By Cynthia Hubert

November 03, 2025

With the gradual deterioration of her hearing, Arlene Concepcion lost confidence in her ability to converse with her friends, colleagues, and even with members of her family. 
 
“I’m scared of being misunderstood and feeling like I can’t communicate clearly with other people,” she said.  
 
Those concerns ultimately led her to Sacramento State’s Maryjane Rees Audiology Clinic, where specialists assisted by doctoral students recently activated an electronic device inside her inner ear that allowed her to hear more clearly than she had in years.  
 
“This is amazing! I can hear in my right ear,” she said during her recent appointment at the audiology clinic. 

The visit marked the first time that the Sac State clinic activated a cochlear implant, a state-of-the-art hearing device that a Sutter Health physician implanted in Concepcion’s inner ear weeks earlier. The device electronically stimulates the auditory nerve to promote hearing.   
 
Concepcion is among thousands of people with hearing and balance disorders who have visited the Audiology Clinic, which opened in 2020 to provide much-needed services and to train future experts in the field.  

The clinic, inside Folsom Hall, offers school hearing screenings, pediatric and adult hearing aid evaluations and fittings, ear mold impressions for hearing protection, cognitive screenings, and more on a donations-only basis. 
 
The clinic helps fill a significant void in care for people in the Sacramento region with hearing deficits, said Ariel Cassar, who coordinates the clinical education program within Sac State’s Doctor of Audiology program. 
 
“There is a huge deficit of audiologists nationwide,” Cassar said. “Sometimes, patients have to travel for hours to see an audiologist. So the more we can graduate the better.” 
 
Students benefit from working directly with patients, as well as from observing the use of the latest technology and devices, she pointed out.  
 
“The hands-on experience is everything, and they are able to serve the community,” Cassar said. 
 
Gerard De Jesus, who is in his second year of the four-year doctoral program, recalled helping patients improve their daily lives through such techniques as recalibrating their hearing aids.  
 
“Sometimes I’ll take them outside and watch them as they are able to hear birds or voices,” De Jesus said. “It’s a pretty satisfying feeling.” 
 
Concepcion, a registered nurse whose loss of hearing in her right ear began after she contracted meningitis as a child, decided to pursue a cochlear implant at the urging of her late husband. In early October, she underwent surgery at Sutter Medical Center, where doctors installed the device into her inner ear.  
 
Weeks later, Cassar used a computer to activate and program the device and fit her with a component that she will wear externally, much like a hearing aid. A transmitter within the outside device sends digital signals to the implanted receiver, stimulating the auditory nerve and allowing the patient to hear more clearly.  
 
The goal of the recent clinic appointment was simply to create “sound awareness” in Concepcion’s right ear. Cassar told her that sounds might be garbled at first, but that clarity would improve over time. 

Although her hearing was “a bit jumbled,” she said, “I can hear every single word.” 

Concepcion viewed the appointment as a success. She said she was looking forward to communicating better with colleagues and family members, especially her grandson. 

“The confidence is already here for me,” she said with a smile. “I think this will be life changing.”