Craig Haltom’s business may seem like just a place to get hearing aids, but to him, such a description does not do his 29-year profession justice. In fact, such a description does not even describe the importance of the products he provides at all.

Haltom said he started Nu Hearing Center roughly 29 years ago in Bristol. Since then, they have expanded into offices in Kingsport, Johnson City, Greeneville and, roughly six months ago, Elizabethton.

“It seemed like a natural expansion,” Haltom said. “People here are underserved.”

This lack of access is important enough to him that he decided to expand his business into the Carter County area.

He said hearing is so important to socialization that even a slight loss can alienate people from social circles.

“Hearing loss is a big deal,” he said. “There are 40 million Americans who need hearing aids. Within the next five to seven years, that will go up to 80 million.”

Nu Hearing Center’s primary focus is fitting clients with hearing aids, a career choice he said he found after a search for a new vocation led him to shadow a friend in West Virginia for a week who did the same thing.

“The first patient we saw was an eight-year-old boy,” Haltom said. “He was failing out of school.”

A little while after leaving the office with a new hearing aid, he and his mother returned to say he was now making straight A’s. Crying tears of joy, the mother gave his friend a freshly baked loaf of bread in thanks.

He said interactions like this were common in his business.

“It is phenomenal,” Haltom said. “It is the most rewarding thing I have ever done.”

He said hearing aids today are not what the stereotypes say. They are more a computer than just a plastic dongle that breaks microphones in their vicinity.

“It is a sound processor,” he said. “It literally looks for human speech, and it can amplify it over other noises.”

Unlike “franchise stores” that only fit one particular brand of hearing aid, whether Widex or others, Haltom said he provides as many brands as he can, saying no one brand works for every client he meets.

For those approaching middle age, he said it is crucial to get hearing tests as early as possible, as faster detection of issues means faster treatment.

“Folks wait too long,” he said. “There are two parts of the problem: acuity of that sound, and turning the sound into speech.”

Haltom said these issues degrade gradually over time, and it is much easier to tune a hearing aid to what a client needs sooner, before these problems become worse.

“Bottom line, it is recommended everyone has a hearing test annually if they are over 40,” Haltom said.

He said they offer a free, comprehensive test for prospective clients who want to see what their baselines are. That way, if problems arise later in life, they already know what to look for much earlier.

Those interested can call 423-440-3433 or visit them at 1500 West Elk Avenue in the Medical Care Building in Elizabethton.