Real stories from patients whose lives have been changed through better hearing care at Steven Hale Hearing.
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“After struggling with partial deafness for a couple of years, I finally decided to take the plunge and invest in some hearing aids.
I visited Steven Hale who, after testing my hearing in his very impressive clinic in Shenstone, went through a variety of options very thoroughly and recommended which type would be best for me (and indeed my dear wife who has been enduring my hearing loss for some time!).
Since having my new hearing aids fitted, one of the most prominent things I can report back on is the fact I can hear the birds sing in the morning, which I’ve not been able to do for years. This has made everything worthwhile, and of course hearing every word my wife says to me has also been a bonus I’m sure!
Thank you for the expert advice and I would recommend anyone with any hearing issues to visit Steven.”
Leigh Chadwick, Sutton Coldfield
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“I started wearing ‘high street hearing aids’ about 4 years ago. Although they helped, in challenging situations I still struggled. I made the decision to book a consultation with Steve to see if an improvement was possible.
The hearing tests that he conducted were far more in depth than I had experienced before, as was his analysis of the state of my hearing.
After a 90 minute consultation, I came away with a new pair of aids that I could trial for up to four weeks.
Packed with remarkable technology, the new aids were a quantum shift in performance compared to my previous ones. After two weeks, it was an easy decision for me to go ahead and buy these new fantastic hearing aids.
Conversations in the car or in noisy environments are so much easier. My world sounds very different now!”
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“If I’m honest when I first came to see Steven I was not expecting much success, it was almost a last ditch attempt out of desperation. I knew that my hearing had been
damaged and that I had tinnitus, and I had been led to believe that there were very few options open to me by my GP & the NHS staff I had been referred to.
That first session with Steven fundamentally changed everything that I thought I had to accept, and I walked out of the session feeling literally transformed, an entire
world of sound that I thought was totally lost was back and vivid. I can honestly say I was elated for several days after the fitting, and over a month later I still have a
sense of shock when I turn on the hearing aids in the morning.
Loosing my hearing had led to alienation in many areas of my life and the crazy part was that I hadn’t really noticed the full effect because it had happened so gradually. I
had started avoiding public places as it had become almost impossible to understand conversations, meetings had become real stress points as I could only have confidence in what was being said if someone was within 5 or 6 feet of me.
The whole situation sounds absurd when you explain it because it seems ridiculous that you don’t properly notice the loss, but your brain normalises your experiences, it
helpfully teaches you to lip read a little so things aren’t so bad when you are face to face and it isn’t the case that you can’t hear anything, in fact far from it, you actually
hear a lot of sound, but find it very difficult to separate it into intelligible information.
Over a month on from first getting my hearing aids life is very different, I would be lying if I said everything was perfect, crowded open plan spaces can still be tricky,
but life is very different. Before getting the hearing aids I would start to feel exhausted by about 3:00 pm each day, I now realise that this was from the constant mental effort of trying to communicate (effectively guessing what had actually been said) – I often spend 6-8 hours on video calls or in face to face meetings in a working day and this has been totally game changing, Socialising has become enjoyable again whereas, in honesty, I dreaded trying to make sense of conversations – I wouldn’t even entertain the thought of going to a restaurant unless I knew it would be empty. I have come to realise I was being held hostage by my hearing and now I feel totally free again.
I came to Steven after doing research online, and I was in quite a dark place when I first spoke with him. From the first conversation Steven worked with me to make the
experience right for me. I am neuro diverse and this adds its own set of complications that can mean I just can’t engage with rigid processes and I can really struggle with perceptual tests, none of this was a problem – I felt welcome and was never pushed to do anything I didn’t want to, more importantly I never felt judged as a result of that diversity which ultimately let me relax and fully engage because I felt safe.
That initial 2-hour consultation with Steven quite literally changed my life and I cannot thank him enough.”
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“I first noticed a change in my hearing in my right ear about 5 years ago. At that time I attributed it to ear wax which I had removed several times at a well known high street retailer. My hearing did not improve significantly and after reading an article about how hearing loss can be linked to an increased the risk of dementia I decided I needed to sort it out. I undertook some online research for a local expert audiologist and made an appointment with Steven Hale.
After taking a detailed history, Steven undertook a series of tests which confirmed hearing loss in both ears. I was still unsure about the cost and my how appearance would be wearing hearing aids. However, I went with Steven’s recommendation of trying a pair of Phonak Audeo I90 -Sphere aids for a couple of weeks. During that period I wore them in as wide a range of indoor and outdoor settings as possible. The improvement in my hearing was amazing, revealing just how much I was missing due to hearing loss. The aids are discrete in appearance which means that unless I specifically refer to them they largely go unnoticed even by close friends and family.
The hearing aids are not cheap but combined with the excellent service provided by Steven they have already delivered terrific value for me. I cannot recommend Steven and his colleagues highly enough. I guess like many folks I felt slightly embarrassed about the prospect of having to wear hearing aids. I am now so pleased that I took the first step of arranging that appointment.”
Edward Breen, Sutton Coldfield
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“I have been a client of Steven Hale for just over two years. For at least three or four years prior to my first consultation my wife and daughter had been nagging me to get my hearing tested as I often had to ask them to repeat things. I also realised that I wanted the television turned louder than anyone else. It got to the point where I was often mishearing what was said or missing things altogether. I realised that I was slowly becoming more of an observer in a conversation rather than a participant.
As hearing loss is hereditary on my mother’s side of the family, I agreed to get my hearing checked. My daughter was already aware of Steven through a friend who had been to him for hearing tests and had been supplied with excellent modern hearing aids.
I thought “nothing to lose” (except my hearing if I did nothing) so I made an appointment, that was at the beginning of May 2023.
My hearing tests showed that I had some hearing loss, especially at high frequencies and more in my left ear than the right.
Steven showed me a selection of hearing aids at various prices. I prioritised ability to hear and convenient to use above cost and I agreed to a free trial of some modern technology hearing aids. They are rechargeable so no fiddling to change batteries. They can be programmed by Steven to provide me with the customised amplification of frequencies in each ear that I require. They can connect to an App on my phone which enables me to make temporary adjustments if necessary. The trial proved an excellent test.
About a week into the trial I attended a large function which included two conferences with a number of speakers and a lunch with 250+ diners sat at round tables of ten people. On “Automatic” setting the conferences were perfectly audible to me but the background “chatter” noise during lunch was making it difficult to hear what people sat at my table were saying. Using my phone, I changed the setting from “Automatic” to “Restaurant” and right away the background noise became far less intrusive and I was able to hear and converse with those in my vicinity. For the afternoon conference I simply put the setting back to automatic and everything was fine.
I was sold! At the end of the trial I agreed to make a purchase and have been very pleased ever since. On those rare occasions when an environment can become annoyingly very noisy I can turn them down or even switch them off altogether which someone with normal hearing can’t do.
I no longer struggle to hear what people are saying and am fully aware that the aids have improved the quality of my life.
Whenever I am in an environment with a lot of background noise, typically a restaurant or bar, I simply change the setting to “Restaurant” and the effect is amazing. If I should forget to change them back then they automatically reset when they are popped into the charging pod at bedtime.
Steven arranges six monthly checkups and now two years in my hearing has changed very little, not enough to require any adjustments. Should it become necessary, my hearing aids can be adjusted to ensure continued optimal ability to hear.
To anyone who experiences a reduction in their ability to hear I would say “contact Steven Hale hearing, make an appointment and get your hearing checked”. They have state of the art facilities and equipment and can diagnose your condition and advise on what is best for you. I know from experience that hearing loss is at best frustrating and worse, can make you feel you are missing out or even isolated.”
Maurice Summers, Sutton Coldfield