NHS Hearing aids v Best Hearing Aids
We will delve into the distinctions between NHS and the top-tier ones on the market, shedding light on the features, accessibility, and personalized benefits each offers.
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- Features and Technological Advancements:
NHS Hearing Aids:
NHS ones generally come with essential features necessary for hearing enhancement. They often include volume controls, basic noise reduction, and multiple program settings. However, they may lack advanced features such as Bluetooth connectivity, tinnitus management, or personalized sound adjustments, which are available. NHS aids usually come in a open BTE style where as private ones usually come in the form of a receiver in the canal which essentially gives you a better quality of sound as the sound generated does not have to travel down a hollow tube before it arrives in your ear.
Best on the Market:
They offer a wide range of cutting-edge features. These often include advanced noise reduction, directional microphones for improved speech understanding, rechargeable batteries, telecoil compatibility, and wireless connectivity. Premium quality often employ sophisticated algorithms, artificial intelligence, and automatic sound adaptation to deliver enhanced sound quality and customizable listening experiences.
 They are available through private audiology clinics and hearing aid providers. While they may come with a higher price tag, they offer shorter waiting times and the flexibility to choose from a wider range of models, styles, and features. Private providers also offer personalized fittings, follow-up care, and ongoing support, ensuring a tailored and optimized hearing experience.
Personalization and Lifestyle Considerations:
 NHS ones are designed to cater to a broad range. However, due to the limitations of resources and customization options, they may not address specific lifestyle requirements or individual preferences. While they provide basic amplification, they might not offer the same level of personalized sound processing or specialized features for challenging listening environments. This is what you pay for with private hearing aid technology. A product which will improve signal to noise ratio in demanding listening environments.
 The best hearing aid on the market offer greater personalization and cater to diverse lifestyle needs. They are available in various styles (including invisible-in-canal, receiver-in-canal, and behind-the-ear) and can be tailored to individual hearing profiles, ensuring a more precise and natural sound experience. Advanced features, such as wireless connectivity to smartphones, TVs, and other devices, allow seamless integration into daily activities
Choosing between NHS hearing aid and the best ones on the market depends on individual preferences, lifestyle considerations, and budget constraints. While NHS hearing aid provide accessibility and affordability, they are available today offer advanced features, customization, and optimized performance.
Why not get in touch with our audiologists and arrange a consultation to discuss your lifestyle needs so we can develop a bespoke sound profile solution for you.
Ultimately, the goal is to find a hearing aid that enhances auditory capabilities, improves quality of life, and restores the joy of experiencing the rich tapestry of sounds in the world around u
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Read Our FAQs
A hearing aid is an amplifying device which is custom programmed in order to amplify any type of hearing loss. The hearing aid will generate a prescription based on an individual’s hearing loss and then look to provide optimal listening performance in a multitude of environments including background noise through its noise cancellation and directional microphones. What you are actually getting is an incredibly sophisticated device which is capable of filtering multiple noise sources to allow you to hear in any environment effectively.
Hearing aids are required when a patient is starting to struggle to hear in certain situations. This may be in simple one to one situations or more complex background noise environments with multiple noise or sounds interfering with speech processing.
Hearing aids come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes. The two primary categories are receiver in the canal aids or in the canal aids which sit inside the cavity. Both types of devices are very discrete to the extent that most hearing aid users find that most people don’t notice they actually wear hearing aids.
The modern hearing aid is becoming less an amplifying device and more an acoustic sound analyser. All private hearing aids unlike NHS aids come with directional microphones which work together in pairs allowing for 360degree analysis of your acoustic environment to give you the optimal signal to noise ration. This is especially important in complex environment whereby a significant amount of noise cancellation and directional hearing is required in order to allow you to hear and differentiate between speech and noise. Most private hearing aids have several programmes built into the master algorithm to effectively deal with the environments you will be presented with.
A hearing aids most significant feature is its capacity to filter out background noise. Most hearing aid users find this to be the most difficult listening environment. Generally speaking the more expensive a hearing aid the more acute its ability to filter out unwanted background noise. Most manufacturers spend tremendous amount of research and development in fine tuning the capacity of a hearing aid to perform well in more demanding listening environments.
The cost of hearing aids can vary dependant to the level of technology a patient wishes to acquire. This is dependant on the patients lifestyle and expectations from a hearing aid. The demands of an individual who just wants to hear the tv better over someone who still works, socialises, or attends meetings will be quite different..
We have found from experience that patients who wear hearing aids regularly are certainly less aware of the perceptual sound of their tinnitus. This is because the hearing aids provide an alternative sound for the brain to focus on thus alleviating the perception of a patient’s tinnitus.  .
Research and evidence based peer reviews have suggested that the effort required to listen causes cognitive fatigue. This means the brain is having to work harder then it should in engaging with the listening pathway in the auditory cortex. PET scans have shown other parts of the brain are thus having to engage in the listening process. There is link between cognitive decline,Alzheimer’s,and dementia in patients with hearing loss.
Hearing aids generally whistle mainly due to two reasons.  The patient may be presenting with occluding ear wax in the canal.There may be a programming issue with the aid not providing an adequate seal to contain the sound in the ear canal.
No we are a local Birmingham based independant with three full time hearing centres in Kingsheath, Sutton Coldfield and Stourbridge. We are a regionally based independent hearing aid supplier covering a large part of the West Midlands.We are very locally focused and take great care to supply to areas where we know we can offer a high standard of aftercare.
We maintain a small and loyal team audiologists who live locally and have been with us for many years to give you the continuity and consistency of care you would want from your hearing aid provider.
All our hearing aid audiologists are fully qualified, experienced and highly trained Registered Hearing Aid Dispensers.It is against the law to supply hearing aids if unqualified and not on the HCPC Register of Professionals.You can check whether an individual is qualified to supply you with hearing aids easily on the Health and Care Professions Council website (HCPC).
All of our hearing aid devices come with a 5 year extended warranty to give you the peace of mind you need to ensure your hearing aids remain in good working order and last the test of time.
