Tahoe Family Hearing Clinic

Gone are the days when Tahoe residents had to leave their mountain town for specialized hearing care.

Tahoe Family Hearing Clinic is bringing world-class audiology services within reach, helping the local community eliminate the need for long-distance travel. From hearing aids and medically implanted devices to highly specialized pediatric audiology, the clinic ensures expert hearing care is accessible, serving a long-overlooked need in the region.

At the clinic, hearing care goes beyond standard tests. Rather than assessing hearing ability in the artificial quiet of a sound booth, Dr. Jenelle Sandy, founder, focuses on how patients process speech in real-world situations. Background noise, conversations in a busy cafe or the hum of everyday life can make a significant difference in how someone experiences sound. By tailoring assessments to these challenges, the clinic ensures each patient receives solutions fine-tuned to their specific needs. Offering solutions from all major hearing aid manufacturers and implant devices, the clinic prioritizes personalized interventions that help patients reconnect with the world around them.

One such case involved a middle school student who had received cochlear implants as an infant but was struggling with word comprehension. When tested in the sound booth, his speech understanding was alarmingly low despite his devices functioning properly. But rather than relying on standard adjustments, Dr. Sandy took a collaborative approach. Working closely with the student’s cochlear implant manufacturer, she thoroughly reviewed his case, fine-tuned his device settings and guided him through a series of follow-up appointments. Over time, his speech clarity and sensitivity to sound improved considerably.

“We rely on our ears every day, yet we rarely prioritize their care like we do for our eyes or teeth,” says Dr. Sandy. “That’s why our clinic offers personalized solutions that fit each patient’s lifestyle, ensuring they don’t just hear better—they live better.”

The clinic provides solutions beyond traditional hearing aids and implants, catering to a range of lifestyles. Whether it’s hunters and motorsports enthusiasts who need earplugs that block harmful noise while maintaining environmental awareness, musicians who rely on high-fidelity plugs to protect their hearing without distorting sound, swimmers who need custom water-resistant plugs or light sleepers searching for comfort and quiet— each solution is designed to fit seamlessly into everyday life while preserving long-term hearing health.

The clinic’s comprehensive approach begins with the first phone call from the patient for the appointment. The front office manager carefully gathers patient history and insurance details to prevent surprises. Upon arrival, patients are personally greeted by the team, who guide them through a thoughtful process—a conversation about hearing concerns and medical history, a thorough ear examination and age-appropriate diagnostic tests. Together, the patient and provider review results and develop personalized solutions, ensuring support at every step, from consultation through ongoing care.

For many, that journey starts at birth. In a community where home births are common, many newborns previously missed crucial hospital-based hearing screenings—leaving potential issues undetected during the earliest, most critical stages of development. Tahoe Family Hearing Clinic’s newborn hearing assessments can detect issues early, when intervention is most effective. Its youngest patient was diagnosed at just eight days old, allowing for immediate support and maximizing the child’s ability to develop language and communication skills.

Behind this transformative care is Dr. Sandy, whose deep expertise in pediatric audiology, cochlear implants and bone conduction devices has made a profound difference in the community.

For patients of all ages, this commitment to accessible, high-quality hearing care is transformative. Living in a mountain town no longer means being cut off from essential medical services. Whether it’s a newborn receiving life-changing early intervention or an adult reconnecting with the world of sound, progress is coming through louder and clearer in this close-knit community.