Angela Bright Pearson, AuD, understands that patients with hearing impairment often need more than hearing aids. Her personal experience with fluctuating hearing loss as a child caused pain that lasted longer than the chronic otitis media she experienced from ages 2-12.

"My hearing loss was actually in the moderately severe range with my last infection at age 12," remembers Dr. Bright Pearson, owner of Bright Audiology, Sanford, NC. "During that time, I attended my grandmother's funeral and could not hear a word the minister said. I went to school the next day only to run out of the room during a spelling test because I could not hear the words being said.

"Looking back now, my hearing loss greatly affected my self-esteem. I wasn't able to hear as well in class and follow the discussions. I lost the spelling bee in eighth grade because I spelled the word I thought I heard. Over time, these experiences made me unsure of myself all the way around."

Three years ago, Dr. Bright Pearson attended the Kooser Program, a day-long workshop that addresses the emotional, relational and professional impact of hearing loss. Moved by the experience, the audiologist later trained as a facilitator and now offers the support workshop in her private practice, among a host of other hearing rehabilitation services.

Establishing a Practice

Dr. Bright Pearson's future as an audiologist came into tune at age 16, when she received her first hearing aid.

"It made such a difference to me that I knew I wanted to help others as I was helped," she says.

She trained as an audiologist and speech pathologist at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, graduating in 1990. Over the next 6 years, she worked in a variety of settings-a hospital, schools, an ENT's office, and even as a manufacturer's representative-and decided one-on-one practice with patients was her favorite type of work. She launched Bright Audiology & Speech in 1996.

"For the first year, I held contracts until I officially opened my door. I literally started the business from scratch, and it was difficult from a work and financial standpoint," she says. "But it was one of the most exciting times in my life."

Dr. Bright Pearson's early work included speech services for local home health agencies and creating a dysphagia program for an area hospital. She added in audiology services over time.

"I really did not earn a realistic salary until the sixth year because I invested everything I made back into the business in order to be debt free," she says. "It took a great deal of time establishing an outpatient rehab facility for accreditation by Medicare and gaining insurance contracts."

A 9-month business course offered through a local community college turned out to offer less education than the hard knocks she experienced on the job: managing employees, negotiating and then severing a partnership, dealing with insurers, and setting office and financial policies. Thirteen years later, Dr. Bright Pearson insists she's still learning.

Her tenacity has aided her along the way. When the local planning board turned down her request to rezone a house to allow her to set up practice in a more home-like atmosphere than the medical office she rented, she didn't take the refusal lying down.

"Six months pregnant at the time, I walked up and down the road, taking pictures of some rundown rental houses between a psychologist's office and the house for sale," she says. "I e-mailed them to the county commissioners and asked which they preferred-a rundown house or a nice business? The county commissioners overturned the planning board's decision. It was only the second time in history that had happened.

"We love our current location."

Prioritizing Audiology

In 2006, Dr. Bright Pearson decided to drop the practice's speech services and specialize in audiology. She had earned her AuD from the University of Florida in 2000 with a desire to focus more on audiology. And the office was becoming too small to serve everyone from pediatric patients with speech needs to geriatric patients with hearing loss.

"My goal was to be the best audiologist I could be, and I knew I could not keep up with everything in both audiology and speech," she says. "I decided to focus primarily on hearing rehabilitation, and it has been wonderful."

Today her practice provides diagnostic hearing evaluation for all ages; auditory processing evaluation; hearing aid evaluation; auditory therapy using a variety of computerized therapies, including Neurotone's LACE; counseling; hearing aid maintenance; tinnitus evaluation and therapy; custom earmolds and industrial hearing services.

Dr. Bright Pearson employs a staff of three-a long-term employee currently apprenticing as a hearing aid dispenser, a practice manager and an insurance expert she affectionately refers to as the "office homemaker." She considers the trio the best staff she's had since launching her practice.

Count Her In

Last summer, at the urging of a friend at her local small business center, Dr. Bright Pearson entered the regional Make Mine a Million $ Business contest sponsored by Count Me In (www.makemineamillion.org). The application process was time consuming and detailed, but the audiologist didn't shrink away. Out of 600 entries, her practice was chosen as one of 20 finalists to compete for one of 10 awards.

In October, she had 3 minutes to pitch her practice to an audience and panel of judges in Charlotte, SC, who would vote for the best presentation and most financially viable practice. Dr. Bright Pearson talked about the need for complete hearing rehabilitation, which, she explained, included counseling and auditory therapy in conjunction with hearing aid services. She said it was her goal to make it a standard of care for her practice and for the profession.

"It was a passionate moment as I made my pitch, because I was presenting not only my business but also the field of audiology," she recalls. "I was almost in tears as I finished; everyone cheered and clapped. It was a nerve-racking but exhilarating experience when they announced I had won."

Dr. Bright Pearson received a Dell computer, financial coaching, business coaching, and support from Count Me In, an organization created to help women entrepreneurs achieve financial independence. The guidance, she says, has been invaluable.

In addition to marketing through consistent small advertisements in local newspapers, strong relationships with local physicians and long-term connections with current patients, the audiologist has taken a virtual approach and established a presence on the Internet. Her Web site, www.brightaudiology.com, was designed 2 years ago by a local firm that maintains it for a rate Dr. Bright Pearson considers reasonable. Patients have told her they referred to the site before making an appointment, and some of the younger patients have taken advantage of the option to print and fill out medical forms posted there prior to their first visit.

Balance Is a Myth

It hasn't always been easy. Balancing professional duties with her personal life has been an ever-present challenge for the practice owner, who currently serves on the state licensure board for hearing aid dispensers in addition to a legislative study committee created to assist the state Division of Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

"I had my daughter, Hannah, who is now 7, early on, when I was attempting to provide some stability to a growing business," she says. "It was heartbreaking to put her in full-time daycare when she was just 3 months old. I felt like I had two children, the business and her, who needed my time."

A recent session with a coach helped Dr. Bright Pearson realize that perfect balance is a myth.

"She actually made me stand on one foot to realize that just as your weight shifts while trying to balance that, at times, I will feel the need to spend more time with family, and then there will be times when I will dive back into the business."

With her practice on more stable ground, Dr. Bright Pearson plans to rearrange her schedule now to make her daughter her first priority. She's also looking forward to an office renovation that will add a testing suite, fitting room, offices, laboratory space, and a large meeting room for in-office seminars, hearing rehab workshops and patient functions.

All has not gone perfectly, but Dr. Bright Pearson is perfectly fine with that.

"All of my experiences, positive or negative, have wonderfully shaped me into the person and audiologist I am today," she says. "I've come a long way with regard to my personal esteem and development as I've struggled emotionally with my hearing loss. And I am very proud of what God has led me to accomplish thus far."

Jolynn Tumolo is a freelance writer in Morgantown, PA.