Interview with William F. Carver Ph.D., Audiologist, St. Louis, Missouri

Beck: Good Morning Bill. Thanks for your time.

Carver: Hi Doug. Nice to be with you again.

Beck: Would you please tell me a little about your education and your professional career?

Carver: Sure, Doug. As you may recall from your years in Saint Louis, I attended the University of Southern California and earned my Ph.D. there in 1960.

Beck: Please tell me a little about your recent experience as a hearing aid patient?

Carver: Well, thats a long story, but Ill give you the brief version!

I knew I needed hearing aids, and like many other people with presbycusis and noise induced high frequency hearing loss -- I ignored the hearing loss for a long time! Of course, that didnt work, so I eventually tried a few different hearing aid products.

The first thing I tried was a disposable product and that was just awful. After that, I tried expensive custom made ITEs. They were OK, but not great. We adjusted the vents and the programs, but my voice sounded terrible. I couldnt tell how loud I was speaking and they were not good in noise. So I was the typical patient, with all the typical complaints! It was frustrating.

Beck: So what did you do?

Carver: At the American Academy of Audiology conference in 2004, I saw an old friend of mine, and I walked into the SeboTek booth. As we were catching up a little, I complained about the hearing aids I was wearing. I told him my hearing aid experiences and he suggested I try the SeboTek Post-Auricular-Canal (PAC) hearing aids, which I did. He adjusted the hearing aids and placed them in my ears -- and I was blown away. The noisy sounds of the convention center dropped significantly, and yet I was able to converse normally, and my voice was fine, no occlusion! I was really surprised at how good they were. It was mind boggling.

Beck: Thats fantastic. How was the overall sound quality?

Carver: It was the best hearing aid sound quality I had ever heard. The other fellows voice was fine, and my voice was fine. Just fantastic.

Beck: Bill, any advice for the young clinicians out there?

Carver: Listen to your patients! If you listen carefully, you can obtain all the information youll need to work with each of them successfully.

Beck: Thanks Bill. Its been great catching up with you.

Carver: Thank you too, Doug.