Hearing isn’t a luxury, it’s a quality of life.

That’s the slogan for Moore Hearing, an auditory health facility that works with thousands of patients to improve hearing.

As the massive baby boomer generation steers headlong into retirement age, hearing aids become more important. For younger generations, a greater understanding of health also leaves them interested in ways to preserve or improve the way they listen to the world.

Jessie Dimmick, an audiologist with Moore Hearing (one of several hearing-treatment businesses in the valley), said even when people know they have an issue, things aren’t easy.

“As a consumer it is difficult to know what to do,” she said. “The first step is to have a complete evaluation by an audiologist.”

Audiologists are clinical doctors who attend four years of post-graduate education. Their expertise is in measuring sound and finding problems with hearing. Dimmick, a recent addition to Moore Hearing, came from North Carolina.

“I work hard on the educational process for this job,” she said. “I spend two hours with each patient getting to know them and their lives so I can come up with a solution. We don’t want to compare ourselves to other businesses but instead try to build within our four walls the best patient experience we can.”

Hearing aids can run from $2,500 to $7,000 per pair at Moore Hearing, and because health insurance tends not to cover the devices, good customer service is vital. A bundle of services makes a complete hearing-health package, Dimmick said. It is “investing in yourself,” according to Moore Hearing.

Audiologists run tests, fit the devices and continue to make sure they work.

“Hearing aids aren’t perfect,” Dimmick said. “There are so many ill-fitting hearing aids out there and frustrated patients who think their case is hopeless. It really isn’t.”

Stacia Moore owns Moore Hearing and has run the Kalispell business for 11 years. The business’s longevity is attributed to excellent care for the patient, they say. All the testing is based on scientific measurements.

“I run through an objective way of testing the devices,” Dimmick said. “It used to be just asking, ‘How does that sound?’ That’s subjective. We want to measure the peaks and valleys of sound.”

The Greatest Generation and baby boomers make up the bulk of Moore Hearing’s business, but Gen X and Y also are experiencing more hearing issues.

Dimmick said the No. 1 reason a client comes to Moore Hearing is occupational noise exposure.

The hearing of loggers, mechanics and others with loud jobs deteriorates over decades. And those younger folks? The vast majority of hearing loss isn’t from loud music (although it can be) but instead from firing weapons without proper ear protection.

To avoid diminished hearing, deafness and afflictions such as tinnitus (ringing in the ears), she recommends customized ear plugs. The cheap foam ones can be useful, Dimmick said, but even a tiny wrinkle can allow in all the sound and make them useless.

Custom-molded devices to block sound are a sure way to prevent ear damage, she said. And living in a rural area with loud jobs and plenty of firearms means the audiologists of the valley have a void to fill.

Even so, hesitation to go to an audiologist remains, and Moore hearing is aware of that.

“A lot of people still have a negative connotation with hearing aids from the days they were sold door-to-door like a commodity,” Dimmick said. “But now baby boomers want the technology. They want to use it on their Apple products and now they can.”

Tech-savvy clients and homebound seniors (driven to either the main office or the outreach offices in Libby and Eureka by Moore’s husband, Terry) combine the new- and old-school thoughts of hearing aids and hearing health.

Dimmick sees patients from 23 to 97 years old and will get an 8-year-old client shortly.

For her, hearing aids are not something to be stigmatized but rather to embrace as a benefit to health.

“I’m very motivated by the person in front of me,” Dimmick said. “My advice to people is to give better hearing a chance.”

Reporter Ryan Murray may be reached at 758-4436 or by email at rmurray@dailyinterlake.com.