Ronna Fisher

Dr. Fisher has been practicing Audiology for over 25 years. She graduated with a Master of Science in Audiology in 1977 from the University of Pittsburgh. At the time of her graduation, laws prohibited audiologists from dispensing or selling hearing instruments. Most hearing healthcare practitioners found themselves working for ear doctors or hospitals performing hearing tests and referring 95% of their patients with hearing loss to a hearing aid dealer. Ronna desired a more long-term relationship with her patients facing hearing loss, so she went to work for a hearing aid dispenser, becoming somewhat of a renegade in a rapidly changing field. When the laws changed in the 1980's, granting audiologists permission to prescribe and dispense hearing instruments, Ronna moved to Chicago and established the Hearing Health Center. Today that business has grown to four thriving metropolitan and suburban practices servicing Chicago, Naperville, Oakbrook, and Highland Park and surrounding areas. It was her father's hearing loss at an early age that led Dr. Fisher to Audiology. "As his hearing got worse, my father stopped doing a lot of things and going to places he once enjoyed. He quit going to movies and plays because he couldn't understand most of what was said. Restaurants were torture - he missed the punch line of jokes and couldn't participate in most of the conversation. Places that had background noise or lots of people were possible sources of embarrassment and humiliation." "My dad's hearing loss didn't just affect him. It affected everyone around him. My mother would accuse him of not listening and not paying attention to her. His colleagues thought he was 'stuck up' when he didn't acknowledge their greetings. His children, including me, were impatient and angry at having to repeat everything all of the time. The most common phrases around our house were 'never mind,' 'forget it,' and 'it's not important.' My father missed so much of my life and it didn't have to be that way." Dr. Fisher's father died while she was in graduate school. He was 53 years old. "I never got the chance to help my father, so I've dedicated my life to making sure my patients don't miss the important moments and voices in their lives." Ronna recently went back to school to earn her doctoral degree in Audiology from the Pennsylvania College of Optometry. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Audiology, has earned the Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association, and is an active member of the Academy of Dispensing Audiologists, American Tinnitus Association, and the Illinois Academy of Audiology.