I hear you…Do you really?

• David Beutel

Owner/audiologist David Beutel is a one-man operation at his new hearing business on Second Street. Beutel stands by a podium with a laptop computer connected to an audiometer that emits sounds into the headphones of a person sitting nearby. The audiometer measures one’s hearing range, from low to high tones. Phil Pfuehler photo

Talk about it

David Beutel, who worked for Galen Berry at Audiology Associates in River Falls for many years, recently opened his own hearing business -- River Valley Audiology, 215 N. Second St. (River Center Professional Building across from the post office).

River Valley Audiology has a small ground-floor office. It’s conveniently set in a building with other healthcare tenants, including a chiropractor, physical therapist, dentist, oral surgeon, cardiologist and orthodontist.

Beutel also extends his services by going mobile. He’s available for hearing checks and consultations at Wellhaven Senior Living, 119 Union St., every Tuesday morning; and the second and fourth Thursday morning each month at Comforts of Home, 2349 Aurora Circle. He also has mobile hours at Comforts of Home in Menomonie.

Beutel, 58, was born in Lake Elmo, Minn., graduated from Stillwater High School, and attended UW-River Falls where he graduated in 1978 with a bachelor’s in communicative disorders (speech therapy and audiology). He continued in that field and earned a master’s at UWRF in 1983.

Besides working at Audiology Associates in River Falls from 1984-1992, Beutel has been a school-speech therapist, ran a small hearing conservation firm that tested and consulted for manufacturers in eastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin. Each year he evaluated the hearing of close to 9,000 factory workers.

Last year Beutel formed River Valley Audiology.

He says his business motto is thrift and customer need.

“I have a little office and it’s just me here -- I wash windows, vacuum the carpet -- so my overhead is minimal and I can provide quality hearing products at very reasonable prices while still providing exceptional service to my patients,” Beutel said. “My approach is casual and low-ley while giving professional answers to questions without high-pressure sales tactics.”

Hearing consultations are free, so are minor repairs and cleaning of hearing devices.

For more on this business story, please see the Nov. 29 print edition of the River Falls Journal.

Tags: business, health, wisconsin