Helping improve hearing aids
Two million people in the UK use a hearing aid and a further 3 million would benefit from one. But the stigma attached to deafness prevents many seeking help and, even when hearing aids are prescribed, the poor performance of many aids deters people from using them.
Traditional hearing aids often cannot be adjusted properly to suit an individual's needs and even the latest digital aids may not be fitted as effectively as they might be.
Deafness Research UK has:
- Continued to support research into better fitting procedures for digital hearing aids. The new procedures are designed to be efficient and simple to use and to give good results in a wide variety of everyday listening situations. To ensure the clinical applicability of the results, the procedures are being refined and evaluated in a hospital audiology clinic and by a private dispenser.
- Supported an independent technical review of the world's first disposable hearing aid. Following the announcement that Boots Hearingcare Centres would be launching the new disposable hearing aid, Songbird TM, in the UK, Deafness Research UK commissioned a study that compared its performance against several NHS and digital aids. Undertaken by a leading research team at the University of Cambridge, the Review enabled the charity to offer objective information on the new aid to hundreds of enquirers during the year.
