Watertown Audiology, P.C. listens to rising patient demand

WATERTOWN  —  Watertown Audiology, P. C. has cranked up its efforts to meet rising patient demand in the last year.

The hearing-care provider invested in both equipment and a second audiologist. It added a new sound booth at its office at 53-59 Public Square in Watertown, purchased new videonystagmography equipment, and acquired otoacoustic-emissions equipment.

The practice added the new sound booth and otoacoustic-emissions equipment in June. It added the videonystagmography equipment in January 2012.

Otoacoustic-emissions equipment uses a small microphone to measure whether the outer hair cells in the inner ear function. Providers mostly use it in tests for infants and children.

Videonystagmography testing evaluates a patient’s balance system. It determines whether vertigo, dizziness, and balance problems stem from inner-ear problems.

The new equipment was necessary because of rising patient demand, according to Watertown Audiology’s president and owner, Sarah Grimshaw-Sugden. Few providers offer hearing and hearing-aid care in Watertown Audiology’s coverage areas of Jefferson, Lewis, St. Lawrence, and Oswego counties, she adds.

“There are a lot of people with vertigo,” she says. “There aren’t a lot of audiologists up in this area.”

Watertown Audiology spent about $50,000 to acquire the sound booth (its second) and equipment, Grimshaw-Sugden says. The sound booth and otoacoustic-emissions equipment totaled $30,000, and the videonystagmography equipment tallied $20,000. The practice funded the acquisitions with financing from Watertown Savings Bank.

Installing the new sound booth required expanding the practice’s footprint by about 150 square feet. It leases about 2,000 square feet from the Woodruff Professional Group, according to Grimshaw-Sugden.

The second sound booth was necessary because Watertown Audiology hired a new audiologist, Sarah Fritz Brady, in July. Brady has experience in adult hearing testing, pediatric hearing testing, hearing-aid fitting, hearing-aid management, vestibular testing, and newborn hearing screening, along with tinnitus evaluations, dizziness testing, and balance testing. She previously worked in Columbus, Ga.

Brady’s addition to Watertown Audiology will help the practice serve its growing patient base and serve them quickly, according to Grimshaw-Sugden. It increased the number of patients the practice can see to 24 or more per day.

“When I was by myself, I was seeing 12 to 16 patients a day, which was difficult,” Grimshaw-Sugden says. “This has been needed for a long time. It’s just hard to find someone.”

Grimshaw-Sugden declined to share revenue totals for Watertown Audiology. She hopes the practice grows its revenue by 10 percent in 2012, which she says would be on par with recent years’ increases.

Watertown Audiology employs six people full time and two people part time. In the past year, it has added two new full-time positions, including Brady’s, as well as a part-time position.

Grimshaw-Sugden would eventually like to build a standalone facility to hold her practice. Owning its own building would give the practice more space and offer it more freedom to expand as needed, she says.

“I’m on the second floor of the Woodruff Professional Building, which has been a great place, and everybody in the building has been wonderful,” she says. “But sometime I’d probably like to expand. There’s no firm plan, but we’ve definitely been talking about it.”

The new building would likely be between 2,500 square feet and 3,000 square feet, Grimshaw-Sugden says, declining to disclose possible locations for the facility or a target date for construction. She wants to stay in Watertown, she adds.       

Contact Seltzer at rseltzer@cnybj.com