By Karah-Leigh Hancock
VALDOSTA — Audibel Hearing Aid Centers has a new home in Valdosta.
Now located on Northside Drive, the new facility is much bigger and nicer than the former location on Ashley Drive. They have separate offices and a soundproof room for hearing exams.
While Audibel is a franchise, its Valdosta location is a family owned business.
“My dad’s been doing it for about 30 years now,” Jason Murphy, hearing specialist and co-owner of Audibel Hearing Center, said. “I grew up in the business. We are actually the only American made, American owned hearing aid company in the United States.”
Valdosta’s Audibel Hearing Aid Centers is part of a network, with offices in Tifton, Waycross and Douglas.
Murphy and his wife also recently opened up a center in Thomasville.
Q: With so many offices, do you work in the Valdosta office often?
A: I don’t really work this office anymore. Chris Youngblood works this (the Valdosta) office.
Q: What is the age of your customer base?
A: I would say probably 85 percent of (our) customers are over the age of 65, but then there’s that 15 percent that’s under the age of 65. (We) have customers that are as young as 23 to well into their 100s.
Q: How do you compare yourself and Audibel Hearing Aid Centers to other hearing centers?
A: We do things a little different than I think other hearing specialists do. What we do is more education. We feel like it’s our job to educate our customers about their hearing, why they hear the way they hear, so that they have better knowledge about why their hearing is the way it is and what they can do to help their hearing. I wear a hearing aid. I’ve been wearing hearing aids for about five years now. I guess, in a way, I have a little insight on what people go through with their hearing problems.
Q: What does Audibel Hearing Aid Centers offer to its customers that makes it stand out from competing centers?
A: I guess one thing we emphasize beyond what good hearing instruments we work with and deal with, it’s our customer service that really drives people to want to come see us and be a part of what we do. We all really work together to take care of the customers and help people understand hearing technology. Our reputation is our customers. We like to get our customers in four or five times a year to make sure everything is working right. When you’re dealing with the amount of customers that we’re blessed to deal with, you can lose touch with people very easily, and as long as we keep them on a routine, as far as service appointments, we make sure we’re finding problems before they get to be bad problems.
Audibel Hearing Aid Centers
Address: 401 Northside Drive Suite E, Valdosta
Phone: (229) 244-3999
Web: www.audibel.com
