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After working in the metal fabrication business for over 40 years my hearing is now getting very dodgy Plus having tinnitus doesn't help. I am ok in one to one conversations in an empty room but in, say a pub or crowded place, forget it. The wife is always telling me to turn the telly down and every time she speaks it has to be repeated. My elder brother, who has just retired, is the same. He has now got himself fixed up with a digital hearing aid from the NHS. He tells me it is ok for the TV but he is not over impressed with the day to day results. I will of coarse be booking myself in soon with my doctor for tests etc, but can anyone recommend a private company that can give me advice etc without the "hard sell"?
In Kent we have a charity called 'Hi Kent' they are a charity supplying assistance for the hard of hearing. There is likely to be a similar organisation near you, try asking at your local Age Concern.
I've got an NHS hearing aid - I've been a bit deaf in one ear since I was three, but coped OK until I started getting tinnitus in my good ear. I wish I'd gone a lot earlier, because it makes such a difference.
I did find that I needed to have the aid tailored over a couple of visits - and if the ear moulding isn't good it doesn't work very well. I won't be buying an aid - they are very expensive and you don't get the level of service that the NHS offers locally.
I'd recommend you try the NHS first, and if they can't get it sorted, consider buying one - but as someone else has said, be prepared to take out a mortgage.
If it's possible for you I'd be inclined to do the NHS thing first. Your GP's surgery may be able to do an initial hearing test. Depending on the result they will refer you to a specialist who will have you tested and referred for fitting of an NHS hearing aid.
The NHS hearing aids are digital but clearly not the top of the range stuff. They are however fairly small, unobtrusive and perfectly serviceable.
And it may do the job for you.
If it does do the job for you, you will have saved a mint. If not, you have lost nothing and will also have a better understanding of the extent of your problem before you go to a private firm.
Besides, on the NHS you will have seen a GP, an ENT specialist and a audiometrist by the time you are through. The high street, even at considerable cost, will not offer access to this level of medical expertise.
So I think by way of ensuring that all medical bases are covered I would do the NHS/medical thing first.
It sounds (!) that your hearing is the same as mine. The guy who performed my first hearing tests asked me if i had been involved with work associated with riveting. No, but i had just finished 12myears as an RM!.
I am supposed to wear two hearing aids but found that all they did was to make me deaf but louder!
Your hearing level is what is known as 'cocktail syndrome'. Bill Clinton is one well-known sufferer.
The name says it all, on a one-to-one basis not bad but in a crowded room all the background noise just causes all sounds to merge into an unintelligble cacophony.
I have no experience with digital hearing aids but standard NHS aids can be tweaked to enhance different frequencies. I have lost the ability to hear higher frequencies and hardly ever hear bird song now.
For years I thought that grasshoppers had become extinct until a grandchild asked me what the strange chirupping sound was on a summer's day.
Just part of growing old and IMO not much you can do about it.
My advice go through the NHS an aid might help, but it wont have cost you the £000's that a private clinic will charge you.
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After working in the metal fabrication business for over 40 years my hearing is now getting very dodgy :cry: Plus having tinnitus doesn't help. I am ok in one to one conversations in an empty room but in, say a pub or crowded place, forget it. The wife is always telling me to turn the telly down and every time she speaks it has to be repeated. My elder brother, who has just retired, is the same. He has now got himself fixed up with a digital hearing aid from the NHS. He tells me it is ok for the TV but he is not over impressed with the day to day results. I will of coarse be booking myself in soon with my doctor for tests etc, but can anyone recommend a private company that can give me advice etc without the "hard sell"?
Tia, Nick.
Hi Nick,
I've had a hearing problem since 1954 when I did a lot of rifle shooting and ear defenders were not about in those days.
These are the latest digital one and are very good but they are not compatible with a normal mobile phone, a special one came as a free bee with the aids. I paid about £4000 for the pair and have had the latest ones for about a year.
I found the company to be first class, I've been using them for a few years and always got excellent prompt service when I had a problem.
Hi! I have has a NHS aid for a few months now and am well impressed.
It took a couple of visits to get the level right for me.
The secret is to wear it all the time, that way your brain soon gets used to hear ing the things you hav'nt heard for years.
Wish I had done it years ago. Vanity stopped me!!!
Pete
Just dictating a reply from Sandra who is totally deaf in one ear and is hard of hearing in the other and as such wears a hearing Digital aid that is bought from Amplivox who come out and do hearing tests and everything you need with a home visit..
But she says rather than paying to go private, go instead to the NHS who will provide hearing aids that are as good as anything in the private sector, saving you thousands of pounds over your lifetime as your hearing will deteriorate over time which will mean new hearing aids periodically at daft money each.
Sandra..
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Plus having tinnitus doesn't help. I am ok in one to one conversations in an empty room but in, say a pub or crowded place, forget it. The wife is always telling me to turn the telly down and every time she speaks it has to be repeated. My elder brother, who has just retired, is the same. He has now got himself fixed up with a digital hearing aid from the NHS. He tells me it is ok for the TV but he is not over impressed with the day to day results. I will of coarse be booking myself in soon with my doctor for tests etc, but can anyone recommend a private company that can give me advice etc without the "hard sell"?
