Swift Audiology: Helping Patients Experience Joy Through Hearing Health

By Daniel Casciato

Built on family, trust and passion, Swift Audiology is a local, long-standing, family-run, full-service audiology and hearing care practice. That passion, which drove Debra Swift, the founder and owner, to found this practice in 1987, remains alive and strong.

Swift set up her first “office” in the rented space of a pharmacy in 1987. Her mission then was to help people who were having difficulties hearing to hear better with the assistance of hearing devices. 34 years later, her personal and business mission has not changed. Since that time, the practice has grown to four locations – North Hills, Allison Park, South Hills, and Washington, PA. Her diverse staff includes Doctor’s of Audiology and Board-Certified Hearing Instrument Specialists who make it their mission to help those in the community hear better and continue enjoying life.

What distinguishes her business from others is a dedicated staff that works directly with patients making them feel heard and cared for.

“Our patients' experience a family-like atmosphere with state-of-the-art technology and the best option to meet their hearing needs,” explains Swift. “We understand that in today’s market—and more than ever before—individuals are flooded with options for amazing technology to help improve the quality of their life. Choice is in the patient's hands—we help educate our patients on the options by taking into account their needs, lifestyle, budget and hearing profile.”

Through Swift Audiology’s Hearing Aid Test Drive Program, patients can test drive their hearing ads in real-time and in real life.

“You wouldn’t buy a car without a test drive, so why would you buy a hearing aid without one?” asks Swift.

At Swift Audiology, Swift emphasizes that they are in the business of improving lives, increasing happiness and helping people make meaningful connections with those they love.

“Treating hearing loss with hearing aids is a great way to accomplish this and we are proud to be part of this process for so many,” she says. “We know using hearing aids for the first time is a big step but imagine what could happen.”

This is one patient’s experience and their “Why” they do what they do.

Hearing my husband say ‘I love you,’ the birds singing outside, and getting back something that was taken from me, are the best things about my new hearing devices.” –Ruth

A full comprehensive hearing test will tell you the degree and type of hearing loss you have, notes Swift. This information will help determine if you could benefit from hearing aids. For most adults, the onset and progression of hearing loss extends over some time. Family members and friends are likely to be the first to notice some difficulty hearing, long before the person does.

According to the Hearing Loss Association of America hearing loss has been shown to negatively impact nearly every dimension of the human experience, including physical health, emotional and mental health, perceptions of mental acuity, social skills, family relationships, and self-esteem, as well as work and school performance.

People will not be aware of what they don’t hear (like the sounds of birds, the beep of the microwave). They will be aware that they do not understand speech, as when they say, “I can hear but can’t understand.” The person with hearing loss will notice difficulty in understanding when someone talks from another room, or their back is to them, or now while wearing masks.

“Probably, the major complaint of people with hearing loss is the difficulty they experience in comprehending speech in any kind of noisy place such as restaurants, receptions, large family dinners, in the car, or on a plane,” says Swift. “Group conversations are particularly difficult, especially when there is a great deal of cross-talk. Family members frequently complain that the TV volume is set too high, leading to some family squabbles and frustration for both parties.”

These increasing difficulties in hearing may produce conflict with family members, as the family insists on getting help and the person with hearing loss is reluctant to recognize the reality.

“At Swift Audiology, we take the time to know our patients,” adds Swift. “My mission is to help others hear, comes from a personal experience I had with my grandmother after losing her hearing. Because of her hearing loss, she also lost her independence and connection to family. There was nothing I could do to help her, but made it my mission to help others as I would have my grandmother.”

When people come to her practice, Swift says she takes pride and care in treating everyone like family.

“Because, once you become involved with the Swift Audiology Practice, you become a member of our Swift Audiology family and that makes all the difference,” she says. “How rewarding for our Patient’s, their families, as well as for Team Swift. WIN-WIN!”

For more information, visit swiftaudiology.com.