Hearing aids from a well known opticians

I wonder what happens to the ones returned after the trial period?

I HATE my NHS hearing aids. They’re fiddly, get in the way of glasses and hats and combing hair.
All I want is to have a conversation with someone next to me with other noises around us. My aids are useless at this.
A friend has new £2000 aids which she says are much better.

My husband had NHS hearing aids and struggled with them. This was mainly due to the little plastic tubes that became easily kinked and blocked. He was also put off by the size of the unit behind his ears.
He eventually decided to pay for new hearing aids, these are smaller and have a thin copper type wire instead of plastic tubes. He's much happier and says they are more comfortable.

Yes they aren't available free where I live either through Specsavers.
It depends on your GPs postcode and also if a branch of Specsavers near you has an NHS contract

Luckygirl3

I have NHS ones from Specsavers - small, fine, free, connects to an app on my phones, all the bells and whistles, all the follow up and batteries free. I am at a loss as to why anyone pays ...

Where I live you can't go to Specsavers for NHS aids. Have to go to GP for referral and then wait for hospital appointment.

DH (worn NHS aids for years) asked his NHA audiologist if it was worth trying the multi-thousands private aids from a famous chain optician. Would they be better?

She replied "No, they won't, you're already wearing the best possible aids for your hearing loss, (free on NHS) . Just be sure you get private ones on the three months free trial so you can get the cost refunded.

She was right. DH went for the most expensive , all bells and whistles private aids offered by the famous chain. and paid thousands for them. Less than three months later he requested, and got, the full cost refunded under the trial offer.

DH tried them then found that Boots did better ones . They are by no means cheep but he thinks they are worth it . NHS ones were useless .

Luckygirl3

I have NHS ones from Specsavers - small, fine, free, connects to an app on my phones, all the bells and whistles, all the follow up and batteries free. I am at a loss as to why anyone pays ...

My DH has NHS hearing aids and as Luckygirl says they are brilliant. The NHS Hearing Centre is wonderful and supply free batteries - sent by post - plus any spares (cleaning pipes etc). We know several people who bought private aids then switched to NHS.

Good luck with whichever aids you plump for!

Luckygirl3

I have NHS ones from Specsavers - small, fine, free, connects to an app on my phones, all the bells and whistles, all the follow up and batteries free. I am at a loss as to why anyone pays ...

My DH had NHS ones at first, but his hearing loss was quite bad and he had to have ones that ‘filled up’ his ear, if you can see what I mean. In the hot weather, they got sweaty and uncomfortable.

So he decided to go for private ones, as they were more discreet. Obviously the type he needed wasn’t available on the NHS.

Would you be eligible for NHS ones? My DH has some that fit into ear cleaning kit was supplied, they are battery ones , which are also supplied free of charge although I think you can upgrade the digital.
If anything goes wrong or you need help they can be contacted . Our Audiology dept is very helpful.

I have NHS ones from Specsavers - small, fine, free, connects to an app on my phones, all the bells and whistles, all the follow up and batteries free. I am at a loss as to why anyone pays ...

Not sure how dextrous you are. Some of the tiny ones are very fiddly - especially if you wear glasses it seems to me.
I'd be very sure you are sure well within the 100 days as you may want to try something else.

I have only looked at hearing aids in order to try to help my mother-in-law so only have second-hand experience really.

However, if I was looking for privately bought aids for myself I'd go to a centre that sold lots of different brands.
When I phoned around I discovered some are simply better for some people than others.

Good luck.

An ear trumpet would be cheaper.