Talking Hearing Loss

I didn’t expect to relate so deeply to a book that opens with a car crash and features a receptionist who won’t stop rearranging the furniture—but here we are.

Audiologist Wow! isn’t your typical novel. Written by Kevin Sanders Kettletown, an “actual” audiologist (who hides his identify behind a puppet), it’s a wild, often ridiculous, and strangely honest portrayal of life inside an audiology clinic. And I say that not just as a reader, but as someone who has lived and breathed this world—from both sides of the sound booth.

As someone who’s worn hearing aids most of my life and now lives with a cochlear implant, I know firsthand what it’s like to sit in that audiology chair with more questions than answers. But as an audiometrist, I’ve also been on the other side—guiding people through fittings, fielding the unexpected, and trying to keep a straight face when a client says their hearing aids “only work when the moon is full.”

That’s why this book resonated with me in a way I didn’t quite expect. Beneath the absurdity—the patients with impossible requests, the colleague so boring “paint tells you to watch him,” and the chaos of being “Happy Slapped” by local teens—there’s a very real commentary on the pressure, unpredictability, and emotional weight that comes with healthcare work.

Kettletown captures the mental load we carry as clinicians: trying to help others while often managing our own unhealed wounds. Kevin, the protagonist, is haunted by a broken relationship and a crash that left more than just physical damage. His descent into chaos might be exaggerated for comic effect, but the burnout, the overthinking, and the emotional tightrope? Very real.

As an aspiring writer, I appreciated the way the book blends gallows humour with moments of surprising introspection. It’s farcical, yes, but underneath all the surreal clinic drama is a quiet kind of grief—and a search for meaning that will feel familiar to anyone who has worked in care, worn a white coat, or spent too long in a soundproof booth with nothing but their own thoughts.

If you’re an audiologist, audiometrist, hearing care professional—or someone who’s ever wondered what really happens behind the doors of your local hearing clinic—this book is for you. And if you’ve ever sat across from a patient (or an audiologist) and thought, “Is this real life?”—then it’s definitely for you.

Is Audiologist Wow! an accurate representation of day-to-day practice? Not exactly. But is it emotionally accurate? Uncomfortably so.

And sometimes, the only thing louder than a failing hearing aid is the laughter you need to get through the day.

Verdict:
📚 Audiologist Wow! is chaotic, clever, and cathartic. A must-read for anyone in hearing healthcare—or anyone who’s ever needed a hearing check and left with an existential crisis.

Ready to dive into the madness?
You can order Audiologist Wow! directly from the publisher at Bad Pug Publishing. Hardcover and softcover editions available—perfect for your clinic waiting room, your bookshelf, or that one colleague who swears “nothing weird ever happens in audiology.”