How Improved Hearing Bettered My Life

How Improved Hearing Bettered My Life

Dr. Jonathan Brein was living the dream — he had a beautiful family, a 42-foot yacht, a successful private practice in Chesapeake, Virginia. But then, the anesthesiologist started having problems hearing. At first, it was a small inconvenience. He thought his nurses were mumbling. No one knew exactly what caused Dr. Brein’s hearing loss. “Some thought it might have been caused by a viral infection. It was never confirmed.” Whatever the cause of the problem, Brein’s hearing got worse. In fact, his hearing got so bad that the anesthesiologist started having challenges in the operating room. He used hearing aids, but they didn’t solve the problem. One day, a respected fellow physician, the chair of the Department of Ear, Nose, and Throat Surgery at the Eastern Virginia Medical School, told Brein that he had a real problem understanding people in the operating room. Eventually, Brein’s attorney told him, “You have to stop practicing.”

So, Dr. Brein had to leave medicine. Fortunately, he had disability insurance and his children were young. He and his wife spent six years cruising the east coast in their yacht. But eventually, he had to come back to “real life.” Brein’s kids had to go back to school. He returned to Virginia to figure out what to do next. His hearing was a constant problem — he knew he couldn’t return to medicine. One day, he spotted a newspaper advertisement for Beltone.

Brein had tried many hearing aids, but his Beltone experience was different. Hearing aid technology had evolved tremendously. The sound quality had improved, and the hearing aids were so much smaller, making them almost invisible. The Beltone audiologist also made the technology affordable. After getting his Beltone True™ hearing aids, Brein was thrilled. “My wife said ‘you’re scaring me.’ I was talking in a normal tone, and wasn’t telling her to stop mumbling.”

Brein’s improved hearing allowed him to build a second career in real estate. He now owns Home Choice Properties, a company that renovates homes and manages rental properties. Brein says that his business success is not the best part of gaining improved hearing. “It’s about the people in my life — my wife and daughters. If you take a look at people in your lives, those who love you, now they don’t have to suffer with my hearing loss anymore.”

If you, like Dr. Brein are struggling to hear and need help, please call us at 757-337-4591.

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