Hearing aid purchase

[tomlwatson]

I've had T for about 3 years. It's been at the same volume for about 2 years. I've had hearing loss in both ears. I've come to the point where I need (and will use) hearing aids. I won't be using the NHS, I'll be going private. So, there is the SpecSavers, Boots route or there is tinnitusclinic.co.uk in my area that obviously specialise in treating T sufferers. The cost of hearing aid treatment alone from them is dearer than one of the high street shops. I'm willing to pay for quality HA but don't want to throw money away. Does anyone have any info on whether tinnitusclinic.co.uk can give me HA that are more suited to T?

[Dave-G]

I can't help you with your private HA query, but may I ask why not NHS I have moderate hearing loss in both ears and recently had two new replacement HA free of charge on the NHS and mine are doing the job perfectly.

Dave

[Hidden]

Mine are free on the NHS from Specsavers and added a white noise setting and would recommend you do the same and save your money unless you are after blue tooth ones.

Love glynis

[Hidden]

Your enquiry seems a little strange to me in that you don't want to go to the NHS for HA/s. You will get best help and long term aftercare from the NHS for your tinnitus and hearing aid/s. MY GP told me 21 years ago that this was so and I have found it to be true. I was recently fitted with two digital white noise generators that have a setting for white noise and pink noise. They also have built-in hearing aids. I don't have hearing loss so my Audiologist disabled them via the computer. These cost around £1700 or more and were free.

I correspond with people at other forums that are not living in the UK. One person I spoke with said she has hearing loss and tinnitus. Her medical insurance does not cover HA with white noise generators so she will have to buy private. This will cost her: £3,750. I'm puzzled that you would choose to go elsewhere for treatmeant in preference to having a gold standard service from the NHS and save yourself a lot of money in the process.

Michael

[Ruud1boy in reply to Hidden]

I can't say I agree with your assessment of the NHS provision re tinnitus Michael - my experience over the last 12mths has been that it's been negligible at best and non-existent at worst.

There are differences across different trusts and obviously the NHS is chronically underfunded (or chronically mismanaged, depending on your political persuasion), but I get the impression that they just don't have the resources to give 'benign' conditions such as ours the attention we would all like. I've noted on the forum before that I've been virtually begging for help over the last 6mths and the audiologist I've been seeing, who is well known as the local tinnitus expert and schooled in TRT etc, has just been stonewalling me. The assistance he has been able to give, such as it is, has been just a half hour chat on a few occasions to try and convince me that I just need to get used to it and effectively, if I don't let it bother me, it won't bother me. Genius. He's of the opinion that in continuing to look for help, I'm actually keeping the T going rather than allowing habituation to develop. All well and good when you don't have a screaming steam whistle in your head 24/7.

That was more help than I managed to elicit from my local NHS Trust however, who just issued a couple of leaflets pulled from the internet and called it a day. I raised a formal complaint about this 'therapy' and they said that was as much as they were required / able to do.

Maybe I should move to your part of the world......

[Hidden in reply to Ruud1boy]

I agree with you Ruddboy, that there are differences within the NHS and the quality of care for tinnitus is varied throughout the country. It is our right I believe, to request to be referred to a hospital of our choosing providing we are able to get there?

I now live in Brighton but travel to London to attend the hospital that have has been looking after me for 21 years. My experience with the care there has been very good. I have had TRT. The full treatment not a scaled down version. Wearing white noise generators for two years including regular counselling the whole time. The counselling sessions lasted a minimum of 1hr.

I have a good rapport with my consultant and Hearing Therapist. Both helped me a lot when I was going through a very difficult time with tinnitus. As I've said, I know the quality of care varies considerably throughout the UK. I regularly keep in contact with people overseas. Some don't even have access to a Hearing Therapist or Audiologist and everything as to be paid for which cost and arm and a leg. The bedside manner of many of the doctors regarding tinnitus leaves a lot to be desired, so I'm told.

All the best

Michael

[berry76]

I'm actually finding my Boots hearing specialist very knowledgeable about T - and although I have been to a private Harley Street clinic I am discovering the Boots approach to be more comprehensive ....ie concerned with hearing loss and T - not just focussing on the T. Since my recent Boots hearing test I have been referred via my GP to a NHS audiologist for further tests but the result will be returned back to Boots and I will possibly end up replacing my current Tinnitus Clinic hearing aids which have additional white noise. Each update at the private clinic is £120 - and the aids were £4,500 three years ago. Big money - but big support too!

[Ruud1boy]

Deffo - speak to the NHS. The Tinnitus Clinic will dress up their service as something more than it is but there's no such thing as HA's that are more suited to T.

The NHS is far from perfect, but it's difficult to argue with the provision re HA's - high quality, top spec items, supplied without charge along with lifetime aftercare, replacements, batteries etc. I've been wearing my little fellas for a couple of months now and asked if I could change them for a different colour - I was hoping they might let me keep the original ones as spares, but wasn't really expecting them to agree to this - but they did. Little wins............

[tomlwatson]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I'm taking all (most of you) your advice and went to my GP for referral to an audiologist. I will report back with the results once I've been seen.

[Angela-H in reply to tomlwatson]

Hi tomlwatson, the hearing aid provision and treatment for tinnitus in Shropshire is good. Wish I could say the same for the ENT consultants who were not of much use at all!

My hearing aid for slight hearing loss in one ear does lessen the T. I also have a masker for the other ear. Best wishes, Angela xx

[ade-the-pade]

Folks, Thought that I would add my bit. The NHS service does change in relation to your post code. One audiologist gave me a leaflet and sent me off. Another arranged from a set of T maskers to be fitted. They said that even if it helped 1% then it was worth it.

I have enquired about getting them reprogramed to be HAs as well as I struggle to hear the telly over the T. If I turn it up loud it annoys the family.

The only problem is that they have 200+ on the waiting list. They say they will write to me in October with my appointment.

Very proud of the NHS but understand the struggles they face.

Last year I had Private Medical Insurance through my partner's work. Saw ENT within a week.

My boy needed a hernia Op.Saw consultant within a week and Op at a date of our choosing.

Had a prolapsed Disc. MRI within two days. Had to see a Neurologist. Head scan within days and result with Consultant the next day. You get the picture.

Private is a great service but I ended up at the Royal ENT at London. They are clearly the experts and I am delighted with the service. Appointment waiting time is a bit long but they do their best.

Wishing you peace and quiet.

Ade

[CurlyCarla]

This is an interesting discussion. I had to request my doctor to refer me to the hospital as they didn't take my tinnitus or hearing loss seriously, dismissing it as temporary. Perhaps this was my age (36 at the time) & I knew something was wrong. Milton Keynes hospital is not well thought of locally & the ENT consultants are not very sympathetic, however the audiologist nurse was amazing & a T specialist. I asked her if it was worth paying for private HA but even she said wait until you try the NHS one to know if it works for you. So I never bothered after 3 yrs. They even send me new ear tubes in the post. I assumed all hospital services were a muchness. I may consider private as I get older if and when it gets worse. Now I've dropped mine & it's a bit damaged but still works, I'm so glad it was free & not 1000's of ££££

[drumcraw in reply to CurlyCarla]

hi curly carla. glad you had agood exp. at nhs your one of the lucky ones as i know lots of T sufferers that havent including my self! also dont bother with pvt clinics all they will do is take your money and youll still have T, ive spoken to people that have tried them! take care craw.

[drumcraw]

hi tom. i went pvt for aids when i first got T. they have amasker on theyre small and have aremote control they were the cheapest ones costing£2,000 they have limited equalisation on them and after 2 years i eventually persuaded the nhs to give me ones to see how they were in comparison, they were bigger but the e.q. was far better and after4 years i have nhs ones with excellent top end and also white noise .so i would suggest you try nhs first as logn as you have agood audiologist and they are understanding and comapssionate youll be pleased with the aids. theres too many audiologists on hns that shouldNOT be in the job for one reason and another ATITUDE springs to mind firstly anyway good luck craw,

[Chrissifer]

Hi, what has made you go to the private sector for aids, I wear NHS aids and get a great service, I am single sided hearing, have T in the deaf ear (nerve dead) and since a traffic accident I get T in the other side too, I had a Baha for a while then when it wasn't powerful enough for the slowly failing ear they got me a cross aid (contralateral routing of sound) so that's a mic with a tiny transmitter on the deaf ear and a ha inc a tiny receiver in the hearing ear, can't fault the service, Ime in Shropshire, they are rated very well, why not try nhs audiology first they don't want you money.

Cheers and best of luck, oh and if you do go private make sure you get refunded if it doesn't go well 🙈