Hearing Aids

A friend of mine has one of the latest NHS aids, it’s got a little hand control that goes in your pocket so that it’s easy to change the volume and tone discretely, it sounds a big step forward.
If you do go private be prepared to have very deep pockets.

I am not in the UK so cannot advise about NHS aids. However, I ran a national hearing loss charity for some years & definitely advise that all hearing aid buyers ask for loop switches on their new aids. Public buildings, churches, most theatres, lecture halls, etc. have loop systems to allow those with hearing loss to hear the speaker, but you must have a loop switch.

My experiences with the NHS are almost all negative so I didn’t bother them with my hearing problems. I’m very happy with my digital, rechargeable hearing aids and with the excellent service I am receiving from the private audiologist.

After three years, I was called by the NHS Audiology Dept and set up with digital aids, to replace the original analogue.
After five years one failed.
The Audiologist said "That's about the life", and and checked my hearing before setting up two new ones for me.

KittyKat1234

My hearing aid was fitted on the spot at Bridgnorth Audiology Deartment which is within Bridgnorth Hospital (next to Sainsburys). Very good all round. Can recommend.

brilliant I did not realise the NHS do the pop in (hidden) hearing aids. I have two clumpy ones with the over the ear bit for batteries. They play havoc with my glasses and knock the central vision part of the glasses off kilter. I am not sure that Shropshire NHS offer these pop in ones yet but will investigate.

One friend paid £1000 privately and took it back when her friend had the same aid on the NHS!
Incidentally, my Surgery refused to supply batteries for me and I had to buy some. When I told the Audiologist she was furious and said they had no right to send me away empty handed; they must give me the batteries.
Anyone had problems with replacement batteries.

My OH has been properly deaf for years. He always refused to wear the old NHS ones as he said they made his hearing worse. He then went on a clinical trial for digital hearing aids which you control from your smartphone. Transformation is the only word . He almost cried hearing birdsong for the first time in years. We turned the tv down and he wasn’t saying “speak up” every sentence. These aren’t yet available on the NHS but can be bought privately, apparently the new NHS digital ones are similar, but these ones have a few more sophisticated features and can work with the iPhone.

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

That is how DH came to but his private ones.

I think it depends on how good/bad your hearing actually is. We are about to buy my other expensive hearing aids. It was explained to us, in an NHS clinic, that the ones the NHS provides wouldn’t help her.

Thank you all for your experiences. It seems that the approvals are in the majority for NHS

My husband's can be adjusted by the technician, remotely.

Within 30 minutes of meeting the NHS Audiologist, I could hear the wet grass squelch under my feet and rain hitting the umbrella.
Over 8 years later, my NHS aids allow me to hear things that would, otherwise, be inaudible.
The batteries in the digital ones seem to last half the time of the original analogue ones.

I have heard of folk who have spent thousands on "private" hearing aids, and discarded them because of problems. (In my view they should have returned, and kept returning until the problems had been solved)

DH has a very specific hearing loss and has just spent a lot of money on private digital ones. They have made a huge difference to his life......and mine!

Thank you Cfaz49. I have an NHS digital hearing aid and I am quite happy with it sitting behind my ear (a real pain though when taking off my face mask?) it’s just that I seem to be missing parts of a lot of conversations. Given the responses I’ve had on Gransnet I may well stay with the NHS variety. Thank you so much for taking the time to reply

DH has been hearing impaired since his 20s. Now profoundly deaf. He has always had NHS hearing aids and the latest modern digital ones are superb.
He also has a new bone attached which is brilliant. NHS are great but you don’t get the choice if you only need a small in ear one and the colour choices are limited.

Thanks Spidergran3 for your response. That’s what I was worried about - spending a fortune to find little difference in my hearing.

I’ve got friends who have paid a fortune for hearing aids and then found the NHS ones are the best. What will be more sophisticated than the NHS ones? I wear two NHS ones that I’ve had for about three years. I can have the sound directly from the TV to my hearing aids, listen to music on my iPhone and take phone calls. Admittedly I’ve paid for devices to enable this but my audiologist has told me that the next ones will be iPhone compatible so I will probably only need the TV gizmo. Mind you I have noticed that some private hearing aids come in some nice colours!