Any hearing experts/audiologists? I need help understanding an audiogram

[AwkwardAsAllGetout]

I’m hoping if I post a picture of my audiogram someone can help me understand what it means. I’m a bit overwhelmed as I was expecting to be told I just had blocked ears but in fact I’ve been told I need hearing aids. They’re eye wateringly expensive but the difference when I tried them was amazing. I can’t really remember a lot of what was said at my appointment as I found it all so unexpected. Would anyone help me understand my degree of hearing loss and just how super duper I have to go with the hearing aids? The ones they’ve recommended are £2000. I don’t know if this is simply because they’re bells and whistles ones, or if I actually NEED them to be they good iyswim. Will post a picture once the baby asleep on me wakes up (it’s imminent!)

I'd be making a complaint about that! As if an unqualified receptionist gets to decide who can and cannot have a referral

You may well be waiting a long time, my toddler needs a hearing test and I've no idea when it will happen (he's in the wiring list, was due in July) but you are 100% entitled to be seen on the NHS

I got my NHS hearing aids from Specsavers. I've been happy with their service. Got a referral through my gp, just got me in first to check it wasn't wax build up!

@AwkwardAsAllGetout you are 100% entitled to an NHS test and hearing aids. Ok, there might be a bit of a backlog due to covid but you should still be referred. Given your age, you should also be referred to ENT but they may only do that after you have seen an NHS audiologist and had another hearing test. Do not give up!

@Canyouseewhyichangedmynamw as OP now knows it is not wax I would advise against OP saying she has 'blocked ears' as she would probably be told to go down the route of putting olive oil in the ears which could given them a nice excuse to delay doing the referral.

*give

@Nanya yes agreed. Good point!

When I did have blocked ears I ended up having to go to the walk in centre with them as my own gp refused to do anything at all as I was pregnant. Wouldn’t see me for anything throughout the pregnancy as he’d always say it was my midwifes responsibility. Who herself was pretty awful too. I was about 8 months pregnant and couldn’t hear from my right ear at all. I did manage to unblock it eventually using lots of oil and a sucker to literally vacuum the wax out but it was grim and probably dangerous too. I managed to unblock my right ear again just a few weeks ago with a water flushing syringe thing, but again, probably not recommended. I see what you’re saying about them refusing if I’ve already started private treatment, but it was just a free hearing test at Boots that I never expected to give this result. I’ve looked at Specsavers as it was one of the first things to come up when I googled nhs hearing aids but it seems in my area they only routinely give them free to the over 50s and everyone else need a referral from the GP

NHS in many areas has contracted out hearing services to Specsavers and others, but not all and in my area Specsavers will only deal with classic high frequency loss in the over-65s. I'm only in my 40s with awkward mid-frequency loss so have to see the hospital audiology. You may have the same and need to be seen by ENT, to see if there's any wider reason for the hearing loss.

Make sure the test details are included in the referral, may be worth contacting them with your test results to make sure you don't wait in a queue to have them re-done.

Positive news this morning, I’ve sent my audiogram over to my surgery for the referral so fingers crossed it won’t take long. I met a friend for a coffee this morning, something I’ve not done for months and months and realised how hard it was to hear in what was only a fairly quiet cafe. I’ve sat outside today and realised that I can’t hear the birds singing either, though dd clearly can as she keeps pointing at the trees.