This week’s episode of the Future Ear Radio podcast features two Audiologists – Shawna Jackson and Jackie Phillips. Shawna is a Clinical Audiologist at the Callier Center in Dallas, while Jackie is an Audiologist and Product Manager of the Otoscan at Natus Medical. For this week’s discussion, we’re focusing on a fun new technology that has recently been introduced to the audiology market: 3D Ear Scanners.
This conversation ties in nicely with one of the central missions of this blog and podcast, which is to help illuminate different products and thinking that can be utilized by hearing professionals to help differentiate themselves and their services. As we continue to move forward into a future where consumers and potential patients have an increasing number of options being advertised to them to treat their hearing needs, professionals will need to find ways to stand apart from these emerging avenues of access.
As has been discussed all throughout the year on the podcast, one of the most effective ways that hearing professionals can likely succeed in standing apart is to emphasize service-based value. After this discussion and hearing how Shawna is utilizing her 3D scanner at the Callier Center on a daily basis, it’s clear to me that this technology is another potent way to help create an experience that is highly unique to a hearing professional and hard to replicate elsewhere.
As Shawna mentions toward the end, her patients are genuinely excited about getting their ears 3D scanned. It’s allowed her to take a rather mundane process of taking an impression, to something that’s genuinely exciting. It also allows the provider to accrue an archive of digital files of each ear that they scan, yielding a variety of efficiencies. Furthermore, it provides Shawna with an opportunity to share with the patient exactly what they’re looking at together and facilitate a high level of patient education in real-time.
Again, these are the types of experiences that people walk away from with a clear understanding of why they’re seeing a professional. The type of experience that people are excited to share with each other and spread the word. The clearer the value proposition of why one should see a professional, the better. That’s true today and I think that’s going to be even more true tomorrow.
-Thanks for Reading-
Dave
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Dave Kemp:
Okay. So we’re joined here today by Jackie Phillips and Dr. Shawna Jackson. Shawna, tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do.
Shawna Jackson, AuD:
Hi. I am a clinical audiologist in Texas at the Callier Center, and I also am a audiology supervisor and preceptor.
Dave Kemp:
Awesome. And Jackie?
Jackie Phillips, AuD:
Hi. Yeah. This is Jackie Phillips. I am an audiologist, but I currently work for Natus Medical. I am the national key account manager and also product manager for the Otoscan.
Dave Kemp:
Very cool. Well, I wanted to have you to on today, because as a theme of this podcast is to really highlight some of the new innovation that’s occurring within the industry. And I love to have different vendors and manufacturers from the industry that are the source of this innovation, but also to get the perspective of the professionals who are using it. And so, for today’s conversation, we’re going to really highlight 3D scanners. I think these are really interesting. I’ve seen a few, but I’ve never really had a conversation around how these look in the actual practice. And so, with Shawna being at the Callier Center and really utilizing these types of tools, I’ve just found her perspective to be fascinating, and so, I wanted to bring these two on to shine a light on how these things look.
Dave Kemp:
So, Shawna, why don’t we just start with how you’ve started to implement this, these type of 3D scanners, how you maybe even came about them. And we’ll just start to go through some of the different things that you really like them from a professional standpoint and some of the ways that they’re resonating with your patients.
Shawna Jackson, AuD:
Sure. Yeah. How we came about them, let’s start there. It was actually interesting. We do a lot of research on the academic side, not me personally. But one of our PhD students was formulating in a research project, and this was a few years ago during her PhD, and she was asking about… And her and I started discussing ideas of measuring ear canal volume and looking at the ear canal resonance outside of your traditional mic measures as well as impressions and to see is there a way that we could analyze the shapes and acoustics when it came to noise exposure in the ear canal. So it was actually an interesting idea of doing that.
Shawna Jackson, AuD:
And then, one thing led to another and we started talking about ear scanners and how those were coming available. And we started looking at all the different companies that were just starting to put out information on ear scanners. Although it wasn’t widely clinically accepted yet, I just got really interested in that. And then, of course, when working for a university, we’re always looking to keep up-to-date on technology, seeing what equipment and tools we can integrate both into student training to make sure that they’re prepared when they leave, as well as making sure that we have the best needs of the patients met.
Dave Kemp:
Yeah, that’s-
Shawna Jackson, AuD:
So then, we just eventually we decided there was an opportunity to go ahead and get one for clinical use and see how it goes, basically.
Dave Kemp:
Yeah. So, okay. So you guys identified that this could be a good solution. What was it like when you first started using it? I mean, I imagine the traditional method of using the impression material and the impression guns and so forth. What were some of your first impressions? Was there a big learning curve, trying to just understand how this feels that first month or so that you’re using it, and then, what it’s like now that you’ve become an expert in doing it.
Shawna Jackson, AuD:
Yeah. And I would say there’s definitely a learning curve just like anything we do. Any tool or resource, you have to learn how to use it properly. We went through training and just like how you learn to make your impressions otherwise, just a lot of practice on your co-workers, your staff members, your students, the ear dummies that we had laying around clinic. I mean, basically, just anything that we could scan and get an idea of, we did. So that’s really was the… But it’s something that, like regular impressions, once you do it, you just get more and more comfortable with it, although much faster, because you could do it faster and it’s less invasive, so you have more volunteers willing to practice with you as well without any seen risk or anything like that. So that’s how it started.
Jackie Phillips, AuD:
I think-
Shawna Jackson, AuD:
Go ahead.
Jackie Phillips, AuD:
I think to add to that is that it’s just like Shawna said, it’s just like your impressions. You don’t learn to get a silicone impression in one day. I mean, that’s something that you have to keep practicing on and practicing with and practice with the patients and also with the practice ears, et cetera, that comes with the product. It just takes time and practice, but once you get it, it’s just like silicone impression taking. You start learning how to do it, and it quickly just, it’s second nature to you once you… It’s a little bit of a learning curve at the beginning, but then, you start doing it so much that it seems just like taking silicon impressions. You can do it in your sleep almost. So it’s like Shawna said. It takes some time, but then you get on.
Shawna Jackson, AuD:
Yeah. But the difference is that you’re not using any material in you’re practicing. You can make 10, 20, 30 scans, and you didn’t use any resources at all, besides an alcohol wipe to clean in between.
Dave Kemp:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). Right.
Shawna Jackson, AuD:
So that’s a lot different than… I mean, of course, in a university or in any kind of a clinical setting, we’re always looking at conserving resources. So the nice thing is that you can train a lot and use very little resources.
Dave Kemp:
Yeah. That’s a good point.
Jackie Phillips, AuD:
And like Shawna said, the volunteers… When I talk to people, I ask for a volunteer for silicon and nobody raises their hands, but with the scanner, everybody lines up and wants their ear scanned. So it’s easy and it’s painless and fast.
Dave Kemp:
Well, that’s a good segue, because I was going to ask, I feel like this is the type of thing that is to Jackie’s point, it’s actually compelling. It’s exciting. And I’m curious, what has been the patient reaction to it? I mean, I can almost imagine people getting excited seeing something like this and being like, “Whoa. What are you doing? This is really neat.” And I feel like there’s an element to that that’s actually probably pretty important to what you found, Shawna, with the patient experience overall.
Shawna Jackson, AuD:
Yeah. So initially, the initial patient experience is, “Whoa. What’s this” or a kind of curiosity. And the nice thing is I can face the screen directly to the patient and, while I’m scanning their ear and while I’m doing it, they’re literally seeing a 3D model build in front of them, and that’s just a neat thing to watch. Just like video otoscopy or some other things that we can make the patient part of the experience, this is one of those items. The nice thing about it, though, is there’s no discomfort per se. You’re not… Well, you shouldn’t make too much direct contact with them, so it’s not a really obvious thing, if you will, for there to be any negative connotations associated with it.
Shawna Jackson, AuD:
And then, furthermore, the patient experience is positive. When somebody’s gone through in traditional impressions and they know what to expect, and yet, they haven’t really enjoyed the traditional impression experience. Think of your long time, they started out as kids getting impressions or maybe they have a surgical ear or just any number of things that they haven’t had a good experience. And then, you pull out this and they’re like, “Oh, yeah, I want to do that.”
Dave Kemp:
Right.
Shawna Jackson, AuD:
So it’s been a fun experience that just engages the patient, I guess, is the best word to use. It makes them a part of the… and they know exactly what’s going on. Unlike an impression that you’re doing it on the side and they have no idea like, oh, all of a sudden… I think all of us that have had impressions done know that feeling of plugging your ear up, that little bit of hesitation or “What is going on here” that happens, there’s none of that. That anxiety is really calmed down, because they’re seeing it in front of their face.
Dave Kemp:
Yeah. I mean, I think that what’s really cool about this is that, from a patient education standpoint, it allows for you to just extend your value that much more. I think this is going to become an ever increasingly more important theme. Particularly as you have all kinds of new avenues of service that become available to people, I think that it’s going to be in the professional’s best interest to really emphasize their expertise in their service. And som everything that you’re saying, Shawna, really screams to me this is a totally unique experience that you can really only get at a professional. And I think that’s important, because I’m imagining you on the screen as you’re doing this 3D scan. They’re seeing it and you’re talking to them in real time, like, “This is what we’re seeing,” and “This is what’s happening.” And you’re doing that educational piece. And I just find that to be a really interesting aspect to this whole thing that I feel like is going to become just more and more important as time goes on.
Shawna Jackson, AuD:
Yeah. Absolutely. I think the educational piece is the part that surprised me most, I guess, about doing it. When we got the scanner, we were like, “Great way to make a fast ear mold impression. Directly submit it to a manufacturer. Get the process started really fast. Reduction of material and shipping cost.” We looked at it from a financial and time perspective. But when we actually got it, I started… When people came in and let’s say they’re having a retention issue with their custom product or they insist on using a particular device that you’re advising, like your ear canal really isn’t well situated for it. It’s so great to be able to just open it up, look at that directly on the screen in front of them, turn it in different ways and be able to show them, “This is what I’m worried about,” or look at the scan and say, “This stair step canal is likely the way that it’s moving out-
Dave Kemp:
I love that.
Shawna Jackson, AuD:
… In order to correct that, let’s go ahead and add that, let’s go ahead an add that canal lock.” And even though they might not have been really excited about it before, when they see this isn’t me wanting to just add bulk to your product, this is the nature of your anatomy. Being able to walk a patient through that gives them a lot more validation that I know your concerns and I’m addressing your concerns, but this is what our limitations are. So we’ve had far less rejection of those ideas when you can really educate and walk a patient through it. And that’s what they want to happen, too, and that’s honestly an experience they can’t get on the internet or through other methods, but that a clinician needs to be able to provide to them.
Dave Kemp:
Yeah.
Jackie Phillips, AuD:
Well, I think, Shawna, what you’re saying is it sounds like it’s realistic expectation are set early on, so that when the product comes in, they open the box and they look at it, it’s not, “Oh, this is much bigger than I thought it was going to be.” They can go back to what your comments were when you’re making the scan, saying, “Oh, I get why it’s got a little bit bigger here on the canal locks, because, as you had mentioned, my ears needs this to retain it so I can have the best experience with this product.” And it’s the realistic expectations up front, I think, is the key thing that you’re talking about here.
Shawna Jackson, AuD:
Well, not only that, but… Exactly. And then, the actual education as a professional to look at a completely different picture than you previously had. So because when you take an impression, a physical impression, and you send it in, you no longer have that. The manufacturer may scan it in or the manufacturer may have that 3D image or you may have a 3D scanner that you can physically take an impression and look at, but it’s not the same of being able to take a digital impression right there with the actual ear in front of you and taking it at multiple angles or multiple different areas and then being able to refer back to it later. So if a patient calls me and says, “Hey, my right side is really irritated, but my left side’s not.” And I can look and see, “Okay. Is there a particular angle or pressure point that’s different between the two ears” or the thing that I can look at as a professional and it actually educates me more, gives me another piece to the puzzle that I wouldn’t otherwise have.
Dave Kemp:
Yeah. I feel like that’s such a key piece to this is this idea of creating digital versions, because the traditional method hasn’t been very conducive to that, right? You take, like you said, you take the impression, you send it off to the lab and then you get the product back that’s fit to those dimensions. But with this, it lends itself to this whole new notion, I feel like, of really referring back and seeing, “Okay. Here are all of my patient records and here are the different scans that I’ve been taking.”
Dave Kemp:
So I’m curious, can you just give us an anecdotal example of this, of something that’s happened, where… Because you’ve been using these 3D scanners for long enough now to where I would imagine you actually have the archive and you can refer back to it. I’m curious what an example of that might look like.
Shawna Jackson, AuD:
I mean, I have several examples, but probably the most obvious is a user that couldn’t understand why their CIC device on one ear was protruding more than the other ear. And even remakes and re-impression, being able to actually pull up two ears side by side. And they call me. They’re not happy. They’re not satisfied with the product that came out. And being able to just pull up those Otoscans, look at the two ears without the patient directly in front of me and being able to advise them, “This is likely why this is happening.” And I can actually even screenshot that and send it to the patient so that they can look at it and see side by side what the limitations are. So that’s happened a couple of times. The good news is, with that, I can offer them to come in and we can take another one just to make sure or I took multiple scans and I can look at it. So that’s absolutely one circumstance.
Shawna Jackson, AuD:
Another one I think that is more prevalent right now and over the past year than it was the previous year when we first got our scanner is that I’ve had patients that, “Hey, I lost my ear mold,” or that I previously fit with maybe a dome and RIC technology that calls me and the office is shut down or they’re quarantining or in a stay-at-home state and they’re not comfortable coming into the office. I have a scan. I had one particular patient, we fit him with domes. They were successful in March. We went into shutdown in April. And they called me and, “Hey. This is working their way out of my ear. I feel plugged up. I’m getting feedback.” Lots of different issues going on with him. A custom product would immediately improve his chances of success with the device. And the good news is that I had his scan on file. I could send that directly to the manufacturer, get that custom mold, send it to the patient and then do a telehealth session without them ever coming into the office and correct their issue without coming in and risking their health.
Dave Kemp:
Yeah. That’s a critical poin, telehealth, right? I think this is huge for in, like you highlighted, today’s day and age. During the pandemic, obviously, there’s a number of different examples that you have, but I do think that this is going to go way beyond just the pandemic into something where, again, you have these files, more or less. You have all the information that you need in order to make whatever sort of recommendations or get them what they need as opposed to, “I need you to come back in.” So, again, I think that just, it reinforces your value. And I’m curious, when you have somebody that comes in, are you more or less like, “Okay. First things first. You’re a new patient. Let’s get you scanned?”
Shawna Jackson, AuD:
That’s not where we are right now. That’s a goal for the future I would say. Our clinic is really, really busy and, of course, with the extra PPE cautions and the increase intake time in general right now, that’s not where we are right now, but that is a goal for the future. It’s easy enough to do, similar to just doing otoscopy, getting an ear scan. For me, every patient that I do a hearing aid selection on, I try to get an ear scan on as well though. So if they’re a hearing aid candidate, they’re getting an ear scan, is my personal goal, because it doesn’t take long to do, you don’t know what’s going to happen with that patient in the future, you may have to make some accommodations. And with the telehealth availability, the nice thing is is that I can get a lot of things in office day one and then apply it as we need to regardless of the change in situation. So that’s my personal goal. But, unfortunately, I wouldn’t say it was every patient. I think that would be a lie right now. But it is a future objective to be able to do that.
Jackie Phillips, AuD:
And I think, Shawna, I think with what you mentioning having the scans on at least the hearing aid candidates, I think it makes them feel more connected to your clinic as well. Right? I mean, it makes them feel good to know that their ear’s on file, if they ever need to call you for something, they lose it or they change their mind on what they’re going to have in their ear. I mean, I feel like that’s a good way to connect to your patients.
Shawna Jackson, AuD:
Yeah. Absolutely. And I think one of the other things is that we have to consider is the [lobe 00:19:35] risk. So for surgical ears, to be honest, that’s a big part of my patient case load, because I do work with [inaudible 00:19:48] patients and I work with unusual hearing losses, so I have a lot of long-time patients with surgical ears or even new patients that there’s a certain amount of risk associated with a traditional impression. And being able to just have it on file, even if I’m not going to use it right away, and I have it as a backup, as something that we can use at any time, without risking that surgical or that liability risk in the same way. I mean, I believe during my readings and everything, the level of risk associated with ear scanning is equal to that of otoscopy. So we’re looking at a very low-risk criteria for a lot of very difficult patients, adult patients, if you will.
Dave Kemp:
Yeah. Again, another just added bonus to this. The other thing that I’ve been thinking about with this is the whole time savings piece. Again, with the traditional method, you take the impression, you got to send it off to the lab and there’s all of this lag time involved. It feels like this is just another aspect. Probably the most compelling aspect to it is the time savings piece. So can you speak a little bit about that, Shawna? In your experience, some of the ways that that’s translated, like same day, I’m able to fit somebody with X, Y & Z. I’m just curious, what are some of these different time-saving pieces that you’ve had real experience with?
Shawna Jackson, AuD:
Yeah. So, so far, I mean, we have our own ideas of future implications when it comes to time saving. However, so far, I mean, if you think about I take a physical impression. I send it to the manufacturer of my choice. That is, you’re looking at least a one day to three day process by the time they enter it in. The nice thing with an ear scan is I can do it digitally and I can enter it and submit the order. Within 30 minutes, it’s done.
Shawna Jackson, AuD:
Now, the other time saving piece, though, is your appointment time itself. If somebody’s coming in for an ear mold impression specifically, I can make five or six digital impressions in the same time that I can make one impression otherwise, because there is no cure time. There is no, “Oh, I pulled it out and there was something in the way and I needed to… now I have to remake the impression and wait another three to five minutes for it to set up.” It’s literally, I do it. I real-time analyze it. I can look at it afterwards. Hey, if I feel like I want to go a little bit deep or get a different angle or different look at it, I can make another one and another one, if I need to, but usually that’s not really an issue. But I can, and that’s the important part. It doesn’t take any more time out of my clinical schedule. I guess that the longest time it takes is to log into the account to make it. And that’s far easier than the impression time itself, so on a clinical schedule.
Shawna Jackson, AuD:
I would say manufacture-wise, having the impression with the electronic order, many of the manufacturers have it so easy that I can just upload my scan element and it actually integrates in with their online ordering system.
Dave Kemp:
Oh, wow.
Shawna Jackson, AuD:
So my order and their scan is all inputted directly into their system. So if you can imagine how much time that saves between the shipping, the entry, the setting on somebody’s desk waiting for that entry input and then making sure it’s associated before the process even starts, you’re looking at generally… I know with one manufacturer, I can get my impressions back with a full product in a week or less, so much, much faster.
Dave Kemp:
Yeah.
Jackie Phillips, AuD:
Also, I think the human error on that where all the manufacturers told us when we were working with them that the call backs that they would have to do to customers. If there was a question about the impression coming in and they needed to make a change or they needed to do something different than what the clinician asked for, they’d call back, leave a message. And then, the clinician call back, leave a message. So this back and forth. It could be a day or two of back and forth with the manufacturer and it adds time to it. So the manufacturers are saying that call back is actually going down drastically with this type of technology. I don’t know if you notice that, too, or not.
Shawna Jackson, AuD:
Well, Jackie, with the call back part of that is, let’s say I did have a question for them or I’m trying walking through. I have one particular instance I can think of that they just called me and said, “If you could get this a little bit deeper, then we could possibly try to put it deeper into the canal or get around that bend for you.” And it’s as easy as I don’t have to… I can just call the patient, make it the same day and send it to the manufacture the same day, rather than a longer process of getting the patient in and then taking the new impression, sending it to the manufacturer, then them analyzing it, seeing if that makes up the difference. I can actually just work with them directly, upload it, they look at it. It’s a much more efficient process, while the patient’s still in office, if I feel like it’s going to be tricky like that. Now, of course, that just depends on your relationship with the manufacturers, but it is a potential opportunity for clinics to be able to do and means a lot to the patients to reduce that wait time as well.
Dave Kemp:
I’m curious, so clearly there’s a lot of efficiencies that can be gained from the manufacturer side and it sounds like the whole impression making process with the patient is a lot quicker. So with the patient, what does that result in? Does that mean that just their appointment is shorter or does it mean that you can allocate that time differently? And if it’s the latter, what does that allow you to open the door to? Is it I can have a more consultative conversation with the person? I’m just curious if it’s a 5X improvement in terms of the speed or something like that? Where do those time savings go with the patient?
Shawna Jackson, AuD:
Well, I mean, right now, it’s hard to weigh that, because we’re spending so much more time in other processes than we were a year ago in between patients and such. But, even though we’re using the same appointment time, I would say that, while they’re making the impression… Remember, their ear is still open. So during an impression, you’re making the impression and you have five or six or ten minutes possibly that you can’t talk to your patient, because their ears are fully plugged. While I’m making the impression, I am talking to the patient the entire time and they are hearing me. Okay? So while I’m doing it live, I get more time with my patient while they’re [inaudible 00:27:05] and it’s more interactive. So you’re not shutting them off from the appointment. They’re interacting with you. So that’s definitely a nice thing to be able to do.
Shawna Jackson, AuD:
It does take far less time to actually do the impression. I would say that, yeah, it’s more adding onto that consultation. Let’s say you’re running late for your next appointment, it’s really easy to say, “Let me just [inaudible 00:27:36] real quick, because I know that I can quickly do this and move onto the next patient and not have a huge cleanup process or putting all this stuff away process, in the same way that I would with traditional impressions.
Dave Kemp:
Yeah. So I’m curious, as we come to the close here, I think this has been extremely informative. It’s helped me to better understand the value in these types of devices. In particular, I’m excited about these, because, again… excuse me… I think it continues to add more ways that you can show value. And it’s just like you said, you took what could have been a 10-minute process where their ears are plugged and it wasn’t something that people were particularly excited about to a process where now it’s exciting, it’s cool and it allows for you to do patient education. So it differentiates you, but it also reinforces your value through your expertise, more or less. So that’s, I think, really, really exciting.
Dave Kemp:
But I’m curious, what have been the things that have surprised you the most about this? I think you mentioned early on that just the telehealth side of things was interesting. You didn’t think about that all that much. But I’m just curious, in your experience in using these things for a little while, what surprised you? And then, as a follow on, where are you envisioning the role that these types of devices will play in your practice? What’s going to be the evolution? And what more value can you get out of these?
Shawna Jackson, AuD:
Yeah. That’s interesting to think of. To be honest, it’s like other equipment we have in our clinic. If you think about real-ear and where it started and now what we use it for. We use it for more than jus the diagnostic purpose. We use it as part of our routine fitting. We use it for patient counseling. We use it to educate family members later on. And that’s, I think, the most surprising thing that I found with the ear scanner is I’m using it in different ways with different patients. I’m really addressing needs in a different way. It’s just a huge tool in my toolbox in that way. And I thought it was going to be, “Hey, I’m going to make an impression and send it to a manufacturer and it’s going to save me a couple days and a couple bucks.” That’s where it started. And it’s taken on a completely different role in that way.
Shawna Jackson, AuD:
A huge surprise that it’s been for me as well is I’ve actually had family members… I had a lot husband and wives and kids that bring their older parents in, that kind of thing, that all end up my patients. And they’ll say, “Oh, mom, just wait until you’ve seen this. This is really neat.” And they’ll actually talk up how we are on that edge of you haven’t seen this before. This is a really unique thing. And how that becomes something that patients are actually looking forward to in the appointment or looking forward to sharing with others about our office.
Dave Kemp:
I don’t think that that can be over emphasized of how important that really is though, because, again, it turns into an experience that people are legitimately excited about. “Mom, you haven’t even seen this yet.” I can imagine that you’ve had people that have come in because its a word-of-mouth thing where they’re like, “Okay. I do think I probably have a hearing loss. I want to get one of these 3D scans.” It’s just more incentive to get people excited about treating this. And if it takes some kind of futuristic technology, so be it.
Dave Kemp:
But I love everything that you said there, because I think it all comes down to the fact that it’s just more ways that you can show your value. It’s like, “Yes, as an audiologist, let me walk you through what we’re seeing here.” And people are going to walk away and be like, “There’s a big reason why I should be seeing this person. There’s a whole lot of value.” In the same way that you do with a lot of other medical professionals. So that’s what gets me excited about it. And I’m curious, Jackie, to get your thoughts on this whole thing, because this is the world that you operate in.
Jackie Phillips, AuD:
Yeah. I think something that I’ve actually seen with some of my customers who used this that they have patients who have held off coming to get an ear mold impression taken, because they had a really bad experience. I had a young man who, when he was child, had [inaudible 00:32:19]. And his ear mold was six years old. It was falling apart. Because he had a surgical ear, it was a really difficult ear to make an impression, and he just refused to come to get a new ear mold. And he was not getting the full benefit of the hearing aid with that mold being so old and breaking apart. So as soon as his mom found out that that clinic had the ear scanner, they immediately made an appointment.
Jackie Phillips, AuD:
And I was there with this young man and the mom. I mean, it was almost like tears in his eyes, because he said… Well, he had to have surgery to get the impression taken out when he had [inaudible 00:32:54] and he was just not going to come back in. So when we got the scan done and he says, “Is that I? Is that all we had to do, a minute of my ear and no pain,” he was overjoyed. So he came in and got his ear mold based on having this technology. So think there’s a lot of people out there who are not coming in, because they’re afraid or don’t want to have to go through the pain or issues that they have with silicone impression. And I think there’s a lot more out there.
Jackie Phillips, AuD:
And also, I see it as, it’s going to eventually, like Shawna mentioned other pieces of equipment, it should be part of best practice in a clinic where you look in the ear and you also have your ears scanned, because, as Shawna had mentioned, all the other perks to having this, it’s something that should be part of the routine evaluation for the counseling purposes and many other benefits to it as well. So it’s really exciting to see how its evolving and how Shawna has actually taken it to a new level.
Dave Kemp:
Yeah, I love it. I think it’s so interesting. And it’s just really cool to hear about these things that are at the forefront of innovation that’s happening. I hear about these products that exist, but to actually hear somebody like Shawna who’s been implementing them in their practice. And I just think this is so fascinating about there’s obviously value that the professional can derive and there’s value that the patient derives. And so, it really is a win-win and I think that’s just ultimately a really good thing. And so, I love these kinds of stories. This is what the podcast is all about is to really understand what are these ways that we can, as an industry, adapt to the changing times.
Dave Kemp:
I think a big theme about this whole thing is what are ways that you can stand apart from these online services, from these new entrants? And, for me, it always comes back to double down on the audiology, double down on the expertise. And if it means embracing new technology, then do it. And learn from others, like Shawna, who are already doing it. So this has been fantastic. Any closing thoughts here as we wrap?
Shawna Jackson, AuD:
Well, I think, just to add to what you were just saying, audiology is it, right? You’re looking at this ear canal. You’re looking at it with a different ear and different perspective than other people that are looking at this technology. So it still takes that audiologist eye-
Dave Kemp:
For sure.
Shawna Jackson, AuD:
… and that fitting eye. So it’s not just I have this scan and anybody can do the same thing with it. It still takes our knowledge of what does the acoustics do, what are the limitations from a physical standpoint that I’m looking at? It still very, very clinically involved, but it’s something that you can provide to the patient as a service.
Dave Kemp:
Yeah. It amplifies your expertise, more or less.
Shawna Jackson, AuD:
Yes.
Dave Kemp:
So, I love it. This has been fantastic. Thank you two so much for coming on today, sharing all this. This has been a really interesting conversation. Thanks for everybody who tuned in here to the end and we will check with you next time. Cheers.
