Can you hear me now? Audiology clinic back in pre-Katrina site Published April 16, 2007 By Steve Pivnick 81st Medical Group Public Affairs KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- The audiology clinic is open and providing both audiology and hearing aid services in the basement of Keesler Medical Center. The clinic was forced out of the basement by Hurricane Katrina. First, it moved to the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Biloxi, and last August, to the first floor of the base facility. According to Capt. David Eisenach, 81st Aerospace Medicine Squadron audiology flight commander, active-duty military and their dependents may receive hearing aids at no cost. All eligible retired military may obtain hearing aids at manufacturer's cost. However, dependents of military retirees currently are ineligible to participate in this program. The captain noted this is a savings of about 80 percent compared to hearing aids purchased commercially, or around a $2,000 savings per device. "All the hearing aids we dispense are the latest technology from the world's best hearing aid manufacturers," Captain Eisenach commented. "Keesler, Ft. Rucker, Ala., and Ft. Gordon and Ft. Stewart in Georgia are the only military facilities in the southeast (Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama and Florida), offering hearing aid purchase programs for retirees." Anyone needing either audiology or hearing aid services, call the medical center's central appointment line, 1-800-700-8603.