Clarity Professional Hearing Aid Center × Linea: From Missing 4 in 10 Patient Calls to Zero Missed by Its AI Receptionist

About Clarity Professional Hearing Aid Center

Clarity Professional Hearing Aid Center is an independent hearing aid center in Fernandina Beach, Florida, serving Amelia Island, Yulee, and the rest of Nassau County. It's owned by Michelle Christie, a Board Certified Hearing Instrument Specialist (BC-HIS) and professional member of the International Hearing Society. The clinic offers free hearing tests, hearing aid fittings across seven leading brands, and hearing aid repairs and maintenance. It runs its schedule in CounselEar and is open Monday to Friday, 9 to 5.

Like most independent clinics, Clarity depends on the phone. New patients call to book their first hearing test, and existing patients call about fittings, adjustments, batteries, and repairs.

The Challenge: How Many Calls Was Clarity Missing?

Before Linea, Clarity's phones were answered by in-office staff, who were also checking patients in, helping people at the front desk, and supporting appointments. Calls peaked around 11 a.m., right in the middle of the clinic day.

The clinic's call reports show what that meant. From October 2025 through June 2026:

• 2,182 inbound calls came in
• 934 of them were missed, went to voicemail, or were abandoned before anyone picked up
• That's a 42.8% missed-call rate, or roughly 104 missed calls every month

For a hearing aid center, those aren't minor numbers. Many callers are older and have hearing loss, which is often the reason they're calling. A voicemail greeting is a poor experience for them, and many never call back.

Why Not a Live Answering Service Like Ruby?

Michelle's first instinct was to look for real people to answer the overflow. She evaluated Ruby, a well-known live receptionist service. Two things ruled it out:

• Price. For the clinic's call volume, the cost was too high.
• No CounselEar connection. Ruby's service didn't connect to CounselEar, so its receptionists could only take messages. Clarity's staff would still have had to call every patient back and enter every appointment by hand, roughly doubling the follow-up work.

"We looked at Ruby, but between the price and the fact that it couldn't connect to CounselEar, we would have been paying more to do every booking twice. That didn't solve anything for us."

— Michelle Christie, BC-HIS, Owner, Clarity Professional Hearing Aid Center

For a broader comparison, see Linea vs. Ruby Receptionists.

The Solution: Jacob, Clarity's AI Receptionist

Clarity started with Linea in July 2026, running it part-time while staff still covered the phones for part of the day. In August 2026 the clinic moved to full-time. The clinic's AI receptionist is named Jacob. He answers calls to the clinic's existing number around the clock, and he was set up around how Clarity actually works:

• Books directly into CounselEar. Jacob checks real-time availability and books the appointment into Clarity's CounselEar schedule during the call. Nobody re-enters anything afterward.
• Handles reschedules and cancellations as well as new bookings.
• Transfers to staff when it matters. Calls that need a person are transferred live during business hours, with context.
• Built for hearing patients. A clear, natural male voice, a patient pace, and details confirmed back to the caller.
• Screens out spam so staff don't have to answer robocalls.
• Sends a summary of every call, so the team sees exactly what happened without listening to recordings.
• Works with the clinic's existing phone system. Linea works alongside business phone platforms like Podium, so clinics keep their number and their call reporting.

Learn more about the Linea × CounselEar integration.

The Results: Before and After Linea

Clarity's call volume barely changed: about 240 calls a month before Linea, and about 220 in September. What changed is how many of those calls were answered.

*Missed = missed calls + voicemails + abandoned calls. †July and August are transition months: Linea ran part-time in July while staff still covered the phones, and moved to full-time during August, so both are excluded from the before and after totals. Missed rate = missed ÷ (answered + missed).

What Jacob handled in his first two full-time months

Linea's call logs from August to October 2026, after Jacob went full-time, show the work behind those numbers:

• 460 calls answered (367 after removing spam), with an average genuine call lasting about two minutes
• 120 appointments booked directly into CounselEar
• 57 reschedules and cancellations handled
• 73 calls transferred live to Clarity's team when a person was needed
• 43 genuine calls after hours or on weekends, including 13 that ended in a booked appointment
• 38 calls during the weekday lunch hour (noon to 1 p.m.)
• 93 spam calls screened out, about 1 in 5 of all calls, so staff didn't have to answer them

In Their Own Words

"Bringing on Linea is the best decision I've ever made for Clarity. We used to lose calls every day while we were with patients. Now every call gets answered, and the appointments are already in CounselEar when I look at my schedule."

— Michelle Christie, BC-HIS, Owner, Clarity Professional Hearing Aid Center

Do Older Patients Like Talking to an AI Receptionist?

This was the question Michelle's patient base made most important. Many of Clarity's patients are older adults with hearing loss, exactly the callers clinic owners worry about when they consider AI.

At Clarity, the answer has been a clear yes. Patients regularly tell Michelle how much they enjoy talking to Jacob. One patient told her that Jacob had leveled up the clinic to the modern age.

"My patients absolutely love talking to Jacob. He's patient, he speaks clearly, and he never rushes anyone, which matters so much for people with hearing loss."

— Michelle Christie, BC-HIS, Owner, Clarity Professional Hearing Aid Center

For more on this, see why AI receptionists work for older patients.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many calls was Clarity missing before Linea?

From October 2025 through June 2026, while staff answered the phones, 934 of Clarity's 2,182 inbound calls were missed, went to voicemail, or were abandoned. That's 42.8% of inbound calls, or about 104 a month.

What changed after Clarity started using Linea?

Clarity started Linea part-time in July 2026 and moved to full-time in August. In September and October 2026, Jacob, the clinic's AI receptionist, didn't miss a single call. In its first two full-time months, the AI receptionist answered 460 calls, booked 120 appointments directly into CounselEar, and transferred 73 calls to staff.

Does Linea book appointments directly into CounselEar?

Yes. Linea has a live, direct CounselEar integration. At Clarity, appointments are booked into the CounselEar schedule during the call, based on real-time availability, with no manual re-entry.

Why did Clarity choose Linea instead of Ruby?

Clarity evaluated Ruby, a live answering service staffed by people. The price was too high, and it didn't connect to CounselEar, so every call would still have meant a callback and manual scheduling.

Do older patients like talking to an AI receptionist?

At Clarity, yes. Patients regularly tell Michelle how much they enjoy talking to Jacob, and one said it leveled up the clinic to the modern age.

About the Data

Before-and-after figures come from the clinic's phone-system call reports for its main line, covering October 2025 to October 2026. Linea works alongside existing phone platforms such as Podium, so clinics keep their phone number and their call reporting. "Missed" combines missed calls, voicemails, and abandoned calls; spam calls are excluded. The "before" period is October 2025 to June 2026, when staff answered all calls. The "after" period is September to October 2026, once Linea was running full-time (October is a partial month). Details of what the AI handled come from Linea's call logs from August to October 2026. Figures are shared with Clarity's permission.

Related: Case Study: 150 Missed Calls a Month to Zero · Linea vs. Ruby Receptionists · AI Receptionist for Audiology & Hearing Clinics · Linea × CounselEar