Megan Bruce loves her chosen profession as an audiologist because when she fits someone with hearing aids, the restoration of hearing is instant and life changing.
"When you give someone sound back, they have a larger sense of independence and autonomy, and even feel younger," she said.
A fourth-year graduate student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Megan is working toward her doctoral degree in audiology by completing a residency at Blue Wave Hearing Center in Bentonville. The center's other location is in Bella Vista.
Before coming to Northwest Arkansas, she worked as an intern at two prominent audiology and surgery centers in Omaha. She moved to Northwest Arkansas as part of a church plant for Great Commission Churches and began her 12-month externship at Blue Wave Hearing Center this past May. After graduating in May 2019, Megan plans to go into private practice.
As an extern at Blue Wave, she administers hearing tests and, with a doctor's referral, fits patients with hearing aids if needed. From there, she makes any needed adjustments.
"I love working at Blue Wave," she said. "I like the ability of being autonomous, seeing my own patients and being trusted for my decisions."
She also is happy to work for a company that's passionate about community outreach. "They go to assisted living facilities and give presentations on the importance of hearing and brain health, and they clean and check any devices people may have. They also do educational
programs at community centers to provide crucial information to the public that hearing loss is just as important as vision loss. Hearing loss is linked to dementia," she said. "Hearing aids are preventative."
Dr. Molly Dillon, an audiologist and owner of both Blue Wave centers, praises Megan's aptitude "for learning new information at a rapid pace, but most impressive is her ability to seamlessly apply this information during daily clinical rotations. Her ability to adapt to new situations is refreshing."
Hearing loss is most prevalent in the elderly, and "people tend to wait until the loss gets too advanced," Megan explained. "But at that point your brain is starting to be affected. Even when you get sound back, your brain doesn't know how to handle it anymore, so we're trying to teach people that if they keep waiting, it may eventually be too late."
In a family studies class Megan took as an undergrad, she learned that "families work best when there's communication. Part of that is human behavior, being willing to speak and listen and understand someone's love language. But the other part is whether someone can physically hear you or not," she pointed out. "I've seen lots of couples come in--one spouse complaining that the other person doesn't hear them or they're tired of having to repeat themselves, or it's hard to go out and socialize because they can't hear."
Bluewavehearing.com
22 Sugar Creek Center
Bella Vista, AR 72714
(479) 202-9661
Business on 11/13/2018