What is an Audiologist?
An Audiologist is a professional who specializes in evaluating and treating patients with hearing and balance disorders.
Audiologists have completed a minimum of a Masters Degree and more commonly have completed an Au.D., Doctor of Audiology Degree.
Why should I see an Audiologist?
- Audiologists are specially trained in the prevention, identification, assessment and non-medical treatment of hearing disorders.
- Audiologists are required to complete a full-time internship and pass a demanding national competency examination.
- Audiologists are certified and licensed by the Texas State Board of Examiners.
- Audiologists are required by the state of Texas and Audiology governing organizations to maintain annual continuing education for the length of their career.
- By virtue of their graduate education and licensure, audiologists are the most qualified professionals to perform hearing tests and provide hearing rehabilitative services.
Who do they work with?
- They examine individuals of all ages and identify those with the symptoms of hearing loss and other auditory, balance, and related sensory and neural problems.
- Some audiologists specialize in work with the elderly, children, or hearing-impaired individuals who need special treatment programs.
Hearing Aid Information
For Hearing Aid Information please call (956) 727-3801
Types of Hearing Aids
Hearing aid styles may be broadly classified as “standard” and “custom.” Standard hearing aids include behind-the-ear (BTE), mini-BTE, and receiver-in-the-canal (RIC) devices. These products are designed to fit most ears and usually require some customization of the earpiece and the connection of the device to the earpiece. Custom hearing aids include in-the-ear (ITE), in-the-canal (ITC), and completely-in-the-canal (CIC). These products require a custom-molded shell that houses the electronics. Standard and custom hearing aids come in a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes.
The choice of hearing aid styles and features is based on several factors including the exact type and degree of hearing loss, your individual needs (such as communication requirements, lifestyle, and manual dexterity), and your medical and audiological history and related findings.
Do I wear one or two hearing aids?
If both ears need amplification, your audiologist will recommend two hearing aids. Research has shown that two hearing aids provide superior benefits for the majority of people with regard to better word recognition in quiet and noisy backgrounds, better quality of sound, better localization ability, more natural hearing. Research has also shown that when both ears are candidates for hearing aids and only one ear is fitted, the unaided ear may lose speech recognition ability more rapidly than the fitted ear.
What about maintenance and insurance?
Your audiologist will review with you the details of your insurance coverage (if available), financing options, loss, theft and damage insurance, warranty, service protocols, maintenance advice, as well as introductory periods and return policies.
As with all electronics, hearing aids require care and maintenance. This includes handling them carefully, not exposing the hearing aids to water and chemicals, and keeping them very clean. Your audiologist will discuss and demonstrate proper daily care as well as maintenance techniques and maintenance products. The hearing aid user’s manual will review many of these same points. Given the hostile conditions (temperature extremes, high levels of humidity, ear wax, etc.) under which hearing aids operate, daily cleaning and maintenance is recommended. Proper care and maintenance clearly reduces the need for repair.
Expectations and Outcomes
Even with the best technology, it is important to maintain realistic expectations. While hearing aids make sounds easier to hear, they will not restore normal hearing. Hearing aids re-introduce you to a world of sound, and it takes time to become accustomed to the new sounds. Some people adjust quickly, others take longer. Your audiologist will discuss auditory training programs, communication strategies, and hearing assistive technologies to alleviate difficulties in these situations.
Untreated hearing loss impairs memory and may cause difficulty related to learning new tasks. Untreated hearing loss may result in decreased job performance and has been shown to negatively impact wages and earnings. Hearing loss treated with hearing aids has been shown to decrease fatigue, irritability, risk to personal safety, and withdrawal from social situations. Further, in many research studies, hearing aid use has been shown to increase the wearer’s quality of life.
Educational information obtained from: howsyourhearing.org
Please call our office at 956-727-3801 to schedule an appointment to discuss your options with one of our licensed hearing healthcare professionals.
Financing
We are convinced that no one can place a dollar amount on the ability to hear again. At Oliveira Audiology & Hearing Center, PLLC, we realize that when you want to understand and hear again, the last thing you want in your way is a dollar sign.
Oliveira Audiology & Hearing Center is pleased to offer a variety of payment options through CareCredit for a variety of budgets. From 0% interest plans to extended payment plans, our goal is to offer a solution that will help you easily integrate your treatment into your budget. Consider it an investment in your lifelong happiness and comfort. Discover which financing option is best for you!
CareCredit Financing
Offered by a stable and experienced company, the CareCredit card program offers a comprehensive range of affordable payment plan for the purchase of hearing aids. Contact us at (956) 727-3801 for a paper application or visit www.carecredit.com for more information and to apply online.
Health Insurance Plans
The first step for financial assistance for hearing aids is to check with your health insurance provider to see if there is hearing aid coverage. Some insurances may offer hearing aid benefits. If you’re unsure about your hearing care insurance benefits, contact your insurance provider, employer or state healthcare agency with specific questions.
Report Abuse
Texas State law requires any individual dispensing hearing aids to the pediatric or adult population to have a valid state license. Audiologists and hearing aid dispensers should hold a valid state license. A technician cannot dispense hearing aids in Texas.
Be Informed
You have the right to ask to see an individual’s state license, diploma, or any other criteria that show that they are qualified to fit and dispense hearing aids.
What can I do about abuse?
If you know of someone, or if you feel that you or your loved one has been treated poorly, report the individual(s) to their respective organization.
You Have the Right to Good Hearing Healthcare
State Committee of Examiners of Fitting & Dispensing of Hearing Aids
Texas Department of State Health Services
Mail Code 1982
P.O. Box 149347
Austin, Texas 78714-9347
Fax: (512) 834-6677
Phone: (512) 834-6784
E-mail: fdhi@dshs.state.tx.us
Website: http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/fitters/default.shtm
Texas State Medical Board
P.O. Box 2018
Austin, TX 78768-2018
Customer Service Phone: (800) 248-4062
Customer Service E-mail: verifcic@tmb.state.tx.us
Website: http://www.tmb.state.tx.us/
State Board of Examiners of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology
Texas Department of State Health Services
Mail Code 1982
P.O. Box 149347
Austin , Texas 78714-9347
(512) 834-6627 (phone)
(512) 834-6677 (fax)
E-mail: speech@dshs.state.tx.us
Website: http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/speech/
Privacy Policy
Your privacy on the Internet is of the utmost importance to us. At Oliveira Audiology & Hearing Center, we want to make your experience online satisfying and safe. Because we gather certain types of information about our users, we feel you should fully understand our policy and the terms and conditions surrounding the capture and use of that information. The information you provide is safeguarded. This Privacy Policy discloses what information we gather and how we use it. It applies to information we collect on this Website, including through electronic messages between you and the Website (for example, when you submit a message using our “Customer Service/Feedback” form or when you complete the “Request an Appointment” form). It does not apply to information collected by us offline or through other means, or to information collected by third parties, including through any application or content that may link to or be accessible from this Website. By accessing or using this Website, you agree to this Privacy Policy. Please review it carefully.
Information Oliveira Hearing Aid Center gathers and tracks
We gather two types of information about users:
- Information that users provide through optional, voluntary submissions. This information may include personal information, such as your name, phone number, email address, state and zip code. We collect this information to respond to requests from users, customize our features for individual visitors who are Oliveira Audiology & Hearing Center customers and to notify customers about updates to our site and products or services.
- Information that we collect automatically as you navigate the Website. This information may include usage details, IP addresses and information collected through tracking technologies such as cookies and web beacons. Information Oliveira Audiology & Hearing Center gathers through aggregated tracking is used to determine which areas of our sites users like and don’t like based on traffic to those areas. We do not track what individual users read, but rather how well each page performs overall. We collect this information in order to determine how to create the best experience for our customers. We may track search terms entered in our Search function as one of many measures of what interests our users, but this tracking is never associated with an individual user.
Policy amendment
Oliveira Audiology & Hearing Center approaches Internet communications with a strong commitment to individual privacy rights and concerns. As the Internet evolves, our policy will continue to change and develop. We therefore reserve the right to amend this Privacy Policy at any time with or without prior notice. Please check this page periodically for changes. Your continued use of the sites following any changes to this Privacy Policy will constitute your acceptance of such changes.
Use of personal information
Oliveira Audiology & Hearing Center strictly protects the security of your personal information and honors your choices for its intended use. We disclose your information to no third parties unless it is specifically stated otherwise. We may use third party contractors to help us operate our business and the sites or administer activities on our behalf, and may share your personal information with these contractors for those limited purposes. We use your information solely to fulfill services, transact a purchase, and help us improve our Website and product offerings to you. Notwithstanding any other provision to the contrary, Oliveira Audiology & Hearing Center reserves the right to cooperate with local, state and federal officials in any investigation relating to any purported illegal activity(ies) and, when required by law, regulation, legal process or government requests, to disclose any personal information furnished by you or collected by Oliveira Audiology & Hearing Center to law enforcement authorities or other relevant or related third parties.
Some of the features on this Website allow you to communicate with us using an online form. If your communication requests a response from us, we may send you a response via e-mail. The e-mail response or confirmation may include your personal information, including your name, address, etc. We cannot guarantee that our e-mails to you will be secure from unauthorized interception.
Accessing and correcting your information
You may contact us if you wish to view, edit, or delete your personal information from our database, and we will use commercially reasonable efforts to accommodate your request. You may also contact us if you believe that any inaccurate or inappropriate information has been obtained or provided to others through your use of this Website.
Your California privacy rights
California Civil Code § 1798.83 permits our visitors who are California residents to request certain information regarding our disclosure of personal information to third-parties for their direct marketing purposes. To make such a request, please contact us and indicate whether you are a California resident.
California law requires us to let you know how we respond to web browser “Do Not Track” signals. Our Website does not currently support “Do Not Track” codes. That is, Oliveira Hearing Aid Center does not currently respond to or take any action with regard to “Do Not Track” requests.
Users outside of the U.S.
Your information may be stored and processed in the United States or any other country in which Oliveira Audiology & Hearing Center or its affiliates, subsidiaries or agents maintain facilities. Your information may be processed in countries with different data protection standards than your country of residence. By using this site and providing Oliveira Hearing Aid Center with your personal information, you agree that you have read this policy and consent to any transfer, processing or storing of your information outside of your country of residence.
Children
Consistent with the Federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA), we will never knowingly request personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13 without requesting parental consent.
Cookies and other automatic data collection technologies
As you navigate through and interact with our Website, we may use automatic data collection technologies to collect certain information about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns, including:
- Details of your visits to our Website, including traffic data, location data, logs and other communication data and the resources that you access and use on the Website.
- Information about your computer and internet connection, including your IP address, operating system and browser type.
- The Website may use “cookies” and other technologies such as pixel tags and web beacons.
We may place a text file called a “cookie” in the browser files of your computer. Oliveira Audiology & Hearing Center uses cookies to track user traffic patterns (as described above). You can refuse cookies by turning them off in your browser. If you’ve set your browser to warn you before accepting cookies, you will receive the warning message with each cookie. You do not need to have cookies turned on to use this site; however, it will help you to participate more actively in some features.
Our Website permits you to use a third party social networking platform such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. This includes use of social media plugins such as Facebook “Like”, Tweet and Google “+1” buttons, etc. When you use social networking platforms and plugins, you share your information with them and their privacy policy applies to disclosure of such information. In addition, these social networking platforms may collect information about you, including your use of the Website. Such services may allow your activity to be monitored across multiple websites for purposes of delivering more targeted advertising. Please note that their own privacy polices apply and we encourage you to read them. We may add new social networking plugins and buttons to our Websites from time to time.
Links to other Websites and services
The Oliveira Audiology & Hearing Center Websites may contain links to other sites that are not under our control. These Websites have their own policies regarding privacy. You should review those policies when visiting the Websites. Oliveira Audiology & Hearing Center has no responsibility for linked Websites and is not responsible for the content of any such site. Oliveira Audiology & Hearing Center provides these links solely for the convenience and information of our visitors.
Security
Oliveira Audiology & Hearing Center operates secure data networks protected by industry standard firewall and password protection systems. Our security and privacy policies are periodically reviewed and enhanced as necessary and only authorized individuals have access to the information provided by our customers. Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information transmitted to our Website. Any transmission of personal information is at your own risk.
Entire Agreement
The Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy constitute the sole and entire agreement between you and Oliveira Audiology & Hearing Center with respect to the Website and supersede all prior and contemporaneous understandings, agreements, representations and warranties, both written and oral, with respect to the Website.
Contact us
If you have questions about the Terms of Use, Privacy Policy or your experience with any of our sites, please contact us.