East Meadow Audiologist Gives Hearing Aid Care Overdue Upgrade

EAST MEADOW, N.Y. – Audiologist Aviva Tilson is on a mission to transform how people get screened and fitted for hearing aids.

“It’s impossible to look at a patient and assume a certain brand will work for them; hearing aid fittings have been brand-specific for decades,” said Tilson, who founded the New York City-based practice I Love Hearing. “By offering nearly every hearing aid brand at our practice, we can find the perfect fit for every patient.”

I Love Hearing is celebrating a milestone: the group recently opened its fifth practice, in East Meadow, N.Y. The fourth location in Long Island, Tilson said the location was chosen for its ease of access directly off the Meadowbrook State Parkway and its proximity to many people in need of attentive and innovative hearing aid care, including the Bristal Assisted Living Facility.

“We want to be convenient to the people we can help,” Tilson said.

At I Love Hearing, Tilson leverages extensive experience working on both sides of the aisle, starting out as a clinical audiologist before being asked by hearing aid manufacturer Miracle Ear to run their customer service department. After five years working directly with hearing aid customers, she decided to use her unique perspective to form the basis of I Love Hearing’s patient-first approach.

“I didn’t want to just return to audiology – I wanted to change how we’ve been selling hearing aids for the past 70 years,” Tilson said. “Opening I Love Hearing was the best way to incorporate all my aspects.”

At the core of I Love Hearing’s model is its flexibility in manufacturer choice. According to Tilson, the hearing aid industry is brand-centric, often with the manufacturers running their own hearing aid clinics and offering patients no choice outside their brands. To Tilson, this does patients a tremendous disservice. Just like choosing between Apple and Android, there are many quality models on the market, and user preference is a significant factor in that decision-making process.

“A model that works incredibly well for one person may not work on someone else, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad hearing aid—it simply means it’s not the best match,” Tilson said. “It’s very important to keep this in mind when reading reviews from other patients or hearing other people’s experiences.”

To offer this experience to her patients, Tilson developed a proprietary process which measures hearing, then charts the results, and finally matches a patient with a make and model that’s best suited for improving that individual’s hearing. The practice includes nearly every brand, including Widex, Starkey, Oticon, Siemens, Signia, and ReSound, and services nearly every hearing aid brand on the market for those patients in need of hearing aid repair. The I Love Hearing staff also attends quarterly training with each brand to ensure they are up to date on the latest software and programming.

“As soon as new patients walk into our office, they feel they can trust us because we are not selling them anything—we will not offer something to a patient that won’t help them,” Tilson said.

The I Love Hearing patient experience involves a patient taking home their hearing aids for a trial period before making a commitment to that make or model. This allows patients to fully experience everyday life, from TV watching to everyday conversation, in their new hearing aids.

“Our job is to educate our patients so they can make the best decision for themselves,” Tilson said. “When patients are not educated on hearing loss, the causes of hearing loss, and how hearing aids work, they cannot make thorough, sound decisions.”

To that end, Tilson and I Love Hearing partner with companies and the community to help educate the public on proper hearing aid use and care. The practice regularly partners with Apple to teach customers how to connect their iPhones, iPads, and other Apple devices to their hearing aids.

“Selecting the right model— and learning how to use that model correctly—has to be an education-based decision,” Tilson said about the education partnerships. “We strive every day to put the power back in the patient’s hands, and we are proud to do so by offering them quite literally every hearing aid option out there.”

I Love Hearing offers hearing aid fitting, service, verification, and repairs for all makes and models, regardless of where the device was purchased. I Love Hearing’s newest location is located at 30 Merrick Ave., Suite 109, East Meadow, N.Y. Hours are by appointment. The practice operates four other offices: one in Manhattan and three additional locations on Long Island: Great Neck, New Hyde Park, and Port Washington. For more information and to schedule an appointment visit https://www.ilovehearing.com/.