We are building Hear in Texas as a clinic that provides our New Braunfels community with the best hearing care and support in Texas, and when we met Maudi Alvarado-Robles and heard about how she came to be a hearing instrument dispenser and fitter, we knew she would be the perfect addition to our team.
Hearing Is Personal To Maudi
Maudi started out in life as a franchise owner trainee and was learning all the ins and outs of business development – operations, management, ownership, employee training, and more. She believed that would be her career track, until family changed everything.
Sadly, Maudi’s father passed away when she was only seven years old, and when she turned eighteen, her mom married Shemar, a man from Mexico who spoke only Spanish.
Between the language barrier and Maudi’s efforts to communicate with her new stepfather, she deduced, after four years of trying, that Shemar just didn’t like her.
At mealtimes, he would smile and nod off, and then as soon as he was done, he would excuse himself and leave without engaging much.
Maudi decided he just wasn’t a social person, but then he started to self-isolate a lot and a doctor said he seemed to be showing early stages of Alzheimer’s disease – a heartbreaking diagnosis, until …
She shared the news with a friend at church, who asked if he’d had his hearing tested. She said, “You can’t remember what you can’t hear,” and recommended that Shemar see a hearing instrument specialist she knew.
That evaluation found that his right ear was completely dead and he only had partial hearing in his left ear. Almost the minute they put a hearing aid on, Shemar started talking in Spanish to Maudi and her mom. She had never seen him so engaged and happy and trying to make conversation.
It was right then when Maudi realized that Shemar’s challenge was nothing close to what she had thought – that he didn’t like her or her brothers or that he didn’t want to sit and have a conversation. He couldn’t participate because he had no idea what was being discussed!
The change in Shemar and the difference at home caused Maudi to go back to the clinic to learn more about hearing care, with the result that she left her old job in business development, even though she was doing well in it, and started working their front desk.
She was intrigued by the idea that a hearing aid could impact a relationship so much and improve family connections so strongly, and helping family relationships through hearing care became her passion.
Maudi’s Specialty
Maudi is a licensed hearing aid dispenser in the state of Texas.
Maudi has seen firsthand that the key to connectivity is being able to communicate, and this is what encouraged her to study and start dispensing hearing aids.
The hearing practice Maudi worked at was eventually sold to a hearing aid manufacturer, and because Maudi would only be allowed to dispense one type of hearing aid if she stayed on, she left and moved to Austin’s Hill Country to help hearing clinics develop their business models.
Six years later, Maudi was asked by a former work colleague now in New Braunfels, a hearing instrument specialist, if she would help him both in the business side of his hearing clinic and as a hearing aid dispenser.
When Maudi Met Sally
The day Dr. Sally Miranda met Maudi, heard her story, and learned about her years of experience in helping patients reconnect with their family members with the right hearing solutions, she knew she wanted her on her Hear in Texas team, and Maudi jumped at the chance.
This is Maudi’s first time working with an audiologist, and she is discovering the huge difference in what an audiologist can do for a patient compared to a hearing instrument specialist.
Maudi says, “I’m now able to see what a comprehensive approach to hearing care looks like. It includes insurance coverage, medical referrals, professional hearing evaluations, and long-term relationships.
“Dr. Sally is a phenomenal audiologist. I love how much she cares about her patients, the patient care she gives, and her integrity. She cares far more about providing her patients with the best hearing solutions than she does about making a buck.
“Sally has the heart approach to hearing. I think she really wants to grab all of her patients and just hold them in her heart. We don’t see that a lot.”
