California Hearing Center & Audiology Services

Dr. Darcy Benson, audiologist & practice owner, brings a dedication to the field of hearing care that stretches far beyond her clinic. With over 30 years of experience, her focus is on providing patient-centered care and in improving her patients' lives through better hearing.  In 2018, she was awarded the Inspired-by-Ida label, a benchmark of of quality of care, by the international non-profit organization, Ida Institute.

Prior to private practice, Dr. Benson was the director of audiology at the California Ear Institute at Stanford and carried out clinical research at ReSound Corporation, a hearing device start up manufacturer in Redwood City, CA.  She received her clinical doctorate in Audiology in 2006.

Dr. Benson is active in the field of audiology and is a consultant for a variety of companies carrying out research on new technology and fitting systems.  As  a former member of the board of directors of the California Academy of Audiology, she helped advocate for the needs of the deaf and hard of hearing.  Her work has been published in professional journals and audiology textbooks.

Lais Ama, hearing instrument specialist, brings to the practice 17 years of experience in providing hearing healthcare from her native country of Brazil. There she received a bachelor's degree in audiology and studied under a well-known otologist at the Pontifica Universidade Catholica.  She  worked at the University of Sao Paolo with another world-renowned otologist .  She also completed an internship at the University of Bordeaux, France, and there she was involved with clinical audiology services, hearing aids and vestibular rehabilitation.  After moving to the U.S. she worked for many years in Palo Alto at a large medical clinical providing hearing services to children and adults.

Dr. Street is dedicated to providing quality of life improvements through evidence-based practice. She believes that hearing and listening are key to communication and our ability to form and maintain meaningful relationships with our friends and family – a belief that can be traced back to her father who developed hearing loss following his retirement from the military. In addition to audiology, Dr. Street has a background in applied linguistics and second language pedagogy. 

Dr. Street is also a visiting professor and clinical supervisor at the University of the Pacific in San Francisco.

Senior staff audiologist, Dr. Ramsay Poindexter, has had an interest in hearing for many years. Growing up with a deaf grandmother inspired her to help people with hearing loss to get the most out of life. Before joining the staff at California Hearing Center, she worked at the University of California in San Francisco where she provided hearing and vestibular diagnostics, tinnitus evaluation & rehabilitation, as well as fitting hearing devices to pediatric and adult populations. Dr. Poindexter also has specialty training in intra-operative monitoring with a variety of surgical specialties.  She currently serves on the board of the American Academy of Audiology.  For the past 10 years she has specialized as a dispensing and rehabilitative audiologist at the California Hearing Center.