When Barbie Bell, Audiologist, joined the MDHC team last year, she brought with her 24 years of clinical experience primarily in private practices throughout Colorado. She started her career in a teaching hospital in Los Angeles and wanted to return to that type of environment. When asked why she sought a position at the Marion Downs Hearing Center, she stated, "I really enjoy being involved in research and supervising students - I wanted to be in an environment where I could expand my clinical knowledge again."

As an undergraduate student at University of Santa Barbara, Barbie started out in the Speech Pathology program but found herself gravitating toward the scientific and diagnostic aspects of her audiologist coursework. She changed her career focus and completed an MA in Audiology from University of Northern Colorado in 1985, followed by an AuD from Central Michigan University in 2007.

Barbie's specialty as a member of the MDHC team is working with hearing aids, primarily with adults. She has always been fascinated by the fitting process of a hearing aid, using probe microphones to collect objective data about the performance of a certain hearing aid while it is in a patient's ear. She appreciates the challenges of transferring a hearing aid's performance from a rigid laboratory setting to a patient's ear and looking for what she refers to as the human link. "I think it is an art...there is a lot of science behind the development of a hearing aid but the trick is figuring out how to match that hearing aid's performance to an individual's lifestyle," she says.

When she is not busy being an Audiologist, Barbie is busy being a mom to her two daughters, ages 10 and 11. Together with her husband of 16 years, Bud, they take their family on camping trips and exploring the great outdoors. Barbie also loves the theater and curling up with a good book.