Hearing Aid Suggestions

Torry_Quine

sarah1972 said:

Torry_Quine said:

Unless your needs are very specialised then NHS aids are just as good as private. 

 My friend waited over a year for a nhs hearing test at the hospital, she had impressions made and has so far waited 7 months for it to be made. 

Yes there can be a long wait to be seen. Once seen though in my case everything went smoothly and quickly.

Torry_Quine

kipperman said:

I have been going deaf for the past 20 years - initially I went via the NHS route but their aids were clunky and not very sophisticated, so I went down the private route.

I'd struggle without documented proof ( so not just heresay) to believe that NHS aids are as good as private ones (in my case Phonak). I'm fortunate to be able to do this and to go for the more technologically advanced ones . They have a 5 year guarantee so I replace them roughly after 5 years meaning I always have a spare pair as given my love of exercise they get quite a tough life.

Newer technologies such as rechargeable, bluetooth streaming but more importantly refinement to their capabilities are quite simply life changing. My latest set have an automatic "AI" setting which I thought initially was a gimmick but vastly improve my hearing in loud group settings.

I've been dealing with the same audiologist (at a well known chemists..) for 15 years now, and have never had any pressure to upgrade - that has always come from me. No queues, waiting times and on the rare occasions something fails, repaired within days.

I know from experience how miserable and isolating deafness can be, so to be able to live largely normally is a price well worth paying IMO. 

I know someone who connects their NHS aids and Bluetooth streaming is what they use. 
The aids I use were the ones that someone showed were what they got privately.