A military veteran found success with Signia Pure Charge&Go T AX model hearing aids, improving his professional and private life.
After years of military service, a veteran facing hearing loss challenges has found a transformative solution with Signia hearing aids, enabling him to embark on a new chapter in his personal and professional life.
Michael “Jake” Johansson was ready to start the next chapter in his personal and professional life after serving 35 years in the US Navy. He had traveled around the world extensively, commanding squadrons in Iraq and Afghanistan, and moved up the ranks to become Operations Officer in the Naval Air Force and the Naval Aide to a Vice President. Strong leadership and interpersonal skills honed over the years set the foundation for his military career and beyond. Difficulty hearing was never an issue.
Only after undergoing treatment for throat cancer did he notice a slight ringing in his ears and difficulty focusing on conversations in large, crowded rooms.
“I found myself reading lips and asking people to repeat themselves more often than I should,” said Johansson..
The issue became particularly prevalent when Jake took up the role as city manager of the City of Port Orange, Florida. His hearing loss affected his ability to do his job well.
“When you’re standing at a dais leading a large meeting and fielding questions from the audience, you need to be able to hear clearly to provide good answers,” said Johansson.
The same issues were affecting his personal relationships.
“During family gatherings in our spacious living room, the reverberation was so intense I often had to leave the room, and when you stop listening to your wife, well, that’s never a good thing,” he said.
Despite his optimism on the potential of getting hearing help, the hearing aids initially prescribed to him failed to do the trick. After weeks of wear, the hearing aids felt uncomfortable and were unable to block out the ambient noise and reverberation that interfered with Johansson’s ability to hear conversations and connect with those around him.
A friend, Miller McKenzie, suggested that Johansson check out hearing aids from Signia. As a sales representative for the company, McKenzie was confident the technological and performance features of Signia’s hearing aids could bring Jake back into the conversation.
After being fitted with Signia’s Pure Charge&Go T AX model hearing aids by his local hearing care professional, Leanne Polhill, Johansson experienced tangible differences immediately with the Signia devices and knew within seconds that they were going to change his life.
“I was privileged to work with Jake to address his hearing loss with Signia Pure Charge&Go AX hearing aids. Jake had previously worn several other brands with limited success and was looking for a better fit for his active lifestyle,” said Polhill. “I am thrilled with Jake’s immediate success with his Signia hearing aids. He is now able to wear his devices full time – at home and in social situations – and is comfortable and re-engaged with his family and friends.”
Johansson put his new hearing aids to the test a day after his fitting at a banquet of 250 people.
“For the first time in a long time, I could hear every word of a conversation of the people around me without struggling to concentrate or turning my body a certain way to read their lips,” said Johansson.
He credits much of the improvements to Signia’s Augmented Xperience platform, along with Signia’s world’s first Augmented Focus split processing technology that processes speech and background noise separately to create a clear contrast between the two.
He also touts independent volume adjustments of each hearing aid, special modes for listening to live and recorded music, and Auto EchoShield which minimizes reverberations, among other favorite features.
As an elected official, Johansson remains front and center, connecting with members of the community with ease, due to his Signia hearing aids.
“Now that I’ve found the perfect hearing aids, I feel more confident in my professional abilities, more engaged with friends and family, more fulfilled, and less exhausted at the end of the day,” said Johansson.
