The best things in life are often free, but definitely not when it comes to your hearing test! Free Hearing Tests and why Lakeland Hearing doesn’t offer them.
You will have seen plenty of adverts for free hearing tests from various companies, but you might not have stopped to ask why they offer these? Mainly, this is to get as many people through the door as possible. In a conveyor belt of appointments, the more people they see, the more chance they have that one of those people will go on and purchase hearing aids from them. A business cannot offer services for free without needing to recoup the cost somewhere else. Often appointments are rushed in a rapid turnaround of clients and the time needed to thoroughly examine your hearing and explain the results is not available. Your unique needs and lifestyle are not taken into consideration.
These companies perform an audiogram – a single test to define your levels of hearing: no battery of tests to assess the whole hearing system and no speech testing to provide a realistic outlook.
Listening to speech against background noise, and being scored on what you can hear, can seem more relevant to a client’s lived experience than an audiogram with beeps, and when a client who is complaining of difficulty hearing background noise visits Lakeland Hearing for a hearing assessment, we test and feedback on this aspect.
The diagnostic hearing assessment performed at Lakeland Hearing, is a fully comprehensive battery of tests which, when performed by a qualified and experienced audiologist or hearing aid dispenser, can identify issues with hearing and across the wider hearing system.
A screening test can quickly give an estimation of hearing levels across 4 different pitches and should be used as an indicator for whether further investigations need to be done. Screening tests can be performed online – you will find one on our website and there is also one on the RNID website. Diagnostic testing needs to be done in a controlled environment with limited background noise and requires extensive equipment.
At Lakeland Hearing we believe in honesty and transparency; you will not find us offering hearing tests for free. We will allocate enough time during a consultation to get to know each and every client and what their needs and difficulties may be. We can thoroughly test the hearing system to identify hearing loss, middle ear disorders and other conditions that need further investigation by Ear Nose and Throat consultants, such as acoustic neuromas. These conditions need to be identified and referred to ENT, and the first point of contact with an audiologist in our clinic can allow for the appropriate referrals to be undertaken.
Why should you pay for a comprehensive hearing assessment? Because we are a team of highly trained clinicians. We have a level of experience and training that should not be dismissed. A hearing assessment with a highly trained, experienced audiologist such as Vicky or Madeleine will allow us to evaluate your hearing and accurately diagnose your hearing loss.
Booking an appointment with us is an investment in your hearing care and wellbeing. Choose to be fully informed and have an in-depth accurate assessment. Call us now or email to book your hearing assessment.
The Widex Moment CIC is a discrete hearing aid that sits in your ear rather than behind it. This is the only Completely In the Canal (CIC) hearing aid available to us from any manufacturer, that contains the most up to date processing platform.
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2020 has been a vastly different year for most of us, Covid-19 has changed pretty much every aspect of our lives. As these changes filter through, we take stock on the impact for people with hearing loss.
