August 2, 2025 • 39 mins
Focus Hearing's Shannon Schneller joins and this time brings testimonials from Len Randazzo of Cumulus Media and over very own video producer Dave Thiessen and along with myself, we all three share the good the bad and all things related to getting a hearing aid and we all then compare it to the experience at Focus Hearing, who know how to do it right.
In this episode you will find out what you should know when you set out to "Hear It All".
Learn more:
https://myfocushearing.com/ or call (913) 754-2144
This is episode 2121 of America's Healthcare Advocate.
Learn about me, Cary Hall: America’s Healthcare Advocate: I have a strong desire to empower my fellow Americans and cancel the noise and confusion surrounding the US healthcare system. My goal is to enable you to become the expert for your own healthcare management, saving you time, money, and effort. Learn even more: https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com
As always, if you need help or have something to share? Contact me with this form on my website and let me know what's on your mind, the issues you are dealing with, or other health, healthcare, and health insurance questions and concerns. https://www.americashealthcareadvocate.com/contact-us
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
And now America's Healthcare Advocate,Cary Hall.
Hello, America.
Welcome to America's Healthcare Advocates.
Show broadcasting coastto coast across the USA.
Here on the HIA Radio Network,you can find out more about us
by going to our website: AmericasHealthCareAdvocate.com. (00:15):
undefined
Also, all these shows are posted on15 podcast platforms, including Rumble,
by the way, which we just did again today,and our YouTube platform.
We've got about almost a halfa million views up there.
You can like us, you can subscribe.
It doesn't cost anything.
(00:35):
If you want to go up on
the YouTube platformor on those podcast platforms.
So all these shows where we record themwith video, then we put them up there
after we do them, and you can listento them up there or subscribe
so you can hear what we are talking aboutthat might be of interest to you.
If you are chronologically challengedand are looking for Medicare,
please give Carolee Steelea call over at RPS Benefits by Design.
(00:59):
She's an expert.
She can help you show youall the options in the marketplace.
There are a lot of changes coming.
It'd be a great time to calland just have her take a look at your plan
and review it.
And by the way,
if you are looking for group healthinsurance,
I had a company call me out of Columbia,Missouri last week.
They were on, a very old BlueCross and Blue Shield plan.
They were a heating and airconditioning company.
(01:19):
The premiums had gottencompletely out of hand.
The policy was 20 years old, actually.
Maria Ahlers helped them find somethingsignificantly 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,
(01:41):
they can help you wherever you might be.All right.
Joining me in studio again todayShannon Schneller.
Welcome back.
What are we in our fourth one now I thinkyeah something like that okay.
So Shannon Schneller is the CEOand founder of Focus Hearing.
They are the folks that
I go to that, you know, got my hearingaid straightened out.
You know, they've done a great job for meand for my wife Lauren
(02:03):
also, in studio with me Len Randazzo.Hey, Len.
Good morning.
So this man is usually the manthat handles everything here at Cumulus.
He is our rep does a great job.
But I'm driving down the, the road on aSaturday 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,
(02:26):
if you want to know.
Well, he went to Shannon.
I'm going to have himtalk about his experience
so you can see what it was likefor him to go
and the difference he had between thatand the other people he was working with.
And then we've got a really special guestafter that.
Our producer, Dave Thiessen, is going tosneak out from behind the cameras today.
You're actually going to see who he is,and he's going to talk
(02:49):
about whathis experience and Focus Hearing was.
So you'll get to hearfrom a couple of folks
that have actually been there and donewhat needs to get done.
But let's
let's just start by talking about whatyou guys do, why I think it's so different
than what I call the conglom-o,
or the national firmsor the franchise firms or whatever.
And it's certainly differentthan what you see on television
(03:09):
when people are going to ordera hearing aid.
I always find that amusingbecause I'm like,
how do they know what you're hearingissues are
if they can't test you until you orderthis thing off the television?
So, so so let's just start withabout what you guys do,
what you offer, and then how you interfacewith various insurance programs.
Shannon.
So I mean state guidelines,we all of our professional lives,
(03:32):
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 beyondthat is really important.
What makes us different.
And the individual plan of the personthat's in front of you,
because not everybody is the same.
You can have ten peoplewith the same hearing loss,
(03:53):
and that hearing aidis 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 bestfor the patient in front of us.
And that doesn't always mean
that you're getting a new hearing aidevery time you come in as a new patient.
No, it doesn't.
And that's really funnybecause the hearing aids
I'm wearing, okay, when I first camein, you didn't sell me those hearing aids.
(04:15):
Okay?
You did convince meto get the second one that I got.
I only had one for one earbecause 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’sgot great software.
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 occasionswhen I had issues.
(04:37):
Okay.
And did the walk in, walkedright in your customer service,
your folks at the front desk were rightthere.
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 appointmentthat might be a week out or two weeks out.
Meanwhile this isn’t workingand I can't hear and I'm going nuts, okay.
(04:58):
Because I've becomeso dependent on these things,
because they make such a difference for methat 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.
I'll walk out of the houseand I'll get halfway down,
the road from my house, and I'ma mile away, and,
(05:19):
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.
78% of the people in this countrydon't treat hearing loss.
The 12 we got, we've got like 12% ofthe people that are actually treating it.
And the rest of the peopleletting it go untreated.
(05:42):
So talk aboutwhat happens as a result of that,
because there are so many issuesthat come with that.
If you don't take care of it,let's just talk about that a little bit.
Well, I just think about my patients.
What I see in front of me,the degrees of hearing loss
is what's really can setthe tone for your experience.
It's always so much
easier to adjust to a hearing aidwhen you're at a mild to moderate
(06:06):
hearing loss, because you're not havingto make this huge jump back to normal.
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 aidsare going to sound different.
It's about your preferenceabout your tolerance.
It's also in the boothwhat is your best case scenario.
(06:26):
Because that's not the same for everybody.
And so it's important for us to setrealistic expectations
about what we can do for youand what we can't.
And I think that's what's fair for me toinform 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.
And because the nature of the beast.
We waited too long.
Stop right there.
(06:46):
We waited too long. Right. Okay.
I didn't wait too long,but I went through three different
sets of hearing aidswith three different companies
before I finally found youguys 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.
Don't do that, folks.
(07:06):
It's annoying. But I'm just saying..
The hearing has madean enormous difference to me.
So waiting is not a good thing, right?
I mean, let's say you come inand you have hearing loss and you're
just not quite ready, and then you wait 4or 5 years, maybe longer than that.
You come back, your audiogram, the graph,your blue and red dots
(07:27):
might look the same.
You're hearing has not changedthe response.
Your ability to process and understandspeech is what
typically changes and degrades,
and that even translates overto how you hear in noise.
So when those neurological pathwaysbetween the air in the brain don't stay
stimulated, that ability to understandthat speech processing is what degrades.
(07:49):
And that'swhat 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 moonwhen I know I can't give that to you.
And maybe that's,a big part of why patients respond to us.
Because we're not going to make promisesthat we can't keep.
(08:11):
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 oneI had the issue.
The longer that you wait, the morethe more difficult it's going to be
to get you back to any level,because it's going to continue to degrade.
Just like if you have a broken armand you don't do your physical therapy,
(08:31):
you're not going to get your full rangeof motion back if you don't do the work.
So it's it'salways easier to take the cast off.
Get in your PT.Get your arm back. Don't wait.
Same thing,but you have to teat it like that.
Very similar. Yeah.
And that's a great analogythat 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 noticeit and you're going to notice it.
(08:54):
And that's typicallyhow the process happens.
Is that the nature of hearing loss
is that it's so slow and gradualyou don't realize it.
So you're walking aroundwhere you are swearing you're at normal,
but your loved ones are complaining.You're not. You're not at normal.
So that's the case.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.
(09:15):
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.
MyFocusHearing.com.
MyFocusHearing.com.
When we come back from the break.
We're going to talka little more about this.
And we're going to talk about how it tiesinto cognitive decline.
And for all of us out therethat are chronologically challenged
(09:37):
that's a real issue.
Stay tuned.We'll be right back after the break.
You're listening to America’s Health CareAdvocate broadcasting here on the HIA
Radio Network.
Coast to coast across the USA.
Don't go anywhere.
You. Welcome back.
(10:01):
You're listening to America's HealthcareAdvocate show, broadcasting coast
to coast across the USA here on the HIARadio Network.
If you have a question or commentlike that gentleman in Columbia, Missouri,
send me an email. I'll get back to you.
I'll be happy to help youwith anything that I can.
Also, you know, if you want to help,maybe you've got a husband.
It's too stubbornto go get the hearing test.
(10:23):
And you're telling the guy, look,
you're not hearingwhat I'm telling you, or turn the clothes.
Maybewe get rid of the closed caption on TV.
If you actually got your hearing checkedand got a hearing aid.
Well, I would suggest you have himlisten to this broadcast on the podcast
or on the YouTube channel
so he can actually understandwhat we're talking about and why.
If you don't do something about this,it gets progressively worse.
(10:47):
That's the point. Okay.
So if you want an evaluation,it costs nothing to go in
and sit down with Shannon and her folksand 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 locationsyou can easily get to them.
(11:08):
The website MyFocusHearing.comMyFocusHearing.com.
This isn't conglom-o franchise.
You know some nationally advertised.
These are local folksright here in our community
that know what they're doingand do it very well.
So let's get to this cognitivedecline thing because this is an issue,
you know,if you're a seasoned citizen okay.
(11:29):
Which you're not.
But there's two of us in here
actually three because we're goingto bring Dave up behind the microphone.
If this is something you think about okayI mean I take a supplement.
Okay.
And I do it every nightspecifically developed for cognitive.
To enhance cognitive and not
face cognitive decline.
(11:49):
I've got two companies, one I own and oneI 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.
Now, you talk about this hearing thing.Okay.
So you here, you've you're a lot of peopleworking past 65, 70 now a lot of people.
Okay.
And so what happens isyou don't pay attention to this.
(12:11):
And then so what happensfrom a cognitive standpoint.
Well comes to the whole hearing system.
It is truly I use it or lose it system.
Repeatthat. It's a use it or lose it okay.
So it's just likeyou know when you talk about exercise.
Get out. Exercise.
Whatever, use it or lose it.
Same deal, different day.
Right.
It's just about, you know,what does your system look like?
(12:33):
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 onemodifiable risk factor for dementia.
Everything else.
Is just that's the first time I've heardthat it's just a toss of the dice.
The number one modifier.
Modifiable Risk Factor.
(12:55):
Meaning you can slow it down, stop it,or do whatever you need to do if you.
Yeah, that'sthe only thing that you can control.
While the studies up to this point,
I know they're looking about dietand other things, how that affects.
But if you really think about the risksof dementia and untreated hearing loss,
and you can actually do somethingabout it, that's pretty powerful.
Oh, yeah.
(13:15):
You know,and we all want to age well, I know I do.
And if there's anything that I can doto help that process slow down,
I'm going to do the best I canto make that happen.
You know, I told this story before I wasstanding in my, in Pasco, Washington.
And in my, at my son in law's parentsfarm, that big alfalfa farm
(13:36):
and the grandkids are running around
and Evelyn then the oldest was,I think, four years old.
And she came up to meand she was talking to me,
and I didn't hear a thing she was saying.
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.
(13:57):
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 understandthem, hear what they're trying to say,
interact with them.Those are all critical things.
So for me, that was the one that pushed itover, that pushed the button.
That was like, okay,I gotta do something about this, right?
(14:18):
Okay. Because I'm not interactingwith my family.
The other thing that drove me nutswas trying to watch a television
show, not understandwhat the hell they were saying.
Yeah, and I got news foryou can't closed caption, Fox news.
Okay. All right.
Yeah, I don't bother with CNN. I'mjust telling you.
Okay. Straight up.
Okay.
Or CNBC, you know, you're looking atwhat's going on in the markets.
(14:39):
You can close caption TV showsbut you can't or movies, but so
being able to hear what people are sayingwhen 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.
There were four of these peopleat lunch with me, and I'm asking people
to repeat like two and three timeswhat the hell they're saying.
(15:02):
It's noisy in there. I couldn't hear it.
Now I go to the restaurantsetting on my phone.
I push the button and they dials me in towhat the people that are sitting near
me and I am not hearing, you know,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?
(15:23):
Yes, absolutely.
And and stop dealing with the annoyanceof not understanding people.
Well, you don't realize
as time goes on the things that your bodyhas to do to accommodate hearing loss.
Okay. You’re lip reading,you don't even know you're doing it.
That's just the body being the amazingthing that it is to compensate.
So you’re lip reading, you're leaning,you're
(15:45):
positioning yourself in certain areasto give you the best fighting chance.
And there just becomes like
this mental and physical loadto pull this off on a daily basis.
By the end of the day, there's a level ofexhaustion that doesn't need to be there.
You know, if we can fix your hearing,
then you're not having to mentallyand physically do all those things
to cope with your hearing loss.
It's just make it easier for you.
(16:07):
Yeah, because that's it.
And that's exactly what I used to do.
In fact, I used to position mostuntil 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 setso that if I'm at a business
meeting, the people I'm doing businesswith are on this side of me.
(16:29):
I don't want them on the other side
because I couldn't hear a damn thingthey say right now, it doesn't matter.
Because this, this piece that you got metransmits 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 rememberyou said you don't really have to do this,
but I'm telling you, I'm like,okay, Shannon.
(16:50):
I'm going to listen to you.
And I did it like, oh, Lord have mercy.
This really works. Yeah. It's notyou don't have a blind spot.
Your echolocation is back. Yeah.
You can tell heresounds are coming from. Yeah. Yes.
It just made a huge difference. Right.
So that's really interesting.
I had no idea that it playedthis big a role in cog.
I mean, I knew it was importantin cognitive decline right here,
that that's the one factorthat can turn that to a certain degree.
(17:15):
I'd say that's pretty important.
Well, and you partner that with, you know,if you're not hearing
and then you start to withdrawand then you don't, you're not hanging out
with your family and, you know,your relationship starts to degrade.
You're just not doingthe things that you usually do.
And then you start to isolate.
And then the isolation is wherethat cognitive factor comes in.
(17:36):
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.
And then that causes frictionin 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 businessenvironment,
(17:58):
you're dealing with peoplea lot younger than you are.
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 Shannonor one of her techs.
They'll be happy to take youthrough the process or go to the website.
(18:20):
My focus here. Income.
We come back from the breakLen Randazzo's going to tells his story,
and then we're going to drag
Dave Thiessen out from behind the camerasand he's going to tell us his story.
So stay tuned.We'll be right back after the break.
You're listening to America'sHealthcare Advocate Broadcasting Coast
to coast across the USAhere on the HIA Radio Network.
(18:52):
Welcome back.
You're listening to America'sHealthcare Advocate show,
broadcasting coastto 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 HealthcareAdvocate here as part of our America's
(19:14):
Healthcare Advocate family.
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 hereof behind the microphones in our Cumulus
studios, our flagship studioshere in Overland Park Kansas.
(19:36):
All right.So now we're going to switch to Len.
And this is a funny storybecause like I said,
I think I'm coming back from Bible studybecause we're on at 8:00 and,
but and I, we start at sevenand we don't usually get out to 830 or 9.
And I get this phone call from Lenand he goes, I just listened to that show.
And are they really that good, Cary?
(19:56):
Take it. Len.
Yes, I was really impressedwith 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
(20:18):
setting up people correctly.
And I could tell just from that showthat 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.
And then when I walked in to talkwith you, I just felt a total difference.
(20:41):
The place that I was at, as you aptlysaid, conglom-o.
It was a factory.
You know, they had rooms like
and they just whipping you inand whipping you out of there.
And no matter how many questions I hadand I went through two,
this is nowmy second set with this company,
and I was very frustratedbecause I was like,
(21:02):
these are expensive propositions,you know, $5,000.
$2,500 apiece, you know.
And I was feeling
like I should be ableto demo multiple things.
And then you guys can honein, you know, the technology is amazing.
And I am very happyabout how the app works.
(21:25):
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.
My hearing patternis a lot different than most
because being around radioso much, listening to things at decibels
that probably most people don't do,and I'm sure I've done some damage.
(21:46):
So the highs and the lows for me are verydifferent than most people's problems.
And then on top of that, I have tinnitus.
And so the ringing in the ears.
So it's just another level of,you know, factoring things in.
And when I came inyou explained what you said before
(22:06):
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 saidsomething to the effect of,
did you ever have a background test?
And that just blew me away.
I didn't know what you were talking about.
So explain the background test.
(22:28):
Right?
Well, and that's one thing that we didas a practice,
just believe is very, very importantbecause when we're testing in the booth,
we want to knowwhat is your best case scenario.
But that's in a booth in quiet.
That is not the same
and does not translate overto how you hear when you're in a crowd.
So if you don't test for that,the provider is literally guessing and
(22:49):
majority of the time it's not even closeto what you think it would be,
because you can have somebodythat's great in the booth.
And yes,they have a moderate hearing loss.
You put them in background noiseand somebody just completely falls apart.
Yeah.
And if you're not prepared for thatand I don't prepare you for that,
you're thinking,I just spent all this money
and I stillI'm still not hearing in this restaurant.
You know.
And when you came to me,you have great hearing aids.
(23:11):
They're like one and a half,two years old.
This wasn't necessarily about youand I needing to discuss you needing
new hearing aids.
We just needed to fix what you haveand maximize what you could and
couldn't do. And,
and in your case, it just we just
manipulated what you already had built onwhat the professionals did before me.
Right. And just changed a few things,tweaked a few things.
Just based on what you told meyou liked, what
(23:32):
you didn't like, what you're strugglingwith. Right.
So I had been through several adjustments
with the other firm,and what was different was
they just did the manual thingsthat, 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.
(23:54):
It was just, you know,and if I didn't have my hearing aids
in, it would not have had that effect.
So it was having these day to daythings that are in our life
that you have to put up with or dothat were not the same.
So I was trying to explainthose things to them,
(24:14):
and then they just didwhat 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.
I felt like I had somebodythat was more of a qualifier
and more of a, you know, saying, this is
(24:35):
how we can help this.
And and maybe we couldn't do this,but how we can get to you
having a better qualityof interpreting things,
like you said before,which I thought was fascinating.
I didn't realize how how the human brain
has to be conditioned itselfwhen hearing loss happens.
Tell me more again.
(24:56):
So what you were mentioningis it's very common,
especially for a patientthat has high frequency hearing loss.
Those that part of your hearing systemis not used to being stimulated.
So then all of a sudden you're hearing aid
is giving you this audibility for soundsyou're not used to hearing.
Dishes banging and clanging.
You flush the toilet, you know, ice
cube machine, all those high frequencysounds you're not used to hearing.
(25:17):
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 aboutlet's introduce you to sound.
Where you’re comfortable? Let's tweak it.Is that too much?
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
(25:41):
instead of just taking this huge jump.
You just can't tolerate it.
Yeah, I feel so much betterafter walking out of our visit.
After the tweaking that you did comparedto 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,
(26:01):
you know, puts the emphasis on,
and I got it in the title of your business“Focus Hearing”.
I mean, you know, it's perfectly said.
We’re going to have to use that linesomewhere, Len.
It's really pretty good.
You know, it's funny because, you know,
customer service.
I say, in this country, the word servicehas gone out of customer service.
(26:26):
I'll give you another example.
I have, a sleep apnea machine.
I have one that I travel with.
I travelif I don't travel with it on vacation,
you know, Laurie spendsmost of the nights awake.
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.
(26:47):
Spent over three hourstrying to get something done.
Finally the people were nice enough.
Finally the owner of the company called meback, was responsive, got it done.
But my point in telling that story is
there's no damn servicein customer service and you can go spend.
He spent the same amount of moneyI did these these hearing aids,
(27:08):
although I got a nice discount because I'mI have Blue Cross and Blue Shield
and they have Blue 365with discount programs.
And by the way, they take allthe insurance products Medicare Advantage.
If you have an allocation on your MedicareAdvantage plan, they take it.
And also they accept the discountsfrom Blue Cross and other carriers
(27:29):
to to reduce the cost.
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.
I would wholeheartedly agree with that.
Hearing aids, especially with Bluetooth,
(27:51):
connectivity, the streaming,there are things that are going to come up
and it's it's just a servicebased product.
It's not like I'm just going to fit youwith the hearing aid. Oh good luck.
I'll see you in a couple of years.You know, you need cleaning.
You need support.
You need Bluetooth support.
You need all those little things.
I don't want you waiting two weeks.
I can't do it To see me. Well,that's what I was saying before..
(28:12):
If that's something that my tech's upfront can just.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah. You're, da da da,10 seconds later, you're on your way.
And that'swhat we're very passionate about.
And I know we have our set walk in hoursbetween 10 and 3.
And that's just because we feel it'svery important to staff enough
to handle the traffic.
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.
(28:35):
I couldn't walk in. Oh, there open at 10.
I'm going to be there at 10:15, walkin, get my problem solved 15 minutes later
out the door and I'm done.
Okay.
That to me was an enormous differencethat you have walk
in, you can walk in, you can get servicein, you walk out.
Yeah. You can make an appointmentif you need an evaluation, whatever.
But the fact that you've got thatand that those girls up front
(28:56):
know how to do all of that stuffto fix these things, adjust these things.
To me, that's half the battle.
I know you can.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?
Or you leave on vacationand your hearing aid just died. Yeah.
And you need a new wire. Yeah.
You can't get it for two weeks.
It's it's an amazing thingbecause the equipment is the same across
(29:17):
every company you're going to do.
I mean, there's little differences hereand there differences.
The difference is the service.
The difference is the service. And that’swhat I’m so excited about.
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.
(29:39):
They'll help you fix it.If you need new ones.
They'll tell you thatif you don't Len didn't need new ones.
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 bringDave Thiessen out from behind the cameras.
Get ready for this.
(30:05):
Welcome back.
You're listening to America's HealthcareAdvocate show broadcasting coast to coast
across the USA here on the HIARadio 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.
(30:26):
They'll learn why they need
to do something about this beforeit 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.
(30:49):
MyFocusHearing.com. Therethe best in town.
I know because I use them.
All right Dave. We actually got him out.
So to the whole lot this is Daveand you've never seen him before.
No you have not.
There you go. See.
And so Dave you went in for an evaluation.
What was your experience like.
What did you think ofwhat you experienced?
(31:10):
Well, first of all,I don't always listen to your show
while I'm recording your show.
But once I listen back, I hearall 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 thinkI can believe in what they say.
(31:31):
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 businessfor 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
(31:52):
once talking to you that you understoodwhat I was talking about
and what I would need, and we went infor the test in the actual booth.
And I know what an acoustically,
you know, quiet boothsounds like and, that did.
And kind of understandingthat what you put everybody through
is fascinating to me.
But I see why you're successful
(32:16):
because you were very thoroughand how you went through it.
You listened,you understood what I was talking about,
and then you knowabout all of the different
possibilitiesand options, insurance plans and whatnot.
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 madat me because I'll be able to run
(32:40):
all of the gear really fastand on my phone.
And, Cary did you know it could do this?
How long have you been doing radio?
And I'm trying to dohere's create a perspective of people.
Dave listens tothings a lot different than you and I do
because he produces all of these showshe and Garner together
(33:00):
produce all these shows and understandingthe levels, how they sound, everything.
How long you've been doing this?
At 14, I was a DJ.
I worked continuously in radiofor 35 years.
And during that time I’ve mixed, manycommercials for radio, even national ones.
And then I've done, audio for film.
(33:23):
I mean, I've always been able to listenthrough 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.
I mean, I already know what it's supposedto sound like.
(33:44):
A lot of people really don't payattention to that, but I do.
I know that the timbre,I know the various, depths of sound
and placement of where voices areand that stuff is
it's always been aware to memuch 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 problemsas, as possible as it can do.
(34:07):
I just, I just remember you coming in and,
our conversation, I could tell.
And I just hope everyone understandsthat I'm not just.
I'm not a pressure person.
Like, this is where we're at.
You're telling me what issuesyou're noticing.
They probably all correlateto where you're hearing loss is,
(34:28):
you know,tell me about the impact that has.
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 patientdoesn't make a good patient.
So, I.
Remember the first show you did with us,like, a year or two back.
And some of the thingsyou were saying at that time,
(34:50):
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.
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 inwhen you've got a hearing issue.
(35:13):
You're in the sound and mixing.
So when I have a patient, you give mewhat their issues are in my mind.
I can usually tellwhat we're going to be dealing with
just because I knowwhere all those sounds occur.
Yeah. Similar to you.
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, butthey've all got some issue to deal with.
(35:35):
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 experiencefinding the right solution.
They have many complaints about devices,about people in that situation.
Firts of all they bought them offtelevision, some of them pretty much okay.
And that's that's one of the dumbest.
I'm sorry, folks, that'sone of the dumbest damn things you can do.
(35:56):
I tell you the same thing about Medicare.
I'll tell you the same thing
about these about hearing devicesat that one size does not fit all.
And you've heard two examplesof that today and I'm the 3rd example.
Am I right now that you can't get a size44 overcoat to fit everybody?
Okay. It's just that simple.
And these things are tailoredto the individual.
Dave’sgot a much different sense of what hearing
(36:18):
should bethen what Len had, than what I had.
All of us went to Shannon, she recognizeseach of us as different, and each of us
is being treated differently,and that is what's important.
Well, behind what I do, you haveto 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.
(36:38):
But, can you walk around every daywearing it like that.
Probably not the first 30 to 60 days.
I'm just not going to do that to you.
I want you to be successfulin the long term,
and that's going to be comfortwhile you adjust.
And everybody's pace is different.
But I just want to keep maximizingas we can as you tolerate.
And everybody is very different.
It's just like when you're watching TV,
(36:59):
some people just really playwith the volume a lot,
and some people just sit thereand watch it.
And so it's part of what I dois just listen to the patient.
They'll tell you what they need. 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 dothat is because she educates people.
You listen to what she's saying,she's educating you.
(37:21):
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 downhere, go see them, okay?
And and get the proper careyou 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 Alaskaor you're in Redlands, California,
(37:42):
find a local, provider that does this.
Look and find out what they're all about,okay?
And do not use these conglom-ofranchise outfits.
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.
(38:03):
So it's critically important.
Thank you for coming in here againand doing this.
You did a great job. Once again.
If you want their phone number is (913)
754 2144.
The website myfocushearing.com.
And now I leave you with this thoughtfrom Albert Einstein,
the one who follows the crowd, theyusually get no further than the crowd.
(38:25):
The one who walks alone is likely to findhimself in places no one has ever been.
Remember,friends, it's a funny thing about life.
If you refuse to accept anythingbut the very best, you most often get it.
Thank you for listening to America'sHealthcare Advocate Show.
Broadcasting coastto coast across the USA.
Goodbye America.
And now America's Healthcare Advocate,Cary Hall.
Hello, America.
Welcome to America's Healthcare Advocates.
Show broadcasting coastto coast across the USA.
Here on the HIA Radio Network,you can find out more about us
by going to our website: AmericasHealthCareAdvocate.com. (00:15):
undefined
Also, all these shows are posted on15 podcast platforms, including Rumble,
by the way, which we just did again today,and our YouTube platform.
We've got about almost a halfa million views up there.
You can like us, you can subscribe.
It doesn't cost anything.
(00:35):
If you want to go up on
the YouTube platformor on those podcast platforms.
So all these shows where we record themwith video, then we put them up there
after we do them, and you can listento them up there or subscribe
so you can hear what we are talking aboutthat might be of interest to you.
If you are chronologically challengedand are looking for Medicare,
please give Carolee Steelea call over at RPS Benefits by Design.
(00:59):
She's an expert.
She can help you show youall the options in the marketplace.
There are a lot of changes coming.
It'd be a great time to calland just have her take a look at your plan
and review it.
And by the way,
if you are looking for group healthinsurance,
I had a company call me out of Columbia,Missouri last week.
They were on, a very old BlueCross and Blue Shield plan.
They were a heating and airconditioning company.
(01:19):
The premiums had gottencompletely out of hand.
The policy was 20 years old, actually.
Maria Ahlers helped them find somethingsignificantly 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,
(01:41):
they can help you wherever you might be.All right.
Joining me in studio again todayShannon Schneller.
Welcome back.
What are we in our fourth one now I thinkyeah something like that okay.
So Shannon Schneller is the CEOand founder of Focus Hearing.
They are the folks that
I go to that, you know, got my hearingaid straightened out.
You know, they've done a great job for meand for my wife Lauren
(02:03):
also, in studio with me Len Randazzo.Hey, Len.
Good morning.
So this man is usually the manthat handles everything here at Cumulus.
He is our rep does a great job.
But I'm driving down the, the road on aSaturday 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,
(02:26):
if you want to know.
Well, he went to Shannon.
I'm going to have himtalk about his experience
so you can see what it was likefor him to go
and the difference he had between thatand the other people he was working with.
And then we've got a really special guestafter that.
Our producer, Dave Thiessen, is going tosneak out from behind the cameras today.
You're actually going to see who he is,and he's going to talk
(02:49):
about whathis experience and Focus Hearing was.
So you'll get to hearfrom a couple of folks
that have actually been there and donewhat needs to get done.
But let's
let's just start by talking about whatyou guys do, why I think it's so different
than what I call the conglom-o,
or the national firmsor the franchise firms or whatever.
And it's certainly differentthan what you see on television
(03:09):
when people are going to ordera hearing aid.
I always find that amusingbecause I'm like,
how do they know what you're hearingissues are
if they can't test you until you orderthis thing off the television?
So, so so let's just start withabout what you guys do,
what you offer, and then how you interfacewith various insurance programs.
Shannon.
So I mean state guidelines,we all of our professional lives,
(03:32):
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 beyondthat is really important.
What makes us different.
And the individual plan of the personthat's in front of you,
because not everybody is the same.
You can have ten peoplewith the same hearing loss,
(03:53):
and that hearing aidis 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 bestfor the patient in front of us.
And that doesn't always mean
that you're getting a new hearing aidevery time you come in as a new patient.
No, it doesn't.
And that's really funnybecause the hearing aids
I'm wearing, okay, when I first camein, you didn't sell me those hearing aids.
(04:15):
Okay?
You did convince meto get the second one that I got.
I only had one for one earbecause 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’sgot great software.
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 occasionswhen I had issues.
(04:37):
Okay.
And did the walk in, walkedright in your customer service,
your folks at the front desk were rightthere.
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 appointmentthat might be a week out or two weeks out.
Meanwhile this isn’t workingand I can't hear and I'm going nuts, okay.
(04:58):
Because I've becomeso dependent on these things,
because they make such a difference for methat 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.
I'll walk out of the houseand I'll get halfway down,
the road from my house, and I'ma mile away, and,
(05:19):
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.
78% of the people in this countrydon't treat hearing loss.
The 12 we got, we've got like 12% ofthe people that are actually treating it.
And the rest of the peopleletting it go untreated.
(05:42):
So talk aboutwhat happens as a result of that,
because there are so many issuesthat come with that.
If you don't take care of it,let's just talk about that a little bit.
Well, I just think about my patients.
What I see in front of me,the degrees of hearing loss
is what's really can setthe tone for your experience.
It's always so much
easier to adjust to a hearing aidwhen you're at a mild to moderate
(06:06):
hearing loss, because you're not havingto make this huge jump back to normal.
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 aidsare going to sound different.
It's about your preferenceabout your tolerance.
It's also in the boothwhat is your best case scenario.
(06:26):
Because that's not the same for everybody.
And so it's important for us to setrealistic expectations
about what we can do for youand what we can't.
And I think that's what's fair for me toinform 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.
And because the nature of the beast.
We waited too long.
Stop right there.
(06:46):
We waited too long. Right. Okay.
I didn't wait too long,but I went through three different
sets of hearing aidswith three different companies
before I finally found youguys 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.
Don't do that, folks.
(07:06):
It's annoying. But I'm just saying..
The hearing has madean enormous difference to me.
So waiting is not a good thing, right?
I mean, let's say you come inand you have hearing loss and you're
just not quite ready, and then you wait 4or 5 years, maybe longer than that.
You come back, your audiogram, the graph,your blue and red dots
(07:27):
might look the same.
You're hearing has not changedthe response.
Your ability to process and understandspeech is what
typically changes and degrades,
and that even translates overto how you hear in noise.
So when those neurological pathwaysbetween the air in the brain don't stay
stimulated, that ability to understandthat speech processing is what degrades.
(07:49):
And that'swhat 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 moonwhen I know I can't give that to you.
And maybe that's,a big part of why patients respond to us.
Because we're not going to make promisesthat we can't keep.
(08:11):
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 oneI had the issue.
The longer that you wait, the morethe more difficult it's going to be
to get you back to any level,because it's going to continue to degrade.
Just like if you have a broken armand you don't do your physical therapy,
(08:31):
you're not going to get your full rangeof motion back if you don't do the work.
So it's it'salways easier to take the cast off.
Get in your PT.Get your arm back. Don't wait.
Same thing,but you have to teat it like that.
Very similar. Yeah.
And that's a great analogythat 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 noticeit and you're going to notice it.
(08:54):
And that's typicallyhow the process happens.
Is that the nature of hearing loss
is that it's so slow and gradualyou don't realize it.
So you're walking aroundwhere you are swearing you're at normal,
but your loved ones are complaining.You're not. You're not at normal.
So that's the case.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.
(09:15):
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.
MyFocusHearing.com.
MyFocusHearing.com.
When we come back from the break.
We're going to talka little more about this.
And we're going to talk about how it tiesinto cognitive decline.
And for all of us out therethat are chronologically challenged
(09:37):
that's a real issue.
Stay tuned.We'll be right back after the break.
You're listening to America’s Health CareAdvocate broadcasting here on the HIA
Radio Network.
Coast to coast across the USA.
Don't go anywhere.
You. Welcome back.
(10:01):
You're listening to America's HealthcareAdvocate show, broadcasting coast
to coast across the USA here on the HIARadio Network.
If you have a question or commentlike that gentleman in Columbia, Missouri,
send me an email. I'll get back to you.
I'll be happy to help youwith anything that I can.
Also, you know, if you want to help,maybe you've got a husband.
It's too stubbornto go get the hearing test.
(10:23):
And you're telling the guy, look,
you're not hearingwhat I'm telling you, or turn the clothes.
Maybewe get rid of the closed caption on TV.
If you actually got your hearing checkedand got a hearing aid.
Well, I would suggest you have himlisten to this broadcast on the podcast
or on the YouTube channel
so he can actually understandwhat we're talking about and why.
If you don't do something about this,it gets progressively worse.
(10:47):
That's the point. Okay.
So if you want an evaluation,it costs nothing to go in
and sit down with Shannon and her folksand 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 locationsyou can easily get to them.
(11:08):
The website MyFocusHearing.comMyFocusHearing.com.
This isn't conglom-o franchise.
You know some nationally advertised.
These are local folksright here in our community
that know what they're doingand do it very well.
So let's get to this cognitivedecline thing because this is an issue,
you know,if you're a seasoned citizen okay.
(11:29):
Which you're not.
But there's two of us in here
actually three because we're goingto bring Dave up behind the microphone.
If this is something you think about okayI mean I take a supplement.
Okay.
And I do it every nightspecifically developed for cognitive.
To enhance cognitive and not
face cognitive decline.
(11:49):
I've got two companies, one I own and oneI 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.
Now, you talk about this hearing thing.Okay.
So you here, you've you're a lot of peopleworking past 65, 70 now a lot of people.
Okay.
And so what happens isyou don't pay attention to this.
(12:11):
And then so what happensfrom a cognitive standpoint.
Well comes to the whole hearing system.
It is truly I use it or lose it system.
Repeatthat. It's a use it or lose it okay.
So it's just likeyou know when you talk about exercise.
Get out. Exercise.
Whatever, use it or lose it.
Same deal, different day.
Right.
It's just about, you know,what does your system look like?
(12:33):
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 onemodifiable risk factor for dementia.
Everything else.
Is just that's the first time I've heardthat it's just a toss of the dice.
The number one modifier.
Modifiable Risk Factor.
(12:55):
Meaning you can slow it down, stop it,or do whatever you need to do if you.
Yeah, that'sthe only thing that you can control.
While the studies up to this point,
I know they're looking about dietand other things, how that affects.
But if you really think about the risksof dementia and untreated hearing loss,
and you can actually do somethingabout it, that's pretty powerful.
Oh, yeah.
(13:15):
You know,and we all want to age well, I know I do.
And if there's anything that I can doto help that process slow down,
I'm going to do the best I canto make that happen.
You know, I told this story before I wasstanding in my, in Pasco, Washington.
And in my, at my son in law's parentsfarm, that big alfalfa farm
(13:36):
and the grandkids are running around
and Evelyn then the oldest was,I think, four years old.
And she came up to meand she was talking to me,
and I didn't hear a thing she was saying.
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.
(13:57):
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 understandthem, hear what they're trying to say,
interact with them.Those are all critical things.
So for me, that was the one that pushed itover, that pushed the button.
That was like, okay,I gotta do something about this, right?
(14:18):
Okay. Because I'm not interactingwith my family.
The other thing that drove me nutswas trying to watch a television
show, not understandwhat the hell they were saying.
Yeah, and I got news foryou can't closed caption, Fox news.
Okay. All right.
Yeah, I don't bother with CNN. I'mjust telling you.
Okay. Straight up.
Okay.
Or CNBC, you know, you're looking atwhat's going on in the markets.
(14:39):
You can close caption TV showsbut you can't or movies, but so
being able to hear what people are sayingwhen 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.
There were four of these peopleat lunch with me, and I'm asking people
to repeat like two and three timeswhat the hell they're saying.
(15:02):
It's noisy in there. I couldn't hear it.
Now I go to the restaurantsetting on my phone.
I push the button and they dials me in towhat the people that are sitting near
me and I am not hearing, you know,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?
(15:23):
Yes, absolutely.
And and stop dealing with the annoyanceof not understanding people.
Well, you don't realize
as time goes on the things that your bodyhas to do to accommodate hearing loss.
Okay. You’re lip reading,you don't even know you're doing it.
That's just the body being the amazingthing that it is to compensate.
So you’re lip reading, you're leaning,you're
(15:45):
positioning yourself in certain areasto give you the best fighting chance.
And there just becomes like
this mental and physical loadto pull this off on a daily basis.
By the end of the day, there's a level ofexhaustion that doesn't need to be there.
You know, if we can fix your hearing,
then you're not having to mentallyand physically do all those things
to cope with your hearing loss.
It's just make it easier for you.
(16:07):
Yeah, because that's it.
And that's exactly what I used to do.
In fact, I used to position mostuntil 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 setso that if I'm at a business
meeting, the people I'm doing businesswith are on this side of me.
(16:29):
I don't want them on the other side
because I couldn't hear a damn thingthey say right now, it doesn't matter.
Because this, this piece that you got metransmits 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 rememberyou said you don't really have to do this,
but I'm telling you, I'm like,okay, Shannon.
(16:50):
I'm going to listen to you.
And I did it like, oh, Lord have mercy.
This really works. Yeah. It's notyou don't have a blind spot.
Your echolocation is back. Yeah.
You can tell heresounds are coming from. Yeah. Yes.
It just made a huge difference. Right.
So that's really interesting.
I had no idea that it playedthis big a role in cog.
I mean, I knew it was importantin cognitive decline right here,
that that's the one factorthat can turn that to a certain degree.
(17:15):
I'd say that's pretty important.
Well, and you partner that with, you know,if you're not hearing
and then you start to withdrawand then you don't, you're not hanging out
with your family and, you know,your relationship starts to degrade.
You're just not doingthe things that you usually do.
And then you start to isolate.
And then the isolation is wherethat cognitive factor comes in.
(17:36):
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.
And then that causes frictionin 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 businessenvironment,
(17:58):
you're dealing with peoplea lot younger than you are.
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 Shannonor one of her techs.
They'll be happy to take youthrough the process or go to the website.
(18:20):
My focus here. Income.
We come back from the breakLen Randazzo's going to tells his story,
and then we're going to drag
Dave Thiessen out from behind the camerasand he's going to tell us his story.
So stay tuned.We'll be right back after the break.
You're listening to America'sHealthcare Advocate Broadcasting Coast
to coast across the USAhere on the HIA Radio Network.
(18:52):
Welcome back.
You're listening to America'sHealthcare Advocate show,
broadcasting coastto 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 HealthcareAdvocate here as part of our America's
(19:14):
Healthcare Advocate family.
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 hereof behind the microphones in our Cumulus
studios, our flagship studioshere in Overland Park Kansas.
(19:36):
All right.So now we're going to switch to Len.
And this is a funny storybecause like I said,
I think I'm coming back from Bible studybecause we're on at 8:00 and,
but and I, we start at sevenand we don't usually get out to 830 or 9.
And I get this phone call from Lenand he goes, I just listened to that show.
And are they really that good, Cary?
(19:56):
Take it. Len.
Yes, I was really impressedwith 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
(20:18):
setting up people correctly.
And I could tell just from that showthat 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.
And then when I walked in to talkwith you, I just felt a total difference.
(20:41):
The place that I was at, as you aptlysaid, conglom-o.
It was a factory.
You know, they had rooms like
and they just whipping you inand whipping you out of there.
And no matter how many questions I hadand I went through two,
this is nowmy second set with this company,
and I was very frustratedbecause I was like,
(21:02):
these are expensive propositions,you know, $5,000.
$2,500 apiece, you know.
And I was feeling
like I should be ableto demo multiple things.
And then you guys can honein, you know, the technology is amazing.
And I am very happyabout how the app works.
(21:25):
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.
My hearing patternis a lot different than most
because being around radioso much, listening to things at decibels
that probably most people don't do,and I'm sure I've done some damage.
(21:46):
So the highs and the lows for me are verydifferent than most people's problems.
And then on top of that, I have tinnitus.
And so the ringing in the ears.
So it's just another level of,you know, factoring things in.
And when I came inyou explained what you said before
(22:06):
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 saidsomething to the effect of,
did you ever have a background test?
And that just blew me away.
I didn't know what you were talking about.
So explain the background test.
(22:28):
Right?
Well, and that's one thing that we didas a practice,
just believe is very, very importantbecause when we're testing in the booth,
we want to knowwhat is your best case scenario.
But that's in a booth in quiet.
That is not the same
and does not translate overto how you hear when you're in a crowd.
So if you don't test for that,the provider is literally guessing and
(22:49):
majority of the time it's not even closeto what you think it would be,
because you can have somebodythat's great in the booth.
And yes,they have a moderate hearing loss.
You put them in background noiseand somebody just completely falls apart.
Yeah.
And if you're not prepared for thatand I don't prepare you for that,
you're thinking,I just spent all this money
and I stillI'm still not hearing in this restaurant.
You know.
And when you came to me,you have great hearing aids.
(23:11):
They're like one and a half,two years old.
This wasn't necessarily about youand I needing to discuss you needing
new hearing aids.
We just needed to fix what you haveand maximize what you could and
couldn't do. And,
and in your case, it just we just
manipulated what you already had built onwhat the professionals did before me.
Right. And just changed a few things,tweaked a few things.
Just based on what you told meyou liked, what
(23:32):
you didn't like, what you're strugglingwith. Right.
So I had been through several adjustments
with the other firm,and what was different was
they just did the manual thingsthat, 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.
(23:54):
It was just, you know,and if I didn't have my hearing aids
in, it would not have had that effect.
So it was having these day to daythings that are in our life
that you have to put up with or dothat were not the same.
So I was trying to explainthose things to them,
(24:14):
and then they just didwhat 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.
I felt like I had somebodythat was more of a qualifier
and more of a, you know, saying, this is
(24:35):
how we can help this.
And and maybe we couldn't do this,but how we can get to you
having a better qualityof interpreting things,
like you said before,which I thought was fascinating.
I didn't realize how how the human brain
has to be conditioned itselfwhen hearing loss happens.
Tell me more again.
(24:56):
So what you were mentioningis it's very common,
especially for a patientthat has high frequency hearing loss.
Those that part of your hearing systemis not used to being stimulated.
So then all of a sudden you're hearing aid
is giving you this audibility for soundsyou're not used to hearing.
Dishes banging and clanging.
You flush the toilet, you know, ice
cube machine, all those high frequencysounds you're not used to hearing.
(25:17):
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 aboutlet's introduce you to sound.
Where you’re comfortable? Let's tweak it.Is that too much?
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
(25:41):
instead of just taking this huge jump.
You just can't tolerate it.
Yeah, I feel so much betterafter walking out of our visit.
After the tweaking that you did comparedto 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,
(26:01):
you know, puts the emphasis on,
and I got it in the title of your business“Focus Hearing”.
I mean, you know, it's perfectly said.
We’re going to have to use that linesomewhere, Len.
It's really pretty good.
You know, it's funny because, you know,
customer service.
I say, in this country, the word servicehas gone out of customer service.
(26:26):
I'll give you another example.
I have, a sleep apnea machine.
I have one that I travel with.
I travelif I don't travel with it on vacation,
you know, Laurie spendsmost of the nights awake.
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.
(26:47):
Spent over three hourstrying to get something done.
Finally the people were nice enough.
Finally the owner of the company called meback, was responsive, got it done.
But my point in telling that story is
there's no damn servicein customer service and you can go spend.
He spent the same amount of moneyI did these these hearing aids,
(27:08):
although I got a nice discount because I'mI have Blue Cross and Blue Shield
and they have Blue 365with discount programs.
And by the way, they take allthe insurance products Medicare Advantage.
If you have an allocation on your MedicareAdvantage plan, they take it.
And also they accept the discountsfrom Blue Cross and other carriers
(27:29):
to to reduce the cost.
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.
I would wholeheartedly agree with that.
Hearing aids, especially with Bluetooth,
(27:51):
connectivity, the streaming,there are things that are going to come up
and it's it's just a servicebased product.
It's not like I'm just going to fit youwith the hearing aid. Oh good luck.
I'll see you in a couple of years.You know, you need cleaning.
You need support.
You need Bluetooth support.
You need all those little things.
I don't want you waiting two weeks.
I can't do it To see me. Well,that's what I was saying before..
(28:12):
If that's something that my tech's upfront can just.
Oh my gosh.
Yeah. You're, da da da,10 seconds later, you're on your way.
And that'swhat we're very passionate about.
And I know we have our set walk in hoursbetween 10 and 3.
And that's just because we feel it'svery important to staff enough
to handle the traffic.
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.
(28:35):
I couldn't walk in. Oh, there open at 10.
I'm going to be there at 10:15, walkin, get my problem solved 15 minutes later
out the door and I'm done.
Okay.
That to me was an enormous differencethat you have walk
in, you can walk in, you can get servicein, you walk out.
Yeah. You can make an appointmentif you need an evaluation, whatever.
But the fact that you've got thatand that those girls up front
(28:56):
know how to do all of that stuffto fix these things, adjust these things.
To me, that's half the battle.
I know you can.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?
Or you leave on vacationand your hearing aid just died. Yeah.
And you need a new wire. Yeah.
You can't get it for two weeks.
It's it's an amazing thingbecause the equipment is the same across
(29:17):
every company you're going to do.
I mean, there's little differences hereand there differences.
The difference is the service.
The difference is the service. And that’swhat I’m so excited about.
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.
(29:39):
They'll help you fix it.If you need new ones.
They'll tell you thatif you don't Len didn't need new ones.
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 bringDave Thiessen out from behind the cameras.
Get ready for this.
(30:05):
Welcome back.
You're listening to America's HealthcareAdvocate show broadcasting coast to coast
across the USA here on the HIARadio 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.
(30:26):
They'll learn why they need
to do something about this beforeit 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.
(30:49):
MyFocusHearing.com. Therethe best in town.
I know because I use them.
All right Dave. We actually got him out.
So to the whole lot this is Daveand you've never seen him before.
No you have not.
There you go. See.
And so Dave you went in for an evaluation.
What was your experience like.
What did you think ofwhat you experienced?
(31:10):
Well, first of all,I don't always listen to your show
while I'm recording your show.
But once I listen back, I hearall 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 thinkI can believe in what they say.
(31:31):
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 businessfor 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
(31:52):
once talking to you that you understoodwhat I was talking about
and what I would need, and we went infor the test in the actual booth.
And I know what an acoustically,
you know, quiet boothsounds like and, that did.
And kind of understandingthat what you put everybody through
is fascinating to me.
But I see why you're successful
(32:16):
because you were very thoroughand how you went through it.
You listened,you understood what I was talking about,
and then you knowabout all of the different
possibilitiesand options, insurance plans and whatnot.
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 madat me because I'll be able to run
(32:40):
all of the gear really fastand on my phone.
And, Cary did you know it could do this?
How long have you been doing radio?
And I'm trying to dohere's create a perspective of people.
Dave listens tothings a lot different than you and I do
because he produces all of these showshe and Garner together
(33:00):
produce all these shows and understandingthe levels, how they sound, everything.
How long you've been doing this?
At 14, I was a DJ.
I worked continuously in radiofor 35 years.
And during that time I’ve mixed, manycommercials for radio, even national ones.
And then I've done, audio for film.
(33:23):
I mean, I've always been able to listenthrough 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.
I mean, I already know what it's supposedto sound like.
(33:44):
A lot of people really don't payattention to that, but I do.
I know that the timbre,I know the various, depths of sound
and placement of where voices areand that stuff is
it's always been aware to memuch 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 problemsas, as possible as it can do.
(34:07):
I just, I just remember you coming in and,
our conversation, I could tell.
And I just hope everyone understandsthat I'm not just.
I'm not a pressure person.
Like, this is where we're at.
You're telling me what issuesyou're noticing.
They probably all correlateto where you're hearing loss is,
(34:28):
you know,tell me about the impact that has.
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 patientdoesn't make a good patient.
So, I.
Remember the first show you did with us,like, a year or two back.
And some of the thingsyou were saying at that time,
(34:50):
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.
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 inwhen you've got a hearing issue.
(35:13):
You're in the sound and mixing.
So when I have a patient, you give mewhat their issues are in my mind.
I can usually tellwhat we're going to be dealing with
just because I knowwhere all those sounds occur.
Yeah. Similar to you.
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, butthey've all got some issue to deal with.
(35:35):
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 experiencefinding the right solution.
They have many complaints about devices,about people in that situation.
Firts of all they bought them offtelevision, some of them pretty much okay.
And that's that's one of the dumbest.
I'm sorry, folks, that'sone of the dumbest damn things you can do.
(35:56):
I tell you the same thing about Medicare.
I'll tell you the same thing
about these about hearing devicesat that one size does not fit all.
And you've heard two examplesof that today and I'm the 3rd example.
Am I right now that you can't get a size44 overcoat to fit everybody?
Okay. It's just that simple.
And these things are tailoredto the individual.
Dave’sgot a much different sense of what hearing
(36:18):
should bethen what Len had, than what I had.
All of us went to Shannon, she recognizeseach of us as different, and each of us
is being treated differently,and that is what's important.
Well, behind what I do, you haveto 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.
(36:38):
But, can you walk around every daywearing it like that.
Probably not the first 30 to 60 days.
I'm just not going to do that to you.
I want you to be successfulin the long term,
and that's going to be comfortwhile you adjust.
And everybody's pace is different.
But I just want to keep maximizingas we can as you tolerate.
And everybody is very different.
It's just like when you're watching TV,
(36:59):
some people just really playwith the volume a lot,
and some people just sit thereand watch it.
And so it's part of what I dois just listen to the patient.
They'll tell you what they need. 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 dothat is because she educates people.
You listen to what she's saying,she's educating you.
(37:21):
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 downhere, go see them, okay?
And and get the proper careyou 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 Alaskaor you're in Redlands, California,
(37:42):
find a local, provider that does this.
Look and find out what they're all about,okay?
And do not use these conglom-ofranchise outfits.
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.
(38:03):
So it's critically important.
Thank you for coming in here againand doing this.
You did a great job. Once again.
If you want their phone number is (913)
754 2144.
The website myfocushearing.com.
And now I leave you with this thoughtfrom Albert Einstein,
the one who follows the crowd, theyusually get no further than the crowd.
(38:25):
The one who walks alone is likely to findhimself in places no one has ever been.
Remember,friends, it's a funny thing about life.
If you refuse to accept anythingbut the very best, you most often get it.
Thank you for listening to America'sHealthcare Advocate Show.
Broadcasting coastto coast across the USA.
Goodbye America.
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