It used to be that folks only got serious about their hearing health after reaching AARP age – sometimes well after they’d begun to notice hearing loss.
“It can take an average of 7 to 10 years, once a person knows they need to get their hearing tested, before they actually do it,” says Dr. Vega of Ascent Audiology & Hearing in West Olympia. “People can just be in such denial about it.”
And yet, with technological advances and changes in the audiology industry, amazing improvements are much more easily available to patients of all ages.
“People used to wait until they were older, and then they’d get a hearing aid,” says Dr. Vega. “Now we’re being more proactive about testing.”
For instance, babies’ hearing is now tested on the day they’re born – a change that’s had a huge impact.
“Back in the ‘70s, people weren’t being identified with hearing loss until maybe they struggled in grade school or were put into a special ed class,” says Dr. Vega. “And then they realized they were actually quite bright, they just couldn’t hear.”
By the time these older children were identified with hearing loss, they were already far behind educationally.
Today, it’s not just newborns and older adults who may be diagnosed with hearing loss. More and more young and middle-aged adults are finding themselves having trouble, thanks to what Dr. Vega calls the iPod generation.
“It’s a very noisy world,” she says. “We’re exposed to so much more noise than we were even a decade ago. We see real hearing loss showing up in people earlier than it normally would.”
And that’s where Dr. Vega’s practice comes in. Ascent Audiology & Hearing offers testing, counseling, hearing aids, and other amplification devices.
Dr. Vega was born in Eatonville and moved to Idaho as a toddler. She returned to Washington to attend Western Washington University, where she received her bachelor’s degree in communicative disorders.
She began her career as an audiology assistant at the Hearing, Speech & Deafness Center in Seattle, where she gained general experience and settled on the direction she wanted to move in.
“I found that I have a passion in the hearing impaired arena of the communicative disorders,” Dr. Vega says, “And I headed to graduate school at Utah State.” She received her doctorate in 2005.
Dr. Vega and her husband moved to Olympia on a whim. “We love it here,” she says. “It’s very Bellingham-esque and we loved Bellingham.” Dr. Vega lives in Lacey with her husband and two young boys.
For the first seven years that Dr. Vega lived in Thurston County, she worked as an audiologist for a local group of doctors. In January of 2010, an opportunity arose for her to go into private practice. She took over the All-American Hearing, closed that clinic and relocated to West Olympia, where she opened up her own private practive in July.
“Because I had a working database from the other clinic, I started with a patient population. That’s gone very well,” she says. “I was able to make a lot of improvements for these patients who weren’t necessarily satisfied with the service they were getting before.”
And her new patient database continues to grow. “I’ve been extremely busy, well above my expectations,” says Dr. Vega. “It’s been a very exciting year.”
When a new patient comes to Ascent Audiology & Hearing, Dr. Vega begins with a diagnostic test to get an idea of hearing ability.
“Based upon the result of the testing, I help them figure out how best to resolve any issues they’re having.”
If a patient has hearing loss and would benefit by having amplification or hearing aids, Ascent Audiology & Hearing can provide them the necessary technology and Dr. Vega can provide follow-up care.
“If they come in and are simply having trouble coping in conversation but they really don’t have any hearing loss, then I provide them counseling on how to get through that,” says Dr. Vega.
For Dr. Vega, educating her patients is one of the most important components of her work.
“That’s what I’m doing in private practice that I wasn’t able to do in a doctor’s office setting,” she says. “In a medical setting, things were very structured; you come in with X problem and you get Y result. It was the same formula every day.”
But with Ascent Audiology & Hearing, Dr. Vega has the freedom to sit down with her patients, have a cup of coffee, and really get to know him or her and their individual situation.
“They’re really presenting me with the problems their having, and I’m helping them figure out what works for them. I’m not just saying, ‘Well, here’s what you need.’”
She educates them, gives them options, and asks questions: How do you want to deal with this? What would work for you? Then she helps them find the right resources.
Dr. Vega knows well how hearing loss can truly isolate a person from their loved ones – and how much lives are changed after undergoing testing.
“I feel really good about my job when I improve your hearing and help you live the life you want to live, so you don’t have to feel like you can’t participate in something because you can’t hear,” she says.
“When I have a really successful hearing aid experience with one of my patients or a counseling session where they feel relieved because I’ve helped them in some way, and they leave with a smile on their face,” she says, “that’s exactly why I do what I do.”
Ascent Audiology & Hearing
365 Cooper Point Road NW, Suite 102
Olympia WA 98502
