Hearing Professional Center History

 
In February 1983, Dr. Price opened the door of Hearing Professional Center with a card table, two chairs, concrete floors and a 400-square foot office. Many of you might remember our first office across the street from our present location. It increased to 600-square feet before we built our present clinic in 1994. Our office has expanded from a waiting/reception area, sound room and private office, to all of that plus three more offices, three exam rooms and a full kitchen (from 400 to 2200 square feet).

In the early years, Dr. Price ran the office alone or with part-time help. In the early 1990′s, when a patient needed an ear cleaning, she would go down the hall with a gallon jug and bring water back to the suite. A few of you may remember commandeering the Ladies Room for this activity.

From 1986-1991, Dr. Price had a project in Mexico and in 2003, Brazil. These philanthropic mission trips provided not only hearing testing but also hearing aids, batteries, ear mold and educational materials for the deaf. Technology was simple then and there were few accessories for the hearing impaired. Today, hearing aids are very sophisticated. We have an entire section of our office devoted to computerized testing and programming of state of the art hearing aid technologies. The Center has many Assistive Listening Devices on display for our patients. In addition, we are able to provide telephones free of charge every five years for residents of the State of Texas with hearing loss.

Our annual “tune up” began the summer of 1983 and included cleaning your aids and checking the electronic function. Today, we call it your Annual Prescription Renewal including a hearing test, cleaning your aids, electronic function test, as well as reprogramming the aids to meet your current hearing requirements.

In October 1998, HPC received the “Recognition for Excellence in Audiological Practice” REAP award at the annual ADA convention. The Center was one of only two private practices in the United States to receive the award.

From 2002 to 2010 Dr. Price served on the board of the Audiology Foundation of America (AFA) and was its Chair for the last 3 years. The AFA has provided $1.4 Million in direct student support over the last 21 years. The AFA is recognized as the driving force in transitioning the field of Audiology to a doctoral profession. Dr. Price received her Doctorate in 2000 from the Arizona School of Health Sciences. Today, the majority of practicing Audiologists have their AuD (Doctor of Audiology degree). On February 26, 2010, the AFA declared victory and closed its door. In its final act as a non-profit foundation, the AFA awarded the remainder of its funds and assets, worth almost $1.2 million, to the audiology program at the Arizona School of Health Sciences, A.T. Still University (ATSU), in order to launch the new AFA Institute. The AFA Institute will allow the audiology program at ATSU to provide cutting-edge resources for its students and further enhance the audiology practice model.

We do a lot more than test hearing and sell hearing aids. Our goal at Hearing Professional Center is to assist each patient to improve his or her quality of life through better hearing. We want each person coming to our Center to be met by a friendly, caring staff that will do everything in their power to make the experience exemplarily. We invite you to visit us and become part of our family.

Meet our Audiologists