Hearing Aid

Catbells

I had my hearing tested on the high street and its below normal for high frequency hearing - that's when you can't hear the TV properly and also in company you can't always hear what's being said by one person due to interference from surrounding voices, noise etc.   The audiologist quoted me from £2k to £3k for a hearing aid.  I almost fell off the chair.  I can't get an appointment through my GP at the moment due to them being emergency only cases so I wanted to find out if there is a way I can buy an NHS one on the internet.  Does anyone know?  Thank you.

unforeseen

You can get the same models online however your big problem will be getting an audiologist to set them up to correctly compensate for your hearing loss. That is part of the price you have been quoted.
Setting them up can involve a number of visits to get them right. 

Aylesbury_Duck

Wait.  Doing a DIY job with stuff off the internet won't end well.

TELLIT01

My wife was quoted a similar price from a high street supplier.  There is no way we will pay that.  It wouldn't be too bad if they were guaranteed to last 10 years, but she was told they would probably have to be replaced every couple of years.  The aids 'recommended' for my wife included Bluetooth and all sorts of other technology which she doesn't need or  want.  We certainly got the impression they were far more interested in the sale of high-end aids than in the actual needs of the customer.

giraffe69

I'm amazed that someone might seek to sell expensive hearing aids and say they have to be replaced "every couple of years" I'm (just) on my third set of relatively expensive ones and the previous two sets lasted more than 12 years and could have kept going longer but I viewed the improvements brought about by technological advance were worth having. You can generally get a significant discount buying over the internet but then you don't get the after sales service so it depends how much you value that. I agree with the comment above that adopting a DIY approach is likely to prove a false economy.
I'm equally surprised that a single aid costs £2-3K. Admittedly one aid is not half the price of two but a look at Boots web site(for example) shows that 2 of a middle range aid are available for £1900 and there are suppliers cheaper than this. Most retail outlets are susceptible to a little light bargaining.
As for the GP not seeing you to get a referral perhaps you need to be more insistent on, at least, a telephone consultation if you prefer the NHS route although, of course, a portion of the private price is for avoiding delays/waits.

Coffeekup

My dad paid for his a few years ago the same kinda price, he does like them and said they are the best he has had.

However from my point of view he changes his batteries every week in these, which is lame for how long they last (around 40-50 hours), the impact on the environment from the waste of the little watch type batteries is crazy (100 batteries a year to be recycled or in landfill). I'm not sure which type/brand he has but when he bought them they gave him 4 years worth of batteries and this was from a high street retailer whose main product is spectacles. 

I did suggest to him maybe he should get some rechargeable ones to limit the waste and price of new batteries when his current stock runs out. But they are around the same price as what you have been quoted. 
So consider things like after costs, and ease of use and the environmental impact.

TELLIT01

giraffe69 said:

I'm amazed that someone might seek to sell expensive hearing aids and say they have to be replaced "every couple of years" I'm (just) on my third set of relatively expensive ones and the previous two sets lasted more than 12 years and could have kept going longer but I viewed the improvements brought about by technological advance were worth having. You can generally get a significant discount buying over the internet but then you don't get the after sales service so it depends how much you value that. I agree with the comment above that adopting a DIY approach is likely to prove a false economy.
I'm equally surprised that a single aid costs £2-3K. Admittedly one aid is not half the price of two but a look at Boots web site(for example) shows that 2 of a middle range aid are available for £1900 and there are suppliers cheaper than this. Most retail outlets are susceptible to a little light bargaining.
As for the GP not seeing you to get a referral perhaps you need to be more insistent on, at least, a telephone consultation if you prefer the NHS route although, of course, a portion of the private price is for avoiding delays/waits.

The quote for my wife was for 2 but the option recommended (it was Boots) was the top of the range - no surprise there.  The person my wife dealt with said re-testing should be done every 2 years, and that the hearing aids only had a 2 year warranty.  If they had confidence in the devices they should be providing a longer warranty.  As they don't, I make the working assumption that they could fail at any point after that.  If we could be certain they would last a minimum of 5 years we might consider them.

donnac2558

My aunt has managed to get an appointment with her GP, and he has referred her to the hospital.   But she was told the waiting list to see the audiologist could be 18 months at the least.   She is a pension and cannot afford to go private to buy a hearing aid.

TELLIT01

I had an appointment with the hospital audiologist a few years ago.  I have a problem with conversations in busy environments, or where there are a number of conversations going on at one time.  He said that a hearing aid will not fix that type of issue and he actually finds they make those situations worse.

lincroft1710

Talking to a friend yesterday, he is paying £4,500 each for a hearing aid for each ear. Apparently very state of the art and he says very efficient.

sheramber

I waited 9 months for an appointment  after referral.

 I will be retested every 3 years. Hearing Aids need serviced annually.