HH/Beck: Hi Leo. Thanks for your time this morning. I know you were in the military and I know you've traveled extensively. Would you please tell us about your education and professional career?
Wastler: I got my education before going into the Army. I graduated in 1943, and then I served Uncle Sam for about 37 years during World War II and after. I was in the Army Air Corps, serving in England, France and Germany. After the war ended I came home and went to work for Uncle Sam as a civil servant. I worked until 1981 when I retired. I worked in logistics of many types; military logistics, including international transfers of munitions, ships, weaponry, and that sort of thing. I also worked for the Army Corp of Engineers in construction around the nation. I served in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Mexico, and the like. Since retiring, my wife and I have been operating our own genealogical touring business around the world.
HH/Beck: That is fantastic. I want to thank you for your service to your country. That's a wonderful thing and I'm proud to know you.
Wastler: It's nice to hear words like that, thank you.
HH/Beck: Please tell me a little bit about your hearing loss?
Wastler: It was a gradual thing over many years. I was not aware of it until my wife told me about it. She figured it out through my need for increased volume with our television, radio, and music systems throughout our home. My hearing problem was leading to her discomfort! Early on, I had a hearing test and I was told that my hearing loss didn't warrant hearing aids. So a couple of years went by and my hearing deteriorated more and more.
HH/Beck: And so you went back and had another test?
Wastler: Right. I had another test, and it was time to get hearing aids. I actually had a total of four sets of hearing aids and they drove me to distraction. I wasn't comfortable with them and I always felt like my head was in a barrel -- which I think is called the occlusion effect. In the Spring of 2003, my wife and I happened to attend a hearing aid seminar where I saw a new technology that had just come onto the market.
HH/Beck: And that was the SeboTek PAC?
Wastler: Yes. The next day I spoke to my hearing aid consultant and told him about the PAC. He pulled out some literature and told me about SeboTek and then he ordered the first set he had ever seen. When he put them into my ears, it was really impressive.
HH/Beck: What did you notice? Can you recall your initial thoughts?
Wastler: All of the difficulties I previously had with the sound of my own voice sounding like I was in a barrel were immediately gone. I used the SeboTek hearing aids for a couple of weeks. The professional adjusted them with his computer to conform to my particular needs, and we got them adjusted very well. Now it's to the point where I can eat celery without jumping up in the air, walk in the wind, or sit in our living room and listen to television at the same volume my wife finds comfortable.
HH/Beck: I'm glad you're doing so well.
Wastler: I am elated, absolutely delighted, and would encourage anybody to try these. I travel a lot and have shown these hearing aids to people all the way from Minnesota to the Atlantic seaboard and points north and south in the short time that I've had them. I've passed the SeboTek name to a lot of people who are now trying to find them in their local communities.
HH/Beck: Can your wife tell the difference when you're wearing them?
Wastler: Absolutely. She can turn down the volume on the TV, and even our own conversational voices are not as loud as they were before. There's one more thing that needs to be said.
HH/Beck: And that is?
Wastler: I put these things in every morning when I finish showering and I wear them all day long. I can tell anybody with total sincerity and honesty, that after some 10 to 30 seconds after I have them on, I have completely forgotten that I am wearing hearing aids. I have no awareness of them being there at all -- other than I'm hearing as I did 50, 60, 70 years ago.
HH/Beck: Can I ask how old you are?
Wastler: I'm 77 years old.
HH/Beck: Well it really is a joy to speak with you, and truly an honor to get to know you a little. Thanks for your time, and thanks for sharing your thoughts on the SeboTek PAC.
Wastler: It has been my pleasure.
Click here to visit the Sebotek website.
