General Chat

Well after a lot of heckling from my grandson I had a hearing test c2018

Was going to say nope nothing wrong with my hearing!

Wrong cos it had deteriorated and was you need hearing aids so your brain doesn’t forget sounds cos once lost it won’t reconnect

I didn’t want obvious aids as I have short hair and I was offered in ear ones

Bee costly at even with customer discount cost £900 each but I was ok let’s do it

I have kept them clean and replaced the batteries every week as they indicated with a tune that indicated new battery needed

Even so both have failed twice and had to go away for repair, fortunately under warranty, but the right one has failed again and needs repairing .

Am not a happy bunny cos the audiologist was it’s the price you pay for vanity!!

In ear ones are very susceptible to damp and wax . Even though my ears are very clean !

To be told it’s the price YOU pay for vanity is very disconcerting.

I paid BIG money for aids that just seem not up to the job :-(

Ah yes Shirley, I remember my Aunty buying "hearing Devices" not aids because she didn't want anyone to see them and know she was hard of hearing. They cost more than £900 although cant quite remember how much but.... when I last went to see her, she couldn't hear a word i was saying!!

Made no difference whether she wore them or not so it seemed to me someone was raking it in all in the name of vanity!

However, your audiologist should not have said that too you, how jolly rude.

As they are under warranty and have already failed a few times, are you entitled to a refund so you can go to a different company to buy them maybe?

Florence in the hebrides

So sorry to hear that Shirley. I really think it was an unkind thing to say. I do hope they

can be sorted so they work properly. <3

Florence
Seems not unless i change the company

I wear glasses so accepted the free hearing test when it seemed I may have a problem
They don’t do nhs !

But too the nhs only do basic aids , hubby got nhs aids through the local hospital that took months to arrive after his initial tests
They irritated his ears so he couldn’t wear them but going back to the hospital was ok we will supply different ones that took months to supply

They to irritated his ears and made then so sore they were unwearable only to be told hard luck that’s all we do !
So he went private through our opticians

I did take his aids to see it I could wear then if re programmed but was noo they are too much for your requirements

Von

I thought was very rude tbh

They were sold to me as what you want and very suitable for your needs to be now almost blamed for my selection is wow !

I have had NHS aids for over 20 years now, even though they are over the ear type and my hair is quite short I have had people say they had not noticed them, when I mentioned them. The service I get from audiology at our main hospital is excellent I went a couple of weeks back as the tubes needed changing. When they took them to fit the tubes they notice the vert start of a small hairline crack in the moulds. They are only 2 years old but apparently it happens with the material they make the moulds from now. so they are getting me two new moulds should be here in 3 weeks or so and they will call me back when they are ready. I am perectly happy with NHS aids and of course the batteries, which last at least 10 days, are free. If they have been uncomfortable when fitted they have shaved a bit off to make the fit better, nothing is too much trouble for them. I have to say I am pleased I didn't pay out £900 for mine.

Ann

Mine cost £900 each !!

Originally £1100 each so over £2000 but graciously!! as a long term customer for specs I was given a discount!.,

Even so 1800 wasn’t cheap but I paid in instalments so made it feel more affordable

Even so you would think even with a warranty in place that at the price they would be up to the job

Once out of warranty am thinking on their track record that I may have to replace rather than repair when they go wrong again :-(

Shirley, what does the warranty actually say? How long have you got until it expires?

The warranty covered breakdowns and damage as long as they were checked annually by the audiologist,which they have been , and was for 5 years which expires next year

I definitely didn’t want NHS ones, so went to my opticians. I asked about in ear ones, but was told that they were not suitable for me.
I wanted rechargeable ones, I didn’t want to have to mess about changing batteries. I just put mine in a little charger every night when I take them out. They weren’t cheap, but that was fine for me. I can control them from an app on my phone. They are normally in automatic mode, but I can change them to restaurant mode, or music. I find the restaurant mode very useful when in a large group of people in a noisy area as it cuts out the background noise.
The opticians have been very good if I have had any problems with them

It sounds as though I have similar ones to Linda ............. in ear, rechargeable batteries, could be controlled by my smart phone if I had one! I could also set them to a radio station, to hear music or all kinds of fancy things.

They were a darned lot more expensive than you've paid, and we have to go private, to specialist hearing technicians. No freebies for us. Nor were they covered by our private insurance, so we had to pay the whole cost ourselves.

I'm reasonably happy with them, although I seem to always seem to be having problems with the way OH speaks, and he can't get used to the fact that one does not wear hearing aids all the time. He expects me to hear as soon as I wake up, or when I'm in the shower! :-P

Shirley
With so many problems, I would consider your aids 'Not fit for pupose' and I would be really annoyed with the comment about vanity :-|
My experience is similar to Ann's in that I have had fantastic care from a lovely audiologist at our main NHS hospital.
I have virtually no hearing in one ear and hearing loss in the other, but they suggested a cros band system, which uses a microphone in one ear to relay sound to the other.
I can't fault the NHS care and attention.
I do not have moulds, but tiny flexible domes, which are very comfortable.

That is interesting Gwyn in that it seems to depend which area you live in as to which sort of aids you get. yours sound impressive and pleased I am not the only one satisfied with my NHS aids.

In addition to hearing aids, I also have micro suction treatment every 3 months at our hospital ENT department. That helps my hearing a lot.

Round here you have to pay to have that done, even if you have NHS devices.

I think you have to pay here too.

It is not something I requested.
I have had 2 operations on my right ear, - one in childhood and another in 1975 and because of scar tissue and a later perforated drum, it was deemed the safest way to see just what was going on.
Once started, the team decided that regular 'upkeep' was the best way forward.