How Fortell Helped a New Yorker Reclaim Her Love of the City

At 79 years old, Susane is reclaiming her place in the vibrant pulse of New York City. A retired hospital and mental health administrator with a sharp mind and an active spirit, Susane isn’t someone who shies away from the energy of the world around her. In fact, spending time outside has always been her greatest source of relief and restoration. But for years, progressive hearing loss had begun to shrink her world.

While her hearing aids worked in quiet spaces, using them outside in loud environments turned the city she loved into something that was almost too overwhelming. Once she hit the pavement to get out into her beloved city, the street noise became an insurmountable wall due to her hearing aids which amplified everything. 

“The background noise made my head swim,” she explained. “It’s so distracting that you eventually just stop trying to go out.” 

Progressive hearing loss felt vulnerable 

Susane’s struggle began during the tail end of a career in hospital and mental health administration. She remembers the "absolute terror" of sitting in large boardrooms with poor acoustics, unable to decipher the questions being asked. "I knew I was taking a stab in the dark with my answers," she recalls. "It was horrifying."

Over the next decade and a half, Susane tried multiple different sets of high-end hearing aids. They all failed her in the same way: they provided a boost in volume, but not clarity. She did okay in mostly quiet settings, but in more dynamic places where voices overlapped or where background noise interfered, she was unable to follow conversations. 

The sensory overload was so intense that she’d remove the devices immediately upon returning home, describing the amplified noise as “20,000 volts to the brain.” However, silence brought its own anxiety.  Even with her dog on watch, she frequently missed his barks alerting her to visitors or deliveries. “I was on the edge of anticipation all the time,” she said. “There was a constant buzz in the back of my mind that I’d miss something important.” 

“There was a constant buzz in the back of my mind that I’d miss something important.” 

A “quantum leap” in clarity 

When Susane eventually discovered Fortell, she was desperate for a solution. “I was getting more and more isolated and that’s just not who I am,” she said.

The moment she tried on the Fortell AI Hearing Aids, the change was instantaneous. She felt the world rush back in. "I started to cry," she said. "I was stunned, really. It was overwhelming. I hadn’t heard music in ten years. Suddenly, I wasn't just hearing a song, I could hear every single note."

For Susane, Fortell represented what she called a "quantum leap" over traditional technology. By using AI to separate speech from the environmental noise of the city, the devices removed the mental strain she had lived with for years. The "brain chaos" as she called it, was replaced by a sense of calm.

"I was stunned, really. It was overwhelming. I hadn’t heard music in ten years. Suddenly, I wasn't just hearing a song, I could hear every single note."

A new lease on life

Instead of taking her hearing aids out the moment she arrives home, Susane now keeps them in all day. The resulting shift in her daily life has been profound. Tasks that once felt impossible, like renewing a passport,  depositing a check at the bank, or updating her license at the DMV are now handled with ease. The vulnerability she felt in crowds has vanished, replaced by the confidence that she is hearing and responding appropriately.

Beyond the milestone achievements are the small, quiet joys at home: the sound of a doorbell, the bark of her dog alerting her of a visitor, the chirping of birds, and the ability to have a clear conversation on the phone. "My headspace can be used for pleasant things now instead of just trying to survive the noise. It has changed my life…and my life needed to be changed."

‍