Monty V. has been thrilled with her new hearing aids right from the start. "I had absolutely no adjustment period," she says. "I put them in and I have adored what I hear ever since."
Monty became a patient of Eric M. Hughes, MD, at ARC Cedar Park when she moved to Round Rock in 2014. In 2016, as she neared her 70th birthday, Monty told Dr. Hughes that she wanted to get her hearing checked.
"It's hard to say how long I have been suffering from hearing loss," Monty says. "But, I know I have been turning up the volume on the television for many years, now."
There were other signs of hearing loss as well. For example, Monty recalls, "I thought I heard my daughter-in-law's friend call her daughter a 'tool,'" she says. "We still laugh about that one. What she had actually said was that her daughter was 'in school.'"
Monty saw ENT Matthew M. Meigs, MD, ARC Far West Medical Tower and audiologist Angel F. De La Cruz, ARC Round Rock. Monty describes both as "wonderful and easy to work with" and appreciates that they each took time to explain things to her and to answer all of her questions.
A hearing test revealed that Monty had a moderate high-frequency hearing loss. Dr. De La Cruz went over hearing aid options with Monty and helped her decide on a computer-programmed pair.
"When I first put them in, I was stunned by the sound of my own voice," Monty says. "I said 'Wow! I am louder than I thought I was!'"
On the way home, Monty got another surprise. "When I put on my turn signal, I could hear it," she says. "For years I thought the blinker had stopped making its sound, but it was working all along. I just wasn't hearing it."
There were other ordinary everyday sounds that Monty realized she had been missing, such as the sound of the coffee pot's signal that coffee was ready and the sound of her husband's phone beeping in his pocket.
"And people behind me need to be careful what they say," Monty says with a laugh, "I can hear them now!"
According to Monty, "Everyone at ARC has been wonderful. Patients are treated like they are important—not like a number—which I find refreshing and uplifting," she says. "And, I am amazed at how organized ARC is—when I call, I can usually get an appointment the next day." She compares this to the University of Iowa hospital where she used to wait a month to get an appointment.
Monty and her husband, John, were high school sweethearts. They married decades later, in 2014. Between them they have eight grandchildren, one great granddaughter and another great-grandchild on the way. They also have a dog and a cat.
When Monty got her hearing aids, John said he was glad not to have to yell anymore when speaking to her. "I asked if he had been talking louder for me and he said, 'absolutely,'" Monty says. Monty loves to laugh and describes herself as "still a bit of a wild child." She has been enjoying her new Round Rock friends whom she describes as "a riot." Her hearing aids have enhanced her enjoyment of evenings out. Until recently she went to Juniors in downtown Round Rock to listen to a local band that plays the music of her youth such as Janis Joplin and Bob Segar. Juniors has closed but Monty will surely find a new venue for her evenings out.
Monty's hearing aids are so comfortable that once she accidently got into the shower with them. Thankfully, she managed to keep them dry.
"What feels really strange," she says, "is when I take them off at the end of the day. It's like someone turned off the sound."