When I want to buy something the first thing I do is check out prices and customer reviews online, especially if it is a product I have little or no experience of.

I don’t think I am alone in doing that, but something that has occurred to me recently is that there is no easily available way to do the same thing when it comes to hearing aids.

Sure you have the manufacturers websites, but what you read there is very glossy marketing hyperbole and, regardless of manufacturer can often be taken with a pinch of salt.

Reading some of the manufacturers websites you would think some hearing aid technology is capable of offering super human hearing, the fact of the matter is that hearing aids can never be quite the same as natural hearing, and can only aspire to come reasonably close to that. The cat is out of the bag!

As an independent hearing aid supplier we at Digital Hearing Care can supply hearing aid technology from all the manufacturers available in the UK (unlike a lot of our competition) and are in a good position to be more objective than most when it comes to honestly appraising how good one hearing is in comparison to another, we have the experience that many others just don’t.

Having said all that, it’s impossible to be completely objective and wouldn’t it be nice to be able to browse a list of bona fide hearing aid reviews from real life hearing aid wearers from all over the UK, from a wide range of hearing aid manufacturers, private and NHS?

Our idea is simple, we want to post online genuine reviews from hearing aid wearers, unbiased, warts and all.

Through our sister site www.hearing-aid-batteries.org.uk we have been asking our customers who buy hearing aid accessories from us to submit an honest hearing aid review, how they have found the hearing aids they are currently wearing, the pros and cons, what they like and what they don’t like about them. It is early days yet but over time we hope to have a large library of unbiased hearing aid reviews that can be used for research.

As new reviews come in (and new hearing aids are released to market) we will add them to the website and over time the resource will become ever more comprehensive.

Hearing aid reviews are broken down by manufacturer and there is also a section on NHS hearing aids too. Hover your mouse over the ‘Reviews’ tab above and select the manufacturer from the list that drops down.

If you have a viewpoint on hearing aids that you are wearing at the moment and would like to contribute to the project we’d love to hear from you. Be sure to let us know the brand, model and type of hearing aids you are using, the good and bad aspects of your hearing aids, and be as candid as you can!

It’s that time of year again, the months roll by in a blur and before we know where we are Christmas is upon us.

Times of greater activity and noisier situations like Christmas can really make an already noticeable hearing loss even more noticeable and situations more challenging than ever if your hearing isn’t what it once was.

At a time when we get together with our families more often and generally in larger gatherings than we might be otherwise be, that hearing loss you’ve been thinking of addressing but putting off for such a long time all of a sudden can be more of a problem than ever.

Why not get the ball rolling and arrange a hearing assessment today.

Find out how we can help make Christmas the pleasant experience it used to be and should be with better hearing?

The cut off date to be fitted with hearing aids before Christmas is fast approaching, what have you got to lose by contacting us for information?

We offer great value for money, as independent hearing aid audiologists we can offer all products available, and we really care about getting you hearing as well as we can with a great aftercare service.

Don’t delay, contact us today and let us help your Christmas be merry!

Our very own Paul Minikin of Digital Hearing Care, the Keighley based hearing aid suppliers covering Yorkshire, Lancashire and Greater Manchester has won a commendation in the annual Audiologist of the Year competition.

Audiologist of the Year is run jointly by the Audio Infos industry magazine and Rayovac, the largest hearing aid battery manufacturer in the world. The idea of the competition is for you the client to vote for your hearing care professional if you feel they have offered head and shoulders, above the mark service and aftercare.

It is a way for you to mark your appreciation for the support and care your hearing care professional provides their clients.

If you have been fitted with a hearing device over the last five years and have been absolutely impressed with the service provided in a time of real need, or experienced a fantastic level of aftercare over a number of years you might want to vote for your own hearing care professional to show your appreciation.

Paul Minikin, speaking about winning a commendation in the competition said this; ‘It is great to be recognised for doing a good job, I always just try my best for each and every client I deal with. I just want to be the best I can be at what I do, and I get a real buzz out of helping people hear better.’

Paul was nominated for the competition by one of his clients, Laura Muller, who as well as being a client of Paul’s is a champion sky diver, for her interesting story click here

The competition is open to all and is judged by an independent panel of industry experts and representatives of hearing charities and associations.

The competition opens for Audiologist of the Year 2013 in January and submissions are accepted until July 2013.

Using no more than 1000 words you can describe why you think your hearing professional is an outstanding example of the hearing profession and why you feel they should be recognised above others. Entries will be judged on the following criteria:

• Your hearing care professional has provided an exceptional service
• Your hearing care professional must have illustrated dedication and commitment
• Your hearing care professional must have demonstrated exceptional knowledge in the field of products or services available to you
• Your hearing care professional has made a difference to your and your families lifestyle
• Perhaps helped in a difficult or unusual circumstance
• Provided superior care maybe not only you but also the whole family.

If you would like to nominate your own hearing care professional for the competition just cantact us and we will point you in the right direction.

Local Skydiving champion and celebrity ambassador for Digital Hearing Care Laura Muller has been up to her winning ways again. Laura, 22, is part of the UK Sky Diving team Hyrrokkin and competes at international level in her chosen sport.

It is the early part of the competition season, there are five more competitions between now and the UK National Skydiving Championship in August, but already the first competition in the season Laura and her skydiving chums have won gold at the Bodyflight World Challenge, which boasts a position as the premier indoor skydiving world event at the world’s largest indoor skydiving centre, Bodyflight Bedford. Laura is pictured far left with her team mates.

The competition attracts media and participants from around the world, including the UK, USA, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, France and Spain, with participants competing to win within their own categories. The categories are (from the least to most experienced) Rookie, A, AA and AAA. Laura won gold in AA. This year had a record breaking number of teams competing.

Laura is also aiming for gold in the UK National Skydiving Championships in August. It is the biggest competition per jumping population in the world. Teams come to compete over a long weekend in August, similar to the world challenge but in the air not in the wind tunnel.

Regular followers of our blog will recognise Laura and her story. Laura featured in various local and regional newspapers, local radio and national magazines because of her inspiring journey in the skydiving world.

Laura has approximately 50% hearing loss which hasn’t hampered her ambitions one bit, she wears Phonak Ambra CIC hearing aids which are very discreet and packed with some of the most sophisticated technology available, supplied and maintained by her hearing professional Paul Minikin of Digital Hearing Care. They enable Laura to hear better than ever before in her social life and day to day routine, and to help her perform at her best in the sport she loves. Click here for previous post.

Digital Hearing Care have been in the newspapers, in national magazines and on local radio recently after helping one of their clients to progress in their ambitions as a skydiving enthusiast.

Laura Muller is a vibrant young lady, full of beans and with bags of ambition who just happens to have a 50% hearing loss that has been present throughout her life.

Up until Digital Hearing Care became involved with her, Laura was wearing NHS hearing aids which helped her somewhat, but hindered her in her skydiving ambitions due to their bulky nature and also socially, where Laura found she struggled to hear when background noise was present.

Laura says ‘In my first year of university I took up skydiving, a sport which I’m still doing at a professional level today. I was immediately faced with various problems caused by my hearing aids – my helmet wouldn’t fit very well, the hearing aids would dig into my ears or they would be pulled off. Obviously sky diving is a dangerous sport so I couldn’t take my hearing aids out as I need to hear at all time!

I also found that the hearing aids would turn themselves off in the plane during the climb to altitude or when I was under canopy, so sometimes I was unable to hear the exit count (what we do before we jump out of the plane). The rise to altitude and the pressure changes also affected the way the aids worked as well. Sometimes they would stop working for days at a time, which left me struggling to hear.

As I wanted to start competing in skydiving at a national level these problems needed to be sorted. I searched around and eventually found out about the new Phonak Ambra hearing aids. I was fitted within a few weeks and couldn’t believe how much sound I missed with my old hearing aids. The Ambra devices sit in the ear so the problem of wearing a helmet immediately was solved. The sound quality is also amazing so it immediately made me a much more confident person and I hear as well as everyone else now. These hearing aids are able to withstand the climb to altitude and they have never once stopped working either on the plane or under canopy. It’s made my life so much easier and I don’t have to worry about losing them or damaging them when skydiving.

My progression in the sport I love is definitely due to these hearing aids. Since having them I’ve competed in a national team and we won a bronze medal. I am competing again this year at a higher level. I have even taken up skiing, something I’ve always wanted to do but haven’t had the confidence to take part in as I thought I wouldn’t be able to hear anything. The confidence these hearing aids have given me has made such an incredible difference to my social  life and my sport.’

Yorkshire Evening Post Article

Bradford Telegraph and Argus Article

Pick Me Up National Magazine Article

Interview with Radio Leeds

Yorkshire Post Article

Maybe you might benefit from the help we can provide at Digital Hearing Care, we don’t restrict our help only to skydivers!

Upon searching the internet for useful resources and something interesting to write about we stumbled on many statistics about Autism. Unfortunately all of the statistics we found were laid out in pretty much the same way i.e list format.

On the one hand its great that the statistics are out there in any format for people to find in the first place. In terms of raising awareness for Autism people are less likely to share or link to statistics in this format.As a result we thought we would do our bit to help raise awareness and produce these statistics in a nice exciting way that illustrates all of the statistics using the nice info graphic you see below.

We now urge you to do your bit and help by either:

• Linking to this Article so others may see it by placing a link on your site or blog to – http://www.digitalhearingcare.org.uk/blog/uk-facts-about-autism-infographic/
• Sharing the article using one of our social button at the bottom of this page
• Feel free to use the image in its entirety on your website just please attribute us as the original source via a link back to this article using the link above.

Sorry to be so upfront about asking you to link and share but every link and share we get will help raise awareness .

If anybody has any other ideas on this subject or any other on how we can help, please leave your comments at the bottom of this post as we want toe stablish ourselves as an excellent resource for people seeking information about all kinds of Disabilities.

Live in the Manchester area? If you are starting to think your hearing might not be as good as it used to be, help is at hand from a number of sources.

Most often when people realise they aren’t hearing so well the first port of call is the local doctor’s surgery, and often from there if the problem isn’t blocked up ears your doctor may refer you to the local hospital’s ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) department. From there they will assess your hearing, including an inspection of the ear canal and a hearing test, possibly more investigations besides, and eventually you could well be in receipt of a ‘behind the ear’ type of NHS hearing aid.

This process is far quicker than it has been historically but there is still a lot of variance in the waiting times from area to area, sometimes the wait can be fairly lengthy.

An alternative is to pay privately for a hearing assessment with a private company like ours at Digital Hearing Care or another similar company.

A question you might ask is – why on earth would anyone pay for hearing aids when they can get one free on the NHS?  There are three main reasons; speed of delivery and aftercare, cosmetics and handling, and performance.

Speed of delivery and aftercare – when a potential client approaches us to help them with their hearing problems we can usually assess them in the comfort of their home within a week, sometimes sooner. (We are visiting clients in and around Manchester certainly a couple of times a week, for initial assessments, fittings and aftercare visits). Generally if we are contacted for a service request we try to get to clients within a couple of days or so.

Cosmetics and handling – with the best will in the world it’s hard to call the NHS issue ‘behind the ear’ type of hearing aids cosmetically attractive. Functional maybe. Some find the controls and the general design a little difficult to handle, particularly those with dexterity issues.

Performance – the NHS procurement process is a very long drawn out affair, by the very nature of the process by the time hearing aid technology arrives in NHS departments it’s already a little out of date, hearing aid technology moves very fast and each manufacturer launches newer technology every couple of years with improved performance. At Digital Hearing Care we can supply the very latest technology available from many different manufacturers, in fact thousands of different permutations of manufacturer, shape and size, level of technology etc etc. AND very importantly we have the time to spend with you to make sure the hearing aids are working at their best and as good as they can be.

And why would you pick Digital Hearing Care over any other company? We are very competitive on price, we offer the widest choice of hearing aid technology available, far wider than most hearing aid suppliers, and we really do pride ourselves on our outstanding levels of aftercare.

If you think you might be suffering with hearing loss in the Leeds, Bradford and general West Yorkshire area there are a number of options open to you; sourcing hearing aids via the NHS system, paying privately for them either via a high street chain or an independent local company like Digital Hearing Care, or do nothing and suffer in silence.

Nationally it is estimated in the UK there are about 9 million people with some level of hearing loss and around 2 million that wear hearing aids, so we guess the percentage that suffer in silence is near a staggering 4 out of 5!

If you really don’t want to be part of the above statistic and want to hear better, one no-cost option is to source hearing aids via the NHS system.

In Leeds the main hospital to supply is Leeds General Infirmary, it used to be St James Hospital in Leeds until Leeds General took over around ten years ago. If you live within the catchment area for Leeds General you approach your local doctor who refers you for a hearing test and eventually Leeds general will supply you with hearing aids. The waiting list for hearing aids in Leeds used to be amongst the longest in the UK, in excess of two years at one point but we understand it is now far shorter.

In Bradford within its catchment area all NHS patients are referred to Bradford Royal Infirmary, Bradford Royal is another large hospital with a large ENT department. Bradford also had some of the longest waiting lists in excess of two years at one point a few years ago but also Bradford’s waiting list are now a lot shorter.

The benefits of NHS hearing aids are that they are free on loan so no cost is involved, including free supply of hearing aid batteries.

People sometimes consider buying hearing aids privately and we find the most common reasons stated as the three following;

Speed of delivery and quality / quantity of aftercare

Cosmetics and dexterity issues (NHS hearing aids are behind the ear models and some find them too visible, cumbersome and fiddly)

Performance issues. (Clients buying hearing aids privately can have the benefit of the very latest technology with the best expertise, and as much time as needed with very attentive aftercare, to ensure the best results).

If you are looking into buying private hearing aids we strongly suggest you contact us. At Digital Hearing Care we always try our best to excel, to deliver more than we promise, and always strive to be head and shoulders above any other hearing aid suppliers. That’s locally in Bradford and Leeds and the wider West Yorkshire area, all with some of the most competitive hearing aid prices available nationwide.

Continuing from our British Sign language poll to find the best BSL websites out there, we contacted BritishSignLanguage.Com and requested an interview with one of its team. Alan Mortlock, Director of BritishSignLanguage.Com kindly accepted our request and answered our questions. Please read below to find out what he had to say:

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your background?

BritishSignLanguage.com is run by a combination of full time staff and volunteers (hearing and deaf) keen to help others learn sign. All our staff are able to sign and we support those going through formal qualifications.

From the very beginning we have had a business model split between paid and voluntary staff and the work of our volunteers means that we can achieve more than purely commercial organisations. It also allows us to support people wanting to learn BSL and get involved in the deaf community.

When I took over as Director of BritishSignLanguage.com my BSL was quite basic however over my time here I am now proficient and an advocate of everyone being able to sign a small amount

2. What influenced you to start the website?

The website was started in 1998 at that time there were no online tools for those wishing to learn sign language. All the resources were very expensive and aimed at those wishing to interpret sign. There was a need to support students of BSL rather than rely of printed material which is sometimes difficult to understand.

The website evolved with feedback from users, and very quickly we received requests for a CD version.

Following discussion with both teaching professionals and BSL users the format and scope of the CD was developed, which continues from the inception in May 2000, to the current version 5.0.

During this time the word count has grown from under 300 to over 1500, plus many other additional features.

3. In your own words if somebody were to ask you what your site was all about please provide a summary

The website provides a free introduction to signing, with 500 words and phrases, plus some educational material to give interested parties a start when learning to sign. It is also a ‘taster’ for the CD which is in the same format, but with more than 3 times the content. The CD is an ideal companion to those studying stage 1 or stage 2 BSL.

In addition we encourage users to contact us so we can provide what help and guidance in signs and related matters.

The modest cost of our CD enables us to maintain the website, provide support and support deaf charities.

We also encourage the free download of the copyright images for education purposes, specifically aimed at schools and colleges.

4. What do you believe the sites strengths are?

From the feedback we get the strengths are the scope and format of the free signs, which is the largest free learning to sign website. By breaking signs down into the key movements it helps students understand how the signs are formed. This combined with a description of each sign ensure that learners are clear on the hand shapes required.

Also the facility to download educational materials and obtain free advice is another strength.

5. Are there any exciting plans for the future?

The new version 5.0 CD provides additional signs and a significantly expanded quiz, which has always been popular with our customers.

In the future we shall be launching an app for the iPhone and android. Beyond that we shall be continually adding to our database of signs so are always keen to receive requests from our users.

We would like to say a huge thank you to Alan for taking the time out of his busy schedule to answer our questions and would also like to encourage all our readers to take a look at this excellent website at www.britishsignlanguage.com. With a new App on the way along with the new version of the CD don’t miss out and go and take a look.

You all know that the winners of our sign language poll was www.british-sign.co.uk and as promised we are pleased to give all our readers a nice walk around of the British Sign website so they can all understand just why it won.

When you land on the website it is very easy on the eye with a really nice and friendly design. The two tone colouring gives it a striking yet really comfortable feel. We especially liked the use of the little boy with his hands coloured in.

To touch a little more on the design the logo with the hands really stands out to us and will be easily recognisable within their websites industry.

Another feature that site visitors will notice is, upon hovering over the main navigation buttons you see some nice moving flash imagery that is specific and relevant to each category. This is a really nice touch because you don’t even have to leave the home page to get an understanding about what the rest of the website is about.

This page hasn’t won our poll simply because it looks pretty but having a nice website will certainly help when getting their information across and visitors will find the website easier to use. Most of the comments we received about the website were about how nice and easy to use the site was.

What Else Helped It Win?

Lets break down each section and give our views on just why this website outperformed the rest.

What is British Sign Language?

This was our favourite section because here you can find out everything you ever needed to know about the subject. This section also boasts an internal navigational structure that allows its page visitors to skip to the exact section they require rather than having to read through everything.

Other websites should learn from this as assuming that all visitors no nothing of the subject can put those visitors who do off. By providing the easy to use navigation they have kept all their visitors happy.

As well as the nice navigation when you click on a question you get a really nice big header title at the top of the page.

Finger spelling

This is an excellent resource as this area provides various formats of the finger spelling alphabet in PDF, JPEG or Word which is excellent as again they have taken their site visitors into consideration by not assuming everybody has Adobe Reader or Microsoft Office installed.

Apart from that like the previous section there are lots of specific files on finger spelling in an easy to use list. Resources include free instructional videos, charts, tools and much more. All of the files off this page are extremely detailed and work nicely for a beginner or somebody who is more advanced.

Online BSL Course

As well as lots of free information this website also offers an online course for those people who want to really get into the subject matter.

At first when you see the words online course you may be forgiven into thinking that it is going to be expensive. However at just £15 for one year’s enrollement this course offers exceptional value for money and looking at the wonderful course reviews it has received you wouldn’t go far wrong in enrolling yourself.

Beginners Pack

The beginners pack is offered to further help the online students get the most out of the course. British Sign do not force its users to sign up to them both but if purchased together their site visitors get a jam packed CD with lots of information to help them even more with the course but they offer both enrolment and CD for the value price of £49.99.

You can of course purchase the CD on its own from the BSL CD Rom page that can be found from the home page for a bargain price of £39.99

Anybody who is serious about learning British Sign will agree that even at this fee it is still really exceptional value.

All in all this is an excellent resource and by reading the above we are sure all our readers will agree. This website offers everything, nice design, easy layout, free information and very affordable further learning. We urge you to visit this excellent website today at www.british-sign.co.uk.

Well done guys keep up the excellent work – DHC Editorial Team

FOLLOW UP:

Since our original post British Sign kindly let us behind the scenes of their on-line course.  We have had a good look round and thought we would follow up with a nice rundown of this great course.

In some cases with on-line courses enrolment can be a little messy and time consuming, with British Sign you are at the course dashboard within minutes of registering.  

As expected there are seven exceptionally detailed lessons within the course literature all jam packed with great information, videos and easy to understand instructions. We won’t give the course content away instead we will leave you to discover that for yourself.

One of the aspects that we really liked was the introductory pages.  These pages are all set out in order to help you use the course as it was intended.  By reading the introduction pages you will gain an understanding of how each lesson is laid out, how each video is presented and details of recommended lesson times and so that your learning experience is much more fluent.

If you get stuck anywhere during the course they also provide a very helpful forum where you can chat with other course members.  if you have a burning question that can’t wait then there will more than likely be somebody on the forum that can help no matter what time of day.

Each lesson closes with a test/quiz to asses your knowledge of the previous lesson.  these assessments can be taken over and over again so that you can improve your scores or until you are happy that the lesson information has sunk in.

To top this excellent course off, after completion there is a nice certificate for download so that you can show off all your hard work.

The quality of the course didn’t surprise us here especially after we had already seen the quality of the website itself.  We at the DHC Blog have no reservation in recommending this course to anybody wishing to learn British Sign language.

GO AND SIGN UP TODAY AT WWW.BRITISH-SIGN.CO.UK