting-edge hearing aid technologies, such as our Live Speech Mapping and Programming, to assure you the very best possible hearing experience possible.

• Ask one of our “Hearing CareGivers^®” if you qualify for our “trial period.” 
• We also provide affordable financing and competitive hearing aid pricing
• Remember to tell a friend that “WE STILL MAKE HOUSECALLS!”

Great Lakes Hearing Aid Company serves the hard-of-hearing community with dignity, dedication and devotion.

We also carry a complete line of Hearing Assistive Listening Devices.