Beyond the Numbers: My Journey with the Armenia Hearing Aid Mission

This year, 704 people were fitted with hearing aids during the Armenia Hearing Aid Mission. 

It is an impressive number, but after being there, I have realized that 704 doesn't really tell the story. 

People came from all over Armenia; some travelled for hours. When they arrived, they entered what I can only describe as an incredibly well-organized machine, powered almost entirely by people who simply wanted to help. 

Patients registered and then moved from station to station. Ear doctors examined their ears, cleaned wax and, when necessary, treated infections. Another group fitted silicone earmolds. From there, they came to clinicians like me to receive their hearing aids.  

After the fitting, another team taught them how to insert the hearing aids, change the batteries and adjust the volume. Finally, they went through quality control, received supplies and batteries to take home and were given a follow-up appointment. 

Then another person started the same journey... And another, and another, for three days straight. 

My Five Minutes 

The funny thing is that despite being the person who actually put the hearing aids on many of these people, I may have spent only two to five minutes with each of them. There simply wasn't time for anything else! 

At home in Toronto, my clinical process is very different. I have hearing tests, speech testing, fitting software, verification equipment and, perhaps most importantly, time. 

In Armenia, most of the people who sat in my chair didn't even have a hearing test for me to work from. Instead, we had hearing aids available in graduated power levels, from Level 1 for someone requiring relatively little amplification through Level 10 for someone with a profound hearing loss. 

My job was to figure out where each person belonged. It was educated guesswork, and I want to be very clear about that. This was not a gold-standard hearing aid fitting, but I tried very hard to bring the principles I use at home into a completely different environment. 

I would speak with the person, observe how they responded and begin increasing amplification gradually. I checked the earmold carefully. Was it comfortable? Was it loose? Could it contain the amount of amplification this person needed without feedback? 

If something wasn't right, I sent them backward in the system. Sometimes they needed another universal earmold. Sometimes the ear needed to be refitted. And occasionally an impression had to be taken so a custom earmold could be made. 

Efficiency mattered, but so did quality. 

Controlled Chaos 

Now imagine doing all of this in a quiet hearing clinic. Then forget that image completely. 

Our fitting room was chaos. There might be five to seven hearing clinicians working simultaneously, with another 40 to 60 people waiting to be seen. Hearing aids were constantly being powered up and tested. Tubes were being measured and cut. People were talking everywhere. Hearing aids would whistle with feedback as they were being prepared. 

And into this environment we introduced amplification to people who sometimes hadn't heard properly in years. 

Almost immediately they would tell us how much noise they could suddenly hear. My goal wasn't to eliminate that noise. I couldn't. My goal was to create the most balanced, comfortably audible sound level I could so that, despite everything happening around us, the person could still hear me speaking to them. 

Then there was another challenge. A surprising number of people would point to one ear and tell me, “This is my good ear.” Then they would point to the other and say, “I don't hear anything from this one.” 

So we usually started with the better ear. Once we established a comfortable level there, the quest became getting the other ear to feel like the first so they could hear me from both sides in a reasonably equal way. 

And sometimes something wonderful happened: an ear that someone had essentially written off began hearing again. 

You could see the surprise. And then came the smile. 

There were a lot of those smiles. 

My Assistant 

This mission was different for me for another reason: I brought my 12-year-old daughter, Sophie. I had a little experiment in mind. 

My first hearing mission in Armenia connected me to the country in a way that my previous visits as a tourist never had. There is something different about visiting a country and serving the people who live there. 

These were my countrymen, and I had a skill that could help them. 

I wondered whether Sophie might experience some version of that connection too. I had assumed the volunteers would find a job for her somewhere in the operation. 

Instead, she became my assistant. She documented each person I fitted, which hearing aids they received, their power levels and their volume settings. 

At first, she took the responsibility very seriously. As the days went on, she discovered something else about her father: apparently, I don't stop. 

The patient flow was relentless. One person would leave my chair, and another would sit down almost immediately. Eventually Sophie became tired and her attention was strained. She was 12 years old. And, in all seriousness, she did better than I would have expected almost any 12-year-old to do. 

While she was sitting beside me, she was also listening. She heard the conversations I was having in Armenian. She watched the other clinicians. And she began seeing the difference between the people who arrived and the people who left. 

After we came home, I asked her what she remembered. She told me that many people were smiling afterward and making jokes.  

“It was making me happy to see that,” she said. 

One woman in particular stayed in Sophie's memory. The woman had come with members of her family and apparently had quite the personality. While I was fitting her, she kept making jokes, simultaneously frustrating and entertaining everyone who had come with her. 

Eventually we got the hearing aids working for her. Sophie remembers how happy the woman became. She remembers how happy her family was. And she remembers the woman hugging me afterward. 

I was so focused on keeping up with the patient flow that this was simply one of hundreds of interactions during those three days. 

Sophie remembered it. 

Why Would Anyone Do This? 

By the end of the third day, I was exhausted. My back ached. My voice was strained. 

And I was happy. Which, when I think about it, is completely insane. 

I hate the airport and airplane experience, so who voluntarily spends thousands of dollars, travels 16 to 20 hours and deals with jet lag and all the other headaches of international travel just so they can work themselves exhausted for three days without being paid? Apparently, I do! 

The answer is actually very simple: I love what I do. And I love being able to use something I have spent much of my life learning to help my people in a way relatively few people can. 

This time, I also got to share it with my daughter. I originally wondered whether Sophie would come home feeling differently about Armenia. Interestingly, she didn't. 

When I asked her, she told me quite plainly that she didn't feel differently about Armenia than she had before. She did, however, inform me that she liked Armenia better this time because fewer people were smoking. 

So much for Dad's grand experiment... But then I asked her whether she would come back with me next year. 

“Absolutely.” 

Would she change anything? 

“No. It was perfect.” 

And finally, I asked her why she would travel all the way back to Armenia to do another hearing mission. 

Her answer was considerably less complicated than mine: “Because it was fun. Also, it was really nice to help people.” 

Maybe my experiment worked after all! 

Next year will mark the 10th anniversary of the Armenia Hearing Aid Mission. I already know they are planning to make it the biggest one yet. And yes, I would go again. 

Hopefully, I'll have my assistant with me. 

Restore Your Hearing Aids to Peak Performance 

Just like the devices brought back to life during the mission in Armenia, your daily hearing aids deserve a little extra care to perform at their best. Over time, wax, moisture and everyday wear can quietly muffle your sound quality. 

If your devices aren't sounding quite as clear as they used to, a professional tune-up can make all the difference. Visit hearingaidsource.ca/services/hearing-aid-performance-rejuvenation to learn how we can help bring the clarity (and the smiles!) back to your everyday listening experience.