New NHS Hearing aids now Blue tooth enabled

[Cyres]

Last month I had my NHS hearing aids replaced as the originals were over 5 years old.

I was seen by a locum Audiologist who had previously worked in the private sector. She was extremely efficient and took care to set up my hearing aids to my requirements. I was told it would cost £95 to replace a hearing aid should I loose one and it would appear if I had gone privately then I could well have spent in the region of £3k for my new hearing aids. We had quite a discussion on the merits of NHS vs private hearing aids and she considered you had a better service, testing and adjustment in the NHS and often in the private sector clients were sold the hearing aids which paid the highest commission not the ones best suited to the patient! To protect her I will not reveal the private company she worked for but it was a major player in the market.

I now have a blue tooth enabled pair of Phonak Nova M. Having downloaded the Phonak app I can connect my hearing aids to my Samsung phone and can adjust them to my requirements. There is a feature to adjust to a variety of environments eg TV, Restaurant and alike. Best is they are blue toothed to my phone so using my mobile is so much easier.

My hearing has been transformed and bird song is now almost deafening ! Its difficult to realise how much your hearing can deteriorate and you are unaware of the decline.

Also she provided me with an letter which I can use for applying for a disabled rail card which will allow significant savings on train travel.
Although it did take several months to get an appointment to get my new hearing aids it was a very worthwhile exercise and the Audiology Dept at St Michael's Bristol provided a very good service.

D

 

[Stevie/P]

Interesting I was diagnosed with 60% loss in left ear via NHS audiology this was during the pandemic I wasn’t informed I could get hearing aid on the NHS I might chase this up thanks for posting.

 

[Jelen]

Interesting, thanks for the heads up.
Had to get mine replaced after the puppy chewed one (don't ask). At my appointment I had to pay for a replacement in cash. When the nurse came back from accounts with my receipt she looked up my records and found that I was overdue a hearing test, which she duly conducted. The result was an additional small loss of hearing which entitled me to a new pair of hearing aids, free of charge!!!

 

[Cyres]

Once your in the system it appears new hearing aids are available every five years. The ones I have are the 2nd best available on the NHS. Appears different regions have different suppliers as mate in Shropshire has just had new hearing aids but not Phonaks. Interestingly his aids were v poorly fitted and will need to be adapted to him something he did not realise. I have lost most of my high frequency hearing as a result of many years shot gun shooting without hearing protection.
D

 

[Border]

I got a pair of resound hearing aids with the same functions on the Norwegian NHS. A real ear opener for a deaf currant ( thanks to drag racing, chainsaws and shooting)

 

[MarinePMI]

I would also remind, or notify people that if they have only one side complete loss of hearing, there is a new version of hearing air out. Often referred to as a CROS (Contralateral Routing of Signal), it's one hearing aid (on the good ear) and one CROS aid on the dead ear. The CROS aid then sends a signal (securely via a hard coded connection to the hearing aid) to the hearing aid in the other ear. While it does not restore the ability to locate sound, it does improve tremendously, the ability to hear things on the dead side. They're also BT enabled, and rechargeable. Also the base charger has it's own battery, so it can be used as a portable recharger if out and about and you need a couple extra hours of power.

Anyways, just a heads up for those with SSD (Single Side Deafness), like myself.

 

[Rasputin]

My old man has the phonaks they worked so well he’s now turned them off to drown out my mother .