Hearing Aids

Stilernin2

I am looking at the best option for getting hearing aids for the first time.  The audiologist at the NHS said 'yes, hearing aids would help but they would just make everything louder';  I struggle with clarity rather than volume.
    Many friends have purchased privately for £Ks and sing their praises whilst others have said they are happy with the NHS ones.
    The internet is now presenting me with information about Hear Well.  They are just a few hundred pounds but appear to be on line only, although AI helps you set them up for use .  One 'advert' declares that Which think they are the best deal.
    The price and the fact that they are posted out to you makes me nervous.  Has anyone had experience of them.  I would really appreciate feedback.  Thank you.

born_again

If you can get some via NHS, then go that route & see how they help. No cost...

In many cases clarity comes with the volume being a bit louder. 

Hear Well are not a UK company. They are based in the Netherlands. Read through the T/C, returns policy at the bottom of the page.

tacpot12

Beware of anything costing less than £500. Anything costing less than this isn't really a medical device and just amplify the sound rather than boosting the higher frequencies which tend to be what is lost as we age and what causes the lack of clarity.

I agree with the advice to try the NHS ones first and see how you get on with them. 

Spoonie_Turtle

The whole point of digital hearing aids  which the NHS ones are, they have been for at least a decade - was to try to improve clarity rather than just amplify all sounds.  The analogue ones used essentially to be a bit like an audio equaliser, but the digital ones are more complex.  They have different programs for different situations and one of the innovations with digital HAs was having multiple microphones in the unit so that essentially frequencies in sound from certain directions could be amplified and sound from other directions dampened (put very very simply; it's obviously a lot more complicated than that and I didn't fully understand it myself even when the knowledge was fresh in my mind).

The NHS hearing aids tend to be decent; if over time even with tweaks and programming you can't get them to do what you need then that's the time to think about going private.  Certainly not before really giving the NHS ones a good go.

But be prepared, nothing will replicate perfect hearing and discrimination (clarity / understanding in noise) - hearing aids or any other device are not like putting on glasses which for most people can perfectly correct refractive errors and give 20/20 vision.  The cells in the ear have died and the brain has to get used to processing sound differently; the degree of which will depend on the magnitude and exact nature of the hearing loss.

adrich

I also went through a similar process not long ago. I’ve stuck with the NHS hearing aids for now. They’re not perfect, but free and regularly serviced, which helps. Like you, I’ve seen a lot of ads for Hear Well, and while the price is tempting, the lack of in-person fitting put me off a bit.

Stilernin2

Thank you everyone for your input.  I guess I should have accepted the NHS ones when I saw the audiologist earlier this year.  The " it will just make everything louder" remark put me off.

Spoonie_Turtle

Stilernin2 said:

Thank you everyone for your input.  I guess I should have accepted the NHS ones when I saw the audiologist earlier this year.  The " it will just make everything louder" remark put me off.

Understandably!  I don't know why they said that, it's not true of any modern hearing aids. 
(It is true of those stupid bulky cheap amplifier things that inexplicably somehow still get made and sold, but not of any proper hearing aids.)

Torry_Quine

Hearing aids will never give you the result you want. Sadly especially in a group of people the sound is amplified and picking out one voice can be difficult. My NHS aids have made a big difference to me and for instance I can now hear the preacher at church. 
Paying privately will make little difference unless you have a very specific requirement. 

millie

I have Danlogic ones from NHS, They are really good I can change the programmes from my phone via an App called Bemore, There is a speech clarity programme and I have them set so that my mobile phone rings in them and the calls go to it too, I do not even have to hold the phone to use it. You can change this before answering the phone before answering it.