Twins, Kim Waldner and Robin Jarrett, noticed hearing loss was an issue at around the same time, and now they both wear Earlens®, the world’s first and only nonsurgical hearing solution that uses a custom contact lens to directly vibrate the eardrum.
For twins Kim Waldner and Robin Jarrett, it’s not surprising they have a lot in common: they got married two months apart, they each live on a lake, they seem to buy the same clothes though living in different towns, and while working for separate schools, they noticed hearing loss was an issue.
Now at age 63, they also both wear Earlens®, the world’s first and only nonsurgical hearing solution that uses a custom contact lens to directly vibrate the eardrum. Earlens delivers more complete sound than any acoustic hearing aid and has a bandwidth that is associated with more natural sound quality and better hearing in noise. Both say Earlens has given them “incredible hearing.”
“It will be one year in June since I got Earlens,” says Robin. “I have been wearing a hearing aid since 2005 and was not hearing certain voice ranges. My ability to enjoy the company of others was growing worse. In fact, I got to the point that I stopped listening to music because it sounded like an old transistor radio. The day Earlens was placed in my ears I nearly cried because I could now hear a full range of sound, not just bits and pieces of music. My Earlens is the most amazing product – it changed my life!”
It was Kim who got Earlens first. She convinced Robin to try it.
“My husband Galen and I are longtime friends with Bob Froke, an audiologist at Midwest ENT & Allergy,” says Kim. “Like Robin, I had a hearing aid and Bob always kept me up-to-date on their latest technology. In fact, he couldn’t stop talking about the results his clinic was seeing with Earlens patients. I told my sister about it, and she was intrigued.”
Kim says it was during the Pandemic when she had made her decision to get Earlens and eventually saw Dr. Scott, Hearing Center Director at Midwest ENT & Allergy.
“My new Earlens has “brought back friends and family,” she says. “Unless you have experienced hearing loss, you don’t realize how the condition separates you from others. I got tired of asking people, ‘What did you say?’ I can now hear groups of people and my grandkids. Sounds are richer. My Earlens was one of the best decisions I have ever made.”
Kim and Robin have been pleased with everything about their Earlens, including the care they have received after getting their new hearing aids.
“The staff at Midwest ENT & Allergy continue to go out of their way to provide patient support making sure everything is right for both my sister and me,” adds Kim.
Earlens is the only nonsurgical solution that combines the care of an ENT physician and an audiologist. “Earlens offers the highest level of hearing care, providing meaningful amplification from 125 Hz all the way to 10 kHz. In comparison, open-fit conventional hearing aids have trouble amplifying outside of 750 Hz to 5.5 kHz,” says Dr. Scott. Research has shown that those lower and higher frequencies impact sound quality and speech understanding, especially in noisy environments.
Earlens was awarded #3 in Time Magazine’s list of “Top 100 inventions in 2020!” Simply put, rather than turning up the sound, Earlens re-creates the effect of sound waves, providing crystal clear sound for the patient. Earlens is available exclusively in South Dakota through Midwest ENT & Allergy. Call to see if Earlens is right for you!
By Virginia Olson - Sioux Falls Woman Magazine