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The Philadelphia parking garage was hot as Mandi Solat waited for an attendant to bring up her car during an August day in 1990. Her hair was pulled back, revealing her hearing aids-bilateral ITEs. She soon realized that the man sitting next to her was staring at her.

He finally turned to her and said, "Do you mind if I ask you something?" He wanted to know about her hearing aids; she was the first person he had ever met who wore them.

"We had a very intense 15-minute conversation," said Solat. The man told her about his 2-year old son, who was recently diagnosed with hearing loss. "He didn't know what to do, and he seemed confused and nervous," she said.

Although only in her mid-20s, Solat immediately became an expert for the man. She encouraged him to "go for it." The more quickly he reacted to his son's needs, Solat explained, the faster his son would develop language and speech.

Career Change

One year later, Solat was working at Sears, and the same man ran over to her. "Mandi, is that you?" he asked. She barely recognized him, but soon his wife and two children appeared by his side. "He [started] to refresh my memory about talking in the parking garage last summer," she said. After their conversation, he went out and got his son hearing aids. The family thanked her and described the improvement their son made over the past year. "I stood there as they walked away," she said. "I was speechless, and I looked around and thought, 'Perhaps I'm in the wrong profession.'"

Solat, MA, an audiologist, has a bilateral, severe-to-profound, progressive sensorineural hearing loss. She was first diagnosed in 1973 when she was in the third grade. She then received her first hearing aid, but struggled to wear it. In her junior year, she asked her parents for another hearing aid; her left ITE made school easier.

Solat decided to become an audiologist to assist others who are hard of hearing. She wanted others to realize that hearing loss is no different than wearing glasses or anything else that ultimately improves quality of life.

She opened her own practice, Audiology Services and Hearing Aid Center, two and a half years ago in Lakewood, CO. She dispenses programmable digital and digital aids. With this technology, she is able to see all the programming. Although telephone conversations can be difficult, she uses e-mail to communicate accurately with patients.

Solat's hearing loss serves as a reassurance for patients diagnosed with hearing loss. When Solat evaluates patients for hearing aids, she reveals her own hearing loss. "They feel they have an ally, not an enemy," she said. She acknowledges this is a great advantage in her profession.

Be Gentle with Patients

As an audiologist, Solat understands many of the same issues and questions that patients have when they first see an audiologist. "I've learned that people will only wear hearing aids when they are ready to wear them, not when others are ready."

Many audiologists push hearing aids on people who haven't come to terms with their hearing loss, Solat noted.

She recalled a time when one dispenser wouldn't let her leave until he took ear impressions. He wanted her to buy new hearing aids even though the pair she was wearing was only two years old. Now she provides a different environment for her patients; she wants them to feel comfortable. "I am there to offer help and guidance in making proper decisions on amplification," she said.

Also, patients have different comfort levels for whether they feel they need one hearing aid or two. Solat began with only one hearing aid, so she understands the reluctance of many to ignore the benefits of bilateral hearing aids.

Although Solat has never been discriminated against by co-workers, she did remember one negative event when she was applying to audiology programs. "One professor said to me, 'you'll never keep up with the hearing students.' " This incident motivated her and also led her to choose a different, more accepting school.

Alleviating Concern

For many, the process of sharing personal stories on living with hearing loss and offering advice provides a gateway for people who are hard of hearing to become audiologists. Samuel Atcherson, MEd, is another audiologist who changed career paths after sharing his story with others. Atcherson was diagnosed with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss when he was 3.

While he was sophomore in college, his two audiologists encouraged him to change his major to audiology. He paid little attention to their suggestions until they asked him to speak to a group of parents whose children had hearing loss. The parents, he said, were concerned about their children's futures.

"Some of their fears were alleviated when they learned that I could communicate with them, and that I was going to college with a severe-to-profound hearing loss," he said. Atcherson also received a cochlear implant in 2001. Both these experiences convinced him to become an audiologist and enter a PhD program to teach.

Atcherson, a PhD candidate at the University of Memphis, also expressed the importance of not forcing his views on patients because hearing technology can be "complicated and intrusive." In addition, patients must consider a variety of issues, from cost to technology.

Discrimination at School

Although Atcherson has not felt discriminated against by his co-workers, like Solat, he did encounter resistance during his education. Before he enrolled in a PhD program, he began looking for a clinical fellowship position. Many interviewers questioned his ability to communicate with patients on the telephone, he recalled. Although he acknowledged that "this is an important question to ask," he emphasized that his success with co-workers has always been a result of hard work, mutual respect and the ability to recognize "what makes people tick and what does not."

Atcherson still faces challenges on the telephone. The clarity of a conversation depends on another person's voice characteristics, and if he does not understand a person's voice, he turns to colleagues for assistance.

For some audiologists, hearing loss provides more positives than negatives and leads to what Suzanne Yoder, MA, described as a common response from her patients-"they are not alone when they come to me."

Yoder was diagnosed with hearing loss at 4, although she believes the loss existed since birth. Yoder, who is currently completing her fourth internship for an AuD degree, decided to become an audiologist to help, counsel and be an advocate for people who are hard of hearing.

Working Harder

There has been some discrimination throughout her career, but she has responded by working harder. "If I was told that I would not be able to perform speech audiometry," she said, "I would ask a normal hearing colleague to sit in on several speech tests and compare my scores with theirs." Other challenges include auditory-dependent tasks, listen checks, speech audiometry and telephone use. Yoder uses various accommodations to make office life easier-an FM system for speech audiometry, visual cues and lip reading, to name a few.

Unlike the hearing loss pattern Solat, Atcherson and Yoder followed, audiologist Beverly A. Goldstein, PhD, was diagnosed with otosclerosis while she was in graduate school. The condition causes an abnormal growth of bone in the middle ear. The bone structure prevents the ear from working properly and causes hearing loss.

Since Dr. Goldstein's diagnosis, she has had success with hearing aids, but her main difficulties are related to telephone use, especially in places that don't allow cell phones and don't have hearing aid-compatible phones. "I find myself outside with the smokers at times, trying to be a successful communicator," she said.

Although Dr. Goldstein presented a distinguishable list of credentials and awards when she entered private practice, she soon realized that her hearing loss was what attracted her patients. "What most patients have told me over the past 14 years is that it is my hearing loss that makes them feel comfortable working with me and trusting the information that I give to them," she noted. 

Some may think Solat, Atcherson, Yoder and Dr. Goldstein were presented with difficulties that were hard to overcome, but in reality, their efforts open doors for other audiologists who are hard of hearing.

In addition to their pioneering efforts, they also appreciate everyday moments that continue to reinforce their career choices. "I've had people arrive at my door singing the national anthem because they can hear themselves again," said Solat. "The feeling is overwhelming for many when they can hear the sounds around them and conversation in front of them. My career is a wonderful one, and I derive great satisfaction in helping others to hear well."