At 84 years old, Gerald Bernetzke decided it was time to do something significant about his hearing.
Battling gradual hearing loss for half of his life, Jerry had used device after device with hopes of finding a better solution for hearing the world around him.
“It took me a lot of years,” says Jerry, a resident of Morris. “My wife, Judy, had to put up with my hearing loss for the last 40 years. It gets to a point that something has to be done.”
The hearing aids Jerry relied on over the years were getting more expensive and weren’t proving effective, especially when it came to the hearing in his right ear. Plus, while hearing aids could amplify the sound, they couldn’t help him comprehend the sounds he was hearing.
With renewed determination, Jerry met with Dr. Matthew Bartindale, a fellowship trained, board-certified otolaryngologist with ENT Surgical Consultants who is on the medical staff at Morris Hospital & Healthcare Centers. After an evaluation, Dr. Bartindale determined that Jerry’s hearing loss was severe enough to make him a good candidate for a cochlear implant, a small device that is surgically implanted into the inner ear.
