Bringing a Personal Perspective to Hearing Care: Meet Dr. Tori Cancel

Dr. Tori Cancel, Au.D., has worn a hearing aid herself since childhood. Not for hearing loss, but for misophonia, a sensitivity to sound. Her experience wearing hearing aids from a young age sparked her curiosity about hearing health, eventually leading her to study audiology at the University of Pittsburgh. 

Today, she brings that personal experience to patients across the country through Fortell Anywhere, Fortell’s virtual care program. It gives patients access to Fortell from wherever they are, without needing to travel to a clinic. 

Q: You’ve worn hearing aids since you were young. How did that shape your path into audiology? 

Dr. Cancel: When I was  young, I was diagnosed with a condition called misophonia, which is a sensitivity to sound. It’s often treated with hearing aids that produce a very low-level white noise to help distract from the sounds around you. That was an incredibly impactful experience for me. It let me reintegrate into my family's life, my own life, even just being able to sit in a classroom and pay attention, because the sensitivity was that intrusive. Hearing aids were the driving force behind getting my life back, and that stuck with me. 

“I knew by the time I was seventeen that audiology was the field for me.”

Q: Given that experience, did you always know you wanted to go into audiology, or did you find your way there over time?

Dr. Cancel: I always knew I wanted to go into healthcare, that was a given from pretty early on. I didn't realize audiology and medicine were two separate paths until I got to college, so I actually switched from pre-med into audiology once I understood the distinction. But looking back, I knew by the time I was seventeen that audiology was the field for me.

Q: Does your personal experience with hearing aids impact the way you interact with your patients now? 

Dr. Cancel: Definitely. There's a difference since I wear devices for misophonia, not hearing loss, and Fortell’s hearing aids are designed specifically to treat hearing loss. But when a patient is having difficulties with their devices, I can walk them through how to fix very specific things because I’ve dealt with them too. It’s all those nuanced things that come with wearing something behind your ear that I’ve experienced myself, so I can meet patients there. 

Q: How did Fortell first come onto your radar?

Dr. Cancel: I heard a lot about Fortell through word of mouth among other audiologists I know. I'd been following the company for about a year, watching the technology develop and paying attention to the research and clinical studies coming out which were genuinely remarkable. 

What the patients say and what the literature says are equally important to me, so I was also very impressed with and compelled by the patient reviews. Since joining, I’ve continued to hear directly from patients that Fortell is a real improvement over what they had before, and that’s given me confidence in the product and company. 

Q: What have patients told you that's stuck with you most?

Dr. Cancel: What really gets me is hearing about people going to a restaurant and actually following the conversation, hearing their grandkids, leading a meeting confidently instead of worrying they'll miss something important at the end. People being able to fully show up in their lives again is what makes this work so meaningful.

“The goal is for your care at Fortell to feel like the easiest aspect of your healthcare.”

Q: You meet with Fortell patients virtually. What’s your experience with virtual care and what would you tell a patient who’s hesitant about it? 

Dr. Cancel: I did in-person care during my residency at Duke and had a short stint at a private practice, but I've been almost entirely remote since I graduated. It’s completely understandable for a patient to be hesitant. Virtual audiology is still relatively new, especially for someone who has worn hearing aids for years and is used to meeting with an audiologist in-person. We keep everything very simple through video calls and can handle all of the programming remotely. The goal is for your care at Fortell to feel like the easiest aspect of your healthcare.

Dr. Tori Cancel, Au.D., is now seeing patients remotely at Fortell. Click here to schedule an appointment.

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*Fortell AI Hearing Aids are for prescription use by adults with hearing loss and are available in the U.S. only. For a list of specific states where Fortell Anywhere is available, please reach out to our team at info@fortell.com.

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