Better Late Than Never

You’re never too old to enjoy better hearing. Just ask Jim DeSapio. He recently got his first pair of hearing instruments at the age of 71 and couldn’t be happier. “I felt bad for my wife, because I had trouble hearing her,” he says. “And the television had to be turned way up, or I couldn’t hear it. I decided we had lived with my hearing loss long enough.”

It was Jim’s job that took a toll on his hearing. He began working in his family’s construction business back in the 1960s, when no one thought to use hearing protection. The Frenchtown resident says he worked around loud, heavy equipment eight hours a day. “I’d get home and my ears would still be ringing,” he recalls.    

When he decided it was time to move forward with hearing technology, Jim did his homework. He studied all the online ads, but he couldn’t determine which hearing aids would be best suited to his needs. The next step was to find an audiologist. Again he did research and chose Audiology Services. “I felt very secure going there,” he says. “I liked that it was a family business, and I liked what I read about each the Definos. And, they have a stellar reputation.”

A whole new world opened up for Jim after being fitted with the new hearing technology. “On my way home, I heard my turn signals clicking for the first time in a long time,” he says. “I was able to hear my three grandchildren talk to me when they came to visit. My wife is thrilled too. I think she’s especially happy that the tv volume is at a moderate level.”

Jim says he had no trouble getting used to his new hearing instruments. He did lose one when he was taking off a woolen cap while snow blowing. He did find it using the locator on his phone, but it had already been run over. “I took it to Audiology Services, and they took care of it for me. I had a new in one in just a few days.”

When he’s not working, Jim is active in the community. He’s a long-time member of the Rotary Club, the Italian American Heritage Club, the Knights of Columbus, and he’s a volunteer fireman. As if that weren’t enough, he’s also an avid hunter and bocci ball player. In between those activities, he tends his 85- by 50-foot garden and his fig and nut trees. He and his wife, Ellen, use their crops to make wine—about 500 bottles a year—and their own tomato sauce.

Jim isn’t exactly sure when he waited so long to get hearing aids. “I guess I was just too busy to think about it,” he says. “I really am glad I finally did.”    

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