Ross Deavours, Au.D.

Ross Deavours is currently the audiologist at Better Hearing Center in Ocean Springs, Mississippi.

At the age of 15, Dr. Deavours was privileged to meet a group of deaf people who taught her American Sign Language. When she went to college, she knew that she wanted to be involved in some way with hearing impaired people. She studied deaf education and speech therapy and when she found audiology, that became her passion.

Dr. Deavours graduated from Arizona School of Health Sciences in Mesa, Arizona in 2003. She has been practicing audiology since 1977 after earning a Master’s degree in audiology from Auburn University and a BS from the University of Southern Mississippi. She is state licensed and a member of ASHA (American Speech-Language and Hearing Association). In her career, she has worked in hospitals, physician offices, a school for visually and hearing impaired, and ultimately in her own private practice clinic.

Dr. Deavours is delighted when she can help someone hear better. She knows this means that they will be better able to join in conversations with their friends and family, talk to loved ones on the telephone, and feel more confident. She knows this means they decrease the risk of dementia five-fold and preserve their cognitive function for speech perception. Perhaps Helen Keller summarized it best when she said, “Blindness separates people from things; deafness separates people from people.”

As part of her work, she and a colleague go to two senior living facilities each month to clean hearing aids and check ear canals for blockage. This is a free service to the community. It is a highlight for Dr. Deavours because she meets some of the finest people.

In her spare time Dr. Deavours enjoys boating, scuba diving, hiking, and traveling. Recently her son, a commercial diver in Alaska, took her remote camping on a bear preserve! They did see some bears but luckily, not up close.