CLEVELAND — Audiologist Carrie Spangler knows what it's like to live with hearing loss. She’s had a hearing aid since she was 4 and received a cochlear implant in 2019. 


What You Need To Know

  • The Summit Education Services Center and the Cleveland Guardians are raising awareness about hearing loss 

  • They will be holidng a special event at the Guardians game on May 7.

  • Audiologist Carrie Spangler shares her experience with hearing difficulties as a way to spread awarenss 

“There is a magnet and as soon as I take the magnet off, everything goes really silent," she said. 

It bypases the ear and stimulates the auditory nerve that sends signals to the brian, deciphering what people are saying, instead of hearing them. 

“It’s kind of like a piano, and it codes what different people are saying," she said. "It’s an electronic signal, and my brain has gotten used to it."

Spangler said it takes time for the brain to get used to this. 

“All I could hear was it sounded like beeps, it sounded like chirps and it sounded like whistles," she said. 

Her hearing struggles inspired her to become an audiologist, where she can use her experience to help diagnose hearing loss, and find solutions. 

Spangler showed off a machine called a portable audiometer. She uses this to help diagnose someone’s hearing ability, by sending beeps at different frequencies in someone’s ear. 

“I want you to raise your hand if you hear something," she said, as she was about to start playing the sounds. 

This machine can point out which ear may be better for a hearing aid or implant. 

“That’s one of the pieces of the puzzle for cochlear implants," Spangler said. "And there’s a lot of other things that go into it medically. I needed an MRI, a CT scan."

She is an Audiologist for the Summit Educational Service Center. Her organization is teaming up with Cleveland Guardians to raise awareness about hearing loss at their game on May 7. 

“Hearing loss can impact people of all ages from newborns to end of life," Spangler said. "What we want to do as audiologists is improve quality of life."

Another goal of the event is to raise funds for CampUS, a project that strives to influence teens who are deaf or hard of hearing. Five dollars from every ticket sale goes to the organization if you order tickets through this link