When she isn’t helping her celebrity clientele, Dr. Lana Joseph-Ford is creating a product designed to enhance the human listening experience.
After her own struggles with both speech and hearing disorders as a child, Dr. Joseph-Ford isolated herself from the world and grappled with low self-esteem following eight years of bullying in school.
Today, she is in top demand as the mastermind behind the audio/in-ear system used by Drake when he’s putting on shows for his loyal fans. She is also the founder of High Level Speech & Hearing Center located in New Orleans, LA.
“After working with so many patients in audiology, I eventually had the privilege of working with musicians and music artists like Drake,” she explained. “I was able to help him out with his in-ear monitors, and create the custom molds for them. So working with them, I started learning more about the technology in earphones, and specifically, it was the ear monitoring systems that performers and musicians utilize whenever they’re doing performances on stage.”
Changing the World One Ear Device At A Time
Dr. Joseph-Ford isn’t just helping to solve the problems of others like her, who have suffered from hearing loss. She’s also cooked up the secret sauce for developing ear impressions for folks growing tired of the headphones falling out of their ears while doing strenuous activities.
“My job went from being the doctor who tested hearing and eventually to the doctor who’s literally recommending earphones and not just hearing aids,” she told AfroTech.
Eventually, Dr. Joseph-Ford had enough experience under her belt to begin tapping into creating her own brand of wearable ear devices, Jrumz.
“After listening to everyone have all of these different complaints about earphones and the quality of them, I said, ‘Well okay, you know, maybe there’s something that I can do to customize the experience to deliver the same high-quality experience that I’ve been providing our hearing aid patients to everyone else.'”
With roughly 20 percent of the population suffering from some sort of hearing loss, Dr. Joseph is aware of how this can affect one’s quality of life.
“It’s an invisible disorder. So, I think there are so many misconceptions, but the biggest one is that everybody can hear,” she shared. “And we try to put everyone in this box because we can’t see it.”
What's Next
Her next goal is to get Jrumz into stores and at the fingertips of more people who need them most.
She also aims to continue her work of helping to lift others as she climbs.
“My dream is to position the company so that people have access to it,” she shared. “We are just getting started.”
During the 2022 Essence Festival of Culture, Dr. Joseph-Ford hosted a Women in Audio & Entrepreneurship Brunch and pledged $10,000 to Girls Who Listen, the nonprofit dedicated to supporting future female creatives and executives within the music industry.
