I took my gran into Hidden Hearing and they quoted me £2,500 for one hearing aid - good job she couldn't hear the guy!! She's looking at me asking if it was over £500 - I just told her that it was slightly over!
She's completely deaf in one ear, and has no ear drum in it so a hearing aid on that ear is pointless. She had a mastoid operation when she was 7 years old - the doctors always ask her how long ago it was she had the op and when you say 78 years ago, they merrily write down 7 TO 8 years ago, so you correct them and after a shocked screech they get it right. But geez, her operation was done using chloroform for anaesthetic!
She got an NHS hearing aid - apparently a super duper digital shot that they informed us was £1,500 worth. It's bloody useless. My neighbours must think that I'm constantly fighting with her cos I'm always roaring my head off cos she can't hear properly. Got a loop system fitted for the TV and it's brilliant for her but of course, when that's on, I could sit and have a half hour conversation and she doesn't hear a bloomin thing!
She says that when there's any kind of background noise, that's all she hears, she can't hear anyone speaking to her. According to Audiology, it's perfectly set up - but they do the set up in a sound proof room so everything is tickety boo until she goes into a noisy environment and that's it - can't hear a thing!
I was going to get her that new hearing aid, but she won't let me spend that amount of money on one "at her age" but the set up of it makes so much more sense - instead of it being a mould and a behind the ear fitment, it's just a moulded aid with the microphones in it - which to me would make sound a bit more natural - not coming from the front or back but directly into the ear.
Loss of hearing is a really hard thing to cope with and if spending over four grand gives you better quality of life and less of a risk of getting run over cos you don't hear the lorry bearing down on you, then go for it. People spend more on a holiday that maybe only lasts two weeks and it's over. The hearing aids should last many years.