Meet the Staff
Dr. Laci Le, Au.D
Clinical Audiologist - Texas Locations
Dr. Laci Le strives to empower her patients with a deep understanding of their hearing conditions, ensuring they feel confident in their treatment choices and achieve optimal outcomes. A clinical audiologist at National Hearing and Balance, she serves patients in San Antonio and Hondo, Texas, with plans to extend her expertise to San Tan Valley, Arizona, in 2024. She is an expert in addressing adult hearing loss, the intricacies of hearing aids, as well as dizziness and balance issues. With broad experience – ranging from private practice to hospital settings and VA clinics – Dr. Le has honed her skills across many subspecialties since joining the team in 2021.
Her educational background includes a B.S. in Communication Sciences and Disorders (which is commonly known as “Speech Language Pathology and Audiology”), with minors in Pre-med and Psychology from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, followed by a Doctorate in Audiology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. There, she engaged in diverse clinical experiences and helped advance the field by conducting a capstone project on when to use a combination of a hearing aid and a cochlear implant, or cochlear implants on both sides. She hopes this will provide current and future audiologists with an evidence-based tool to guide clinical decisions.
Dr. Le’s expertise spans adult audiology, hearing and balance disorders, tinnitus, and hearing aid services, including Real Ear Measurements (REM). She welcomes both pediatric patients, from the age of nine, and adults seeking comprehensive audiological and balance evaluations and hearing aid fittings. She believes a hearing aid alone, even with its technological advances over the past decade, cannot be substituted for patient-centered care, evidence-based fittings, and dispensing practices. This is why she takes pride in guiding her patients to understand their hearing loss diagnosis, its impact, and treatment options.
Outside of her clinical role, Dr. Le channels her creativity into her blog, where she offers practical advice on forming good habits. She enjoys spending quality time with her husband and their energetic Great Pyrenees, pursuing personal bests in 5K and 10K races, hiking, reading, and discovering new restaurants and bakeries.
Education:
- B.S., 2015, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
- Au.D., 2019, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Areas of Expertise:
- Adult Audiology
- Hearing Disorders
- Balance Disorders
- Tinnitus Management
- Hearing Aid Services & Repairs
- Real Ear Measurements
- Custom Earmolds & Earplugs
- Cognitive Screening (MoCA Certified)
Dr. Le accepts pediatric (9 years of age and over) and adult patients who are needing the following audiological and balance care:
- Comprehensive Audiological Evaluations
- Balance Function Evaluations
- Hearing Aid Evaluations
- Patient-centered Hearing Aid Fittings and performing Real Ear Measurement (REM)
- Cognitive Screening (MoCA Certified)
McKell Larson, Au.D.
Clinical Audiologist - Remotely Serving Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico Locations
My name is Dr. McKell Larson, AuD. I am a clinical audiologist and am happy to be part of the team at National Hearing and Balance in our Arizona location.
I am a local (and consider myself a native) Arizonan. I attended Arizona State University where I earned my bachelor’s degree in Speech and Hearing Science and received my Doctorate of Audiology from AT Still University in Mesa, Arizona.
I provide diagnostic testing for patients who have hearing loss and suffer from tinnitus as well as evaluations to diagnose balance issues or vertigo.
I am passionate about improving my patients’ quality of life by providing patient-centered care that focuses on solutions that are unique to each patient’s hearing and lifestyle needs. I enjoy going above and beyond for my patients to help them hear and communicate better.
When I am not working, I enjoy spending time with my husband and 3 children outdoors in nature, playing with my 3 dogs, hiking, weightlifting and kickboxing.
Blanca Alvarez
Lead Patient Care Coordinator - Texas Locations
Blanca Alvarez has over 25 years of experience working in the medical health field. She worked at NSI for approximately 5 years before Brad invited her to come work for National Hearing and Balance. She joined NHB in November of 2021 and has played a vital role in our company. She has had 20 years of management experience and is currently our lead patient care coordinator for Texas, New Mexico and soon to be Arizona locations. Along with providing patient care in Texas, she assists with training and managing other patient care coordinators within our company. She also assists Doctor Le with hearing aid patients, doing hearing aid checks and cleans, maintaining inventory, and providing screenings.
Blanca enjoys the leadership of the company and enjoys her co-workers. “This is the happiest I’ve been working for any company. Working with patients is what I do best. Customer service is my biggest passion. Seeing patients leave with a smile on their faces because of the care and treatment they received is very rewarding.”
On a personal level, Blanca was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. She is bilingual, with Spanish being her first language. She enjoys spending time with her Granddaughters and 1 Great Grandson. She enjoys doing yard work.