01/06/2026
A very helpful Facebook post from Hi Kent. Read it carefully to be fully aware of what to do/ask about during your first audiologist appointment.
General advice when visiting your audiology department for the first time:
From conversations I have had with people newly diagnosed as having a hearing loss, here are some handy tips to support and inform you prior to visiting the audiologist. Hopefully this will give you the tools to question decisions made about what type of aid you are prescribed and what programmes you may or may not benefit from.
It is important to discuss your lifestyles. Do you or would you like to visit the cinema, theatre, use a mobile phone, hear clearer when watching the television, struggle less at family gatherings or work meetings. This will enable you to have a say in what your aid can do.
It can be daunting the thought of visiting an audiologist and worrying you will be told you have a hearing loss. It’s natural.
With this in-mind we came up with these few tips:
If you are tested and the test shows you have a hearing loss and that loss is sufficient for you to benefit from having hearing aids this is where this information may come in handy. Go prepared.
If you are shown to have a hearing loss in both ears, you should be offered two aids.
If you are offered aids, you will need to be aware that although no hearing aid can give you perfect hearing, the digital ones available now can make it possible for you to hear things again that you have been missing.
There are a few options the audiologist should discuss with you, but this will depend on where you go for your hearing test, but usually they should discuss programmes the aid can have added.
The majority of aids can have at least three.
1) Standard: setting for everyday listening (both the forward and backward facing microphone is active).
2) Background noise reduction: setting for places like the pub, restaurant and other noisy locations where hearing the sound from behind you is not as important. This setting turns the rear facing microphone off, concentrating on what is in front of you.
3) Loop (also known as Telecoil): setting for when you go to the theatre, cinema, bank and now the majority of shop customer services counters. Sometimes this setting turns both microphones off and enables the aids to pick up the transmission from a device called a loop. A loop is a machine that will either transmit the sound from the stage, screen, person behind the counter, directly to your hearing aid adding a significant improvement in both volume and sound quality when in a noisy environment or when surrounded by people. This is also an important setting if hearing the television is still a problem even when wearing your aids. It allows you tom connect a loop to your Tv and have the dialogue transmitted directly to your aid at the volume you want, without altering the volume needed by others.
The above are the most important programmes your aids can have and potentially make them work better for you in a variety of situations.
You may also benefit from a fourth programme depending on your lifestyle. 4) M/T-(Microphone & Telecoil/loop): This setting leaves the microphones live as well as enabling the loop setting. This is useful if you had a loop at home for the television.
This setting would enable you to hear the television via a loop and others round you too.
Another feature you may be offered is Bluetooth. Bluetooth enabled aids can be controlled via an app on your phone. You can alter the volume, change the programme and on most now, even change the direction the aid concentrate their amplification on!
This is great in a car, restaurants and other noisy places and works even better than just programme 2 because you can actually swing the bias to your left in a car if you are the driver, reducing the other noise in the can considerably for you.
Now don’t think all aids can connect via Bluetooth to the phone for telephone conversations. The majority will only connect to iPhones, but some will connect to hi-end Android devices, if very new.
Bluetooth is not a replacement for programme 3, the loop. A loop is at present the only device you can use in theatres, cinemas and shops to enable you to hear better, how much better will depend on your hearing loss. This programme is definitely one to request wherever possible.
Some NHS audiology departments also offer hearing aids that are rechargeable! These do not at present have both loop and Bluetooth. So before you say yes, think about your lifestyle and what you potentially could benefit from. If you opt for an aid
that takes batteries, the batteries are available from your aid provider free of charge, so don’t think you will save money by going down the rechargeable route.
Once you get given aids, take your time getting used to them. You may not like them at first, but please persevere, it can take up to three months for your brain to sort out all the new sounds. But in time things will settle down and then the aids will be working well for you.
If you have a problem, the aids are too loud, too quiet or there is something just not quite right; please let the audiology department know so they can try to help. It is no good having aids that you don’t wear. It is also a waste of NHS money.
