User:Brikash/sandbox

Origins
Optimal Hearing Systems is a family-owned and operated audiology and hearing aid practice that was founded in 1961 by Billy Ray Pitt, in Savannah, Georgia in 1961. It is a multi-location, multi-specialty practice that offers hearing and balance solutions for its patients suffering from diminished hearing, vestibular issues, and other communicative concerns. The company was originally founded as one of the first Beltone Hearing Aid franchises in the Southeast United States. After operating as a Beltone Franchise for nearly 40 years, its president, Richard Pitt, made the decision to take the company away from the franchise model, becoming an independent hearing aid dealership in 1991. In subsequent years, it joined the Audibel Network, a division of Starkey Starkey Hearing Technologies.

Current Operations
Since leaving the Audibel Network in 2009, Richard Pitt decided to best serve the hard of hearing community, the ability to dispense multiple products would help differentiate the practice from other, single-line pracitces. It currently dispenses devices from each of the major manufacturers of hearing aids, including:

Starkey

ReSound

Widex

Oticon

Sivantos

Sonova

Current Leadership
As of 2020, Optimal Hearing is in its third generation of ownership, led by Dr. Gabriel Pitt, AuD. . Dr. Pitt has led the field of audiology by researching auditory evoked responses in older adults.

Oh! Hearing Aids
In 2009, Optimal Hearing partnered with a major manufacturer of hearing aids to establish what became knows as the [https://optimalhearing.com/hearing-aid-info/oh-hearing-aids/ Oh! Series of hearing aids]. Optimal Hearing is the exclusive provider of this product.

Charitable Endeavors
In November of 2019, the company made a bold promise to help hundreds of low-income residents throughout Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida hear better by donating hearing aids to the hard of hearing communities that may otherwise not be able to access the technology for financial reasons.

In addition to donating hearing aid devices, Optimal Hearing often sponsors events in the community to promote the importance of better hearing.