The importance of hearing checks

As we get older, our senses deteriorate. Wearing glasses is one thing, but many people don’t like to admit that they are finding it harder to hear. If you’re over 60, regular hearing checks are just as important as sight tests. Loss of hearing can have a bigger impact on your life than you might imagine. Research shows that people with untreated mild hearing loss are more likely to develop dementia. It can also lead to isolation, depression, loneliness and a general cognitive decline.

In some cases, hearing loss can be due to a wax build-up and can easily be treated. In other cases, a hearing aid may be necessary but this shouldn’t put you off. Modern hearing devices are very small and discrete, and some have clever features such as Bluetooth, peripheral noise reduction and different settings for different environments.

Our services

Your hearing journey with us starts with our free hearing test. This will assess your hearing and check your ears for wax build-up or other problems. Our audiologist will discuss your hearing and how it may be affected, and talk you through the test results.

If needed, our ear wax removal service is quick, easy and painless. Using safe techniques of micro-suction and irrigation, our audiologist can clear your ears. Not only can this improve your hearing, but it can also clear up symptoms including vertigo and tinnitus.

If you suffer from tinnitus and it’s not due to ear wax build-up, we can still help. We offer a management and support service to help free you of that annoying buzzing, ringing or hissing in your ears. Our audiologist will discuss your symptoms and lifestyle, and set you up with a personalised treatment plan.

Hearing aids

If your hearing test shows that you have hearing loss, our audiologist will talk you through the different options for treating it. We can supply many different types of hearing aid devices, from classic behind-the-ear styles to ‘invisible’ devices that fit inside your ears and won’t be noticed by anyone looking at you. Some features available include:

• a directional microphone, allowing you to focus on a conversation better
• an adaptive microphone, which will adapt to ‘turn down’ noise such as a motorbike driving past
• noise reduction, which can reduce transient noise, wind and background noise
• feedback cancellation, so you don’t have to worry about that annoying whistling noise
• programmes to let you get the best listening from different situations
• speech enhancement to make conversation clearer
• music equaliser so you can adjust to your musical preferences
• Bluetooth so you can stream sound directly from your smartphone.

Our audiologist will run through the different types of devices available and help you decide whether you want in-the-ear or behind-the-ear, rechargeable or battery, and so on. We even offer a 14-day trial so you can see if they suit you.

Book your appointment

If you’ve noticed a change in your hearing or you’re over 60, we invite you to book an appointment for your free hearing check and we’ll take it from there.