Wow! £3,000 and they aren’t even rechargeable?
I had an option of rechargeable on my NHS ones, but opted for non as the units are slightly smaller, and I dob’t have to faff with putting on charge every night (the batteries last about 3 days, and give warning before dying). The more expensive Starkeys I had on trial from a private audiologist were rechargeable, with a box to put by the bedside to put them in to recharge - forget and useless next day, worse if go away and forget to take. And I understand the life of rechargeable is limited.
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I concur with Starkey Vs NHS aids.
A 4 year guarantee, which includes rechargeable batteries, comes with mine from the manufacturer and supplier.
Once again my hearing isn’t impaired enough for NHS aids. So it’s not an option.
NHS is not an option for me, as my hearing impairment is too slight.
So the NHS won’t provide you with aids because you can hear reasonably well?
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As mentioned previously, I get the impression that service provided by NHS varies around the country, likely both in quality and willingness, though I would have expect there must be national guidance. But of course like other medical services some people prefer to go private
I assume by that that you had an NHS hearing test, or at least completed some form of assessment about your hearing? Of course, all our ears decline from some time late teens or early twenties, and if, say, you are in your 40s, with hearing normal for your age, I wouldn’t expect NHS to restore your hearing to that of a 20 year old, but if by “pensionable age” you mean late 60s or older than I your hearing loss might not be any less than mine, and I qualified for NHS.
In our case, the bells and whistles are tinnitus.
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I had a different experience I had a prescribed NHS Siemens hearing aid in my left ear for a while a few years ago. I just found it a nuisance so I stopped wearing it.
My wife has a pair of Phonak aids and the audiologist asked if I’d like to have some on a trial (£3.5k to buy). Of course these were set for the perceived deficiencies in my hearing. I wasn’t aware of any difference at all. So they went back.
About three months ago I was given a hearing test at my opticians. She said that my hearing was fine.
I’m 71 now and wonder if it’s possible for impaired hearing to repair itself as it seems to have done in my case. I would have thought this unlikely as hearing loss at the top end is usually caused by the little hairs in your ear becoming brittle with age and “breaking off”, so I’m not sure they can be resurrected. Whatever, I’m quite pleased.
Thanks for posting this, I have Tinnitus and some hearing loss now, I am a similar age to yourself. I have recently been thinking that my system (Naim) is not up to part anymore and could possibly need a service but after reading this I might get a check.
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Wondering if I can broach the issue of hearing aids with my 93 yr old neighbour… Semi detached house. We put music on to mask out the ‘nattering’ sound of her TV blasting through the party wall every evening…
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In all likelihood the ‘problem’ may just go away in time!
High frequency hearing loss will obviously reduce the amount of your system’s output that you can hear and, therefore, appreciate. That said, it’s worth remembering that there’s a lot more to enjoying and appreciating music (or a system) than having a wide frequency response.
For example, things like timing and transients do not (AFAIK) get impaired hugely with age, so even someone whose hearing barely went above, say, 10kHz could still quite possibly hear the difference between different systems or different recordings as long as what they were listening for wasn’t exclusively above their hearing range.
Mark
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My local health centre has it’s own Audiology dept and yes, I did go there first, and no, I do not qualify for NHS hearing aids.
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Thanks for confirming. The unfortunate postcode lottery at workI suspect.
In any case, my thread was never about compairing private hearing aids to NHS ones, it was merely to suggest that because I was, and therefore others might be, losing some of the benefits that an expensive HiFi system has to offer, and maybe could get their hearing checked out.
I did realise that, but there are members who have NHS aids and found them as good as private ones, so worth pointing out - though if eligibility varies then of course people might not be able to benefit without paying for expensive private aids. There are also many people who would definitely benefit from aids who resist getting any.
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Hi
I recently got some phonak bolero hearing aids on nhs from Specsavers, they are good for hearing in noisy environments, my only issue is they distort the sound of certain notes on my acoustic piano (Yamaha u1 silent bought new 14 years ago regularly tuned).
Any forum musicians having same issues?
Thanks
Terry
Ps I have made appointment to discuss with specsaver audiologist
Pps also get distortion when piano is in silent mode using hearing aids with Sennheiser hd570
open back headphones
Strange isn’t it. I have Bolero and am waiting a review as the intial fitting was for automatic only.
I find them poor in noisy environments, typically a cafe or restaurant I can hear the people behind or to the side better than those in front. Somewhere with aircon or shop refrigeration simply overwhelms them.
As regards piano, much is volume dependant, Radio 3 as background is ok, turn it up to sit and listen then with many recordings I find the intial strike of the note is something akin to the click of a safety lid on a jamjar, then the decay is masked.
Then, I have understood why cats come running for Dreamies, the crackle of the pack is so loud and distinctive it is a clear signal!
The expensive Starkeys I trialled were like that! And though the audiologist tweaked something when I told him, they weren’t much better, But my NHS Phonak Novas are fine. It may be down to the skill and understanding of the audiologist, and of course possibly differences between different models (and brands)
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