NuSound Hearing Center
HEAR HERE
By KATHY WEBBER Photos by JOHN BURNS
Over 30 million Americans suffer from some sort of hearing loss. Most people live with this loss of hearing for seven years before doing anything about it. This is mostly because health insurance usually does not cover the cost of a hearing device and they can be very expensive. Historically, hearing aid businesses operated with the primary goal of selling devices to help people hear better but not dealing with the other problems that come with hearing loss. Belinda Gonzales-Allan, hearing instrument specialist and owner of NuSound Hearing Center, is committed to easing the anxiety associated with hearing loss by providing service that focuses on the whole person, not just their ears. Gonzales-Allan didn’t set out with the career goal of being a hearing instrument specialist. In fact, she didn’t even know what that was until she attended a Baby Boomer Expo while working as a sales executive for Country Legends 106.9. During the event, Gonzales-Allan was tasked with assisting the businesses that had reserved booths at the expo. Out of the blue, a local businessman approached her and asked if she would be interested in joining his team and learning the trade of assisting those in need of hearing devices.
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Intrigued by the idea, Gonzales-Allan accepted his invitation, thus launching her on a career path she never expected. With the help of mentors in the hearing device industry, Gonzales-Allan earned a state license to be a Hearing Instrument Specialist. After working several years for someone else, Gonzales-Allan decided in 2011 it was time to start her own business and opened NuSound Hearing Center located at 5950 SW 28th St. “I had a real yearning to do it differently,” Gonzales-Allan said. “I believe no matter how much money you put into a hearing device, it can only be of help to you if you have the correct follow up care.” FAMILY MATTERS NuSound Hearing Center is a family-owned business and Gonzales-Allan considers each of her patients as family themselves. “That’s what makes us different, we like to be involved with the families,” Gonzales-Allan said. “That small device that we are putting in their ear, that they wrote a check for, or saved up so long for, is helping connect them to their spouse and to their kids and to the cashier at McDonald’s. It
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