New Hearing Aids

It's a just over a week since we went to Audiology at Folkestone Royal Victoria hospital, and i had another hearing test.

It managed to mix the heat with claustrophobia sitting in the little box.

The result was pretty much the same as back in 2022 and again when we saw the private guy in Hythe.  My right ear almost useless.

The solution from the private guy was a crossover system where the right ear aid Bluetooths to one in the left ear. Then it seems to the brain that you can hear through both ears. Magic.

The private solution would be between £3000 and £3500. 😵‍💫

So I opted to wait for the NHS.

That was last Wednesday. A time in the hotbox trying to hear the beeps.

The result is I now have the Stretta crossover system.

Once you have the app on the phone it connects to both aids so you can control the volume.  There are some programs installed for different conditions. Normal, plus others for noisy environments, TV and recorded music.

Once connected you can set the output from phone speaker to hearing aids.  

It was a surprise that this was set automatically when the phone rang in my ears.... You can also stream from Amazon Music straight to them....

The drawback is that in the nine days I have had them, they lose connection with the phone app. 

Usually just one and then it's not always straightforward to connect it again. It's quite frustrating.

In addition I think they gave me the wrong instruction manual.

Reading through it says the correct battery is "size 13" Rayovac.  Batteries are free on the NHS. I was given two packs of 8.

When the right aid wasn't working. I decided to  change the battery. Size 13 is twice the thickness of the installed battery. 

With no contact number available, I enabled Audiology@ to let them know.

So.  How has it been?

Frustrating at times when despite being Bluetooth connected to the phone, they aren't to the app.

Even as I am typing this the right aid has disconnected from the app. It won't connect again.

When they are powered up and before fitting in the ear there's a weird squawking. The right one squawk free!!!

Connecting then kicks them both off!!!

I have been waiting years for this solution and it's not been good experience. 

The last single aid I had that both private and NHS said was useless spent longer in its box than in my ear...

Let's hope this pair fair better