Can I ask a question. Does anyone have any experience with hearing aids, either in a professional capacity or as a user? You get absolutely bombarded with adverts all claiming to have the worlds smallest, loudest, clearest etc etc. I am aware that for years now I have had poor hearing stemming back to the 80’s when I spent too many hours working in night clubs. I can hear, just not as well as I would like! So, can anyone share their experience or advice please?

Rather than look for advice on the internet, you need to be assessed professionally, either by making an NHS referral through your GP or by making an appointment with a local private audiologist. Ignore the ads, and ignore any other well meaning advice - until your hearing has been properly assessed any advice or recommendations are valueless.

And don’t watch youtube videos either. Remember the influencers. 🤪

Gagaryn So would you day GP referral rather than go to one of the ‘experts’ like Boots? Most equipment associated with the NHS used to be more bargain basement……

dfk41 Like I said, your choice. My advice is simply to see someone qualified to make an assessment of your hearing rather than listen to randoms on the internet. Even an assessment of your hearing with bargain basement NHS equipment will be more use than that.

dfk41 My mum had a hearing test, got them free on the NHS, very small very advanced. So definitely don’t go buying them from spec savers etc.. Free batteries too. Just get a GP referral.

Gagaryn Of course, that is exactly what I will do! I trust advice from the internet as much as I do going to bed at night thinking the moon is made of cheese. I had hoped someone would retort I went to Specsavers and found the service **********(fill in at will) whilst another gave their opinion regarding Boots.

DavecUK Am seeing my friendly GP this Friday for a Cortisone injection! Must write it down or I will forget!

@dfk41 at the grand age of 41 i have now had hearing aids for around 11 years albeit i only use them at night if im watching TV. In the Navy i was issued with some really nice aids, annoyingly not long after leaving the service the originals failed and i was then at the mercy of the NHS, whilst the service has been faultless the hearing aids themselves are rather basic. The ones i have now make everything loud, including ambient noise….so i find them frustrating. If i was wearing them during the day them 100% i would be going private and investing in some good quality advanced ones, the medium-top end are very good now at localising noise to focus only on the subject you are listening to, TV,person etc etc. no harm in trying the NHS route first, each trust is different so you might end up with some great aids. Worse case is the NHS ones dont suit and you go private anyway

Hearing Aids

dfk41

Arron24 That is sound advice matey. We seem similar in our needs. TV is a particular problem for me. If I was alone I would just put sub titles on! In a sentence, I can usually hear the first few words but the latter ones I miss, so I end up having to try and guess it! Sometimes you get it right, more often wrong!

Arron24

dfk41 100% much to my wifes annoyance 🤣

I lost 2 of the 3 bones in my middle ear during surgery but married with 3 kids i quite enjoy being hard of hearing!

JHCCoffee

I’m hard of hearing. Been wearing hearing aids for about 12 years. Started as tinnitus. Didn’t know what I wasn’t hearing. Your life will vastly improve if you are professionally tested for and fitted for and wear/use good quality hearing aids and possibly a TV to aid transmitter. It may seem expensive but will be totally worth it. With Behind the Ear aids, know one will even know.

JonWoo187

My vote would be to take the quality hearing aid route ASAP to restore as much hearing as likely. I’d seriously appreciate to be able to rely on something as unassuming as hearing aids. Always had fantastic hearing, then just over 5 yrs ago a debilitating fungal infection decided to latch onto my brain lining, attack cranial nerves, now I’m permanently/profoundly deaf in both ears. Even the most modern Cochlears are no guarantee to recover any hearing. In all honesty, if being deaf as in no sound whatsoever it’d be more tolerable, but the insane tinnitus that accompanies my type of inner ear damage (sensorineural and conductive) is brutal to say the least. Imagine your head in a tin can in a blender with ice cubes being shredded and no realistic fix for it.

TLDR… NEVER take hearing for granted and get that checked/corrected ASAP!

cyclezib

I’ve been using the Signia brand hearing aids for a few years. I like that they are rechargeable, small and that the software allows me to tailor the directional hearing so that I can adjust the area it is amplifying sounds (such as in a restaurant where the background noise would normally drown out my ability to listen to the speech of the person in front of me. Lastly, Signia has a small device that broadcasts the sound from my TV directly to my hearing aids.

dfk41

cyclezib Thank you very much for this input. Can I tag @JonWoo187 into this as opposed to replying individually. It is recommendations and advice from happy users. Can I ask how you ended up with the Signia brand please matey

Waitforme

Interesting thread.

I’m pretty much deaf in one ear with constant tinnitus in it , not nearly to the extent @JonWoo187 is experiencing ( I feel for you ) though.

I went to the NHS several years ago and got a hearing aid which I don’t use as my other ear is good enough 95% of the time. Although I do find it difficult in noisy environments to hear what people are saying.

But as I spend most of my time myself listening to the radio or watching tv ( on my iPad with earphones) or other single person pastimes, cycling, hillwalking, running I don’t feel the need to wear my hearing aid.

And they’re for old folk aren’t they, I’m only 64 🧐

dfk41

Waitforme That is the attitude I have matey. I spend much of my time with earbuds in listening to music. My wife is wheelchair bound and very softly spoken, so most conversations start with “pardon, can you repeat that”. I just feel at 66 things are not going to get any better and now the time is right for investigating the pro’s and cons of the different options. It is the usual problem, of what make to buy and who to buy it from!

Rob666

NHS digital are the way to go unless you are extremely wealthy. Even then, a properly set up NHS aid is still a good option. My late mum was very deaf for 45 years and progressed through the older analogue models to the digitals. They worked amazingly well for her with the huge advantage of being free with free batteries. To get anything better will cost you thousands, not forgetting maintenance and batteries.

DCJ

I retired from audiology in 2021. I have fitted hearing aids to service personnel, private patients and worked for the NHS.

The advantages of private aids, short waiting time, if you pay for the very expensive aids you may get the latest technology.

Advantages of NHS, you have already paid for it, same technology as mid range private aids that can cost thousands, lifetime backup/ support.

Most people wait years too long to get there hearing tested, but if you are in a hurry go private.

If money is no object go private.

Top tip, it is not just your ears that degrade with age, the brain is really where we process the information from the ears and make sense of it. The processing power available to make sense of that information gets less as we get older. Suddenly giving our older brain more information to work on won’t give instant results, it takes time and practice so you have to wear the aids and give your brain time to get used to the new situation.

If you go to the NHS, be nice to the audiologists, they work hard and are under paid:-)

dfk41

DCJ Thanks very much. Like many things in life, nothing is straight forward!

JHCCoffee

I’ve had many brands of hearing aids over 15 years. Best for hearing clarity is Phonak. Best for adjustability via Iphone app is Jabra Resound. They also sell a “multimike” that I connect to my PC for direct PC to hearing aid audio (MS Teams calls, etc.). But Phonak wins hands down for speech clarity. And I’m betting I can now get Jabra style tech from Phonak. Fyi, I buy from Costco Canada at ½ the price of other private retailers. My insurance plan pays $1,000 CDN, the government pay $1,000 CDN and I kick in $500 to $1,000 depending upon what accessories I buy. Read up and come armed with lots of questions. Its amazing what they don’t tell you. I have lost count of the “I wished had known” topics.$

dfk41

JHCCoffee It is a whole new topic for me. I am going to see my doctor this week and explore that route first. My hearing issue has been around for 30 years so I guess that’s I have proved I can live with it, but on the other hand I also accept that a hearing aid could make life simpler. I do not know if over here the government chip in if you do not go down the NHS route. There is some good info coming out folks, thanks.

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