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Signia Launches Styletto X Hearwear

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Signia Launches Styletto X Hearwear

 

Signia Launches Styletto X Hearwear, Honiton Hearing, Devon

Signia Launches Styletto X Hearwear, Honiton Hearing, Devon

Signia announces the launch of the Styletto X. This new device, said to be “the world’s first SLIM-RIC form factor” pioneered by Signia, is now available on the Signia Xperience platform.

Styletto X reportedly offers “the most complete hearing experience, combining one-of-a-kind style that patients desire with the uncompromised technology that hearing care professionals demand,” according to the company’s announcement. Signia says that this “highly sophisticated hearwear helps to improves listening in any situation—even when moving—and delivers better-than- normal-hearing in difficult noise.” Features of the Styletto X include exchangeable receivers, portable rechargeability, Bluetooth connectivity, and self-service patient support via Signia Assistant.

Honiton hearing Devon

In addition to Styletto X, Signia has introduced additional products on the Signia Xperience platform, helping to empower hearing care professionals to address more patient needs and preferences. These new offerings include:

  • The Silk X, a “discreet alternative to customs,” helping to allow hearing care professionals to operate more efficiently with a same-day-fit.
  • An expanded Essentials line to offer Signia’s advanced technology to more patients, regardless of budget.
  • Three new CROS solutions (CROS Pure Charge&Go X, CROS Pure 312 X, and CROS Silk X) for a choice of styles and fittings for patients with single-sided deafness.

“With its slim, rounded form and striking color combinations, Styletto X was developed to attract individuals who wouldn’t otherwise consider wearing hearing aids, while providing new options to existing wearers looking to upgrade to a sleek and modern device,” said Dr Tish Ramirez, AuD, Signia’s Vice President, Clinical Education & Professional Relations.

As evidence of its appeal, the eye-catching Styletto form factor—preferred by 8 out of 10 consumers—was found to significantly increase in-store-conversion of people with hearing loss into satisfied hearing aid wearers.2

Honiton hearing Devon
Signia is the “first hearing aid brand” to incorporate Qi wireless charging technology, helping to enable wearers to place the Styletto X pocket-sized charging case on a charging pad for greater usability.

“Styletto X features several enhancements to this already well-received design, based on feedback from our hearing care professional partners,” Ramirez added. “In particular, Styletto X now comes with exchangeable receivers to treat a wider range of hearing loss and enable more patients to benefit from this one-of-a-kind device.”

A New Era of Wearability and Autonomy

Signia is “the first hearing aid brand” to incorporate Qi wireless charging technology into a hearing aid charging case. With this technology, wearers can simply place the Styletto X pocket-sized charging case on a charging pad in cafés, restaurants, or cars, instead of having to plug it into the charging port. Styletto X can be fully charged in only four hours to provide a full day’s wearing, including five hours of streaming.3

Exeter hearing Devon

The Signia Assistant can help hearing care professionals by leveraging artificial intelligence to help support patients, 24/7, with text-based dialogue, instant sound adjustments, and how-to-videos to answer handling questions.

Remote Fitting and Service Options

With Signia’s new Remote Care solution, hearing care professionals and hearing aid wearers can benefit from flexible fitting and service options via TeleCare, “the first full, live remote fine-tuning solution in the industry,” according to the company.

This hearing solution is available now in performance levels 7, 5, 3, 2, 1 and sDemo and in the contemporary color combinations Snow White/Rose Gold, Black/Silver, Cosmic Blue/Rose Gold, and in new White or Black.

For further information, please see: https://pro.signiausa.com/styletto-x/.

1 Red Dot Design Award 2019, iF Design Award 2019
2 Hakvoort, Burton: Increasing Style, Reducing Stigma: The Styletto Solution (Signia White Paper, 2018)
3 Based on 16 hours wearing incl. 5 hours streaming per day

Source: Signia

Images: Signia

Oticon Launches Ruby Hearing Aid for Budget-Conscious Patients

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Oticon Launches Ruby Hearing Aid for Budget-Conscious Patients

 

Oticon Launches Ruby Hearing Aid for Budget-Conscious Patients

For consumers returning to work and social activities in an uncertain economic climate, the newest addition to Oticon’s line of technology offers a combination of “sound quality, sought-after features, and affordability,” according to an announcement from the company.  The new Oticon Ruby “sets a new standard in the essential category, delivering great sound quality, hassle-free rechargeability, and easy wireless connectivity in one complete solution—all within the reach of today’s budget-conscious patients.”

Powered by the Velox S platform, Oticon Ruby introduces the new SuperShield feedback management system that “helps prevent feedback before it occurs, so patients can enjoy hearing without interruptions from unwanted whistling and squealing.” For patients who want the convenience of rechargeable batteries, a new lithium-ion rechargeable option helps provide a full-day’s* charge in a few hours. Bluetooth connectivity helps enable patients to connect to smartphones and other modern devices to stream audio and music directly to their hearing aids.

“After experiencing this time of social distancing, consumers recognise the value of easy access to modern technologies to stay connected with family, friends, and business colleagues,” said Don Schum, PhD, Vice President of Audiology for Oticon, Inc.  “Phone calls, video chats, and other virtual connections have become their lifeline to the world. These connections are enhanced with better hearing. At the same time, despite the start of an economic recovery, some patients may be more careful about spending. Oticon Ruby allows practitioners to offer patients looking for sought-after features, like rechargeability and easy wireless connections, a quality solution at a more affordable price.”

Like all Oticon wireless hearing aids, Oticon Ruby is compatible with Oticon RemoteCare, a new telehealth solution that allows hearing care professionals to follow up online with patients to remotely adjust and fine-tune hearing aids in a virtual appointment. For select patients who have valid audiograms, first fit with Oticon RemoteCare allows hearing care professionals to fit new hearing aids remotely.

Honiton hearing centre 

Oticon Ruby and all Oticon hearing aids use BrainHearing technology to “help support the brain in making sense of sound and enable patients to participate in challenging listening environments.” The Velox S platform powers the new SuperShield technology to analyse incoming sound levels, identify feedback, and prevent whistling before it occurs.

Oticon Ruby miniRITE R rechargeable hearing aids offer a full day* of power with an overnight charge. The charger helps provide a stable, reliable magnetic connection for charging that delivers power throughout the day, including streaming, with a three-hour charging time. A 30-minute recharge provides an additional six hours of power, according to Oticon.

With 2.4 GHz Bluetooth low-energy technology, Oticon Ruby helps deliver “easy wireless connectivity with low battery consumption to a wide range of devices such as smartphones, audio or music streams in stereo to both hearing aids from Bluetooth-connected mobile phones, MP3 players, PCs, and more.” Patients can pair Oticon Ruby with multiple TV Adapters and use the Oticon ON App to stream from any TV. The Oticon ON App also lets patients adjust volume, switch settings, check battery level, and access features such as Find My Hearing Aid and Oticon HearingFitness.

Devon ear wax removal

Oticon Ruby is available in a full lineup of styles, including miniRITE, miniRITE T (telecoil), miniRITE R (rechargeable), BTE and BTE Power Plus, and five popular colours. Oticon Ruby is compatible with Oticon CROS hearing aids.

For more information on Oticon Ruby visit: www.Oticon.com/Ruby.

*Lithium-ion performance varies depending on hearing loss, lifestyle, and streaming behaviour

Source: Oticon

Image: Oticon

Apple Takes Another Step Toward Hearing Aid Functionality

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Apple Takes Another Step Toward Hearing Aid Functionality

 

Apple Takes Another Step Toward Hearing Aid Functionality

On Monday, June 22, Apple introduced its latest operating system, iOS14, which includes —among many new features—a substantial move towards its AirPod Pros becoming a hearing-aid-like device. Almost buried as an afterthought at the bottom of Apple’s IOS New Features Preview are identical entries in the “Airpods” and “Accessibility” sections that say:

Headphone Accommodations

This new accessibility feature is designed to amplify soft sounds and adjust certain frequencies for an individual’s hearing, to help music, movies, phone calls, and podcasts sound more crisp and clear. Headphone Accommodations also supports Transparency mode on AirPods Pro, making quiet voices more audible and tuning the sounds of your environment to your hearing needs.

Hmmm…sounds a lot like a basic description of wide dynamic frequency compression (WDRC) or AGC, doesn’t it? Abram Bailey of Hearing Tracker, who broke the news yesterday, stated “This is the extremely exciting part, as it indicates that AirPods can now essentially be used to provide typical hearing aid functionality; applying personalised amplification to make it easier to hear those around you.” Bailey went on to show how the headphone accommodations use a custom audio setup with a listening test that generates an “audiogram” from the Apple Health app that “seems to indicate that the AirPods Pro will be capable of providing a very fine-tuned custom amplification experience, based on the audiogram (pitch-by-pitch hearing abilities) unique to the user.”

It should be acknowledged that Apple has for many years been developing hearing-aid-related features, including Live Listen for hearing aids and cochlear implants in 2014 (and later for AirPods and the Earpods), in addition to speech audiometry and speech-in-noise packages for developers, noise warning apps for its WatchOS, and more. The company sold more than 60 million Airpods in 2019, compared to about 15 million hearing aids worldwide for the entire hearing industry (4.2 million units in the US). Apple’s Wearables, Home and Accessories division had the most significant year-on-year growth for the company last year, with its sales increasing 41% thanks to the Airpod and Apple Watch, and the tech-giant owns an enviable 36.5% of the wearables market, according to CompareCamp. Mind you, this includes the “hearables” market that Nick Hunn predicted earlier this year will reach $80 billion a year by 2025.

As Paul Dybala, PhD, AuD, of AudiologyDesign points out in a recent LinkedIn post about Apple and its threat to the hearing industry, “If none of this impresses you, buy a pair of AirPod Pros and turn on the Active Noise Cancelling feature. Then change them over to Transparency Mode and listen further. Once you wipe your jaw off the floor, continue reading. Take your time, I’ll wait…” However, he then goes on to point out that hearing loss is widely viewed as a healthcare problem that should be addressed by a hearing healthcare professional, as shown in a 2017 survey by a study he did with colleague Brande Plotnick at Healthy Hearing.

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As a side-note, I’ve personally tried several of the products and hearing tests available in some of the better PSAPs. As one example, Alango Technology’s BeHear app did an impressive job of replicating an audiogram of my own mild sloping hearing loss and tailoring the sound to suit my preferences. The idea of an app doing this also reminded me of a September 2018 Hearing Review article by James Jerger, PhD, who—after describing three basic forms of automated audiometry—wrote:

“The most important issue is to catch up with the rest of the automated world…In spite of the many examples of successful automated systems summarised above, I suspect that there will be little further progress in the actual clinical use of automated audiometry of any variety until clinicians become part of the solution. It goes back to their initial educational experience. If the only procedure they learn as students is the manual Hughson-Westlake method on a conventional audiometer, it is unlikely that they will be easily diverted from that familiar path, sophisticated technology notwithstanding. PhD and AuD students—in addition to practicing clinicians—need to understand that automated audiometry can be carried out by less credentialed personnel, resulting in time and cost savings in a clinical setting. It is apparent this testing is moving into the digital/consumer realm [with the link going to Apple’s WDDC 2018 video that includes a demonstration of speech audiometry].

The point is professional hearing healthcare is so much more than automated tests and apps. As Dr Dybala notes in his article, it’s about assessing an often-complex medical problem and applying all of the tools available to tailor an individual solution that works for the patient in all kinds of listening situations, including (and especially) noise. However, as shown by Apple and others, the world of hearables with their automated testing and applied amplification should help millions of consumers make their first moves toward professional hearing care.

IHear Medical Launches Free @Home Hearing Test

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IHear Medical Launches Free @Home Hearing Test

   

IHear Medical Launches Free @Home Hearing Test

iHEAR Medical announced the launch of the Free @Home iHEARtest campaign, offering consumers the ability to test their hearing for free at home with the “only FDA approved home hearing screener.” The iHEARtest is said to “rapidly profile hearing ability based on guidelines by the World Health Organization (WHO).”

Honiton Hearing centre

“The Free @Home test addresses compromised hearing care during the unfolding COVID-19 pandemic,” said Adnan Shennib, Founder and CEO of iHEAR Medical.

The iHEARtest kit includes “factory calibrated earphones” to ensure accuracy of test results, according to the company. The Free @Home iHEARtest can be ordered online or by phone (1-844-443-2744, Toll-Free) for delivery directly to the customer’s home. Customers pay $9 to cover the cost of two-way shipping and handling, and have 30 days to take the iHEARtest and return it using the provided pre-paid return label and packaging.

Devon hearing shop

According to iHEAR Medical, the iHEARtest was approved by the FDA following years of clinical research demonstrating safety and accuracy. Additionally, clinical studies under the oversight of an independent Institutional Review Board (IRB) have shown the iHEARtest’s “ease of self-use, accuracy and 96.4% agreement with standard practice audiometry for the assessment of normal versus disabling hearing impairment.”

Source: iHEAR Medical

Starkey announces..

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Starkey announces..

New digital hearing aids, Devon hearing aids, South Devon hearing aids, South Hams hearing aids, South hAMS EAR WAX REMOVAL, Kingsbridge ear wax removal, hearing aids Kingsbridge, Hearing aids, Hope Cove,

Hearing aids in Devon at the Honiton Hearing centre. 

 

Starkey announced that “the world’s first 2.4 GHz custom rechargeable hearing aids” are now available in all configurations and colours.

“We are proud to continue offering industry-leading technology even in this time of disruption,” said Starkey President Brandon Sawalich. “We want to thank our valued partners for their continued business and the opportunity to provide hearing health care to you and your patients. We sincerely appreciate the work you do and are maintaining 98% on-time delivery. How we work is changing, but our mission is the same: to serve our customers better than anyone else.”

To learn more about Starkey’s ground-breaking custom rechargeable hearing aids, please click here.

 

All Starkey hearing aids are available at the Honiton hearing centre East Devon

Source: Starkey

The Challenge of BTE Hearing Aids with Masks

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The Challenge of BTE Hearing Aids with Masks

    

The Challenge of BTE Hearing Aids with Masks

Wearing masks have become common practice during the COVID-19 pandemic. For people who use behind-the-ear (BTE) hearing aids, however, this may be uncomfortable, according to a blog posting by audiologist Sheri Gostomelsky on the ChicagoNow website.

Gostomelsky suggests several creative solutions to the problem which include putting your hair in a bun and looping the elastic around the bun itself; sewing buttons onto a headband that the mask loops over; creating an extension for the mask, and sewing or purchasing a mask with ties instead of elastic.

To read the posting in its entirely, please click here. Hearing Review also recently published a study by Goldin, Weinstein, and Shiman about how medical masks essentially functioned as a low-pass acoustic filter for speech, attenuating the high frequencies (2000-7000 Hz) spoken by the wearer by 3 to 4 dB for a simple medical mask and close to 12 dB for the N95 masks.

Source: ChicagoNow

Starkey Expands Remote Programming Feature to More Hearing Aid Users

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Starkey Expands Remote Programming Feature to More Hearing Aid Users

Starkey Expands Remote Programming Feature to More Hearing Aid Users

In response to the ongoing challenges facing hearing care providers and their patients amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Starkey announced that it has made telehealth technology available to “even more hearing aid users.” Effective immediately, ‘Hearing Care Anywhere’ remote programming is now enabled across all technology tiers of Starkey’s Livio, Livio AI, and Livio Edge AI hearing aids. The change is said to allow more patients to receive care from their homes and gives hearing professionals the ability to conduct appointments despite social distancing.

“This is a very difficult time for the majority of us in the hearing industry,” said Starkey President Brandon Sawalich. “When we developed the Hearing Care Anywhere remote programming feature, we knew it would provide hearing healthcare providers with added convenience and efficiency, but we never imagined the important role it would play in such an unprecedented situation. We are so proud that our relentless dedication to staying on the cutting-edge of hearing technology is helping patients hear better at a time when clear communication is so critical.”

Through this latest update, even patients whose devices were not originally configured for remote programming are now able to access this feature. Using the Thrive app, patients can send requests to their hearing providers, who are then able to make fine-tuning adjustments to optimize hearing aid performance remotely. This new measure enhances patient safety by reducing the need for an in-office visit.

“For many clinics, up to 30% of appointments are for minor adjustments,” said Starkey’s Chief Innovation Officer Dave Fabry, PhD. “In the past, clinicians needed to initiate remote programming via the Inspire software during face-to-face visits. Today, those adjustments can be handled remotely through Hearing Care Anywhere.”

“Since early on during the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve had to balance the dilemma of protecting our patients while ensuring their hearing devices are performing optimally,” said Terence Limb, AuD, of Kirkland, Wash. “In the past, we didn’t always enable Hearing Care Anywhere in Inspire. This update enables me to continue to engage with patients during this difficult time. Moreover, it will change the way that we can better serve patient needs in the future.”

For more information on these new updates to Hearing Care Anywhere remote programming, please click here.

Source: Starkey

Starkey Introduces Livio Edge AI

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Starkey Introduces Livio Edge AI

 

Starkey Livio Edge AI at the Honiton hearing centre

Building on the success of “the world’s first Healthable hearing aid,” Livio AI, Starkey announces the release of Livio Edge AI. Livio Edge AI is said to “combine the best of both worlds: industry-leading sound quality and sound processing for challenging listening environments.” With a simple double tap, Edge Mode helps bring “the power of artificial intelligence to a patient’s fingertips, by instantaneously conducting an AI-based analysis of the acoustic environment and making immediate adjustments,” according to the company.

Honiton hearing centre

“As a global leader in innovation, Starkey continues to defy the limits of what others thought was possible,” said Starkey CEO Bill Austin. “By using artificial intelligence, we’ve transformed the hearing aid into a tool that can unlock the ear’s ability to be a source of complex biological information. In doing so, we’re bridging the gap between a patient’s hearing health and their overall health and wellness.”

As part of this new product launch, Starkey introduces “the world’s first 2.4 GHz lithium-ion ITC and ITE custom rechargeable hearing aids.”

Devon hearing centre

A variety of other new features includes improvements to the usability and performance of the Thrive Hearing Control app, a 2.4 GHz Table Microphone with eight built-in microphones to help users enjoy group settings, and AI for all. This means Livio AI is now available in the 2000, 1600, 1200, and 1000 technology tiers.

“We are proud to be leading the hearing industry at the speed of innovation,” said Starkey President Brandon Sawalich. “Livio AI broke barriers by becoming the first hearing aid to use artificial intelligence to monitor body and brain activity. It even achieved high-profile recognition from the likes of TIME Magazine, but, at Starkey, we don’t rest on our laurels. We continue to push ourselves to make the impossible possible, so we can help people live better lives through better hearing.”

For more information on the new products available now, please click here. 

Source: Starkey

Images: Starkey

Phonak Marvel Technology

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Phonak Marvel Technology Now Available in Customs and BTE Hearing Aids

 

 

Devon hearing aids

Phonak, a provider of hearing aid solutions, announced its Marvel technology availability in additional styles and form factors spanning “nearly ever degree of hearing loss.” This includes an expanded portfolio of custom in-the-ear (ITE), super-power, and pediatric hearing aids across multiple performance levels, according to Phonak. Marvel connectivity is said to allow “hand-free calls as well as audio streaming to virtually any Bluetooth enabled devices like smartphones, tablets, computers, or TVs.”

Honiton hearing aids
Phonak Virto Black Marvel and Naida Marvel

At January’s 2020 International CES, Phonak unveiled Virto™ M Black, described as “a fully-connected hearing aid shaped like a hearable.” Virto M Black is said to be Phonak’s first custom-made hearing aid equipped with Marvel technology, including universal Bluetooth®streaming, hands-free phone calls, and a personalized hearing experience via the myPhonak app. Virto M Black was named a “Best of CES Winner in Accessibility” from Engadget, the “Best Medical Device” by Slashgear, and was included among Newsweek’s “Best of CES 2020: The Top Tech Products You Can Actually Buy This Year.”

Phonak Virto Black Marvel

Continuing this momentum is the release of Virto M NW and Virto M-Titanium, which Phonak says offers Marvel’s “signature exceptional sound quality in a smaller device, down to an invisible-in-canal (IIC).” Thanks to the Titanium FitGuide, over 50% of people are said to get an “even more discreet Virto M-Titanium fitting by an average of 2.5 mm.1” All Virto M hearing aids include Biometric Calibration, which is said to analyze “over 1,600 biometric data points to precisely calibrate the device to a patient’s individual ear anatomy,” according to Phonak.

The Phonak Sky™ portfolio now includes the new Sky M-SP in all four performance levels. Sky Mis powered by AutoSense Sky OS 3.0, the next generation of Phonak’s operating system designed specifically for children. All Sky M hearing aids can stream audio from virtually any Bluetooth device and directly connect to Roger microphones, helping give children “easier access to words and conversation at school and home.”

Also available today is Naída™ M-SP, offering “powerful, rich sound, universal Bluetooth streaming from iOS®and Android™ devices, and RogerDirect™ connectivity for unparalleled hearing in noise and over distance.2” Naída M is suitable for people with severe-to-profound hearing loss and provides 24% less listening effort in noise and with StereoZoom.*3 For words which are difficult to predict, StereoZoom improves recall in noise by 10%.*3

Phonak’s expanded Marvel portfolio will be available in various countries around the globe over the coming weeks and pre-orders in the US began on February 19.

For more information, please visit: www.phonak.com.

  1. Bishop R, Stewart E, Loyola N. Titanium FitGuide—helping more than 50% of people get an even more discreet Virto B-Titanium. www.phonakpro.com/evidence. Accessed February 19, 2020.
  2. Thibodeau, L. (2014). Comparison of speech recognition with adaptive digital and FM remote microphone hearing assistance technology by listeners who use hearing aids. American Journal of Audiology. 23(2): 201-210.
  3. Winneke A, Schulte M, Latzel M. The effect of spatial noise processing in hearing aids on neural correlates of listening and memory effort: an EEG study. 2019. Manuscript submitted for publication.
  4. At the time of publication, datasheet analysis on 2cc coupler full-on-gain, Compared to Oticon Xceed SP, Widex EVOKE FP, and Starkey Livio.

*compared to Real Ear Sound

Bluetooth® word mark is a registered trademark owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of such mark by Sonova AG is under license.

iOS is a trademark of Cisco Technology, Inc

Android is a trademark of Google LLC

Source: Phonak

Images: Phonak

New you, new hearing for 2020

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New you, new hearing for 2020

 

So the new year and new decade is here. As loud as the T.V. maybe you still are 100% sure you don’t need at the very least a hearing test. You are not that bothered that your granddaughters first few words are unheard by you or that the gossip from the next door neighbour just isn’t as good as it used to be.  She talks so quietly these days you really are tired of straining to hear.

Maybe the Postman just didn’t push the doorbell hard enough as you were in when he called and you missed that package that you were waiting in all day for an now you have to go 14 mies to the sorting office with I.D. to make the collection.. At rush hour!

These little annoyances crammed with so many others it would take more than the internet to tell them all, maybe down to one thing? Your hearing maybe not as it once was (understatement possibly).

Hearing tests at the Honiton hearing centre Devon

Here at Honiton Hearing we get to see many reluctant men and women who have for years put off what we all know. We are all getting older and really annoyingly we are hard of hearing! Or DEAF!

There we said it.  Now we have that out there is usually a huge relief as it’s not as bad as you think.  These days there is a huge difference in how hearing can be corrected in the main part. Tech is smaller, fancier and more connected than ever before.

We do understand the stigma attached to admitting that your hearing is not what it used to be. We also understand hearing is vital for people to stay connected with their family and daily lives.

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If you feel that you or someone you love could do with knowing just what their hearing is really like then we are happy to conduct a simple hearing tests and go from there. It may even by a simple ear wax issue that can be corrected in minutes.

Devon, Kingsbridge hearing centre, South Hams hearing, hearing aids-Teighnmouth, hearing aids-Torquay-Hearing aids-Exeter

The latest 2020 hearing aids available at the Honiton hearing centre, Devon

 

Book you appointment by calling or clicking here