Download Meet Dr. Deborah Dempesy - All Ears Hearing Center

APRIL / MAY 2010
Health & Wellness
PAGE 9
Meet Dr. Deborah Dempesy
discovered a way of helping people with hearing loss through
technology. I enrolled in a
Master’s of Audiology Program
at Northwestern University.
Several years later I earned my
Doctorate of Audiology from
Salus
University
in
Pennsylvania.
DR. DEBORAH DEMPESY
OWNER
ALL EARS HEARING CENTER
Dr. Deborah Dempesy purchased ALL EARS HEARING
CENTER in November, 2008,
when the previous owner retired.
All Ears has been in business for
25 years in Plymouth, 13 years at
its present location at 59
Industrial Park Rd. Dr. Dempesy
has nearly 30 years clinical experience, including 14 years at
Boston’s Beth Israel Hospital as
Director of Audiology, and eight
years in private practice in
Wilmington, MA.
What drew you
to your profession?
I graduated from college with a
degree in Anthropology, but living with deaf friends, who primarily used American Sign
Language, got me interested in
hearing and hearing loss. I
returned to school with the initial
intention of being a teacher of
the deaf, but when I took a class
in Audiology I was fascinated. I
learned all about the Anatomy
and Physiology of the Ear and
EILEEN ROUSSOS
OFFICE MANAGER AND
AUDIOLOGY ASSISTANT
amplified to the ear in a more sell hearing aids. Hearing
realistic manner.
Instrument Specialists cannot
diagnose hearing losses or perWhat else has happened
form any diagnostic and aural
with technology?
rehabilitation procedures.
In the past 2 years, digital hearing aids with “Bluetooth” technology in them make sound even
more natural than before. In
You’ve been practicing for
addition, Bluetooth technology
nearly 30 years. How has
allows hearing aids to be contechnology changed
nected to the television, teleduring this time?
phone and cell phones whereby
these sounds are heard in both
When I first began, all hearing ears, programmed to the individaids were analog. Adjustments ual’s specific hearing loss.
were performed using small
screwdrivers on relatively large
How is a Doctor of Audiology
hearing aids.
different from a Hearing
Instrument Specialist?
With the advent of computers
in the 1980s, we began to have
A Doctor of Audiology has an
hearing aids that were “program- undergraduate
degree
in
mable,” but still analog in tech- Audiology or communication scinology.
ences and a doctoral (AuD) degree
in clinical audiology science.
The first digital hearing aid, Thus, a doctor of audiology has 8
programmable by computer, was years of academic training and can
introduced in 1996. For the first diagnose hearing problems and
time, audiologists could person- prescribe hearing aids and
ally “program” hearing aids to Assistive Listening Devices with a
the individual.
great deal of knowledge and experience. Only after 9 months of
However, it wasn’t until com- completely supervised clinical
puter circuits were super minia- practicum, can the AuD obtain a
turized in the 2000s that hearing license to practice in the state.
aids became smaller and more
cosmetically appealing.
A
Hearing
Instrument
Specialist (H.I.S.) has a miniWhat’s the difference
mum of a high school diploma
between analog and
and a 3 months course in “heardigital technology?
ing sciences”, passes a state
exam, and obtains a license to
Analog hearing aid technology
essentially means that all sounds
are amplified equally, whether
background noise or speech.
Because all sounds were equally
increased in loudness, they
sounded irritating and the hearing aids often “ended up in
someone’s drawer”.
What do you like best
about your career?
I love seeing patients! I love to
analyze what type and degree of
hearing loss they have and use
modern technology to help people hear better, communicate
with their loved ones, and perform in society with ease and joy.
Studies show that untreated
hearing loss leads to social isolation, depression, withdrawal and
further hearing loss. As we age,
the ability to resolve and treat
hearing loss that has been
untreated, becomes very difficult
for the patient.
What do you do in
your free time?
I love to spend time with my
immediate loved ones and family. My 24 year old daughter is a
great joy to me. I also love to
read, watch movies, and especially sea kayak – I surf and roll
in my sea kayak with ease and
love all types of weather and
water.
If you have any questions about
hearing loss or hearing devices or
would like advice, please call us
at (508)747-4055 or contact us at
www.allearshearing.net.
Digital hearing aids offer much
more flexibility in the way sound
is received, broken down into
components and then selectively
A Member of the Women’s Journals Family of Publications
877-850-8240
South Coast
Bristol County
www.womensjournals.com
South Shore
Rhode Island