For Dr. Marie Vetter Toalson, audiologist and owner of Chicago Hearing Services and Northwest Speech and Hearing Center, Widex Allure represents more than just the next step in hearing technology – it’s a leap forward in patient care and clinical efficiency.
“I’ve been an audiologist for almost 20 years, and I can honestly say Widex Allure is one of the most significant and impactful launches I’ve experienced,” Vetter Toalson said. “From the moment we began beta testing at Northwest Speech and Hearing Center, we knew something was different.”
As someone who’s personally worked with Widex since the Evoke launch – and whose clinic has been fitting Widex devices since the practice’s inception – Vetter Toalson has deep familiarity with the brand’s evolution. But Widex Allure, she says, stands out.
“The clarity is the first thing patients notice,” she said. “One of our patients who got Allure told us he was able to hear the hardest-to-understand speaker at church for the first time. And that’s in a reverberant space that’s notoriously tough for hearing aid users.”
For Vetter Toalson, what makes Widex Allure so transformative isn’t just the audio performance – it’s how natural and effortless it feels to patients. “People are telling us, ‘I’m not working so hard to listen.’ That ease of listening – even in challenging and immersive situations – is what really defines Allure.”
She noted a significant reduction in appointment duration since integrating Widex Allure into her practice. “As a team, we’ve seen fitting and follow-up times nearly cut in half,” she explained. “That’s a game-changer in terms of productivity and patient satisfaction. The devices’ algorithm for first fits hit target and sound great too! We’re not needing to make the same level of adjustments as we did with past products.”
The feedback from long-time hearing aid users has been equally positive. “They all say the same thing: this is clearer, more natural, just easier to understand,” Vetter Toalson said. “One patient even joked about not wanting to give back the demo pair. They didn’t want to go back to their old devices.”
Widex Allure also performs exceptionally well in challenging listening environments where hearing aid wearers often struggle. “It doesn’t make noise disappear entirely, but it lets patients stay in the conversation with confidence,” she said. “They’re not reaching for their app or fiddling with buttons and settings like they used to. They’re just hearing better, without all the work.”
That kind of effortless engagement isn’t just something clinicians are noticing – it’s something patients are talking about, too.
One of those patients is John Dakajos, a longtime Widex user, business owner, and self-described “tough critic” when it comes to hearing aids. When he first tried Widex Allure, he immediately recognized the difference.
“The second I put Allure in, I could tell something had changed,” John said. “The background noise was gone. No hiss, no high-end feedback. It was just clear. Natural.”
He was also struck by how seamlessly Allure fit into his daily life. “I haven’t touched the volume control once,” John noted. “I haven’t needed to. I’m hearing clearly now, and I haven’t had to lift a finger.”
As a business owner overseeing more than 600 employees, that simplicity matters. “I don’t have time to mess around with settings. With Allure, I’m back in meetings, I’m talking with my team, I’m understanding everything,” he said.
But it’s the personal impact that struck him most. “My kids were starting to think I had cognitive issues – like maybe I wasn’t following things anymore,” John said. “But the truth is, I just wasn’t hearing them clearly. Now that’s changed. I’m engaged again. I’m responding again.”
“It’s the best hearing aid experience I’ve ever had,” he said. “And I’ve tried just about everything out there. This is different. This is better.”
Vetter Toalson also credits Compass Cloud, Widex’s cloud-based fitting platform, with making the fitting process smoother and more intuitive for clinicians. “Compass Cloud is really user-friendly,” she said. “It’s streamlined, easy to use, and simple to understand. It helps us think through fittings more efficiently and more accurately.”
Vetter Toalson, who splits her time managing two busy practices, also praised Widex for its customer service and support, particularly during high-pressure moments like the COVID-19 pandemic and a recent practice acquisition. “Widex has had our back,” she said. “They’ve been responsive, helpful, and proactive in making sure we’re successful – not just with the product, but with the business side, too.”
From her perspective, Widex Allure and the Compass Cloud platform represent a new standard in hearing care. “It’s not just that Allure sounds amazing,” Vetter Toalson said. “It’s that it makes the entire clinical process more efficient. That combination is going to help us deliver even better outcomes to even more people. And that’s what really matters.”
