For anyone suffering with hearing loss, getting a hearing aid can be life-changing.
Hearing loss can be debilitating and have huge impacts on your quality of life. With a hearing aid, you’ll benefit greatly from being able to hear clearer, louder and with confidence in everyday situations.
However, in order to reap the benefits of a hearing aid, it’s important to make sure that the device is the perfect fit for you and your lifestyle.
The Hearing Specialist offers a free 7-day hearing aid trial so that you can test out the device in your own listening environments and at your own leisure. Improving your hearing is our top priority, and we won’t let you settle for a device that you aren’t 100% satisfied with.
So, how do you try before you buy? Here’s what to expect from a hearing aid trial with us.
1. Hearing test
First of all, you’ll need a hearing test. Before offering a hearing aid trial, we need to assess your hearing health and investigate the severity of your hearing loss. This is so that we can make an informed recommendation on the most suitable hearing aid for you.
During the hearing assessment, we’ll visually inspect your ears to check for any health concerns or abnormalities. There’s also the chance that a build-up of ear wax may be causing your hearing issues – in which case, you may just need to undergo a microsuction treatment.
An in-depth, thorough hearing test will then be performed to analyse your hearing loss. There are many different types and severities of hearing loss, and our comprehensive testing will give us a clear understanding of your hearing impairment.
2. Hearing loss diagnosis
It’s important to know where your hearing impairment stems from and whether it is curable. We will need to run a series of tests in order to discover which type of hearing loss you are suffering from.
In this case, there are three main types of hearing loss you could be struggling with:
- Sensorineural Hearing Loss.
- Conductive Hearing Loss.
- Mixed Hearing Loss.
Sensorineural Hearing Loss
Is the most common type of hearing loss. It is a result of aging or being exposed to loud noises. This kind of hearing loss isn’t normally treatable through medicine or surgery but with the assistance of hearing aids, you may benefit a great deal.
Sensorineural hearing loss is a type of hearing impairment which will occur when your inner ear (or the hearing nerve itself) becomes damaged.
Sometimes you can experience what is called, sudden sensorineural hearing loss. As true to its term, it is a hearing loss that occurs when you suddenly lose your ability to hear clearly either immediately or gradually, within a few days. This type of impairment is serious and we advise you to visit a specialist as soon as possible. If delayed, the suggested medications may not be as effective in remedying the problem.
Conductive Hearing Loss
Occurs in the outer or middle ear where sound waves are unable to travel through to your inner ear. This means that sound could be blocked by earwax or a foreign body trapped inside your ear canal. This could lead to your middle ear being overwhelmed with fluid or an infection and sometimes can be due to bone abnormalities. You could also be suffering from an injured eardrum.
This type of hearing loss can be treated either medically or surgically, depending on the severity of the case. This kind of hearing impairment is common with children who suffer from regular ear infections, or children who accidentally (or purposely) insert foreign objects into their ears.
Mixed Hearing Loss
This is where you can suffer between both sensorineural and conductive hearing loss. You may begin with sensorineural hearing impairment, to then later develop conductive hearing loss.
Visiting us for a hearing test is important in discovering what kind of hearing loss you have. It can help us find the correct solution that will best suit your needs. We encourage our patients to use hearing aids since they are easy to customise to suit your exact fitting and hearing requirement.
Hearing loss in adults
It is very common for hearing loss to occur gradually as you age. This is normally due to age-related changes that occur inside your ear or the auditory nerve. Age-related hearing loss is commonly known as presbycusis.
3. Hearing aid fitting
If after your hearing test, you find that you need hearing aids, we will work with you to find the correct hearing aids best suited to you. This process is what we call the ‘hearing aid fitting’ procedure, where we will assess your requirements and programme your hearing aids.
Your hearing test produces an audiogram which will help us pick the best type of hearing aid for you. The varying levels of hearing loss can determine which styles can and will work best for you.
During this stage, we will learn as much as we can about your lifestyle and your expectations along with any personal experiences and preferences with hearing aids. This information combined with your hearing results will give us plenty of options to choose from for you.
What is your lifestyle?
We want to make sure you have the hearing aids correctly chosen to fit your lifestyle. Over time, you may have chosen to isolate yourself more as your hearing problems gradually worsened. It might be good to keep in mind the change in your lifestyle once you have hearing aids fitted, since you will no longer need to avoid loud or busy environments when you have properly fitted hearing aids to support you!
It’s also good to know if you are housebound, or if you are working in an office. Office environments can be noisy, so finding a hearing aid that can cancel out much of the noise could be better for you. Though, you may be housebound and therefore require hearing aids that can perform better whilst using electronic devices such as mobile phones or televisions and intercoms.
Do you have hearing aid preferences?
You may have a specific preference of hearing aid in mind. For instance, if you want a hearing aid that is discreet, you might opt for the clear hearing aids. You might wish to wear your hearing aids with pride and choose a bright colour to flaunt your style!
You may also wish to have the ability to control the volume of your hearing aids, or you might want the technology to do it for you. This area of preference can also come from your level of dexterity, if you are able to manually control your hearing aids or not.
The same thought goes into the battery life of your hearing aids and your personal preference in maintenance. Do you want to change the batteries every couple of weeks? Are you wanting hearing aids that you can easily dock to charge? All of these questions can be asked and answered during your hearing aid fitting!
Are you new to hearing aids?
There will be an adjustment period for you, whether you are new to hearing aids or you are trying out a different model. You might want to consider all the concerns you had with your previous hearing aids.
If you’re new to hearing aids, you might want to ask about the ease of use or manual functionality. All of this will help you in the long run when you are choosing your hearing aids.
4. Hearing aid trial
Buying into hearing aids is an investment into your overall state of mind and your wellbeing. We want you to get the most out of your hearing aids. We also want to ensure that you are well-informed and happy with the hearing aids you will be buying. Irrespective of you being new to hearing aids, or just looking to switch up your models, we offer a free 7-day trial with no obligation to purchase the product.
You want to make sure you are getting the most out of your hearing aid trial, especially based on your lifestyle. If you are still active, working, or housebound we want you to experience your hearing aids in every environment you will be exposed to so you can experience the best hearing aid journey.
Your trial will be long enough to cover all the events in your daily life, and maybe opportunities for you to test them out in environments you have avoided all this time due to your hearing impairment.
We want to offer you a full and transparent discussion on what you hope to get out of this experience and offer our expert advice. We want to educate you on the pros and cons of the different hearing aid models. This, paired with a thorough understanding of your background and personal needs.
Our 7-day free trial will provide you with the support you may require throughout the process. We want you to ask as many questions during this time so that you can learn everything there is to know about your hearing aids.
5. What happens after the trial
After your 7-day trial period has ended, you’ll be invited back for a follow-up appointment to discuss your experience and thoughts.
We offer a full week with your hearing aid as we believe that offers plenty of opportunities to experience different environments, situations and sounds – so, your follow-up appointment is the perfect chance to reflect on what happened during this period.
There may have been some ups and downs along the way as you adjusted to the device, and it’s important to discuss all of these so we can decide if this is the right hearing aid for you.
If you have had a successful hearing aid trial, great! You can choose to purchase the hearing aid and it will be yours to keep. If you decide to buy, you’ll get an extra 30-day cooling off period to be 100% certain that it’s the right device for you.
If your hearing aid didn’t quite hit the mark, we can recommend alternative devices that you may want to try. We’re here to help you find the perfect hearing aid to suit your lifestyle and requirements, and we’re confident that we’ll be able to find the perfect solution for you.
With no obligation to buy, there is no pressure to purchase a hearing aid after your trial period. However, for patients who do decide to buy – our services don’t end there.
The Hearing Specialist provides unrivalled aftercare to each and every one of our patients, with regular review appointments, hearing aid cleaning and repair services to ensure that you’re hearing clearly for years to come.
Thinking about hearing aids?
Have you discovered that you are constantly turning the TV volume up? Are you struggling to keep up with the conversations in and around noisy environments? Are you finding it difficult to talk and listen on the phone? It is important that you do not ignore these signs – we can help you find a hearing aid that can eliminate these stresses.
These days hearing aids have been revolutionised with innovative technology and design, offering you small and stylish super devices. There are hundreds of hearing aids to choose from, all available in different shapes, sizes and colours. All come with extraordinary built-in technology that is tailored to suit your individual needs, lifestyle and budget.
We can help you find the hearing aid that is most suitable for you, offering you everything you are looking for in order to get the most out of life. We will discuss all of your hearing issues during a consultation, and we can help you make an informed decision without any obligation to buy.
Get started by booking a hearing test today.