For Families
California Hearing Center is an independent, locally owned practice with offices in San Mateo and San Carlos, caring for Peninsula patients for 33 years. If your parent lives in a senior community and travel is the obstacle, see our community hearing program. We visit communities across the Peninsula, and we hold group clinic days for residents who come to us together by community bus.
At a glance
- What families read as memory trouble or withdrawal is often untreated hearing loss, and a test settles it in about an hour.
- For an older adult, choose the device they will actually wear: rechargeable, simple controls, automatic programs. Fit for the caregiver too.
- Most hearing aids written off as broken are blocked with wax or not charging; we service any brand from any provider.
How to tell whether hearing is the problem
Families usually notice the pattern before the person does. The television creeps louder. Phone calls get shorter. Your parent answers a question slightly beside the one you asked, agrees with things they have not heard, or begins declining invitations to restaurants and family gatherings without quite saying why. What is often read as memory trouble, stubbornness, or withdrawal turns out to be a person who has stopped catching consonants in a noisy room. A hearing test settles the question in about an hour, and it is worth doing before you conclude anything about memory.
What a first appointment involves
We take a history, look in the ears, and run a full evaluation. Not just the softest tones your parent can detect, but how much speech they actually catch, how much they miss, and how they perform against background noise. Then we go through the results in plain language, with the audiogram in front of you. If something needs a physician rather than an audiologist, we say so and help with the referral. Nobody is sold anything on a first visit. Come along if you can: families remember instructions the patient does not.
Devices that suit an older adult
The best hearing aid for an older adult is the one they will actually wear, which is a different question from which one performs best in a lab. In practice that usually means rechargeable devices with no tiny batteries to fumble with, larger or simpler controls where dexterity or eyesight is limited, and automatic programs that adjust to each room without anyone pressing anything. Where a resident depends on a caregiver, we also fit for who has to clean and charge the device, not only for who wears it. We fit any major brand, so the recommendation follows the person rather than a supplier.
Keeping the aids working, which is where most of this is won or lost
Hearing aids are not a one-time purchase. They need cleaning, new domes and filters, and reprogramming as hearing changes, and an aid that gets none of that quietly stops helping within a year or two. This is the single most common thing we see: a device written off as broken that turns out to be blocked with wax or simply not charging. We service any brand from any provider, including devices bought from a big-box retailer, ordered online, or fitted by a practice your parent has since moved away from. If you are unsure whether the current aids are right, our free second opinion is exactly that, with nothing to buy.
Where we are, and communities across the county
Our offices are at 88 N. San Mateo Drive in San Mateo and 1008 Laurel Street in San Carlos, which puts most of the county within a manageable drive. We care for residents and families from senior communities throughout San Mateo, including Atria Park of San Mateo, Sunrise of San Mateo, The Peninsula Regent, and The Stratford. Staying with one local practice matters more in later years than it does earlier. The same clinician, the same records, and someone who knows what has already been tried.
Frequently asked questions
Your questions, answered
How do I persuade a parent who insists their hearing is fine?
Ask for a test rather than a hearing aid. Most people will agree to have something measured when they will not agree to being fitted with anything, and a great many are more willing once they see the audiogram and understand it is speech clarity rather than volume that has changed. There is nothing to buy at a hearing test.
Is it worth treating hearing loss in someone quite elderly?
In most cases, very much so. Better hearing keeps an older adult in the conversation, which supports mood, engagement, and daily wellbeing at any age. Untreated hearing loss is also associated with a higher risk of falls, and the Lancet Commission on dementia prevention lists it as the largest modifiable risk factor in midlife. Both are associations across populations rather than proof of cause, and both are reasons to have the hearing checked rather than wait.
Can I come to the appointment with my parent?
We encourage it. Families help with decisions, remember instructions afterwards, and are usually the ones who notice whether the aids are actually being worn. If your parent would rather come alone, we are glad to talk with you afterwards with their permission.
My parent's hearing aids came from somewhere else and stopped working. Will you look at them?
Yes. We service any brand from any provider, however and wherever they were bought. Bring them in even if they have not been worn in months. A device that seems dead is very often just blocked with wax or holding no charge.
My parent cannot travel easily. What are the options?
Ask their senior community whether they would like us to visit. Our community hearing program brings cleaning, checks, and troubleshooting into the community itself, and we hold group clinic days for residents who come to us together by community bus. The request often lands better with a community coming from a resident's family than from us.