Help for Hearing Impairment

Guardsman

If all else fails you could get a pigeon loft.

steve_2012

hi,
my father who is nearly 80 and very independent and lives in suffolk which is about 100 miles from where we live.
he has been using various hearing aids for around 30 years although he tends not to use them that often as they dont work that well for him..
he has not had a new one for around 5 years and he is dealt with by ipswich hospital.
today via a booking he went to specsavers for a hearing test and too find out what they recommended for him.
they didnt give him a report on his deafness but recommended a product called sound comfort at a price of £900 for the pair.
we have been discussing him getting a better hearing aid for around 4 years and it has taken this long to get this far.
i have a few questions and hopefully you guys can supply some help.
1: is this product any good when compared to what the nhs may offer him for free.
2: should he be getting better treatment via the nhs, if so how do we get this.
3:is there anywhere better to use than specsavers on the high street or by getting a company to visit him at home, whose products are good quality and value.
much of my issue with specsavers hearing aids and price is once you have paid for and received the hearing aid and it is not good for you you are pretty much lumbered and £900 out of pocket.

now we have got dad on the move regarding this i dont want him just to buy the first thing he is told about, and i really have no knowledge of his rights or entitlement on this.
any advice anyone can give will be really helpful.
thanks.
steve.

Hear-Hear

Steve 2012,

You do not generally receive a "report" from a private audiologist, unless you wish to pay for it - very useful for pre-employment checks, noise-induced hearing loss claims, etc. The testing and any advice given should be free of charge to you though.

To answer your specific questions:-

1. Specsavers say they are the biggest supplier of private hearing aids in the UK, so must be doing something right. They deal with a variety of manufacturers, and like any big supplier, are likely to be pretty ruthless if a manufacturer doesn't provide top flight products and service. They are reported to have done this before with their spectacles suppliers.

2. Yes, better service "should" be received from the NHS but in the real world, it generally doesn't happen - which is one of the main reasons people choose to go private. The NHS can be fantastic when it comes to providing 'treatment' for a medical condition. Supply of hearing aids, like glasses, is not 'treatment', and so it is very much the poor relation within the NHS.

3. Avoid home visiting audiologists at all costs. The prices can be eye-watering, and aftercare service difficult to organise. Always better to have a bricks-and-mortar premises that is local to you.

4. There's no need for concern about being "lumbered and £900 out of pocket", because Specsavers offer a 90-day full money-back guarantee if your father finds the hearing aids no good.

5. If you want to shop around (and you should always do this), see if there is a local Boots outlet that provides hearing services, so that you can do a comparison. They will give a 5-year warranty on hearing aids (Specsavers only gives 4 years). On the other hand, Boots money-back is only 60-days, they do not provide 4-years supply of batteries which Specsavers does, and nor do they include accidental damage cover which Specsavers does. Alternatively, see if you have a local independent audiologist, again with bricks-and-mortar presence. They can be quite flexible in terms of long warranties, free batteries, etc, but often find it difficult to match the buying-power of Specsavers and Boots.

It can be a minefield - correct choice of hearing aid and correct choice of audiologist is crucial. However, if your father likes the audio, and you find the service is professional, then it does no harm to trust your own judgement. Follow your "trusted" audiologist's advice/recommendations, and relax is the knowledge that you have the no-strings money-back guarantee to rely on if the need arises.

steve_2012

Hear-Hear wrote: »

Steve 2012,

You do not generally receive a "report" from a private audiologist, unless you wish to pay for it - very useful for pre-employment checks, noise-induced hearing loss claims, etc. The testing and any advice given should be free of charge to you though.

To answer your specific questions:-

1. Specsavers say they are the biggest supplier of private hearing aids in the UK, so must be doing something right. They deal with a variety of manufacturers, and like any big supplier, are likely to be pretty ruthless if a manufacturer doesn't provide top flight products and service. They are reported to have done this before with their spectacles suppliers.

2. Yes, better service "should" be received from the NHS but in the real world, it generally doesn't happen - which is one of the main reasons people choose to go private. The NHS can be fantastic when it comes to providing 'treatment' for a medical condition. Supply of hearing aids, like glasses, is not 'treatment', and so it is very much the poor relation within the NHS.

3. Avoid home visiting audiologists at all costs. The prices can be eye-watering, and aftercare service difficult to organise. Always better to have a bricks-and-mortar premises that is local to you.

4. There's no need for concern about being "lumbered and £900 out of pocket", because Specsavers offer a 90-day full money-back guarantee if your father finds the hearing aids no good.

5. If you want to shop around (and you should always do this), see if there is a local Boots outlet that provides hearing services, so that you can do a comparison. They will give a 5-year warranty on hearing aids (Specsavers only gives 4 years). On the other hand, Boots money-back is only 60-days, they do not provide 4-years supply of batteries which Specsavers does, and nor do they include accidental damage cover which Specsavers does. Alternatively, see if you have a local independent audiologist, again with bricks-and-mortar presence. They can be quite flexible in terms of long warranties, free batteries, etc, but often find it difficult to match the buying-power of Specsavers and Boots.

It can be a minefield - correct choice of hearing aid and correct choice of audiologist is crucial. However, if your father likes the audio, and you find the service is professional, then it does no harm to trust your own judgement. Follow your "trusted" audiologist's advice/recommendations, and relax is the knowledge that you have the no-strings money-back guarantee to rely on if the need arises.

thank you hear hear,
great advice and so helpful.
it has really put my mind at rest.
i am not a big fan of specsaver type companies as although they give good value generally they rarely give a monkeys about the customer.
he was very happy with the audiologist but he tends too get sucked in with there patter (he bought windows from anglian windows, bad move).
i hadnt noticed the ninety day money back guarantee so that certainly gives peace of mind.
he is going to try boots over the next week so we will see how that goes, dad says there is 30% off at boots hearing aids and he seems to think he gets a further 25% off with his advantage card, i dont think so but have not checked yet.
anyway thank you again for a very detailed reply it really was very helpful.

steve........

Guardsman

Steve did your father ever serve in the military ? Since 1987 it has been possible for ex and serving personnel to claim for hearing loss and tinnitus.

steve_2012

Guardsman wrote: »

Steve did your father ever serve in the military ? Since 1987 it has been possible for ex and serving personnel to claim for hearing loss and tinnitus.

hi guardsman, and thank you.
yes, he gets a pension from the army for his hearing.
he does worry that to keep asking at the hospital will mean that the army pension may get stopped even though his hearing much worse than it was when it was awarded, and i cant convince him differently.
this is why he has pretty much suffered in silence (pun not intended) for so long and why i can really only persuade to go private.
private is fine, i just was trying to stop him buying the first aids he sees.
i like the 90 days money back and several of the other perks with there range so i believe that is what we will be going for.

steve.............

Hear-Hear

Steve,

Worth bearing in mind that getting hearing aids privately does not preclude your father getting a pair from the NHS as well. A back up spare pair can be incredibly useful if he mislays them or damages them in any way. He might be willing to do this once he gets his private aids, once he realises how much he has been missing ?

You can assure him that he certainly does not lose any entitlement to the 'hearing loss' element of his pension by getting NHS aids ..... but, then again, I guess having that info from a 'stranger' is no better for him than coming from your goodself !

steve_2012

Hear-Hear wrote: »

Steve,

Worth bearing in mind that getting hearing aids privately does not preclude your father getting a pair from the NHS as well. A back up spare pair can be incredibly useful if he mislays them or damages them in any way. He might be willing to do this once he gets his private aids, once he realises how much he has been missing ?

You can assure him that he certainly does not lose hear-any entitlement to the 'hearing loss' element of his pension by getting NHS aids ..... but, then again, I guess having that info from a 'stranger' is no better for him than coming from your goodself !

thanks again hear-hear,
i really appreciate your advice and will tell him.
but your child (50) telling you doesnt that often get much of a hearing (pun intended).
he is very difficult but i/we just try to do what we can but there is only so much he will listen too or believe as fact.

steve...............

brook2jack

My 18 year old daughter has just returned from the hospital with the news she needs two hearing aids for sensorineural hearing loss across all frequencies.

She copes very well in most situations and probably wouldn't have known she had a problem but she is a very serious musician (composer,tuba and piano ) and noticed when composing she couldn't hear parts of an orchestra (cellos, middle of the orchestra). Occaisionally she has problems with mens voices as well.

Now she has a place to study music at Oxford and playing and composing music is her life and not surprisingly she is quite devastated to be wearing hearing aids let alone the fact she is worried people will notice.

I gather adjusting hearing aids for musicians can be quite difficult and that digital hearing aids can be programmed to help in this respect. We have been told that she will be fitted for digital hearing aids at the hospital but are there any tips/ things we should be thinking about ,asking for when she goes and should we be starting to save pennies for private hearing aids that may deal with her particular musical requirements?

No one knows at the moment if her hearing loss is degenerative there is no family history or exacerbating factors but we feel if spending money is necessary now to allow her to follow her dreams for as long as possible then it will be worth it, but equally at a time when finances will be stretched if the nhs can sort things out then thats great.

Savvy_Sue

Hear-Hear will be along shortly, I'm sure, but meanwhile I know there is an excellent private audiologist in Oxford and I will get details for you.

One of my siblings has had a setting on the aids adjusted for Scottish Country Dancing, normally they'd switch off if there was a loud noise, but obviously that's not so great if they switch off at the introductory chord! So yes, there are special settings for musicians.