Brandon Sawalich

Started as an intern in college.

Well, they don't connect it.

I mean, that's the number one.

When people think I have a hearing loss, if I say, you know, ask anybody about it, the first thing they say is I'm old age.

And then there's, you know, due to whether it's movies, media, you know, it could be now, of course, social media.

Sure.

The stigma is that associated with hearing aids and hearing loss.

I always think of the movie Up or a movie or a TV show, hearing aids squealing because it's feeding back and it's big and it looks like you're disabled.

Yes, it's a stigma around that.

And if I have hearing loss, well, I'm not going to die from it.

I don't need to do anything about it.

So it's a disadvantage that is out there more than people think.

But 44 million in the U.S., estimated 500, half a billion.

Yes.

Wow.

And half a billion around the world.

So it's a health issue.

But it's not one that's alarming people because it's, like I said, it's quiet and it's invisible.

Yeah, we've been waiting for the results of that study for over three years, I believe.

Yeah, if you look at, you know, how the human brain works, I mean, we hear with our brains.