Warehouse Stores
September 23, 2021
What you need to know about purchasing hearing aids from a warehouse store

Who doesn’t love a warehouse store, right? These establishments are filled to overflowing with a host of useful products for the home—everything from paper towels and chicken fingers in bulk to a new set of tires and a comfy bed for your pooch.


But what about buying medical devices at your local big box store? Few of us would ever consider shopping around for a pacemaker or for the hardware for your knee replacement in the aisles of your neighborhood warehouse store. Yet some turn to these locations for hearing aids—also a medical device—to treat a health condition as important as hearing loss.


Here are some questions to ask when it comes to big box/warehouse stores and your hearing health care.


Are the staff you are working with university-trained audiologists?
The staff at the hearing aid counter at a big box store may have minimal training and expertise. A few stores may have audiologists, but many have hearing aid dispensers. Learn about the difference.


Is the hearing technology “locked’?
The hearing aid technology at warehouse stores may be “locked,” or proprietary, which means you can only take your hearing aids to that specific chain for service. No other private audiologist or provider can work on them. Many patients do not realize this and find out when they try to take their hearing aids to another practice for repairs or desire help from a more experienced professional.


What generation is the hearing aid technology?
Big box stores may offer technology one or two generations behind current technology available in the private market and sometimes their higher-level products are more comparable to mid-level technologies available privately.


Are repairs and other common services offered?
Most warehouse stores have limited repair options if the store labeled brands (e.g., Kirkland) ends the contracted relationship with the manufacturer for a lower cost vendor or contract. Most also do not provide loaner hearing aids.


Is your audiogram portable?
The store actually owns the results to your hearing test, not you. That means you may not be able to take your test results to another practice for a second opinion.


What if I have an insurance benefit?
Big box stores/warehouses DO NOT accept insurance benefits for hearing aids.


What if I need other audiologic services?
Big box stores do not do wax removal or provide other important full-service audiology care, such as tinnitus testing and treatment or assessment for dizziness and balance disorders.


What will my customer experience be like?
The experience and environment are very different from a professional audiologist’s clinic. They don’t typically pre-schedule routine follow-up appointments. and if you have issues with your hearing aids, it can be a challenge getting help in a busy store that is often on a first-come, first-serve.


By contrast, a private audiology clinic, like Johnson Audiology, offers you a caring, professional hearing health care experience with a goal toward being your partner on your lifelong hearing journey. It’s a relationship building process that goes far beyond just purchasing a hearing aid. Here’s what you can expect from us.


  • University-degreed audiologist care for every patient
  • A highly trained support staff made up of audiology assistants and patient care coordinators.
  • The widest selection of hearing aid technology and products from the world’s most respected hearing aid manufacturers. This means audiologists in other states (say you live in Florida or Arizona in the winter) can service your hearing aids. Some manufacturers and professional partners we work with regularly include: Oticon, Widex, ReSound, Phonak, Lyric, Siemens, Starkey, Westone and CochlearAmerica.
  • Hearing device options that take into account your personal circumstances—your hearing loss, your budget, your schedule, your lifestyle. Our audiologists discuss all these factors and goals with you up front so that you can make the most informed decision that is best for you.
  • At least a 45-day assessment period to determine your benefit and satisfaction with hearing aids.
  • Comprehensive care for hearing loss with diagnostic hearing evaluations and reports sent to your primary care physician. We also provide dizziness, balance, tinnitus and hyperacusis care all within the same full-service, independent and locally-owned professional audiology practice. Your hearing examination results belong to you as a part of your medical record.
  • Ear wax removal, a common need for patients.
  • A hearing aid loaner program, when appropriate, in the event your hearing aid needs to be sent to the manufacturer for repair. All-make repair options for most brands and older hearing models.
  • Monday through Thursday walk-in hours or for hearing aid clean and checks and same-day repairs, along with manufacturer repairs when necessary. Our clinic reaches out by mail when your hearing aids are reaching end of warranty and encouraging you to bring your aids to our office for us to send to the manufacturer for overhaul. The manufacturer will replace components, as necessary, and get your aids in top working order before warranty’s end.
  • Utilization of real-ear measurements technology to verify that your hearing aids are fit according to recommended prescriptions for proper hearing and safety. It is estimated only 20 to 30 percent of practices in the country use this advanced technology.
  • Recommend and provide regular and critical follow-up appointments for clean and checks, checkups, adjustments, and monitoring of hearing. 
  • Patients with health insurance may have hearing aid coverage that could help with the costs. We accept Medicare and most other types of health insurance, and we verify whether or not your particular plan has coverage for hearing aids.
  • Financing options are available for individuals who qualify.
  • An in-house Johnson Audiology Direct program that provides a host of supplies and services for the lifetime of your hearing aids and that is included with your hearing aids.


Based on industry data, only 20 to 25 percent of patients return to purchase a second set of hearing aids from a big box store/warehouse, which speaks volumes about overall customer satisfaction with this avenue for hearing aids. While it may feel like you are spending less at a big box store, the trade-offs may end up costing you more money in the long run. Good value is tied to many variables, and your best value and satisfaction is working with a university-trained audiologist in an independent audiology practice.

 

 

 


A man is wearing a cochlear implant in his ear.

Cochlear implantation: A game changer for Chattanooga native, Chipper Gocke

March 6, 2025
Chipper Gocke, 28, has had many poignant moments in the last six weeks since his cochlear implant surgery. “A workmate commented recently that my speaking voice is the appropriate volume now. Not being able to hear myself, I probably often talked too loud before. It seems like a small thing, but it is a way to be more normalized in my professional and other settings.” His mother, Amy Gocke, also has noticed the changes. “Chipper has never called me on the phone before. With his profound lifelong hearing loss and even using powerful hearing aids, he simply couldn’t communicate by phone. Now I look forward to his calls every day after he gets off work.” These daily experiences that people often take for granted—communicating with a workmate or calling a family member to say hello—are now possible for Chipper because of his cochlear implant. Hearing loss has been a part of Chipper’s life since he was a small child. Chipper’s father, Ted Gocke, relates, “From the time he was 18 months old, Chipper had ear infections that had us in and out of the hospital. That led to tubes in his ears and the diagnosis that he had a significant hearing loss.” As a youngster, Chipper received early intervention services before he even reached school age. He also got established with local audiologist, Darnell Scafe, and they reconnected recently when Chipper sought out Darnell for hearing health care services as an adult. Darnell, who joined the Johnson Audiology team in 2018, says, “I remember Chipper as a sweet little boy who didn’t let his hearing loss slow him down. It’s wonderful to get to know the fine, capable young man he has grown into.” Last year, Darnell encouraged Chipper to consider a cochlear implant, and she referred him to Johnson Audiology’s Cochlear Implant Program Director, Dr. Hannah Dearth. Dr. Dearth then was able to complete cochlear implant candidacy testing. In November of last year, Chipper’s surgery was performed at Murfreesboro Medical Clinic (MMC) in Middle Tennessee by an otolaryngologist (ENT). A native of Chattanooga, Chipper traveled for the initial surgery since there is not currently an ENT in Chattanooga who performs CI surgeries. However, Chipper then had his cochlear implant activated at Johnson Audiology (JA) by Dr. Dearth in early January. Also, there to celebrate activation day was Darnell. “It felt like a full circle moment when Dr. Dearth activated Chipper’s cochlear implant, and he began to have those first sound perceptions.” Dr. Dearth explains, “People often wonder how a hearing aid and a cochlear implant are different. Cochlear implants are designed for patients whose hearing aids are no longer assisting them in understanding in both quiet and noisy environments. A hearing aid is designed to provide amplification for speech sounds that are unintelligible without said amplification. Cochlear implants are a surgical option for those who are no longer able to achieve meaningful understanding with a traditional hearing aid. Hearing aids rely on the ear’s natural pathway for hearing to accomplish this and so may not work well for someone with severe damage to the inner ear. A cochlear implant, on the other hand, bypasses the damaged parts of the ear by stimulating the auditory nerve directly with a mild electrical current that sends the sound signal to the brain.” Chipper is committed to his own success with his cochlear implant and in addition to listening to the speech of those around him, he is also tuning in to podcasts and audiobooks that give him even more speech exposure. Dr. Dearth says that is a huge factor in any patient’s ability to thrive with the device. “The patients who are committed to the aural rehabilitation as prescribed experience faster progress and higher success rates long term.” Chipper will continue regular follow-up appointments for the rest of his life to maintain successful progress with his CI. He gets emotional talking about the social isolation that can be a common side effect of profound hearing loss and, also, mentions the spatial awareness that better hearing offers. “Being able to pinpoint sound and localize stimuli from both sides of the head has positive effects for living a safe life,” Dr. Dearth says. Dr. Megan Johnson, audiologist, founder, and owner of JA, says, “Johnson Audiology has provided support for cochlear implant patients since 2017 with care offered through the practice’s location on Lee Highway in the East Brainerd area. After implantation, every other part of a CI patient’s hearing journey can be accomplished at Johnson Audiology—from initial activation to routine mapping.”  Chipper and his parents encourage people to explore the possibility of cochlear implants since it can make such a difference in a person’s daily life and function. Johnson Audiology is accepting new patients who currently wear hearing aids but would like to pursue cochlear implant candidacy as well as those who already have a cochlear implant. Call Johnson Audiology at 423.556.7185 or visit www.johnsonaudiology.com/schedule for more information or to schedule an appointment.
An image of a brain with the words untreated hearing loss is changing your brain

Untreated hearing loss is changing your brain

By Jan Hollingsworth • May 16, 2024
Research reveals that hearing loss actually rewires your neural pathways Your Amazing Brain Your brain is an amazing organ! This wrinkly, reddish-pink mass weighs about the same as your two-slice toaster, tipping the scales at about three pounds. Acting as a master control center, your brain enables every thought, breath, eye blink, heartbeat, movement—everything—that happens in your body. Rivaling the world’s most powerful supercomputer, your brain can download, process, and react in milliseconds to the tidal wave of information coming from your eyes, skin, nose, tongue, and ears. Neuroplasticity and Your Sense of Hearing Researchers have discovered that the human nervous system—made up of the brain, spinal cord, and a complex network of nerves—has incredible capacity to modify itself, both in function and physical structure. This is called neural plasticity . Dr. Megan Johnson, audiologist and owner of Johnson Audiology explains, “Neural plasticity is going gangbusters in a child’s brain as the child develops and matures into adulthood. Based on years of brain research, we also know that the adult brain is far from being fixed. It, too, changes and adapts when you learn new information or skills or as a response to stress, hormonal fluctuations, drug interactions, injury, and much more.” Dr. Johnson also relates that “your brain displays neuroplasticity when you experience hearing loss.” By measuring brain waves using an electroencephalograph, or EEG, scientists have studied how the brain of a person with hearing loss functions compared to a person with normal hearing. The results are both fascinating and sobering as studies reveal that, in those with hearing loss, the portion of the brain devoted to hearing becomes reorganized. This can be true even with early-stage, mild hearing loss, and the process happens quickly, often in months rather than years. The Hearing Center of Your Brain and Beyond What is actually happening when this takes place? Your brain has a right and a left hemisphere and six major lobes. Think of your frontal lobe as your brain’s boss, where executive functions like decision making, emotion and impulse control, and planning occur. Your temporal lobe, which contains the auditory cortex, is doing the heavy lifting when it comes to interpreting sounds and assigning those sounds meaning. The temporal lobe processes speech and language, and it is where initial learning of new information takes place, which is the first step for logging that information into memory. Dr. Johnson goes on to relate, “When the delicate infrastructure of your ear has become damaged through noise exposure, infection, etc. leading to hearing loss, your auditory cortex cries out to your frontal lobe, saying ‘Help! Help! I’m not receiving any sound to process, so I feel lost.’ The frontal lobe ‘boss’ jumps to attention, and your occipital lobe, responsible for processing vision and touch, takes over the areas in which hearing is normally processed. In other words, your other senses seek to compensate for the deficit due to the loss of your sense of hearing.” Amazing, right? So, where’s the rub? Picture a car assembly line; each worker has an assigned task. One day, the worker who installs the windshields is absent, and the worker who attaches the rearview mirrors is assigned double duty, and a duty that was not part of job training. It is easy to see how the worker left juggling both jobs is compromised, and a car might slip through minus a rear view mirror. Similarly, the areas of your brain that are being taxed to make up for a lack of hearing are overloaded and less able to do their assigned responsibilities. “This explains why so many of my patients with hearing loss relate feeling exhausted and frustrated after a big family gathering—where multiple talkers and sounds must be interpreted—rather than happy and invigorated by the experience. We call this listening fatigue ,” states Dr. Johnson. Additionally, when left untreated long enough, researchers point to the brain’s reorganization due to hearing loss as a significant correlation with dementia. Hearing Technology and Your Brain “But here's the great news!” Dr. Johnson says. When a person is fit with hearing aids or a cochlear implant and sound is restored, the brain has the ability to adjust back—partially or completely—to proper function. How swiftly that happens often depends on how long the hearing loss went untreated and is why she encourages patients to treat hearing loss sooner rather than later. “Here is what I tell patients who are downplaying the importance of hearing: If you won’t treat your hearing loss for the sake of your ears, do it for your brain!”