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Making the World Sound a Little Clearer
The economic tone of 2009 was largely negative, but there were some upbeat notes coming from the South Shore Hearing Center located on Route 18 near the intersection with Route 3 in South Weymouth, one of the first full-service, independent audiology practices in the greater Boston area.
Dr. David Citron and Louise G. Citron, a husband and wife team who both have advanced degrees in audiology, started the Center by themselves in a tiny 750 square-foot space in 1982, and now they have a 2,300 square-foot customized professional space with six full-time audiologists in their practice, one audiology assistant and a four-person support staff.
David Citron, III Ph.D. & Louise G. Citron, M.A., Principals & Co-founders of South Shore Hearing Center
"As baby-boomers age, audiology has become a growth profession, and there is no sign of it slowing down," says Louise, noting that loud music, modern urban noise and certain occupational environments have contributed to hearing problems. She adds that the number of patients has also increased at the South Shore Hearing Center because of the full-service nature of their practice. They not only conduct hearing evaluations and fit children and adults with state-of-the-art hearing aids, but they also assist in the diagnosis of unusual ear problems as well as assess and treat balance disorders and dizziness in patients of all ages.
She is quick to point out, however, that the psychic rewards of running a successful audiology practice far exceed any monetary rewards. "We have treated three-year old patients with serious hearing problems, and then watched them grow up to have families of their own," she exclaims. The Citrons were especially touched by a six-year-old patient who thanked them, saying "My favorite sounds are church bells and my hearing aids helped me to hear them."
David elaborates on the value of these psychic rewards, pointing for example to the lasting excitement from his own work as a Rotary Club president with "Project Deaf India." One of the goals of the project was to reduce the incidence of hearing loss in children of India through immunizations for measles, mumps and rubella. The other goal involved early hearing loss identification through the implementation of a newborn hearing screening program. The Citrons both helped to train more than 150 local health care workers in Goa, India to use advanced medical equipment donated by Rotary Clubs to diagnose hearing problems and understand the necessary treatments.
The India project also reinforced for David the value of what he does professionally here at home. "We are selling the ability to hear, and that is not just another commodity," he says. "When people tell us that amplification has changed their lives, it makes us very happy," he adds.
Locally, senior citizens and aging "boomers" represent the fastest growing patient segments. "As people live longer and stay more active, it becomes more critical to them to correct even a mild hearing loss and now we have the technology to do that," says Louise, who notes that hearing loss often begins in subtle ways. "Higher pitches are usually the first affected, and sometimes people have more trouble with consonants than vowels because they are typically softer," she says, adding that state-of-the-art hearing aids can amplify specific parts of the sound spectrum as required by individual needs.
"Balance and dizziness problems are also a big part of any practice that deals with an aging population," David says, noting that those symptoms are frequently related to inner ear disorders and sometimes are associated with hearing loss. Dizziness is not only the number one malady for patients over 70, it also contributes to the loss of balance that causes 300,000 hip fractures a year due to bad falls. With proper diagnosis and therapy (known as "balance retraining") many older adults can maintain an active lifestyle instead of becoming shut-ins, he adds.
"We are also experiencing growth due to South Shore Hospital's partnership with Dana Farber on their new cancer center," says David, who explains that chemotherapy can affect hearing due to ototoxic medicines that can also cause balance disorders.
He asserts that their pediatric practice also continues to grow in the wake of regulations that require newborn screening for hearing loss.
"We work a lot with physicians to help them answer questions relating to hearing loss in children due to infections or other problems," he says.
Louise adds that there is no known cause for hearing loss in close to 50 percent of all children so careful attention must be given to family history, infections, environmental factors and other possible factors.
According to the Citrons, they look at each patient problem with a professional methodology, attempting to answer the following questions:
- Is there a problem with hearing or balance?
- Is it medically correctable, with medication, surgery or outpatient procedure?
- Is the problem correctable, either with hearing aids or therapy?
They also express appreciation for the thoughtful, professional methodology of the lawyers at Burns & Levinson, who have supported their business success since 1982. "They ask the right questions, they give plenty of explanations and they make sure you think about the most important issues in your business both from a legal perspective and a strategy perspective. They consistently offer angles on problems we would never have thought about, and they think about alternative solutions for us to choose," says David.
From the very start, Burns & Levinson lawyers assisted the Citrons in essential lease and contract negotiations, choice of corporate structures, and protection of intellectual property, such as business names and logos.
"As our practice grew, we were not a 'mom and pop' client anymore, so we also sought out support for human resources and employment issues," says Louise, noting that the lawyers developed an excellent HR manual for the business. "As we became more successful, it was also important to have someone that could help us organize our future and our children's futures, so we got estate and tax planning help from them as well," she adds.
The Citrons credit Bob Weinstein for handling their real estate matters and acting as liaison for general corporate matters, Renee Inomata for handling employment matters and various corporate documents, and the team of Howard Medwed and Clifford Cohen for handling estate and trust matters.
"They have all been wonderful, and we would not be where we are today without them," Louise concludes.
This interview was published in the Winter 2010 issue
of our newsletter, Focus
Click here to view the entire 2010 Winter Focus
