From our founder, Robert Beiny:
“Personal opinion is highly influenced by our own experiences and we can easily form opinions which are inaccurate.
At the same time, we dismiss scientific studies if a sample size is too small as we know there is confidence in numbers.
A human trait is that we can easily jump to the wrong conclusion if we don’t consider all the relevant facts.
When someone influential with access to an audience says something inaccurate, it can have a damaging effect on other’s behaviours.
Rory Stewart is a British academic, broadcaster, writer and former diplomat and politician. He co hosts the UK’s most successful podcast The Rest is Politics with Alastair Campbell.
He spoke recently about his father and father-in-law’s hearing loss. You can see what he said in this video:
https://x.com/RestIsPolitics/status/1819327283804754262
Rory highlighted that manufacturers of hearing aids make claims how great their hearing aids are but that the technology doesn’t deliver although his relatives spent, a not inconsiderable sum.
It saddens me if anyone with any degree of hearing loss struggles to hear, listen, understand and communicate. As a clinician I am deeply involved everyday trying to make that difference for those that seek my help. This involves so many elements beyond the supply of merely technology. But Rory’s focus on product and cost ignores the most important commodities we audiologists supply: time, skill, experience, guidance and counsel.
If my experience was the same as Rory’s I wouldn’t have leapt out of bed everyday (!), excited to see my clients to help them. I base my views on those of thousands of clients experiences related to me. It’s what has motivated me to be an audiologist for five decades.
Hearing aid technology can work brilliantly but not without effort and an appreciation of what can be achieved. A realistic expectation and appreciation of any underlying limitation is crucial to the success of delivering the gold standard of hearing care.
As an audiologist my goal is to succeed (that’s client success not financial gain) and sometimes this involves educating the ill-informed. As hearing is our most precious of senses, it is inextricably linked with our general health, overall well-being and cognitive agility and, when impaired, dramatically impacts on our communication ability. The evidence to support the therapeutic benefits of improved hearing are overwhelming.
My own message to my smaller audience is if you struggle with hearing, never give up. I don’t, so neither should you.”