NHS is wasting money on Phonak aids
I'm assessed as profoundly deaf and have used two Phonak Nathos Auto UP hearing aids for several years since the NHS first introduced them. (My first pair of Phonak aids replaced the previous BE 50-series NHS aids I used.)
Sound quality in noisy environments is poor and while the overall quality of sound hasn't been as poor as others have experienced (maybe as I'm coming from the perspective of being profoundly deaf, my expectations of what can be delivered are quite low), the reliability of Phonak aids has been, in a word, appalling.
Time after time, either one, or both at the same time, of my Phonak aids has failed in the past 10 years or so and has had to be replaced. I've been deaf and have used hearing aids for over 40 years. The replacement rate of earlier NHS BE-20, BE-40 and BE-50 series aids in my younger days was almost nil; by comparison, Phonak quality leaves much to be desired. The control buttons (most usually the volume control) cease working properly and won't adjust volume easily, or at all in some cases. All too often, the mic (presumably) gives up the ghost and the only sounds I receive make everyone, including me, sound like a Dalek. At other times, it appears as if the program settings have just decided to change from those set for me by the audiologist, to the original default setting and as such, become of little use to me at all.
The NHS should review its current purchasing decisions and look for better alternatives - more reliable hearing aids would reduce instances of required replacement and thus, overall costs.
I'm currently on the waiting list for my latest hearing assessment. While I wait, I'm using just one aid (with little volume as that control appears faulty) and the other aid is now, like others, in 'Dalek-sounding mode' and is thus, unusable.
