Hearing Healthcare… last hope… new beginnings
The Hearing Healthcare Practice in Hertfordshire is one of the world’s leading hearing healthcare centres of excellence and often the ‘last hope’ port of call for desperate hearing aid wearers.
Looking through our list of clients, or friends of the Practice as we like to call them, there’s an extraordinary variety of people, old and young and from all parts of the UK and around the world. They all have their own stories but one thread that runs though so many is that we, the Hearing Healthcare Practice, were often their hearing ‘last hope’… and that’s why they travelled from as far afield as Scotland, the USA, Russia, even Australia. For whatever reason, they had lost hope and belief in the Hearing Profession and in what hearing technology could do for them. They needed something, and someone, different – they needed the help, empathy, advise and expertise that only comes from an entirely different approach to hearing healthcare.
Our approach is not the cheapest (we’re certainly not the most expensive either, especially when you consider the results we achieve) but then, in all honestly, our service cannot to compared with anyone else. And, what price can be put on your hearing?
In their own words
“When I got my new hearing aids I felt that my life was changed. This was the miracle I was looking for — I was no longer sinking into a silent and reclusive old age. That picture of myself has vanished and has not returned.
“I can honestly say that the Hearing Healthcare Practice has had a transformative effect on my life.”
We recently received a letter from a client of Hearing Healthcare Practice. They had kindly recommended us in the Audiologist of the Year Awards and their words are reproduced here with their blessing:
“Last year, my 80th, I thought that my life had changed for the worse. My hearing had deteriorated to the point where I felt that I would have to give up the activities which I enjoyed so much – music, Italian lessons, a writing group, theatre and cinema visits. Even chatting to friends and family was increasingly challenging.
I went to see Robert Beiny at the Hearing Healthcare Practice. If anyone could work a miracle, they could.
But this story really began 12 years earlier, when I first went to the Hearing Healthcare Practice, after some years of gradual hearing loss. I was very hostile to the idea of hearing aids, I had, unsuccessfully, tried an NHS analogue hearing aid, and I had even answered a newspaper advert and bought a ‘miracle’ device, which fell to pieces when I tried to insert the battery.
My GP gave me the Hearing Healthcare Practice’s brochure, which I read and re-read until at last I made an appointment.
My first experience of the Hearing Healthcare Practice was a revelation. With the utmost gentleness and empathy Robert Beiny helped me to explain my fears and frustrations about my hearing loss, and I realised how much it was affecting my daily life and well being. But now I felt hopeful. Robert’s enthusiasm was catching.
First he had to persuade me that hearing aids were not monsters. Thanks to his careful, clear explanations the whole world of hearing technology became interesting, even fun. When I finally saw my hearing aids – tiny, delicate, ‘in the ear’ – I couldn’t wait to try them. It was the beginning of an ongoing miracle. Robert monitored my experience with my new hearing aids and I was welcome to contact him at any time by email or by appointment.
The impact on my life was far greater than anything I had hoped for or expected. I could hear conversations, take part in classes and activities, hear music clearly again.
Years passed, and then there came a time when I was aware of hearing less well and I needed to update my hearing aids.
At this point I took a wrong turning. A friend said, ‘Why don’t you try the NHS again? The hearing aids are digital now, and they’re free!’
Why not? I thought, and went for a hearing test at my local hospital. At once I suspected that I had made a mistake. The hearing test took place in a room with no sound-proofing (unlike my NHS test many years earlier). Throughout, I could hear people talking outside, and doors banging. The audiologist hardly looked at me while she asked me questions, simply clicking on appropriate boxes on her computer screen. The ‘behind the ear’ hearing aids were difficult to put in, and kept falling out. There was very little advice or help in getting used to them. I felt I was being a nuisance to the under-funded, overstretched NHS and in the end I gave up with these hearing aids.
Next I went to Specsavers. I was tempted by the ‘Buy one get one free’ offer, also ‘Money back if not satisfied’. The interview and the hearing test were adequate and efficient but there was no detailed discussion of my needs. There didn’t seem to be enough time to explain them. I didn’t feel confident in the new hearing aids. Although they were ‘in the ear’ I found the controls on them difficult to manage. The explanation was very quick and I didn’t fully understand.
After a trial period I decided that the aids didn’t help me to hear much better, so I resumed wearing my old Hearing Healthcare Practice aids which were now coming to the end of their useful life.
Now I was concerned that my hearing had got much worse, and that maybe hearing aids would no longer be much help. I was losing confidence in myself, and beginning to feel isolated in many situations.
After some thought I returned to Hearing Healthcare Practice because my earlier experience with the Practice had been so successful, and I trusted Robert’s dedicated professionalism, his boundless patience, and his caring concern for me as an individual. I went to my appointment feeling that I was coming home at last.
After extensive hearing tests Robert said that my hearing had not deteriorated as much as I’d feared, but that I would benefit from the new technology used in the latest hearing aids. We discussed my current needs, not so very different from 12 years earlier — to keep up my classes and interests, to be able to communicate with family and friends on social occasions. While Robert explained the new hearing aids I began to feel optimistic again, and lighthearted. Robert gave me hope that my life wasn’t over, that I could still take part in the activities I enjoyed.
He told me of various extra pieces of technology I could use with my current hearing aids, including one for use in a discussion group, and another for television. I was glad to know about these, and perhaps I will add them at a later date. He also suggested that lip reading classes might be useful, and gave me details of one near my home. I have been attending this class and find helpful and supportive.
My daughter came with me to this appointment, and was impressed with Robert’s expertise, and his caring, sympathetic and encouraging attitude. She felt very welcome and has since accompanied me to appointments whenever possible.
When I got my new hearing aids I felt that my life was changed. This was the miracle I was looking for — I was no longer sinking into a silent and reclusive old age. That picture of myself has vanished and has not returned.
I can honestly say that the Hearing Healthcare Practice has had a transformative effect on my life.”
So, if this is your last hope or if you simply want the best hearing help there is, please give us a call.
