Technology and best practices help Veterans hear again

The oldest of seven children, Acklin was born on Thanksgiving Day in his grandmother’s house in the small Missouri town of West Plains.  He grew up and graduated high school there, but like many young men in the late sixties and early seventies, after spending a year in college and deciding it wasn’t for him, Acklin was drafted into the Army and sent to Vietnam.  Overseas, life was different.

Running convoys in the motorcade from Saigon to Cambodia was “quite something for somebody from West Plains who’d never been anywhere before,” Acklin laughs.  “It was eye opening – they shot back.  Sure did make me love America.” 

Returning home, Acklin needed to sort out a few things before settling into life after war.  He began hitch-hiking around the country, visiting men he’d served with in Vietnam.  “There were times I’d get picked up, and when (the driver) found out I’d just got back from Vietnam they’d make me get out.  Only took a couple of times for me to learn better.”

But the journey was therapeutic.  “The thing was – just how much I was completely alone,” says Acklin. “Somewhere out there in America, seeing my buddies helped me get rid of the chip that was on my shoulder. I decided I was going to go forth and do good.”

After Effects

Time in the military left Acklin with more than just memories, though.  There were lasting physical effects, too.  “I was a cook when I got drafted, but when I got sent to Vietnam, they didn’t need cooks, so I ended up in the motor pool.” 

Repairing large vehicle motors took its toll.  “None of us wore hearing protection.”

Hearing loss and tinnitus are the most common service-connected disabilities among Veterans and Acklin was no exception.  In fact, he and his father (a Korean War Veteran) both experienced hearing loss associated with their time in the military.  Eventually, they went to the John J. Pershing VA Medical Center in Poplar Bluff, Missouri for help.

There, VA audiology provided multiple benefits.  “We went to see Dr. Noble (lead audiologist) and my dad was so comfortable with him he actually enjoyed going to Poplar Bluff.  They made him feel proud to be a Veteran again.  And it made me feel really good that they treated my dad like that.”

To Hear Again

“I had tried several options for my own hearing, but when I took my dad to Poplar Bluff, Dr. Noble wanted me to have another test because he thought he knew what was going on.  And he was right.  The private sector had given up on being able to help but Dr. Noble took another step and figured it out.” 

For the first time, Acklin received hearing aids that worked.

“All of a sudden I was able to understand words in a song and I could carry on a conversation with somebody and understand what they were saying - even if someone else was cutting in.  I could pinpoint where sound was coming from better.  I realized birds are really high-pitched – I hadn’t heard them for years.  And deer,” says the avid hunter, “You can hear them bellow.” With one of the settings on his hearing aids, “you can sit out there and…hear practically anything at 100 yards.”

“There are four different settings (on the hearing aids), for different situations – like restaurant noise, for example.   It’s made a real difference for my family, too.  When you can’t hear someone, they just end up not talking to you.  Being able to hear helps your marriage. When my wife and I are going somewhere, and I have it set on ‘general’ I can understand what she’s saying in the vehicle now.  It filters out the road noise.

The gadget they gave me with my hearing aids is really neat – I can answer phone calls, adjust volume, send a text – you name it, this little unit right here can do it.  It’s pretty fancy. Push the button while you’re walking, and you can hear your phone through your hearing aid.  Same goes for the TV – there’s an app on your phone that will put the TV right in your ears.  Makes a big difference when you live with someone.  I can even use my phone to locate my hearing aids if I can’t find them.”

Care Closer to Home

These days, Acklin doesn’t have to drive two hours from his hometown to Poplar Bluff to see his audiologist.  The same services with Dr. Noble are now available through a cutting-edge tele-audiology clinic.

“We started tele-audiology for fitting hearing aids in 2016,” says Wanda Jones, lead telehealth technician at the John J. Pershing VA Medical Center’s outpatient clinic in West Plains.  “By 2019 we began testing for hearing and between fitting and hearing, we saw over 1,000 patients in tele-audiology that year.”

“The Veterans love this clinic – they are so happy to be here.  Some of them cry with joy because they can hear again,” she says.

Kimberly Melvin is another telehealth clinical technician at West Plains.  She and Jones completed specialized training for dermatology, tele-retinal, and tele-audiology clinics, and work hard to ensure Veterans receive great care. A worldwide pandemic made the clinic even more important.  “It really made a difference when COVID hit; we were able to continue doing a lot of work,” says Melvin.

Acklin remembers the early days. “Wanda – because of the energy that she has for the Veterans – the tele-audiology started rolling and pretty soon she couldn’t even keep up.  So, then they hired Kim, who had been a clerk in the front and did an excellent job.  Those two work so well together – it’s a perfect match up.  Dr. Noble knows he has help he can trust.  I’ve been happy as I can be.  Those ladies have genuine caring for the Veterans, I can tell you that.  Wanda is an Army Veteran and she and I used to change the flags out (at the clinic) together.”

Dr. Robert Noble, lead audiologist, says the tele-audiology clinic offers all the services an in-person visit does.

“Any sort of diagnostic that involves hearing; check middle ear function or auditory nerve response, differentiate the types of hearing losses – any test that’s out there for hearing we can do through tele-audiology,” Noble says.  “Speech mapping – verifying the hearing aids – we get a much more accurate reading and the veteran is happier with the result.  We don’t take a single shortcut – everything that is best practice is what we do - by policy - which makes it good for everybody.  If a Veteran needs it, they’re going to get it. And that can make their life a little bit better."

Acklin agrees.

“I’ve talked to people with private sector hearing aids, but I know one thing – I’ve got the best stuff of all.  If you need to turn the volume up on your hearing aid, you can do it on your right ear and push one button – I feel like a superhero.  On the left ear, you can push the button and it takes it back down.  At night regardless of where you were during the day, it reboots itself and goes back to the settings that Dr. Noble and Wanda and Kim set up for you.  You can do everything you need to do."

Go Forth and Do Good

Acklin was so pleased with his treatment at VA, he decided to become a volunteer for his local clinic.  “That really opened my eyes” (to all the services) he says.  “VA made me feel welcome; they made me feel at home and special.  I wanted to support the VA – I know what their mission is, and I know from personal experience how they treat the Veterans – and from listening to other Veterans.  It’s great.”

Acklin helped stamp return envelopes, do odd jobs, clean up the grounds, and most importantly – made Veterans feel comfortable.  “The (clinic) director told me my priority was the Veterans – to make sure if they needed anything, they had it,” he says.  “I thought that was great.  So, I make sure when Veterans come in here, they know they’re going to be cared for and they know they’re going to get good care.  These nurses know their patients by name.”

And he’s quick to tell them about tele-audiology.

I tell other Veterans to ask their primary care provider to refer them to audiology and get them an appointment.  It’s simple – I tell them there are two people back there that will treat them really good and to go and get their hearing test; it won’t hurt. 

Looking back over his service in Vietnam and the life he’s led since, Acklin wouldn’t make any changes. “I don’t regret anything that happened,” he says.  “It made me who I am.”