On Wednesday, my daughter woke me up with a special gift.
“Your hearing aids daddy!” she said, as she handed them to me in four parts.
I anxiously looked down. Left hearing aid. Check. Left ear mould, check. Right hearing aid….
AGGGHHHH.
She’d snapped the elbow. That’s the bit that connects hearing aid with ear mould.
Here’s a pic:
When I told her it was broken, she looked so sad, I couldn’t blame her.
Since then, I’ve been flying on one engine, riding the monorail, cycling using only one pedal. You get the drift. Things haven’t been balanced.
So I was pleased when I got an emergency appointment at an audiology clinic just two days later, and even more pleased when I found out it was only ten minutes walk away.
In the meantime, I managed to source the part that had snapped, but found I couldn’t extract the broken bit, which was embedded in my hearing aid.
So, with high hopes of returning to the land of stereo, this morning I went to my first audiology appointment in at least a year.
This is what I learned in the 15 minutes I spent there.
Audiology clinics can feel impersonal. My audiologist came to get me just as I’d arrived, so I had no issue with missing my name being called out (a common problem for deaf patients) but he never told me his name. I nearly asked at one point, but then we started talking about my hearing aids. Maybe in a shortened time slot, he just had to get on with it, but it’d be nice to know who you’re meeting.
Audiology clinics van be quite matter-of-fact. My snapped hearing aid has left me relying on just one ear, which makes it a lot harder for me to communicate with my children, but my issue was treated more as a technical problem, as if I’d arrived with a broken walkman, rather than something that in reality could make my life a lot harder for days or weeks.
Audiologists can give up too easily. In the past, when elbows have broken, my audiologists have managed to extract them very easily. My audiologist tried to get it out with a couple of different implements, then quickly said that because the hearing aid I use isn’t a model they use (I was fitted with it in my past life, in London) it wouldn’t be possible. To be fair, he then tried a couple more times, but to no avail.
Audiologists can lack empathy. Well, maybe they can’t do everything in a 15 minute slot, but when the audiologist told me that he couldn’t fix my hearing aid or offer me a replacement (because I use a different model), and that I’d have to make a separate appointment at the main hospital to get a different type of hearing aid fitted, I didn’t get a sense that he understood this was basically sentencing me to weeks of not being able to hear properly. I did tell him, but I didn’t get much of a reaction.
The first thing I should say is that this is just one experience. I’ve had good audiologists in the past, so this isn’t the experience I’ve always had. But I’ve met audiologists like this before, and I’ve heard numerous reports from other deaf people of audiologists acting like this.
Maybe I expect too much, but for me there was just a sense that he didn’t really see fixing my hearing aid as being all that important, and that he didn’t get what the implications of not fixing it might be.
I’m a grown human being, I can take it, but I worry about people who are more vulnerable. The elderly, or the newly deafened. Children. People who need to feel more welcomed, and looked after.
Now, it might seem unfair that I’m criticising the guy for not fixing my hearing aid, but this is what happened next:
I went home, and thought ‘what the hell, even if I break my hearing aid, I’m going to be fitted with a new model so I have nothing to lose.’ I got a sewing needle out of the cupboard, took the back of the hearing aid off, pressed the needle very hard into the top of the broken plastic, and pushed.
POP.
The broken plastic flew through the air.
Ten minutes later, after I’d fitted the new elbow, I was hearing in stereo once more.
Charlie Swinbourne is the editor of Limping Chicken, as well as being a journalist and award-winning scriptwriter. He writes for the Guardian and BBC Online, and as a scriptwriter, penned the films My Song, Coming Out and Four Deaf Yorkshiremen.
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Andy. Not him, me.
October 25, 2013
I’m placing you on a high pedal 🙂
Editor
October 25, 2013
Thanks Andy, have amended my pedal/pedestal error now (!) this was written pretty quickly after coming back from the appointment. Thanks Charlie (Ed)
Liz
October 25, 2013
Hi Charlie, please do me a favour and contact KIVCA and check if they are still active in the Health Watch campaign, and then link them to your story. Please Google Health Watch as well, if KIVCA are not your local agency. Audiology is part of the Health Service, and as such should be monitored by the watchdog.
Diane
October 25, 2013
Like you Charlie, when one of my hearing aids breaks I drop everything and rush to the hospital ASAP. Your article also reminded me of my childhood forty years ago when I was only issued with one hearing aid, for my better ear. No wonder I found school such a nightmare. Thank goodness times have changed since then!
Andy. Not him, me.
October 25, 2013
It’s very annoying when they don’t help when we are in trouble, that’s for sure. To us it is life and death, to them it’s just a job.
There are standards laid down in writing for the behaviour of audiology staff, they should be asked to comply with them.
pennybsl
October 25, 2013
That is one reason why Specsavers’ hearing centres have popped up in high streets using NHS services. I tried to join one near my home (bliss travel-wise) but it is overwhelmed with a huge workload.
Nevertheless my audiologist allowed me to take the essential components – hook, tubes etc. home – to save endless visits. I notice how inefficient current aids are compared to the old, durable analogue ones in terms of longevity and ease of operation. I really do miss my old hearing aid’s numbered volume control.
Childproof hearing aids – we Deafies could design one and be millionares!!
Rob
October 25, 2013
Agree totally! Whoever designed these new aids definitely was not a deaf person.
pennybsl
October 25, 2013
Excellent proposal!
Diane
October 25, 2013
Unfortunately Specsavers only cater for those over 55. So I’ll still have to trundle across Birmingham, catching two buses for several years yet!
Rob
October 25, 2013
A very common experience in NHS audiology department. The times I have had to reorganise my work, meetings and be messed about. I asked if spare aids should be available for emergencies. Answer no. So that forced me to lie….ie “lost my hearing aids” in order to get a spare aids. So now I always have back up while hearing aids are repaired. Rather have something than nothing. It should be mandatory training for all audiology staff to “experience deafness” at work, home, and etc before they complete their courses and do a job so that the Deaf can at last receive decent services.
LJ.
October 25, 2013
Our daughter is a new audiologist and will likely, in time as she’s still only young, be a *good* one with her having deaf parents.
Robert Mandara
October 25, 2013
It’s inevitable that sooner or later our hearing aids will malfunction and equally inevitable that it will happen at a bad time. Therefore, if you can’t function on one hearing aid, you should have a spare or two. I have always managed to negotiate myself spares both under the NHS in the UK and the equivalent in Finland. Be persuasive, flutter your eyelids, turn on the charm and get your hands on spares before you need them!
Editor
October 25, 2013
I’m starting to flutter my eyelashes already…
Liz
October 25, 2013
Did you see an audiologist or a hearing aid technician? They are not the same thing. Repairs are often carried out by a technician.
Editor
October 25, 2013
Can an audiologist not remove a piece of plastic?
Liz
October 25, 2013
They are two entirely different jobs. ATOs (Audiology Technical Officers) just deal with minor repairs, tubing changes etc. They can’t do new hearing aid fittings or hearing tests, and some don’t know how to read a simple audiogram. Its a support role. No qualifications necessary, minimal on-the-job training.
Not saying they shouldn’t display a better attitude than whoever you met, just thought it might be useful to note the difference. e.g. if you think you might need a new hearing aid or a hearing test, or want anything more than a basic volume adjustment then make sure your appointment is with a “proper” audiologist not an ATO. I don’t think the difference is always explained very well to people.
shevett
October 25, 2013
My experience with audiologists is that they’re less ‘doctors’ or ‘service’ folks, and more ‘technicians’. It’s the equivalent of going in to get your car fixed. Think of it like talking to a mechanic “No, I know the problem, this is broken, there, and that. I don’t have this part, that part doesn’t come out unless you do this, and can you please retune that?” – breaking through the barrier of impersonali indifference is hard, but explaining things like you’re a Real Person with a Real Issue can go a long way.
Helen
October 25, 2013
How annoying, but you fared slightly better than one of my mum’s colleagues whose hearing aids broke (she’s a nurse so desperately needed to be able to communicate with patients) and was told she now had to have a GP referral (!) to audiology every time her hearing aid broke rather than just turning up to the audiology clinic as normal. So she sat in the audiology dept and refused to move until they were fixed. Smart – it worked! I’m definitely going to try that tactic next time I need repairs done 🙂
Lana
October 26, 2013
That’s why he did not bother to mention his name cos he probably has people complaining about him!
Tania Le Marinel
October 26, 2013
I’ve waited 10 months for a retune only to be told yesterday that a new system had come in on Jan 1 where if I’d got a new referral lettter from my GP I’d have been seen within 16 working days. Spending nearly a year with the wrong prescription has been dreadful, even more so when I’d asked audiology seven times for an urgent appointment and nobody said anything. Obviously they get paid for new referrals so they couldnt cope if all their patients asked for a GP letter. They’ve only told people as and when they turn up because if everyone knew and applied all at once, the system couldnt cope. Pretty disillusioned I have to say. Again, an apology for the wait but no real appreciation of the impact it has on your life. Lack of empathy or ignorance, both probably.
pennybsl
October 27, 2013
Blimey!! If our hearing aids are our “wheels” (as if we are wheelchair users), there’d be tremendous palaver over poor us being forced to go out with only one wheel or none at all on our “mobile” carriages!
The whole issue exposes unacceptably inhuman, insulting and downright rude complacency by the powers-to-be in both the NHS and audiological professions. Naturally they could afford private hearing aids with excellent services…………..
Andy not Mr Palmer but another one
October 26, 2013
It’s really depressing to read that people are still having difficulty in getting hearing aid servicing.
The policy here in Devon and Cornwall is that you just go there and they will do something. We can borrow temporary aids if the regular one breaks (and “forget” to give it back) and most of the time the service is available to anyone who turns up.
They will also do a postal service if asked, you can send an aid with a covering letter describing the problem and they will send out a replacement set to your requirements within a very short time, a few days.
Dealing with the NHS can be daunting, you just don’t know where to start. Moaning at the front line people is a waste of time and will result in being escorted out by security. The way to get things done is to first of all make a clear description of what went wrong. Try to be unemotional about it so that the person at the other end has a clear idea of what went wrong and what you want to be done. Just ranting at them is no good, they need to know what happened.
You can send this to a number of people, all of them if you wish! County Councillors have liason meetings with local NHS officials. These are management meetings and bad service can be brought up at these and arses will be kicked. Find out who your Councillor is and send an e-mail.
Also you can complain to your hospital Patient Advice and Liason Service known as PALS. They are there for a reason so get after them. Hospitals have a web site, you can look up the names and emails of management figures and send an e-mail. Remember this is all free, you don’t even have to lick a stamp these days.
If you know which people to get on to it’s possible to make quite a fuss at high level. This gets the juniors jumping around with much pulling up of hosiery.
Irene Winn
October 26, 2013
I understand your issue with the technician. I was born profoundly deaf in one ear and excellent hearing in the other. Hearing people have difficulty understanding my deafness needs and I haven’t a clue as to what stereo is, because I hear everything in mono.
Liz Ward
October 28, 2013
How frustrating! I’ve had similar experiences but thankfully the Nuffield in London seem to be a bit better now, although I have had to wait for a few weeks without a replacement aid before. Hearing aid technicians and audiologists should be more empathetic and also be less condescending – I had a male audiologist talk down to me when I was trying to explain a problem with an earmould. In some ways, it seems as though you get treated as if you’ve only just started to wear hearing aids, and haven’t been wearing them since you were a child – thus the condescending – ‘this is how it is, this is how you use them’ etc etc. Glad you got it sorted though in the end.
gargly
October 28, 2013
You were lucky to get the broken aid back, usually if they have difficulty they assume you will too! and as I predicted I knew you would get a bit of bother but hey!…the knowledge that a sewing needle will do the job is useful as I once tried a drop of super glue and that failed miserably.
Andy. Not him, me.
October 29, 2013
Has anyone tried doing hearing aid repairs themselves?
Have you tried gluing a cracked casing, for example? It can be done but you need the correct adhesive for the type of plastic. I suggest you >do not< use superglue on hearing aids because the fumes it gives off are harmful to health.
I have in the past experimented on old hearing aids, I opened them up and examined the innards with a magnifying glass. Essentially they are a miniaturised ampifier with memory and tend to be on a tiny circuit board with wires as fine as hairs. Soldering these is a daunting task but it can be done. I actually managed to get an old aid going again although it was an analogue aid using tiny discrete components. I was able to see that a wire had come off and managed to solder it back!
I notice that in the AOHL forums they have a few Tune It Youself enthusiasts who are experimenting with setting their own aid up for their unique hearing loss. It makes interesting reading and there are links to sites in the US where it seems quite normal for people to be able to buy hearing aid servicing equipment. I suppose it will eventually catch on here for those with the technical ability.
melissamostyn
November 3, 2013
Only just read this – great article. I have always felt audiologists lived on another planet. They seem so preoccupied with the workings of the inner ear that they become oblivious to how deaf people live. Weird. They speak another language as well.
Laura Elliott
June 25, 2014
Hello. Just a quick note, for anyone interested in fixing a hearing aid.
If you have a problem with your hearing aid, we can help. Don’t worry if it is out of warranty with the manufacturer. HARS can deal with any make and any model of hearing aid.
Also, you can be happy that you help people as 50% of our profit goes to Mary Hare school for deaf children.
You can find out more information at 08000 217 721 or on our website
http://www.maryharehearingservices.co.uk/hars
usman
March 6, 2016
I have the same type of hearing aids that you broke off.I fixed its with gum,and its works fine.