How much are very good hearing aids for my lovely 92 year old MIL likely to cost, and how long is the process likely to take?

[loveyouradvice]

We've just celebrated my MIL 92nd birthday - 18 people round the table and lots of chat and laughter. She is still so on the ball - she reads the newspaper every day and is keen to have conversations about the news and culture, as well as her numerous grandchildren. And goes for long walks, striding out magnificently.

Sadly her hearing is much much worse than a year ago. She has had NHS hearing aids for a while, so says she can hear the radio fine when she is at home but can't hear anything when there is a group around a table.

She has enough money to invest in very good hearing aids. It will take a lot to persuade her to do so, but I feel it could really transform the quality of her life and enable her to stay feeling very connected to her grandchildren.

What are top end ones likely to cost? And mid range ones if we can't persuade her to invest more?

And how long is the process of adapting to them likely to take? Somehow I imagine 3 or 4 visits to a good audiologist with trials in-between?? I don't know much about hearing, just poor eyesight which is my side of the family.

A

I second this. My daughter wears a hearing aid and there's a lot that they can tweak to suit individual needs.

I would add though that a hearing aid might not necessarily help with the dinner table situation though, as it amplifies all sounds.

Huge thanks everyone - what great insights and advice. Much much appreciated.

And top tip @Thelittleweasel - we did not know that.

This.

And this applies to NHS supplied aids too.

Not all functions will have been activated. Mine have always had the “crowd” function activated, but my latest has a “phone” function activated too.

So the first thing is to go back to the NHS audiologist to make sure her aids have been fine tuned to her needs. No point in spending £3000 every 3-4 years if you don’t have to.

My dm’s NHS aids have crowded room functions. I wonder if she just needs to go back to the NHS. Does she have a phone to control the various settings on her aids? You can also use the phone to act as a microphone to amplify one person’s voice, which can help in a restaurant. Depending on how tech savvy she is she might need some help.

I got my full hearing test, with the soundproof, all bells and whistles booth at Specsavers. Took about an hour for the full thing and they do nice NHS hearing aids too.

One thing my octogenarian mum really struggled with was getting them in. They were discreet, which she wanted, but she really struggled with the knack of putting them in and once dropped they were hard to see and to pick up. I’d make sure she checks she can manage it on her own. My mum didn’t have dementia but some reduced mobility in one wrist. I tried to help a lot but it was like Borat trying to pick up a glass and drink from it in the film.

I don’t know if chunkier ones might be easier to handle.

It amplifies all sounds, but it can vary the range that it picks up from. So for tv, restaurants etc it picks up and amplifies sounds from in front but not from behind or the sides. Or so my instruction manual suggests

You need to supply evidence in the form of your “NHS battery book” (what’s that?) or a private prescription

It is a saving on the Senior Railcard which offers the same benefits, but for £30 pp (instead of £20 for 2) but may give more flexibility - the T&C for the disabled railcard say “The accompanying adult must travel with you throughout the journey.”

I went to a private audiologist last time - first appointment to do history and hearing test, and issued with the hearing aids straight from her stock. Went back for a review appointment and "tweaking" a month later. All very quick and efficient.

The three times prior to that, I used the NHS, which was frankly a nightmare and lots of wasted time and appointments. Took six months to get the first set of aids as needed different appointments in different places each of which was several weeks after the earlier one.

The second and third sets were quicker but it was still separate appointments for the hearing test, then a consultation with someone else, then having to go back to see someone else for for issue, then a couple of repeat visits for review/tweaking.

None of the NHS aids were a patch on the private ones, which were far superior, whether that's because they were better quality or better settings, I don't know. But the private audiologist just seemed a lot more organised and I had more confidence in her as she seemed to know what she was doing with the settings and there wasn't the same "faffing" around with them.

Cost of the private ones was £2,500. Worth every penny to get good hearing again especially of voices in background noise. The NHS ones just amplified everything so didn't help with voices at all as voices were still drowned out by other people talking, background noise, etc.

To be honest I really wouldn't bother with private aids. They are ridiculously expensive and I really don't think they are that different to the ones you can get on the NHS.

These now all have blue tooth connections to mobile phones so phone calls can be heard in them and the controls and programmes can be controlled that way rather than with the fiddly butttons in the back of the aids.

If you have the money it might be worth getting NHS aids and then buying some sort of assistive listening device to connect with it. These will help in noisy situations where the hearing aids aren't always able to get rid of the background noise . ( Even the private aids can't do this particularly effectively.)

My MiL had private aids from Boots. They spent more time in the repair shop than they did in her ears... I also volunteer for a charity that helps NHS hearing aid users and many of the clients say the same thing about private aids and are very happy with the ones the NHS provides.

@MereDintofPandiculation

Ah ok. I'm just going off what the audiologist told us. Perhaps as she gets older they'll fine tune her settings 🤷🏻‍♀️

Haven’t read all the replies so it may have been mentioned but look into Bluetooth streaming devices, so the Roger products for Phonak and there will be other options for other hearing aids brands. IMO these will make a bigger difference than buying new hearing aids which only serve to amplify sounds and to make things louder. The streamers will help to provide a bit of clarity. She can stream the tv and radio direct and it’s great and it’s clear. The devices can also be used in group situations or someone can have it on them for a one to one conversation. I’m profoundly deaf with a cochlear implant and stopped wearing HAs this year.

You were unlucky there!

My first appointment was within a month of referral by GP. All my NHS appointments have been full hearing test and either tweaking of existing aids or on-the-spot issue of new aids. No wasted time or missed appointments. My NHS aids have always had a separate setting (access by button on aid or on phone) to focus the pick-up in a noisy setting, and the most recent has a separate setting for phone calls.

There aren't special NHS aids. They're commercial models. In our area, the service was provided by Specsavers, now it's moved to Scrivens, marginally less convenient as it's a 5 minute drive ratehr than a 10 minute walk.

Our friend went to specsavers ... over 3 grand and he says worth every penny.

Be aware of the limitations of all hearing aids.

Finding ones that perform well in restaurants is the holy grail. It is very, very difficult, if not impossible, to make a piece of kit that will amplify only the voices you want to hear and leave the others out. In the last 12 months Oticon released a new model (the Intent) which addresses this by using a new kind of directional technology. I can't say how well they work because they wouldn't suit me for other reasons, but the Oticon forums are full of people raving about them. They are not cheap and they're not available on the NHS. It may be that other manufacturers have something similar, I don't know. If they do they will be top of the line and also expensive. My best guess is around £5000 for a pair. If the restaurant scenario is important rather than just nice to have, she needs to make that absolutely clear to her audiologist.

I would also say that in my experience, the skill and commitment of the audiologist and their willingness to work in partnership with the patient for as long as it takes to get all the tweaks right is at least as important as the aids themselves. I have had 3 audiologists, two private and one NHS. The first private one and the NHS one were very much 'that's it, just get on with it'. The aids they fitted me with were next to useless - I dare say they were good aids but I just wasn't able to use them. The second private one is brilliant.and if I moved to the other end of the country I would still come back to her. I'm very happy with the aids she suggested. This is not to say that there are no excellent audiologists in the NHS, I know of one who looks after a friend, but I suspect they are rare. Or quite possibly there are good ones who can't do their best work because of time and budgetary constraints.

NHS provision does tend to vary area by area so it might make sense to try that first. At the same time you could ask around locally for recommendations for someone private and perhaps go for an initial consultation so you can see whether they're someone you can work with. To get your money's worth from a very expensive piece of kit you need to work in partnership with someone you trust and can communicate easily with. If that's not there from the start, go elsewhere.

(edited for typos)

DM age 90 has Specsavers tiny ones that fit into her ear. Volume etc controlled by the app on her phone which she manages fine. Issue is changing the batteries which she sometimes drops - other than that, life changing.

When you are issued with NHS hearing aids, if you need disposable batteries rather than rechargeable ones, you are given a small log book which has your name, address and NHS number on it. When you go to get replacement battery packs (free) from the GP / hospital etc a note is made in the log book detailing which batteries you’ve had, how many, and the date.

this is SO helpful - a huge thank you!

Ah, thanks. Is that when you're issued with hearing aids by a NHS audiology unit rather than by a company contracted to the NHS? Specsavers - used to just phone a branch for new NHS batteries and they'd post them out, now the NHS (in our area) contract has moved to Scrivens, it seems they automatically send them out every 6 months. So I've never had a "NHS battery book".

Seems more efficient to keep records back at base rather than in a battery book which can be lost.

Not so in my mums area….this all stopped with covid…..my mum was sent a years supply at a time….and if she ran out earlier could just phone for more to be posted…..log books and all that malarkey is a thing of the past🤷‍♀️…she now has nhs ones from specsavers ( they have the nhs contract here) and hers are rechargeable…..and colour matched to her skin tone …..strange that areas differ in their approach

Yes, it does vary greatly from health authority to health authority. I had to ask for check-ups and lobby hard for Bluetooth aides. I kept being told they weren’t available in our area. I finally get some about a year ago, but they still aren’t doing rechargeable better versions.

It’s a postcode lottery, isn’t it. No uniform approach. My health authority has batteries posted out from the main regional audiology centre or more recently, you can apparently get them from a GP surgery but only if you have a battery book!

Why is she spending money on them!!??

Here's what happened to me....

• went to GP and said my hearing was giving me trouble
• she referred me to Specsavers (who are agents for NHS)
• appointment arrived for 10 days later
• kept the appointment - hearing tested, aids dispensed
• walked out of shop wearing them and have worn them ever since
• 10 days start to finish - job done - all free including ongoing batteries.

I have absolutely no idea whatsoever why people spend money on hearing aids - they are free!! Mine are state of the art and connect to the app on my phone so I can change the settings as desired.

As others have mentioned, it's a post code lottery. I've had three pairs of NHS aids and all were absolute crap. Not only that, but the hoops you have to jump through to get them with multiple appointments spanning several months for the first pair. I went private for my latest pair and they're brilliant, not just the aids themselves, but the private audiologist level of service and care is way above the NHS feeble attempt of using people who seemed as if they hadn't a clue how to program them - I was literally in and out in just one appointment for the consultation, hearing test, and issue/setting of the aids - all done and dusted in an hour. Previously one NHS audiologist clearly struggled to program them and just told me to make another appointment "for tweaking" basically as a fob off for someone else to do it - when I had the following appointment, I asked and they confirmed they were on "default" settings and hadn't been programmed to my hearing loss at all!