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ST. GEORGE — The love of David Miller's life was something you don't hear every day.
"From the first time I took a course at the University of Oregon in audiology, and I just did it to fill a requirement. But in that first course, I fell in love with the ear, and learned so many amazing things about how the ear is designed and how it works," said Miller, of St. George.
The U.S. Army Reserve veteran and audiologist worked for 35 years before his retirement at the Department of Veterans Affairs in La Jolla, California, where he helped train students, treated a "boatload" of patients and issued countless hearing aids.
"Now, I've spent a good part of my life helping people with disordered hearing. And I joined that group myself a number of years ago, and so I've had a lot of experiences helping others and I've experienced the same things that I was helping them with, and so I know it from both perspectives. ... I always felt like I have chosen something that was valuable because I was helping people who needed help," Miller said.
He found himself in need of the same help a few months ago, when his wife, who suffered from dementia, misplaced his hearing aids. He and his daughters searched for them throughout the couple's home, but "we never found them, never found hide nor hair of them," Miller recalled.
And with rising medical bills for his ailing wife's care, he couldn't afford a new pair. So he reached out to a hearing aid company he'd worked with during his career, unsure whether he would hear back.
I always felt like I have chosen something that was valuable because I was helping people who needed help.
–David Miller, retired audiologist
But Starkey, an American-owned hearing aid manufacturer, quickly answered the call for help and began working on getting him a new pair. When Miller's wife passed away, the company sent him a temporary pair so he could hear at her funeral.
"And that was a real big help for me, because otherwise I would do what most people with hearing loss do. You bluff a lot, you smile and nod as if you're understanding, and you don't have a clue what was said. But you don't want to be a pain in the neck either and ask people all the time, 'Say that again, can you speak a little louder?'" he said.
On Friday, he got fitted for his own permanent pair.
Audiologist Kimball Forbes, who performed the fitting, said it's a "treasure to fit a friend, a former audiologist, a veteran and a great guy."
Miller also happened to be Forbes' last patient, as he planned to retire Friday evening.
"To help people hear better for 40 years has been way better than working at Disneyland, and it's just been such a fun job and so fulfilling. ... To end with (Miller) is a real special thing for me," Forbes said.
He said he relates to his patients, as he also has hearing loss and knows what it's like to be without hearing aids.
Miller has severe hearing loss due to nerve damage, Forbes noted. Even a mild loss can cause a person to miss "so much," describing severe loss as "very devastating."
"This is totally life-changing to be able to hear well again, even in difficult, noisy situations," Forbes said.
Most adults with hearing loss experience reduced hearing sensitivity to higher-pitched voices and sounds, making it sound like people are mumbling, Miller noted.
Erek Winnett, an audiologist with Starkey, said Miller received Livio Edge AI hearing aids, which he described as the most advanced on the market. Explaining that Miller has stability issues, Winnett said the built-in artificial intelligence sends alerts to three loved ones, along with GPS coordinates, in case of a fall. The aids also can activate a custom program based on difficult hearing situations, he said. Miller can also tap his hearing aids and give them voice commands — they can even turn on his phone, Winnett said.
He said the company was "very happy to be on board" with helping Miller.
"It's been a really great experience, I think, for everyone," Winnett said.
"It certainly has been for me," Miller said.
"We're going to all group hug afterwards, and we've all been vaccinated," Winnett added.
