What people ask us

You are welcome to walk in, but booking is better. The testing room is used for one person at a time, so an appointment means you are not waiting. Call or send a WhatsApp to 0300-9359652 and we will give you a time.

Yes, if you can. A husband, wife, son or daughter who talks to you every day often notices things you have stopped noticing, and it helps to have a second person hear the results. It also means someone else knows how to look after the hearing aid.

Allow about an hour for a first visit. The hearing test itself is around 30 minutes and the rest is going through your results and, if you want, trying a hearing aid on.

No. You sit in a quiet room wearing headphones, listen for very soft tones, and press a button or raise your hand when you hear one. Then you repeat some words back. Nothing is inserted into your ear and nothing touches the eardrum.

Pure-tone audiometry, which measures the quietest sound you can hear at each frequency and produces your audiogram. Speech audiometry, which measures how well you understand words rather than just detect sounds. And tympanometry, which checks that the eardrum and middle ear are moving properly. We use whichever of these your case needs.

The same day, before you leave. We print your audiogram, show you which frequencies are affected, and explain what that means for the sounds you have been missing.

Age-related hearing loss usually changes slowly over years. A hearing aid does not stop that and does not cause it either. What it does is keep the hearing nerve receiving speech, which matters because a nerve that stops receiving speech gradually gets worse at understanding it. That is the real reason not to wait.

That depends on the style. A behind-the-ear aid is visible from behind. A receiver-in-canal aid is very hard to spot. Completely-in-canal and invisible-in-canal aids sit inside the ear canal and are not visible unless someone looks into your ear. How small you can go depends on your hearing test and the width of your canal, and we will tell you honestly which styles will work for you.

If both ears have hearing loss, two. Your brain works out which direction a sound came from by comparing what the two ears receive, and with only one aid that comparison breaks down, which makes noisy places harder rather than easier. If only one ear is affected, one is enough.

Usually two to six weeks. At first everything sounds too bright, because you are hearing sounds you had stopped hearing, and your own voice can sound strange. That settles. Wear it a few hours a day to begin with, build up, and come back so we can fine-tune the programming as you adapt.

Rechargeable models sit on a charger overnight and are much easier if your eyesight or your fingers are not what they were, since there is no tiny battery door to open. Disposable batteries are cheaper to buy into and keep working during a long load-shedding spell when you cannot charge. Both are good. It usually comes down to your hands and your routine.

Many models can, on both Android and iPhone. Calls and audio go straight into the hearing aid, which for most people is the single biggest improvement in phone calls they will ever get. Ask us which of the models in your budget support it.

There is a wide range, because the price depends on the style, the manufacturer and how much processing the aid does in noisy places. Rather than quote a number here that goes out of date, call or send a WhatsApp to 0300-9359652 and we will tell you what is currently available in your range. We will also tell you if a cheaper model would suit you just as well.

Every hearing aid we sell comes with the manufacturer's warranty. The length varies by brand and model, so ask us about the specific aid you are considering and we will show you exactly what is covered before you decide.

Yes. We run our own repair lab at the clinic and work on all brands, including aids bought abroad or from another centre. Cleaning, re-tubing, receiver replacement, moisture treatment and new earmoulds are all done here rather than posted away.

Heat, dust and humidity are the three things that kill hearing aids here. Wipe it with a dry cloth every night, never with water. Keep it in its case with a drying capsule when you are not wearing it. Take it out before a shower and before using hair oil or spray. Bring it in every few months and we will give it a proper clean.

Yes. For older children the test is much the same as for an adult, turned into a game. For younger children and babies we use methods that do not need the child to respond on purpose. If you are worried about a child's hearing, do not wait to see if they grow out of it, because the early years are when language is being built.

A baby who does not startle at loud sounds. A one-year-old who is not babbling or does not turn towards your voice. A two-year-old with very few words. An older child who has the television loud, does not answer when called from another room, is struggling at school, or asks you to repeat things often. Any of these is worth a test.