- Hi guys, welcome back to the Doctor Cliff AuD vlog.
This is vlog number 22 and I have some great news
right off the bat.
On my bike ride this morning, I did not run into an SUV.
So I'm starting off the day the right way
and if you have no idea what I'm talking about,
make sure that you go check out last week's vlog,
vlog number 21.
For today's vlog, I actually alluded to it
a little bit in last week's vlog.
I'm gonna talk a little bit about a post that I saw
on social media that I was tagged in.
So there's a holding company
for one of the hearing aid manufacturers that is out there
and they posted my video and tagged me
on a post, talking about FX-322.
And if you're unaware of what FX-322 is,
I do have a video on this on my YouTube channel.
So make sure that you check it out but the basic gist of it
is that there is a company out there
called Frequency Therapeutics that is developing a drug
that is designed to restore natural hearing ability
by regenerating hair cells
and hair cells are the primary reason why individuals
suffer from hearing loss.
So if you get older, if you have a noise-induced
hearing loss, whatever, it's usually the outer hair cells
that are damaged inside of your hearing organ.
And if you could regenerate those hair cells,
it would restore your hearing ability.
But the reason that I wanted to record a video
on this today and the whole purpose of this
is because the whole point of their post was,
hey, there's companies out here doing things like this,
how do we mitigate this disruption?
And this is something that I've spent
a lot of time thinking about,
about disruption in the hearing industry,
you have over-the-counter hearing aids
that are gonna be coming out here soon.
You already have online available devices
that are out there, you have potential drugs
that are going to reverse hearing loss or whatever,
and I'm thinking to myself, why would we wanna mitigate
the potential to cure hearing loss?
I think we're coming at this from the wrong direction
and so if they wanted to know my opinion,
in fact, my response to them was
why would you want to mitigate disruption,
if that disruption is gonna be something
that helps people hear better?
It really makes no sense to me.
However, when you start peeling back the layers,
it really does make sense.
I mean, you have companies out there
that they don't wanna lose market share.
I mean, they have a good thing going.
They're profitable, they're making money.
They have a lot of employees that they're taking care of.
So they're worried about them to a degree and I can get that
as a business owner but to potentially make an attempt
to mitigate disruption when this disruption is designed
to improve the way people can hear and potentially
remove hearing devices out of the equation,
why wouldn't we want that, in general?
One of the main reasons I got into this industry,
got into this field of audiology
was because I truly want people to be able to hear better.
And I mean, I would love it for myself too.
I mean, the hearing loss that I have in my right ear,
I would love if that hearing loss was not there.
If I could take a drug,
have a drug injected through my eardrum,
and absorbed into my hearing organ, my cochlea
and restore the hair cells that are damaged.
I think that that would be fantastic
and I think it's gonna happen someday.
And so to answer really the question of
what can we do to mitigate it?
It isn't that we're trying to prevent disruption
from happening, it is what are we doing to make sure that
we're still relevant if we need to still be relevant?
So I'm a huge believer in this idea that if you have
the ability to provide value to someone,
then what you're doing is needed.
As soon as that potential of providing value goes away,
then you don't deserve to exist anymore.
There's industries throughout our human history
that had a good thing going,
and they try to prevent technological innovation.
Let's just go back to like the horse-drawn buggy
and then when the Model T was developed,
I'm sure that all of the horse-drawn buggy people
were anti Model T, it's dangerous,
it's not good for anybody.
We have a system built out here to where
we can transport people from place to place
and what happens?
We'll lose all of our jobs if the Model T comes in
and people can start transporting themselves
and it seems ridiculous right now in society
when we see cars everywhere but it's no different here.
It's just like if a company were to try to prevent
innovation and something that would improve people's lives,
it just doesn't make sense.
And so in the hearing industry and in fact,
one of the reasons I make a lot of these videos
is that I like to provide value in what I do
and so whenever that day comes,
that my services are no longer needed by anybody,
because hearing loss doesn't exist anymore,
then why should I deserve to have a job as an audiologist?
It makes no sense and so what would I do?
Well, I would probably try to find another profession
where I could make a difference,
where I could have a positive change or a positive impact
on people's lives and I'd probably still
create contents around it to make sure that people
are fully informed of what their options are and so forth.
So when it comes down to it, over-the-counter hearing aids,
I happen to be a fan of them 'cause I think it's gonna
create additional awareness around treating hearing loss
but if over-the-counter hearing aids put me out of business,
then I deserve to go out of business
because if people can get from OTC hearing aids,
what they can get from me,
then they shouldn't have to come to me, okay?
It's the same thing with this FX-322.
If FX-322 actually works and it reverses hearing loss
by regrowing hair cells and I am no longer needed,
then so be it, then I don't deserve to have a job.
And while that sucks and I mean I love audiology,
I think that it is the greatest profession for me anyway
in the world and to think that potentially I would have
to do something else someday doesn't sit well
but what am I gonna do?
Am I gonna cry and complain about it?
Or am I gonna go find something else
that I can do to also have a great impact?
And I feel for all the other audiologists
in the world out there that feel the same way that I do
about this profession but really at the end of the day,
if you can't provide any additional value to someone,
you don't deserve to have a profession,
to have that profession still exist.
And there are a lot of different professions
that used to exist that don't exist anymore or only exist
as an histologic aspect of that once traditional profession.
So, I think that the things that we're seeing is exciting.
I think that we're still a long ways away from having cures
for hearing loss or having there'll be no role
for audiologists in the world even if FX-322 works,
which as of right now, we're still in clinical trials.
I mean, this could totally not work.
There has been some promise to this drug
but it doesn't mean that it's actually gonna work.
But I think that most likely I would find a way
to stay inside of this field to some degree
and just work on that side of it
not the hearing device side anymore.
I'm not particularly partial
to working with the hearing devices.
It is fun to some degree but there's a lot of other
fun stuff that's out there that I could be learning about
and talking about and practicing.
So, whatever happens happens
and I think that we just need to figure out where we fit
into that equation and where I fit into that equation.
But, someday we'll come along.
Whether it is when I retire or if there's some kind
of technological innovation or drug that's developed
that mitigates the need for me,
I'll find something else to do
but I won't be doing audiology forever.
I know that but for right now,
I'm just going to enjoy the ride.
I'm gonna keep making video content
and trying to not mitigate disruption.
So guys, that is it for this week's vlog.
If you liked it, make sure that you check out my other vlogs
and as always, I'll see you next week.
(upbeat music)