Are there any hearing aids for elderly parents that work well and feel comfortable?

[Skippythebeercan]

Are there any hearing aids, that work are comfortable and not too expensive? My Dad's hearing is awful, he knows its not great but is somewhat in denial about just how bad it is. I have quite often said something when I have been behind him and he has not heard me at all, not even realised I have spoken. There have been so many conversations where I have realised afterwards that he has not at heard what I have said and either thought that he had heard, or that I had said something different as he has asked the same question later (I'm as confident as I can be that this isn't a memory issue). I can see from his face sometimes he hasn't heard after asking for something to be repeated and is embarrassed to ask again and has managed to sort of style it out!

He does have some hearing aids, some cheap ones just from the internet and has tried with them but despite good reviews we cannot get them to work at all and honestly they are probably a waste of money. The problem is that despite several of us suggesting he needs to visit a proper audiologist, he won't, he's convinced that he will pay thousands for hearing aids that are no better that the ones he has - as the adverstsing stated that they were the same as audiogists used. He's also had a friend (who is clearly in the same situation tell him that his audiologist supplied hearing aids are awful)

So I suppose - does the NHS supply any hearing aids anymore and are there any hearing aids that are comfy, and actually work?

Also any ideas on where to go from here? to be honest the frustration is all mine and my Dad is sick of being told, he is of course an adult and is now quite upset about the whole thing and has just convinced himself that his hearing is actually not that bad.

It can be really hard for older people to adjust to wearing aids. The noise, the discomfort, learning how to work them. I know quite a few who have gone through the process and spent considerable amounts of money, only for them to be left in the storage box.

I’ve worn hearing aids since I was 9. I couldn’t function without them, and wear them daily. But even I get fed up with having them in, and it’s getting harder as I get older.

But I guess if you go the NHS route at least your dad won’t be paying for them 🤷‍♀️. please do explain to him that he really shouldn’t judge them by the cheap internet ones, which are rubbish. To work well hearing aids need to be individually adjusted by a trained audiologist / technician. The NHS ones will be perfectly adequate for his needs, though the process might be slow and cumbersome. I’d definitely recommend getting rechargeable ones so he doesn’t have to fiddle with batteries. He probably doesn’t need Bluetooth.

I’ve gone private for years because at one point the NHS was still only offering analogue aids while the new digital aids were only available privately - and once I tried the latter there was no going back. The follow up customer service and access to top of the range aids has kept me going private. But I was NHS for years, and it was fine.

This is similar to my NHS experience.
My hearing aids have silicon inserts which are very comfortable. Ask about that.
Just go to the GP …. That’s the starting point.

NHS do good ones now and your dad would qualify. You would get something even better and possibly more comfortable by going private. Generic ones off the internet likely to be rubbish.

I've got a phonak one through NHS (one sided loss) which Bluetooths to my phone, has different settings for different environments. It's tuned to my particular problems and the mould was made for me.
Audiologist told me when I went in for a tuning check and I wasn't happy with it that I had to wear it everyday, as much as possible for a month to give my brain a chance to get used to the signals. Once I did that I got on much better. Whilst it felt odd to start with and can get hot and itchy I can wear it all day without noticing most days now.
I love the T setting for theatre, music....much improves my experience of live performance.

Yes, whilst the NHS do tend to be able to issue better hearing aids than they used to, the "service" is still very variable. I'd always prefer Specsavers over our local hospital audiology dept as the times I've used the hospital was the usual long waiting lists, lots of short appointments, disinterested staff, etc., whereas Specsavers was a lot more efficient and streamlined - all done in one session with easy to arrange follow ups for tweaks etc. I have to think that the hospital audiology dept is more for people with more serious ear/hearing problems rather than people with mild hearing loss - Specsavers is more geared up for the "average" person and you get the same NHS hearing aids, but a lot easier/quicker and less hassle/stress than dealing with NHS receptionists trying to get appointments then cancellations etc.

My moulds are hypoallergenic skeletons, and very comfortable.