Auracast and the Future of Hearing Care: What I’d Do If I Still Owned a Practice

What should hearing care professionals know about Auracast, Bluetooth LE Audio, and the future of hearing aid connectivity?

In this episode of the Hearing Matters Podcast, Blaise Delfino, M.S.-HIS puts his former private practice owner hat back on and explores how he would approach Auracast if he were still seeing patients every day. From the early days of Bluetooth hearing aids in 2015, 2016, and 2017 to today’s rapidly evolving world of connected hearing technology, this episode breaks down why Auracast is more than a buzzword. It is an opportunity for audiologists, hearing instrument specialists, private practice owners, and hearing healthcare teams to educate patients, differentiate their practice, and improve access to sound in real-world listening environments.

Blaise discusses how hearing aids have evolved from single-purpose devices into multipurpose communication tools that support phone calls, media streaming, public audio access, and better connection in everyday life. He also explains why Auracast should not be positioned as a replacement for hearing aids, but rather as a powerful access layer that can work alongside professionally fit hearing technology to reduce listening effort in places like houses of worship, theaters, airports, conference rooms, senior centers, community events, and other challenging acoustic environments.

This episode also offers a practical playbook for hearing care practices, including how to create in-office Auracast demonstrations, host “Listen and Learn” patient events, train front office teams on clear patient-friendly language, use Auracast in ethical technology upgrade conversations, and build community outreach with local venues that want to improve hearing accessibility.

If you are an audiologist, hearing instrument specialist, hearing aid provider, private practice owner, patient care coordinator, or hearing healthcare leader, this episode will help you think strategically about Auracast, Bluetooth hearing aids, assistive listening technology, speech-in-noise challenges, listening fatigue, and the future of patient-centered hearing care.

Because hearing healthcare is not just about making sound louder. It is about helping people stay connected, confident, and fully present in the moments that matter.

Omega AI hearing aids don’t just keep up. They redefine what it means to be modern and discreet yet durable and comfortable for all-day wear.

They’re waterproof, everyday-proof, and designed to go the distance of your day and then some. All while tailored to your unique hearing needs.

Connect with the Hearing Matters Podcast Team

Email: hearingmatterspodcast@gmail.com

Instagram: @hearing_matters_podcast

Facebook: Hearing Matters Podcast

Transcript

Welcome And Why Auracast Matters

Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - HIS 0:06

Welcome back to the Hearing Matters Podcast, where we explore hearing technology, communication science, and the people and ideas shaping the future of hearing health care and hearing loss around the world. Before we kick things off, a special thank you to our partners. Care Credit. Here today to help more people here tomorrow. Inventis. Inventis is innovation. Blueprint Solutions. Clinic management made easy for hearing care professionals. Now with Blueprint AI. And Fader plugs, the world's first custom adjustable earplug. Welcome back to another episode of the Hearing Matters Podcast. I'm your founder and host, Blaise Delfino. And as a friendly reminder, this podcast is separate from my work at Starkey. Now, let's get into the conversation. Welcome back to the Hearing Matters Podcast. I'm Blaise Delfino. And as always, thank you, thank you, thank you for joining us as we continue to not only raise awareness of hearing healthcare, but discuss hearing technology, best practices, hearing loss, tinnitus, communication, and the real-world impact that better hearing has on our lives, our relationships, and our communities. So thank you again for tuning in and being a part of this incredible community. Today's episode is going to be a little bit different, but over the last few episodes, we've been talking a lot about Auracast. And rightfully so. I mean, this is groundbreaking technology as it relates not only to hearing aid users, but connectivity in totality. We've talked about what it is. We had Mikey Schaefer on the Hearing Matters podcast, who is the VP of sales at Listen Technologies. We've talked about Bluetooth LE Audio. We've talked about the one-to-many audio experience. And we've discussed how Auracast can support hearing aid users, cochlear implant users, people using Auracast compatible earbuds, and really anyone who has ever struggled to hear clearly in a noisy public space. But today I'm going to put on a different hat. And I want to go back in time a little bit. Because before I was in the role that I'm in today, before some of the work I'm doing now in professional relations, advocacy, content, education, I was in private practice. I co-owned a private practice. It was family-owned. My mother and father are still running it. And for those of you who are new to this community, I am genetically predisposed to hearing health care. So when I was in private practice, I was seeing patients every single day. I was counseling patients, I was fitting hearing aids, and I was troubleshooting Bluetooth. Every single day, I was walking people through new technology, not from a theoretical standpoint, but really from the perspective of how is this going to help you hear your spouse at dinner? How is this going to help you take a phone call? How is this going to help you connect to your family, your church, our community, your hobbies in your life? So today's episode is this. If I were still in private practice, this is how I would be looking at Auracast, not as a buzzword, not as a shiny object, and really definitely not as another feature. I know here in care professionals, we love the bells and whistles, but I wouldn't be looking at this as another feature to just throw on a brochure. But this is an opportunity. It's an opportunity to educate our patients, differentiate your practice, create better conversations, and really help your community understand that hearing aids are not just devices that make things louder. Hearing aids today, they're really part of the larger ecosystem of communication, connectivity, confidence, and just overall quality of life. And I really want to say this early in this episode because I really do think it matters. We're not selling noise here. We're selling connectivity, access, confidence, and the ability for someone to walk into a place of worship, a theater, an airport, a restaurant, and feel less disconnected from the world around them. That's a big deal. And if you're a hearing care professional listening to this episode, I want you to hear this loud and clear. You don't have to wait until every public venue in your town installs Auracast before you even start talking about it. You really don't have to wait until every patient asks about it before you begin educating. And please do not wait until it becomes mainstream before you become fluent in the technology. The practices that are going to educate early, the practices that are going to demonstrate clearly and really counsel their patients confidently are going to be the practices that patients trust when this technology becomes part of everyday life.

What Bluetooth Taught Us About Adoption

Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - HIS 5:40

Now, I want to go back for a second. When I think about the evolution of connectivity and hearing healthcare, I think back to around 2015, 2016, 2017-ish. Bluetooth was not brand new to the world. It had already been in our phones, headsets, computers. But in the hearing aid market, Bluetooth and direct connectivity, they were becoming more visible and practical and really more relevant to everyday patient care. And I remember when I started seeing patients full-time in 2017, Bluetooth was like one of those features that created a wide range of reactions, which is what I think Auracast is going to do. Some patients were excited immediately. They'd say, like, wait, I can, you know, take phone calls through my hearing aids, I can listen to music, I can stream audio, I can hear the person on the other end of the phone call and both ears. And for all of those questions, I would answer yes. For some patients, that was the moment. Like that was the hook. That was when hearing aids stopped really feeling like this thing that they had to wear because they had hearing loss and started feeling like technology that could actually improve their day. But other patients were hesitant. And I think every hearing care professional listening knows exactly what I'm talking about. You would explain Bluetooth, and the patient would say something like, That sounds neat, but I don't really need that. Or my flip phone works just fine. And I want to be clear here that hesitancy was not always an age thing. We love to turn technology adoption into this generational conversation, but that is not always accurate. Yes, there are absolutely early adopters and there are laggards, and there are people who get excited about every new piece of technology, myself included. And there are people who want nothing to do with it until it is unavoidable. But I really don't think the early Bluetooth hesitation in our industry in hearing healthcare was about age. I think it really was about identity. And at that time, a lot of patients did not yet see hearing aids as multipurpose devices. They saw hearing aids as hearing aids, and they really saw them as devices that just helped with volume and clarity and in noisy situations. And that is incredibly important, but they didn't necessarily see them as communication technology, this lifestyle technology, wellness technology, or even just connectivity technology. And in some cases, I don't think the market had fully made that shift either. I know that's a bold statement, but we were still moving from the idea of the hearing aid as a single purpose device to the hearing aid as a multi-purpose device, which I know president and CEO of Starky, Brandon Sawalic, says a lot. How, especially with their Olivia line, they took the hearing aid from a single purpose device to a multi-purpose device, which is pretty cool to experience that and fit patients with that technology during that time. Now, that shift really does matter because when patients only see hearing aids as something that makes sounds louder, they evaluate them through this very narrow lens. So they'll ask, well, will this help me hear better? That is the right question, of course. But when hearing aids become multi-purpose devices, the question in and of itself really does expand because the patient's asking, is this going to help me communicate better, connect with my family? Is it going to help me hear on the phone? Stay engaged in the places that I love? Like that is a much richer conversation. And that is where Auracast becomes so interesting because Bluetooth and hearing aids started for many patients as a nice to have. I mean, it was convenient, cool, useful. Patients would show it off to their friends and you know, family and restaurant settings, but it was still optional. And today, connectivity is not optional in the same way. We live in a connected world. Our phones are connected, our vehicles, our watches. Shout out to Dave Fabry because him and I compete from time to time with our Apple Watches. Our homes are connected, TVs, speed, everything today is connected. It's like everything's so connected from a technological standpoint, from a social standpoint, we are disconnected. That's a whole other episode for a whole other time. But I would love to expand on that. I mean, our calendars, our maps, texts, our doorbells are connected. And I'll be honest with you, I love technology. I love what technology can do. I love new innovation. But even I am not always the first person to, you know, run out and buy the newest version of something. Even with the iPhone, I mean, I might let it ride for two or three years before I upgrade. So I understand when the patient says, I'm interested, but I'm not ready, or I need to see this work before I care. That is exactly where the professional matters because technology adoption does not happen just because the technology exists. Technology adoption happens when people understand why it matters. And in hearing healthcare, that understanding often starts in the clinic. And it starts with how we as hearing care professionals explain it, demonstrate it, and share our excitement about it. And I am going to say the word excited because excitement matters. If you are not excited about the technology, why would your patient be excited? If you're bored about explaining it, like, yeah, it does this thing, like if you walk into a worship hall or a theater or you know, any public space, like you'll be able to connect. I mean, that's not exciting. This is groundbreaking technology here in care professionals. So if you're bored explaining it, why would your patient even see value in it? If you just, you know, if you treat it like this connectivity throwaway feature, your patient will not view it as something that could improve their life. Patients buy with emotion and then they justify with logic. Now, that does not mean we manipulate people at all. It doesn't mean that we oversell. It doesn't mean that we make promises the technology cannot keep. It simply means that we understand that hearing healthcare is deeply emotional. Hearing loss is emotional. Not hearing your grandchild, that's emotional. Faking your way through a conversation is emotional. So when we introduce technology, we can't just say this device has Bluetooth. Like that's enough. We have to connect the feature to the human experience. We have to say, this can help you hear the phone call from your daughter more clearly. You know, this can help you access sound directly in places where maybe distance, noise, and reverberation make listening exhausting. That is where Auracast has the potential to become more than a technical feature. It really becomes a bridge between the patient's

Auracast Explained In Plain English

Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - HIS 13:45

technology and their actual life. So I want to pause and define this in simple terms. Auracast broadcast audio is a Bluetooth capability that allows an audio source to broadcast audio to compatible receivers. So instead of a traditional one-to-one pairing experience, like pairing one phone to one set of hearing aids, Auracast opens up the possibility of one audio source broadcasting too many compatible listening devices. Now just think about that. One source, many listeners, and those listeners might be using compatible hearing aids, cochlear implants, earbuds, so on and so forth. That's the shift. And that's why this all matters. Because the listening challenge in public spaces is not always the patient's hearing aids are not good enough. Now, I want to say that again. The listening challenge in public spaces is not always that the patient's hearing aids are not good enough. Modern hearing aids, incredibly advanced. You're talking directional microphones, noise management, feedback cancellation, rechargeable technology. I could go on and on. Artificial intelligence and machine learning features. We have technology that would have seemed almost impossible not that long ago, but physics still matters. Distance, noise, reverberation, signal to noise ratio. All of this is bringing me back to my physics course in college. Man, that was a tough one. But I digress. You know, if a patient sitting, if a patient is sitting 40 feet away from a speaker in a reverberant room, the hearing aids are doing their absolute best with the signal they are receiving at the microphones. But what if we could bring that signal just a little closer? Like, what if the patient could receive that audio more directly? If the sermon, lecture, gate announcement, theater audio, tour guide, you know, conference presentation could be delivered in a way that reduces the impact of all of that distance and room acoustics. That is where this conversation gets incredibly exciting. And if I were still in private practice, this is exactly how I would frame it. I would not say Auracast replaces hearing aids. No, no, no, no. That's not the message. The message is simply hearing aids are foundational. Auracast is an access layer. Hearing aids help patients navigate their listening world. Auracast can help deliver important audio more directly in specific environments where distance and noise create barriers. So those two things are partners, they're not competitors here. And that language is very, very important because patients they can get confused. Consumers hear about new technology and sometimes they'll start asking, you know, does this replace hearing aids? Can I just use earbuds? Is this like an over-the-counter option? We have to be careful and clear because Auracast doesn't diagnose hearing loss. It doesn't replace real-air measurements. It does not replace properly fit hearing technology. It simply enhances access. And when paired with professionally fit prescriptive hearing aids, it can become a powerful, powerful part of the patient's real-world listening

Five Practice Moves To Start Now

Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - HIS 17:35

toolkit. And that is the professional framing. Now, if I owned a private practice today, I would do these five things immediately. First and foremost, I would become fluent in the technology myself. Second, I would make sure my team understood the language. Even front office staff, they are your first line of defense. In my opinion, they're the most important part of the team. Third is I would create an in-office demonstration. This is exciting. You actually allow your patients to have that immersive simulation, if you will. And at this point, it's not even a simulation. You're actually allowing them and displaying to them how the technology works. The fourth is I would build community education around it. Think listen and learns, lunch and learns, things of that nature. And number five is I would use Auracast as a reason to really strengthen relationships with local venues, houses of worship, senior centers, community organizations. So I want to walk through each of those. So we'll start with the first one is number one, becoming fluent. And I don't mean that every hearing care professional needs to become an engineer, even though there are favorite patients to fit. Shout out to my engineers, love y'all. You really don't need to explain every technical layer of Bluetooth LE audio to every patient, but you do need to understand the basics. What Auracast is, what it isn't, which hearing aid models are compatible, what transmitters are available, how a patient would actually access a broadcast, what role a phone or Auracast assistant may play. You definitely want to understand where the technology is today, where it's going, and what those limitations are. I would say that you need to know enough to counsel with confidence. And that's where I think some practices can get into trouble with new technology, is they get excited at a very high level, but they don't get operational ready, but they don't get operationally ready. I was there very early on in my career, but what I learned is when patients come to you, they're coming for an experience. You are the professional, be a product of the product, know the ins and outs of it. Again, I'm a tech nerd, so like I like to know how the things work. And I don't ever want to bore patients and didn't want to bore patients with minutia, but I knew enough to be dangerous. Patients can feel that. A patient asks one question and suddenly the provider is unsure. That is a sticky situation to be in. And I say that with humility because we've all been there at some point. All of this new technology comes fast. The industry changes, you have compatibility changes or complications. Maybe your software updates don't happen. Patient's phone may be old. So I understand that there are some of these roadblocks. It's not about pretending everything is simple. And I want you to hear that, but it is about doing the homework, being a product of the product. And that's one of the biggest lessons that I learned early in my career. I was previously saying if you're going to fit the technology, understand it. If you're going to ask a patient to trust you with their hearing health care, you've got to be prepared. And that really does include troubleshooting. Connectivity in this industry and the outcomes that it has for our patients, it's incredible when it works and it can be in and it can be frustrating when it doesn't. And every hearing care professional knows that feeling. So on and so forth. Patient forgot password in the app store. And now they're sitting in your office saying, like, these hearing aids don't work. But the hearing aids they do work. The connectivity ecosystem is just a little messy. So that's why fluency matters. With Auracast, the practices that are prepared that have become Products of the product will absolutely have an advantage. And it's not because they know the answer. It's not because, you know, they can calmly guide their patience. They can say, here's what it does, here's what it doesn't do. Here's, you know, how you can access it. Here is, you know, what we may want to consider when you're ready to upgrade. I mean, that last phrase matters when you are ready to upgrade because Auracast also creates a very natural, ethical, patient-centered reason to really talk about technology upgrades. It's not from a pressure standpoint, but from an education standpoint. I mean, imagine a patient who's wearing older hearing aids. They're still functioning, but they're beginning to notice some limitations. Maybe, you know, they're traveling more, going to more concerts, visiting family, going to theaters, going to worship more. If their hearing aids can't support newer connectivity features, then the conversation becomes your current devices are still helping you. The hearing technology landscape is changing. And one of the things we're watching closely is Auracast broadcast audio. So, Mrs. Smith, as more of these public spaces begin to adopt this, compatible hearing technology may give you access to those listening experiences that your current devices were not built to support. So we don't have to make a decision today, but I do want you to understand what is coming so that when we talk about your next technology step, we're thinking beyond just amplification. We're really thinking about overall access. Now, that is a completely different conversation. It's education-based, future-focused, professional. That's exactly how I would approach it. That is the framing that I implemented while in practice. You're walking with the patient, you're educating them, you're not selling them a feature, but you're really introducing them to that connectivity lifestyle. So that's how I would approach it. Number two, I would train the team on the language. This is so important. I made sure when we were running the private practice that everyone in our office knew what real air measurement was, why we implemented it, and why every patient received it. So training the team on the language, this cannot live only with the provider. So if I owned a practice today, I would want my entire team to have at least a basic understanding of Auracast. We're talking patient care coordinator, front office team, really anyone answering the phone and anyone scheduling appointments. Because the first line of patient education, it often happens before the patient ever gets into the provider's chair. A patient, I mean, you've probably already got these calls coming in. They may ask, do you know anything about orecast? Or do you offer Auracast? Or my friend said his hearing aids can connect at church. Is this something that you do? So if the front office team says, I don't know, that's absolutely a missed opportunity. Now they don't need to deliver a lecture. This is an example script that I would share with my front office staff. Could go, yes, our providers are educating patients on Auracast and the next generation of hearing aid connectivity. And we're actually helping patients understand what it means, what devices are compatible, and really how this technology may improve access in public spaces. We can schedule a time for you to discuss it and experience it. So that's simple, it's aligned. And with new technology, language matters even more. If we overhype it, we're going to create all these unrealistic expectations. If we explain it clearly, we're really empowering the patient. So I would create internal talking points, give my team short description, simple analogies. So, for example, Auracast is like a public audio broadcast that compatible devices can join, similar to how you might choose a Wi-Fi network, but for audio. So that analogy, it isn't perfect, but it's helpful. And I believe that it could help patients really understand what it does. And again, I would be careful to say it does not replace hearing aids because my fear is that we've gotten so far as it relates to reducing the stigma associated with hearing technology, that I don't necessarily want patients to think Auracast replaces hearing technology. It works with compatible technology to improve access in certain environments. And that should be a part of the practices language, really from day one. So let's go to number three. If I were still in private practice, I would create an in-office demo. Now, this is a big one. I would want patients to hear it. I don't, I don't want them to just like read about it or see a video online. I want them to experience it because once someone experiences direct audio access, I mean, that conversation changes. I remember when remote microphones were, and I still believe in remote mics, I loved demoing those in the office because that direct audio input, oh my gosh, reducing listening effort, increasing speech understanding. It was so cool to demo. Now imagine what you can do with Oracle. You have a patient comes in, their favorite band is the Beatles, and you say, All right, check this out. And you're playing their favorite song through their hearing aids, and this is a first-time hearing aid user. That's awesome. So again, I would want patients to experience it. Because again, once someone experiences that direct audio input or DAI, that conversation changes immediately. And this is really what happened with Bluetooth streaming years ago. You could explain phone streaming all day long

Demos That Make Patients Care

Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - HIS 28:15

till you were blue in the face, but until you actually demoed it in the office and the patient, you know, called their spouse at home or their son or their daughter, everything just changed. The demo creates that emotional connection. So with Auracast, I would build an in-office demo experience. You know, maybe it's the TV in the waiting room, uh demo room, maybe a smaller speaker setup, or this mock like public venue scenario. Let the patient hear the difference. That's the goal. Because when patients hear the difference, they're gonna understand the value of the technology. And this is also where I would be intentional with my current patients. Don't just use this for new patients, use it for existing patients as well. Again, because maybe, and most likely, these individuals are wearing legacy technology or older technology that is not ORCAST compatible. I would invite them into the office for a technology education event. So this is not a sales event, it's simply an education event. And I, I don't know, if I were in practice, might call it something like listen and learn the future of hearing aid connectivity. You've already built rapport with these patients and you've built trust. Don't lead with an upgrade event. No one wants to come to an upgrade. People want to learn, they want to feel informed. Maybe you invite a small group, 10 to 15 people, patients who are due for their annual follow-ups, individuals you have identified as like active in their community or even senior living advisors or directors, serve lunch, coffee, keep it very conversational, talk about Bluetooth, talk about how patients used to view Bluetooth as a nice to have, and talk about how today the connectivity is becoming central to the overall hearing experience. Then I would demonstrate or cast and I would let them listen. That's the key here. Don't just talk, please just let them listen. Because really, the moment that they experience it, it's like going to drive a new car. They're gonna start thinking of their own life. They'll say, like, could my church do this? Or man, I would love to have this in my local theater. The conversation, it's moved beyond hearing aids. You're talking about access. And that is where the practice becomes more than a place that really sells and fits hearing aids. You want to position yourself as the hearing health care provider in your community. It becomes a community resource, and that's super, super powerful. So I'm not going so deep into the minutiae of how we would actually run these events. I've just felt it strongly this week that if I were in private practice, this is what I would do, and I want to share that with our community. So, number four, if I were still in private practice, I would build community education around Auracast. Now, this might be the biggest strategic opportunity for private practices because Auracast it gives practices a reason to really re-enter the community conversation. And that's not just with patients, it's venues, churches, conference spaces, museums. The list goes on and on. It's anywhere sound access matters. And sound access pretty much matters almost everywhere, right? So if I owned a practice, I would create a simple community outreach campaign. So that would be something like is your venue hearing accessible? Like that's the question. And I'd use Auracast as a part of that conversation. Not the only part of it, but part of it, because we really have to remember that some venues may already have assistive listening systems. So they may have loops, some may have FM or infrared systems, and some may have nothing. Some may not even know what they have. So many venues they don't ignore hearing access because they don't care. It's just that you don't know what you don't know. And invisible hearing loss is easy to miss. So if someone uses a wheelchair, architectural barriers, they're visible. If someone can't hear the announcement, the barrier is often invisible. So they may just sit quietly. The patient they'll stop attending or they'll leave early. Or, and we've heard this and experienced this time and time again in practice, they may tell their spouse, like, I don't want to go anymore. And the venue, they may never know why. And that is where hearing care professionals can absolutely lead. So, what is that conversation with the local venue? It could be you may have people in your audience or community who are really struggling to hear, and they may not tell you. They most likely won't complain, but they may be disengaging. There are technologies available that can improve audio access, and Auracast is one of the most important developments to really understand. Now, that's advocacy, that's education, and that really is community impact.

Turning Auracast Into Community Access

Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - HIS 33:50

And just in general, that's good business practice. Because when your practice becomes the local expert on hearing access, people remember. People absolutely remember. You are there to help hear the message, hear the music, hear the announcements, and stay connected to the community. And that's really meaningful. And from a marketing standpoint, that educational standpoint, it is authentic. We live in the most socially connected demographic to ever exist. We see ads popping up on our phone every single hour. You know, this isn't a billboard or a gimmick, it's a service. And the same could happen with a community theater. Imagine a theater saying, we're proud to offer improved audio access thanks to our new Auracast transmitter. Your practice helped make that happen. That is the kind of community work that really does build trust. And in today's day and age, trust is the currency in healthcare. Last but not least, number five, I would make Auracast part of the patient journey. So it's not a random feature. It's really not a one-time conversation, like, hey, here's your new hearing aids, they're Auracast compatible. I'll see you at your six-month clean and check. This is what I mean. During the case history, I would ask better questions. So don't just ask, like, do you struggle to hear a noise? But where do you wish you could hear better? Do you attend church? What is their social activity level? Do you travel? These questions open the door because Auracast is not relevant in the abstract. It's relevant in context. So the patient who never leaves the house may not care about public broadcast audio, but the patient who goes to church twice a week, they might. So I would build those questions into the intake process. And then during the technology recommendation, connect the dots. Based on what you shared, you're very active in your community. You attend church, go to your grandchildren's school events. So when we talk about hearing technology, I really don't want you to only think about how you're hearing in this office because this is a controlled acoustic environment. I really want you to think about environments you actually live in. So connectivity, it's becoming more important, and technologies like Auracast may play a role in public listening access moving forward. That is why compatibility matters. Now, to my hearing care professionals, that's not selling, that's counseling. That is professional guidance. I've personally seen it in my own healthcare, unfortunately, and I've made sure that I've found great doctors and healthcare providers. It can often be stale or distant in healthcare. Like the cool thing about hearing healthcare is that you build this relationship with patients. It's very beautiful and awesome. Why I love our industry. What I just shared, that script there, and a lot of it being off the cuff, just from bringing into the conversation my private practice experience, that's education. That is professional guidance. So during the fitting, don't overwhelm them. Like you don't need to teach them everything on day one. A patient who is wearing hearing aids for the first time already has enough to process, but start to plant seeds. And this is where when you share what their journey to better hearing looks like, and you actually have a written plan for them to go home so they know what they're going to accomplish at their follow-up appointment. Have in there and include in there or cast review, you know, follow-up appointments, introduce all these features gradually.

Building Aurcast Into The Care Path

Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - HIS 37:40

And this approach, in my opinion, really just matters because patients can get overwhelmed. One of the mistakes that we sometimes make in hearing healthcare is we dump too much information too quickly. We don't have to show our patients how smart we are or how much we know about the bells and whistles. What they're most interested in is how this technology is going to enhance their overall lifestyle. So create a pathway, first 30 days, hearing aid basics, second visit, phone and app confidence, third visit, real-world listening goals, annual visit, technology updates, including ORCAS compatibility, and just overall community access. Now, this gives the practice a reason to keep educating. And it also gives a patient a reason to stay engaged with the practice. So I want to talk about the psychology of this because I think this is important. Hearing aid adoption, it's never been purely about technology. If it were, then everyone who needed hearing aids would get them immediately, but they don't. And the reason being is because stigma exists, denial exists, identity, all of that exists. And a person may know they have hearing loss and just still not be emotionally ready to wear hearing aids. So when we introduce new technology, we need to understand the psychology. In the early Bluetooth days, some patients may have thought, I don't want hearing aids, and now they're telling me to connect to my phone. Like that even sounds more complicated. But in today's day and age, for many patients, technology can actually reduce that stigma because now hearing aids are connected to social events, to technology in general. They're not only associated with a loss. As hearing care professionals, we're not just fitting hearing aids. We're really helping our patients participate and stay present and reconnect them to their friends, family, and community. Now, I want to land the plane. Let's kind of bring this home. So if you are a hearing healthcare professional that tuned in today, here's my challenge to you. Don't wait. Don't wait. Don't wait. Don't wait until every patient asks about Auracast. Don't wait until every local venue in your town has it installed. Don't wait until the technology feels old enough to be safe, right? Like we've all been there. Start learning now. Start educating, start building the language now. Start thinking about which local venues need this conversation now because this is not just about being first. It's really not. It's about being prepared. Preparation is one of the ways that we really do serve patients well. When Bluetooth first became a bigger part of hearing aids, some patients were excited and some were hesitant. Very, very cool to be in that era of hearing aid fittings. That will happen again. There are going to be the early adopters and the laggards, and there's going to be patients who say I don't need that, venues who say I don't need that. Our job, it's not to force everyone into the same box. It's education, it's guidance. And our job as hearing healthcare professionals, why patients trust us with their hearing healthcare, it's to connect the technology to the patient's life. And when we do that well, adoption becomes less about the feature and more about the outcome. So if I were still in private practice, I would be excited about Auracast. Get pumped. I mean, this is super exciting. This is another tool, another incredible tool, another amazing technological breakthrough. Thank you, Bluetooth SIG, and all of the Auracast manufacturers out there for making our jobs a little bit easier as it relates to reducing stigma and increasing adoption rate of hearing aids. Be measured but excited. And you want to be, of course, realistic but proactive. So be careful with the language, know the products, be bold in your education, train your team, create patient-facing content, reach out to community venues, remind patients that hearing aids are not simply about sound. They're about connection. We're not selling noise here. We are selling connectivity. We're selling access. We're, you know, we're selling

The Challenge And The Bigger Mission

Blaise M. Delfino, M.S. - HIS 42:29

the chance to be present in the moments that matter in life. And for the first time in decades, patients have access to hearing technology and these connected systems that can enhance not only how they hear, but how they're experiencing life. That is freaking awesome. And that is worth talking about. So to my hearing care professionals listening, learn it, demo it, teach it, bring it to your community. And most important, connect it back to the human experience because technology, it is only powerful when it helps people live more fully and be more present. And in hearing healthcare, that's always, always, always been the mission. It's always been the mission here at Hearing Matters Podcast, helping people hear better, communicate better, stay connected, and helping people hear life stories. So thank you for listening to this episode of the Hearing Matters Podcast. If this episode gave you something to think about, please share it with a colleague, a practice owner, or someone in your community who cares about hearing accessibility. Or even if you're talking to a venue, please share this, share this podcast episode with them. And if you are a hearing care professional, I would encourage you to ask one question this week. Where in my community are people struggling to hear? And how can my practice help lead that conversation? That's where this gets exciting. And that is where hearing healthcare moves beyond the clinic. And I truly believe that's where we can make a real impact. So until next time, I'm Blaze Delfino. Thanks for listening to the Hearing Matters podcast.