Antique ear trumpets

Here’s something you don’t see everyday – an online ear trumpet gallery!

The Phisick Antique Medical Collection shows a large range of ear trumpets from the 19th and 20th centuries.

Fascinating to see the kind of things people used to help them hear all those years ago.

I’m kinda glad technology has moved on a bit since then!

David Ormerod Hearing Centre: I’m not impressed!

I was doing some shopping in my local Boots last week and, because I had 15 minutes to spare, I decided to pop into the in-store David Ormerod Hearing Centre that to check out there service and prices.

No-one else was waiting or being seen by the assistant so I was shown straight in. I briefly explained my situation to her: Currently have analogue ITEs that aren’t powerful anymore and am looking to go digital. I asked her what brands they were offering and how much they were selling them for – she seemed happy to talk through the makes and models but sidestepped any questions on price. That made me immediately assume that their prices weren’t too good. She was also dead keen on getting my name and address and booking me an appointment with the Audiologist – a bit pushy for my liking!

Next, and this was the question I was really interested in asking, I asked her what would happen if I purchased hearing aids from them and I didn’t like them – what would happen if I just couldn’t get on with them? Basically, was there a trial period? “You can try them for a month and if you don’t like them you can have your money back or try something else. But, the Audiologist will know what you need”. Fair enough, the return policy is fine. But then, and this is where she lost herself a potential customer, she said ,”You know that there is times in life when you just have to get on with things and do the best with what you’ve got. The aid may not be perfect for you but you just need to do the best with what you’ve got”. Are you joking, lady? You want me to pay you somewhere between £1500 and £3000 for a hearing aid that I would just have to put up with? If I’m spending that sort of money I expect something that’s perfect for me – not something I have to try and do the best with.

I headed for the door pretty soon after that.

Unilateral hearing loss

Unilateral hearing loss (UHL) is also known as Single Sided Deafness (SSD) – it is where a person has normal hearing in one ear but an impairment in the other.

People suffering UHL will have difficulty hearing and understanding speech in noisy situations and they will find it difficult to localise sound.

CROS Hearing Aids

A contralateral routing of signals (CROS) hearing aid is used to treat single sided deafness – it takes sounds from the ear with poorer hearing and transmits it to the good ear.

Olive, 108, does get new hearingaid!

I wrote the other day about Olive Beal, a 108 year-old lady who was told by her local NHS hospital that she would have to wait 18 months to be fitted with new hearing aids.

Well, it turns out that she won’t have to wait that long after all. Phillip Ball, an audiologist who runs his own private practice, stepped in and offered Olive a pair of new digital aids for free.

Great news for Olive and also a great piece of PR by Mr Ball.

Woman, 108, must wait 18 months for hearingaid

A 108-year-old woman has been told by her local NHS hospital that she must wait at least 18 months before she receives a new hearing aid.

Olive Beal’s 5-year-old analogue hearingaid is no longer effective and she needs a digital version that cuts out background noise and makes conversation easier. She visited her local NHS hospital and after a hearing test was told, “yes, she does need a digital hearing aid, but there is an 18-month waiting list” – too which she replied, “I could be dead by then”!

Read the full article on Guardian Unlimited.

Specsavers offering cheap hearing aids

Many branches of Boots and Specsavers now have a hearing aid service in-store. Boots have the David Ormerod sections in many branches and Specsavers have Hearcare. Yet, even though these have been around for quite a while now I’ve never thought about using them. Why? Well, I’ve been a customer of small hearing aid company for years and have never really thought about going anywhere else. As well as that, I have always dismissed Boots and Specavers as being less professional and less knowledgeable than Aston – don’t know why I thought that, stupidity probably!

So, now I really need to get some new aids – I currently have a pair of Siemens analogue ITEs that are just not powerful enough any more.

I’ve just been looking on the Specsavers website and, to be honest, –>their prices cannot be ignored. As well as those inviting looking prices, their site also says that my nearest Hearcare branch are currently doing a 2 for 1 offer. Even if I got their most expensive Halcyon aid – that would be two new digital hearing aids for about £1500. Just to seal the deal, they have a two year guarantee on all aids.

I’m there already!

EDITED ON 13th AUGUST 2007: I THINK SPECSAVERS HAVE NOW STOPPED THIS OFFER. CHECK WITH YOUR LOCAL BRANCH TO FIND OUT.