Hearing Aids - Specsavers

TomokoAdhami

Specsavers Advanced Elite 39 R Li is a good choice but I am willing to use it with a pocket talker amplifier. Actually, my grandfather is about 92 years old, and these hearing aids are not adequately helping him to hear in a better manner. Our neighbouring aunt suggested me to use this PKT D1 EH ultra duo Pack amplifier. Though it is written on the product description that would work with and without hearing aid but I am not sure either it is compatible with Specsavers hearing aids. 

This due pack amplifier comes with mini earbuds that's why I am a little relaxed that he can easily manage to use it. Actually, he also has dementia that's why hearing aids are not enough him to support in listening. Probably, I would also visit his audiologist and see what he suggests. But it could be helpful if you share your experience of this kind of hearing issues. 

LouTurner42

I've purchased the Specsavers Bluetooth Advance model and cannot for love nor money get them to stream with my phone! Very frustrating! 

Savvy_Sue

Can you speak to Specsavers about this? If they can't give you a face to face appointment someone might be able to talk you through it. 

It may also depend on what sort of phone it is. I know my siblings don't buy Android phones because the functionality is so much better on the dark side. 

PMNG

I think it is really worthwhile going back to Specsavers to get the mobile phone connectivity fixed. The Audiometerist at Specsavers had to contact Specsavers tech support to get to the bottom of the issues. For iPhone this meant going into some obscure (not obvious) sub-menus to fix it. So clearly tech support know how to fix things. I would assume the same for Android mobile phones.

Miki

I've just purchased a pair of Specsavers Advance Super for my Father in Law and he's delighted with them compared to his old NHS pair. However, I can't for the life of me work out how to enable Bluetooth. We've a follow up appointment in two weeks, but if anyone can advise in the meantime it would be very helpful?

Michelleanna

I’ve now had my hearing aids for nearly three months now.  I have had a few hiccups in that one of the aids started to make white noise sound after I’d been running so I got a completely new pair and they have been fine. I am very relieved and pleased that the audiologist replies very quickly to emails and sees me on the day at one of the shops on Edinburgh. So the after sales service has been excellent. I love the Bluetooth with my iPhone. If I use my computer then I have to forget the hearing aids and connect again from scratch. This can take a couple of attempts but always works eventually. The app is useless so I don’t bother using it as I’ve had to delete and repeatedly connect maybe once a week. It doesn’t really do anything except tell you how much battery is left anyway. Shame. I am still so happy I bought these and delighted that this post is still active. Thanks so much for all the info from everyone else. 

[Deleted User]

I’m thinking of going to Specsavers for new hearing aids, I’ve got some IIC I’ve had from Hidden hearing 3 1/2 years ago, I payed £2600 for the pair, had lots of trouble setting them up to my hearing, one of them has just packed in, I can just about manage with one at the moment.
I will pay for the top of the range & also I will require the invisible ones again.
Can anyone share their experience with these ?

ianmcleod1963

pollypenny said:

I was interested in your comments on phone calls. I have to use the ear without an aid. How does the Bluetooth work. I did look at settings on my mobile, but they wouldn't link. 

Just picked up my Advance Elite BTE hearing aids on Saturday. I'm very fortunate that my work paid for them. Regarding Bluetooth, the app BEMORE is used to adjust the settings on the phone and this uses standard Bluetooth so most fairly modern phones will sort that. Streaming is a different story. I am anti-Apple (long history there) but looking at Android options seems to be a nightmare. Phone needs to be ASHA enabled (Audio Streaming for Hearing Aids) and needs Android 10 and be able to run Bluetooth LE (I believe BT 5.0 bicbw). Lots of new phones come with Android 10 and BT LE but can't see anything about ASHA being enabled. My wife has a Redmi Note 9 with Android 10 and BT LE but doesn't seem to be ASHA enabled. Really don't want to have to spend £500+ on an Apple phone just for streaming (I know I can but an older Apple 6 etc but then I'd be replacing my phone with a smaller, older tech phone). 

malcrc

Why you should think carefully about buying Specsavers own brand Hearing Aids
First let me  say that I have had a pair of Specsavers Advance Super Aids for a year and they have served me well.
My issue is with the afters service as I have unfortunately lost one of the aids on the golf course. When I enquired about a replacement I was told that because the originals were sold as 'buy one get one free'  they would only give me a discount of 20%. What this means is that a new single aid will cost me £1436 (20% off the current price of £1795 which also includes the charger which costs £100). This doesn't seem to be very fair in terms of good service and does not resonate with their 'Aftercare for Life slogan. It also means that as my Household Insurance claim is capped at £1000 I cannot claim.
The bottom line is that if I had bought the Phonak equivalent I would have been able to buy a single aid for less than this Specsaver replacement and claimed on my Insurance so think carefully before you buy their own brand product. I will bee buying a new pair of Phonak aids from a different retailer rather than reward Specsavers for their poor service

hybernia

The problem with recommending or criticising a nationwide franchise outfit like Specsavers is that each branch is individually run, so although one may be pretty hopeless, another could be exceptionally good. The Specsavers branch in our local town used to be good but has declined noticeably over the years, to the point that though OH and I were  longtime customers -- me for my contact lenses, he for his eyesight (his mother was a victim of glaucoma and so he's on the NHS at risk list, optically speaking) he gave up on Specsavers because of staff turnover -- never saw the same optician twice, year on year, and found the franchise's policy of seemingly employing student ophthalmologists hugely irritating: his last eye test was conducted by a young lady either still in her teens or not long out of them; she fumbled the test so badly that at one stage,she broke the bad news to him that his eyesight was just about at the stage where he should seriously be thinking of giving up up driving.

As that professional 'advice' was to manifestly ridiculous, we both quit Specsavers immdiately and registered with a privately owned family owned opticians not far from where we live. The principal partner is the same one we're likely to see time and time again, and with over 30 years experience seemed instantly able to figure out if OH should be driving a car or not. UInlike Specsavers, this small family practice doesn't bombard us with tedious junk mail, or seek to sell us hearing aids, either. (OH had a hearing test at Specsavers; it was so badly conducted as to be laughable. The self-isolating headphones were anything but; when he asked  the employee doing the test if Spescsavers had ever heard of'Bose', the response was a blank stare and quick shake of the head.)

So. Now he's with the NHS, the marked deterioration in his hearing occurring in the immediate wake of a stroke. We had to travel 22 miles to the nearest specialist audiology department to be tested and then, because of the way the pandemic shut down just about the entire NHS (to nonurgent cases) he didn 't get his hearing aids until mid-July.

They've come with a small instruction manual featuring 3pt type (perhaps it's a simultaneous eye test, too) with little illustrations showing him how to alter the volume on the devices and sundry other things. However, every such illustration has had a diagonal line drawn through it with a pen. When he asked why this was so, at the time of receiving the aids, he was told 'user-operated controls' were disabled: the NHS doesn't like patients 'altering things'.

He loathes the aids. The sensitivity is over-acute and the volume is much too loud for comfort; his own voice and breathing are greatly over amplified. He could (presumably\) have done something about this by altering the device controls to suit. But he can't. The hospital department dealing with him told him to get in touch after 1 month to let them know if everything was OK or if the devices needed adjusting, in which case they'd simply call him in and sort out the situation there and then. Easy peasy..

So he contacted them in mid-August to ask if something could be done to adjust the volume / sensitivity of the heaing aids, thinking that as they'd promised a quick turnaround, he'd hear back fairly soon.

Well, it's now the beginning of October and still no word from the audiology department. And he's still stuck with non adjustable hearing aids disabled by the NHS itself.

He's beginning to wonder if, despite his previous experiences, he "should've gone to Specsavers". The NHS experience is frustrating in the extreme:as the manufacturer of a hearing aid incorporates into the device the ability to fine-tune it to the user's individual preference, neither he nor I can see why the NHS should disable those controls and demand that the patient wait weeks and travel miles just so the NHS can involve itself all over again. I actually thought NHS staff (including hospital audiology departments) were all supposed to be over-worked and underpaid.