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<p>KINGSTON &#8212; As a child growing up in the small town of Junedale just outside of Hazleton, Dr. Renee Monahan suffered from hearing issues.</p><p>So she knows intimately the joy her patients feel when they experience what it&#8217;s like to be able to hear clearly.</p><p>&#8220;Literally, we&#8217;ve seen people cry,&#8221; Monahan said. &#8220;That&#8217;s the most rewarding, having that immediate change from not hearing and being frustrated to being able to hear and suddenly opening up their world to communicate with their family again.&#8221;</p><p>As a child, Monahan, one of the premier audiologists in Pennsylvania, had multiple ear infections that caused temporary hearing loss that affected her greatly. She decided early on that she wanted to help people with hearing impairment and dedicated her professional life to helping infants, children and adults with hearing loss.</p><p>She gets emotional when discussing how through her work people with hearing loss are helped.</p><p>She described a 7-year-old boy she diagnosed with severe permanent hearing loss when he was 5 weeks of age. Through the use of properly fitted hearing devices and counseling of the parents, the boy&#8217;s life has improved tremendously. Today, he attends regular school and is an A student.</p><p>Her work with the hearing impaired is the reason the Times Leader has selected Monahan as one of 20 Distinctive Women of Northeastern Pennsylvania.</p><p>Monahan received her Bachelor of Science degree in Communication Disorders and a master&#8217;s degree in Audiology from Bloomsburg University. She earned a Doctorate of Audiology degree from Salus University in Philadelphia. She is a licensed audiologist and holds a Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech and Hearing Association. She is also a member of the American Academy of Audiology and the Pennsylvania Academy of Audiology. She is active in her community, serving on the White Haven Library Board of Directors and many committees for her church, St Patrick&#8217;s in White Haven.</p><p>She practices her profession at The Hearing Center in Kingston.</p><p>&#8220;I always say that audiology was a calling because I endured hearing tests when I was little and had many visits to the ENT for ear infections,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Somehow, I just took an interest in audiology as a kid and never deviated from that mindset or major all throughout high school and college.</p><p>&#8220;So I think it honestly was a calling.&#8221;</p><p>According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 36 million Americans nationwide suffer from hearing loss and millions more suffer from balance issues and other communications disorders, making this a broad field of study.</p><p>&#8220;On an average day, I see eight to 10 patients,&#8221; she said. &#8220;They range from children to centenarians. We have a 5-week-old that we tested and identified with hearing loss and our oldest patient is about 101.&#8221;</p><p>The variety of patients keeps Monahan&#8217;s job interesting.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s never boring. I&#8217;m doing this 28 years, and I haven&#8217;t been bored a day.&#8221;</p><p>In addition to seeing patients in the office, Monahan said she also does industrial hearing testing where she goes to factories and tests employees for noise-induced hearing loss. She also consults at John Heinz and nursing homes, doing on-site visits.</p><p>&#8220;I do in-home visits to people that I may know personally that are also my patients to do them a favor,&#8221; she said.</p><p>The professional is not without its challenges, however.</p><p>&#8220;A big challenge is that hearing aids are expensive and most insurances don&#8217;t cover them,&#8221; Monahan said. &#8220;It&#8217;s a struggle for people who need the hearing aids. The age group that generally needs hearing aids the most is the elderly, and their income is very, very limited.&#8221;</p><p>However, Monahan had said that the cost of a hearing aid extends beyond the aid itself, pointing to the health care that comes with it.</p><p>&#8220;The struggle we have is getting people to realize that bundled cost isn&#8217;t just for a little tiny hearing aid, it&#8217;s for the health care services and professional expertise,&#8221; she explained.</p><p>Still Monahan also finds the career incredibly rewarding.	She and her husband, Jim, reside in White Haven. They have two daughters.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Dr. Renee Monahan has been an audiologist at The Hearing Center in Kingston for the past 25 years. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL02XX18Monahan1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Dr. Renee Monahan has been an audiologist at The Hearing Center in Kingston for the past 25 years. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL02XX18Monahan2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Dr. Renee Monahan says the most rewarding part of her job is watching people go from struggling to hear to being able to hear clearly. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL02XX18Monahan2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Dr. Renee Monahan says the most rewarding part of her job is watching people go from struggling to hear to being able to hear clearly. </caption1><photoCredit1>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Katie Pugh</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p>Dr. Renee Monahan</p><p>Hometown: White Haven</p><p>Occupation: Audiologist at The Hearing Center</p><p>Quote: &#8220;Somehow I just took an interest in audiology as a kid and never deviated from that mindset or major all throughout high school and college. So, I think it honestly was a calling.&#8221;</p></factboxMeta></div>

Distinctive Women: Career a ‘calling’ for Dr. Renee Monahan