Kathleen and John Evans sit inside their business, Evans Audiology and Hearing Aid Center. (Staff photo by Jessica Talarick.)
Evans Audiology and Hearing Aid Center in Hamilton provides state-of-the-art hearing aids
By Scott Morgan
Hearing aids have grown up a lot in the digital age. Those wired earpieces that plug into a box on your belt? Pretty much gone.
These days, hearing aids don’t just magnify sound like some portable, personal speaker system. Today, sound processed by hearing devices is run through filters that reduce background noise and allow you to hear more clearly.
But 50 years ago, when Paul Evans founded Evans Audiology and Hearing Aid Center Inc. on Montgomery Street in Trenton, those analog boxes were top-of-the-line stuff. Evans moved his practice to 2657 Nottingham Way in Mercerville after the Trenton riots in the late 1960s and welcomed his son, John, into the business at the ripe old age of 18.
At the time, the younger Evans was the youngest person in New Jersey to hold an audiology license, allowing him to fit people for hearing aids.
These days, John and his wife, Kathleen, run the business that she says changes as rapidly as technology itself. Modern hearing aids are more like digital editing software for the ear. Microchips process sounds as they enter to create a cleaner listening environment. And that means “the technology changes constantly,” she said.
John and Kathleen Evans are the only full-time employees. In fact, the only part-time employee is their 22-year-old daughter, Jacqeulyn, who helps on Fridays. This is something the Evanses take pride in, Kathleen said.
“When you call here, either John or myself will pick up the phone. If you come see us, you’ll see one of us,” she said.
Kathleen, a licensed audiologist herself, says this mom-and-pop approach is what sets Evans Audiology apart from everyone else in the game. The business is not affiliated with any doctor’s office and is, in fact, so independent that it offers in-house financing for clients.
“We don’t send people to the bank,” she said.
Depending on what you need, a hearing aid could cost anywhere from $1,000 to $5,900, Evans said. Financing and budget-consciousness are major aspects of the company’s customer service, but so is knowing where in that range you would fall. A person whose job is to talk to people and who has suffered some hearing loss would need a higher-end device than someone in a nursing home, for example.
Either way, Evans said, hearing is important to quality of life.
“When you live in a quiet world, it’s very sad,” she said.
People with significant hearing loss especially do not socialize much because they can’t understand what people are saying. Worse, she said, “people laugh at them, and they feel stupid. So they withdraw. They can become very depressed.”
Evans Audiology’s main community service activity is providing free hearing tests. Helping people hear better, after all, means helping people live better, and that’s what the Evanses love so much about their jobs. And the couple works with all ages, “from school age to nursing homes,” she said.
What, you thought hearing loss only affected older people? Hardly. While the largest reason Evans Audiology has customers is noise damage—military and factory workers are especially prone to loud environments—heredity also plays a role in hearing loss. And sometime children simply inherit the issue, which itself is aggravated by ear buds and MP3 players.
“Every chance I get, I tell people ‘You can’t use those anymore,’” Evans said.
It’s part of the couple’s personal touch. It’s not just selling something to help you hear, it’s helping you understand why you’re having trouble hearing.
But remember, what digital technology like MP3 players taketh away, state-of-the-art, computer-balanced hearing aids giveth back. And along with it, a better quality of life.
Evans Audiology and Hearing Aid Center is located at 2657 Nottingham Way, near the intersection with E. State Street Extension. Phone: (609) 586-3350.
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