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February 21, 2022How Jan got his energy back with Phonak hearing aids
Engineer Jan Graversen is a man with both of his feet planted firmly on the ground, and likes to get involved in everything important to him — both at home and at work. Today, Jan Graversen no longer lacks energy, but this hasn’t always been the case.
It took several years for Jan to tackle his hearing problem
He experienced poor hearing for many years, and nowadays it irritates him that he didn’t deal with it sooner. He returned home from work tired out, after having struggled through meetings in which he had problems hearing what was being said. He also had difficulty in following conversations at home, particularly in social situations. Finally, it couldn’t go on any longer.
The hearing aids didn’t survive the car journey
He decided to take control and contacted a private hearing aid dealer. After a brief examination, a pair of hearing aids were chosen, which he returned to collect a little later with great anticipation.
“We weren’t exactly friends, those hearing aids and me”
We weren’t exactly friends, those hearing aids and me,” says the 58-year-old engineer. Although the drive wasn’t very long, the new hearing aids didn’t survive the full trip. By the time he had parked the car on his yard, he had thrown out the hearing aids. The sound was poor, and he didn’t feel that he had found a solution to his hearing problems—quite the reverse, in fact.
He didn’t give up
Graversen isn’t the kind of man to give up straight away. He checked out subsidies and the various solutions available on the market before approaching another dealer. This time it was a success. With a new pair of hearing aids, he could hear again!
Nobody had directly pressured him into finding a hearing aid dealer—he had taken the initiative himself because he just couldn’t function in his job any longer. With the new hearing aids, he got his energy back. Working life was once more an arena in which he could participate, contribute, and get involved without tiring himself out. His private life also became simpler, which he was very pleased about.
The meeting with Roger
Roger microphones from Phonak can be used with all hearing systems.
A few years later, Jan Graversen was again faced with the consequences of poor hearing. He had to accept that the hearing aids that had served him well for several years were no longer sufficient to compensate for his failing hearing. Jan Graversen contacted his local branch of Audiograf and asked for advice.
The feedback was “Your hearing aids are good enough, but you need a little extra help.” They suggested that he could test out hearing devices, more specifically the Roger microphone series from Phonak.
“Your hearing aids are good enough, but you need a little extra help”
A whole new world with hearing aids and Roger
It was a whole new world. As soon as he explored the functions, Jan could follow conversations, even in the most challenging situations. When he uses Roger in combination with the Paradise hearing aids, even his colleagues are impressed.
With hearing aids and Roger, Jan can participate in discussions with colleagues.
“I’m surrounded by engineering types,” he says. “They can often be somewhat geeky people who can be difficult to convince. But when I show them what the equipment can do, even the young ones are impressed.”
His smartphone, Roger products and hearing aids are all compatible with each other and function as a seamless unit. What just a few years ago was seen as an old-fashioned aid has now become a modern communication and hearing solution that can be combined with other smart consumer technology.
“It works perfectly!”
From agricultural equipment to green energy
Elsewhere, heavy-duty mechanical solutions have occupied Graversen’s engineering brain. For the last 12 years, he has worked on product development and R&D for one of the market’s largest suppliers of wind turbines. Previously, he was the head of development for the tractor giant Massey Fergusson. His specialism also included the automation of food production and agriculture, including in Russia.
Family life in the country and a passion for hunting and horses
Jan thrives best when his feet are planted on Danish soil, more specifically in Jutland. He was born and grew up here, and lives today in the countryside with his wife. Their children have long ago flown the nest.
The couple share a passion for the outdoors, but each in their own area. His wife prefers cycling, while Jan hunts. He hones his shooting skills by hunting locally—in the old-fashioned way, in search of pheasants followed by a well-earned dram of “Gammel Dansk”. He has to rely on his hunting pals’ dogs because his own fox terrier is the family pet and totally unsuitable for hunting.
He also enjoys kayaking and taking quiet trips around the coastal scenery. Timekeeping and Eskimo rolls aren’t his type of thing.
“I have tried some Eskimo rolls,” he smiles. “But I only managed to get halfway.”
One passion Jan and his wife share are horses, however. Twenty years ago, they were heavily involved in equestrian sports, including show jumping, dressage, in fact all of the sport’s disciplines. They have kept a couple of horses for sheer pleasure, but the days of painstaking training and competitions are over. Now the horses enjoy an extra carrot and sunny days in the meadow, without the stress of needing to perform.
It’s a good life to come home to.
Original text: Morten Bibow
Translated and written by Phonak Norway
