Hidden Hearing - The free trial?

El Inho

Hey, my dad has just admitted he would like to try a hearing aid.

So I was planning to get a consultant out to the house to start towards him trying a free trial.

Can hidden hearing be recommended?
How much do they cost?
Are the reps trustworthy and qualified?
Will they over sell?
How long is the trial?
And what kind of hardship comes with the trial?

My dad HATES these kind of things, and him taking this step is massive. So I wanna make sure it goes smoothly.

Just wanna know what to expect with all of this.

Any help greatly appreciated.

looksee

The hidden hearing ads irritate me and are so artificial that I did not even try them, but a friend has hearing aids from them and has no complaints at all. So, my information is that they are reliable and ok.

Tbh I wouldn't expect too much from the trial, afaik they are kind of temporary things. It takes months to get used to hearing aids, though the initial experience can seem amazing, that wears off and you have to take time to get used to them and keep having them adjusted (an essential part of the process).

ClickityClick

My husband got hearing aids from Hidden Hearing 3 years ago, and they are absolutely useless. They cost E3,000 at the time. The 'technician' who adjusts them for him, doesn't seem to have any qualifications in audiology, despite all the certs hanging around his walls. The last time my husband went to get them adjusted, the 'technician' poo-pooed him, and dismissed him when he complained that they were never safisfactory. I definitely wouldn't recommend Hidden Hearing.

spike7

My aunt had her hearing tested by a Hidden Hearing
rep. who called to her house.
He said she was already verging on profound deafness
and that she needed a hearing aid urgently to arrest
further deterioration in her hearing.
He quoted three prices, the cheapest of which was
E 3400, but said "to be honest" that she should get
that cheapest model as it would be adequate for her.
They had advertised a free sample hearing aid, but
there was no mention of this.
Instead, all his efforts were directed towards getting
her to sign a contract before he left the house.

Afterwards, I took her to another audiologist.
He said her hearing could be improved but he did not
seem to think that she urgently needed a hearing aid.
He quoted a price less than half that of the cheapest
that the Hidden Hearing rep. offered, and gave full
technical details of the model he was recommending.
He put her under no pressure.

The next day she had an appointment at one of a chain
of opticians who also gave her a free hearing test.
The price they quoted was less than a quarter of the
cheapest price that Hidden Hearing quoted (and they
offered a similar guarantee period and free batteries,
as had the audiologist).
Moreover, they said that she was really only around the
borderline of needing an aid and could come back for
another free test next year instead.

Based on this, I conclude that Hidden Hearing is an
avaricious unprincipled company that uses a veneer of
medical authority to prey on the elderly and the vulnerable.
I wrote them a letter of complaint but got no response.
Steer well clear of them.

ongarboy

I would recommend Ann Kelly of Upr Leeson Street. I was actually referred to her by the Blackrock Clinic Ear Centre when they did a scan of my inner ear for tinnitus. She is a lovely, kind person who insists on you utilising the aids for the longest possible trial period of satisfaction before any money is handed over. There is absolutely no pressure.

Lardy

ongarboy wrote: »

I would recommend Ann Kelly of Upr Leeson Street. I was actually referred to her by the Blackrock Clinic Ear Centre when they did a scan of my inner ear for tinnitus. She is a lovely, kind person who insists on you utilising the aids for the longest possible trial period of satisfaction before any money is handed over. There is absolutely no pressure.

They scanned for Tinnitus? How does that work?

looksee

Based on this, I conclude that Hidden Hearing is an
avaricious unprincipled company that uses a veneer of
medical authority to prey on the elderly and the vulnerable.
I wrote them a letter of complaint but got no response.
Steer well clear of them.

You are of course entitled to come to your own conclusions, but your description of Hidden Hearing is a rather sweeping and generalised. Your arguments about price are not necessarily as clear cut as you are suggesting, as there is a huge range of hearing aids and you would need to be comparing like with like to make a comparison.

It seems to be rather hit and miss when it comes to diagnosis and reading test results regardless of who you go to. In the series of people I dealt with, one hospital consultant told me I had no significant hearing loss, another told me I had, but did a very poor test during which he was on his mobile phone most of the time. Two audiologists told me I had definite hearing loss but gave me completely different information about hearing aids. I knew I had hearing loss as (1) I could not hear and (2) one ear felt (and still feels) 'dead'.

Possibly because it is not 'life and death' (though the hospital consultants charge life and death prices) the whole business of hearing seems not to be regulated as well as it might be. If you buy a pair of glasses you know within a couple of days whether the prescription and product is right. Hearing is much more subtle - and expensive. This seems to be the case right across the industry though. I was fortunate to find a good audiologist and get satisfactory treatment. I also know of people who have been satisfied with Hidden Hearing.

ongarboy

Lardy wrote: »

They scanned for Tinnitus? How does that work?

To give some background, I got my ears syringed at the time due to wax blockage and after that, I noticed classic tinnitus symptoms of constant whooshing noise that was driving me demented. As my GP felt that the tinnitus combined with my hearing loss at a relatively young age, he recommended I get a full MRI scan to check if there was anything going on that was previously undetected. The scan produced nothing of use to determine cause of hearing loss or the tinnitus..

I suspect therefore my hearing loss (which is not hereditary) may be due to over use of loud earphones back in my teens/20s from walkman/diskman (pre IPOD days!!). I still have the tinnitus but thankfully, I have learned to get used to it so much so that I don't notice it unless I concentrate on it (I know others don't find it as easy).

Lardy

ongarboy wrote: »

To give some background, I got my ears syringed at the time due to wax blockage and after that, I noticed classic tinnitus symptoms of constant whooshing noise that was driving me demented. As my GP felt that the tinnitus combined with my hearing loss at a relatively young age, he recommended I get a full MRI scan to check if there was anything going on that was previously undetected. The scan produced nothing of use to determine cause of hearing loss or the tinnitus..

I suspect therefore my hearing loss (which is not hereditary) may be due to over use of loud earphones back in my teens/20s from walkman/diskman (pre IPOD days!!). I still have the tinnitus but thankfully, I have learned to get used to it so much so that I don't notice it unless I concentrate on it (I know others don't find it as easy).

I get you now. I was just confused because Tinnitus is undetectable. Only the sufferer really knows that they have it. Suffer with Tinnitus myself, so know how annoying it can be. Thankfully my hearing aids manage to cut most of it out.