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
Maybe you might benefit from the help we can provide at Digital Hearing Care, we don’t restrict our help only to skydivers!
Tags: ambra, hearing aids, laura muller, phonak, skydiver, skydiving
