AuD Makes Hearing Harmony with Austin Musicians

Dr. Soriya Estes and her nine-member staff provide hearing healthcare 1,500 musicians in Austin, TX.

Posted on: April 18, 2011

View Comments (0)Print ArticleEmail Article

Facebook reddit Newsvine Del.icio.us Digg

Yahoo! Buzz LinkedIn StumbleUpon Google Bookmarks Mixx

The epiphany came to Soriya Estes, AuD, owner and founder of Estes Audiology Hearing Centers, while she was listening to a local Austin, TX, radio station story about the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians (HAAM). This non-profit group provides access to affordable primary medical, basic dental, mental healthcare and addiction-recovery services to more than 1,500 member-musicians annually. On that fortuitous day, HAAM was promoting its annual benefit day where Austin businesses donate 5 percent of their sales proceeds to HAAM while its member-musicians perform throughout the city. As she was listening, Dr. Estes wondered: For such a strong and music-centric organization, where was their hearing healthcare?

The epiphany: Dr. Estes thought her practice and its nine-member staff should provide hearing healthcare to HAAM's 1,500 member musicians. They would do so through education, screening and protection-quite an undertaking.

It was not like Dr. Estes did not have enough on her plate. She is the owner of three successful hearing healthcare clinics, which have served more than 3,000 patients; at the time, she was an adjunct professor at the University of Texas-Austin; she serves as the chairperson for the Business Enhancement Strategies and Techniques Committee for the American Academy of Audiology and also is involved in several local organizations; and last but not least, she is a mother of two active, young children. Squeezing another job description into her day would require a bit of juggling.

Also Online!

Hearing Harmony: Photo Gallery

The Method Behind the Madness
Having lived in Austin-"live music capital of the world"-for more than 13 years, Dr. Estes is very familiar with the obstacles facing musicians. Estes Audiology clinics cater to regional bands and Texas music celebrities such as Ray Wylie Hubbard. Dr. Estes knew several musicians who were self-employed and underinsured. Many musicians whose livelihoods depend on their ability to hear have neither health insurance nor access to hearing healthcare. She surmised that these musicians would be hard pressed to afford custom earplugs to protect their greatest resource while living on such limited budgets.

After much thought and contemplation, Dr. Estes contacted Carolyn Schwarz, the executive director of HAAM, about the possibility of collaborating. Coincidentally, Carolyn had just received the results of a recent survey of HAAM members in which a majority of the member musicians said that they would like to receive hearing healthcare. "The timing was amazing," said Dr. Estes, reminiscing about the turn of events. "Carolyn had just received the survey results the week before our conversation. It seemed like it was meant to be."

Dr. Estes envisioned more than simply screening musicians for hearing loss; she wanted to incorporate education and prevention into the healthcare services provided.

The Idea Becomes Reality
Beginning with that first conversation between Dr. Estes and Ms. Schwarz, both organizations started to work on their collaboration. For Carolyn, that meant raising adequate grant funding for the hearing healthcare. Dr. Estes contacted suppliers Sensaphonics and Westone about lower-priced Etymotic filtered earplugs for the musicians. Both companies agreed wholeheartedly to help. HAAM and Estes Audiology also were able to secure the use of the Gibson Guitar showroom and then Austin MediaTech Institute, an Austin-area technical institute for training in recording arts and sound engineering, to provide a space with sound-treated rooms necessary for proper screening.

The HEAR Clinic
Once per quarter, or four times a year, Estes Audiology Hearing Centers closes its doors and all of the audiologists and administrative staff come to Austin, along with some great colleague volunteers in the area. With the assistance of University of Texas doctoral students, they spend an entire day seeing approximately 80 member-musicians of HAAM in what they call the HEAR Clinic. They individually screen each musician's hearing and then educate on noise exposure relative to the specific situation.

Because the musicians range from hard rockers to classical musicians, the Estes audiologists had to be educated on how the various music genres and environments affected a musician's hearing so they could counsel the musicians appropriately. "There's a textbook called 'Hearing Loss in Musicians - Prevention and Management' by Marshall Chasin that's been a great resource for us, and we've also received information and support from manufacturers such as Sensaphonics and Westone," comments Dr. Estes. "Plus, I credit the audiologists that participate in the clinics for doing a lot of research on their own."

And here is the kicker. After screening each musician and providing personalized education on how to prevent hearing loss, the audiologists take impressions of each musician so they can be fit with affordable custom earplugs. Impressions are cast for Etymotic Research filtered plugs (a $150 value), which unlike foam earplugs reduce low bass, midrange and high treble notes all by the same decibel limit - either 9 decibels, 15 decibels or 25 decibels. HAAM member-musicians are only responsible for a $25 co-pay; all additional costs are funded by grants. Thus, each musician going through a HEAR clinic receives custom earplugs that specifically protect his/her ears at the low cost of $25.

The Results So Far
Since its inception in 2009, more than 500 musicians have been screened, educated and fit with custom earplugs. The HEAR Project and Dr. Estes have been featured in International Musician (the official journal of the American Federation of Musicians in the U.S. and Canada), the Austin American Statesman, the Austin Business Journal, the Austin Chronicle, the New Braunfels Herald Zeitung, Community Impact, News 8, KVUE, and many other media outlets.

"As professionals within the healthcare industry, we often focus on our clinical practice and we don't realize how we can significantly give back to the community," says Dr. Estes. "Looking back, I am often surprised by how many musicians we have seen in just a day's time. We feel blessed to be able to give back to a music community which gives so much to us."

It has been announced that more than 300 more musicians will be screened through the HEAR clinic in 2011.

Email: *

Email, first name, comment and security code are required fields; all other fields are optional. With the exception of email, any information you provide will be displayed with your comment.

First *

Last

Name:

	Title	Field	Facility
Work:

City

State

Location:

Comments: *

To prevent comment spam, please type the code you see below into the code field before submitting your comment. If you cannot read the numbers in the below image, reload the page to generate a new one.

	Enter the security code below: *