Oh, for the Love of Analogue!

The digital switch over. No, not with TV, Cable, and set-top boxes. This time with ears, hearing and hearing aids, and consequently jobs, hobbies, relationships and essentially lives. Sometimes we know a problem exists, and even know that one day it will have a direct impact on us, but still we often don’t do anything about it until it actually comes knocking on our door. It’s easy to regret that, but sometimes it’s just the way it is.

Anyway, I think this letter to the head of my local audiology department explains the rest:

6^th August 2010

Dear Miss ,

On 3^rd August 2010 I attended Audiology at Medway Hospital in order to firstly have a hearing test, and then to have a digital hearing aid fitted. Although I was extremely happy with the service from both the Student Audiologist, and the supervising Senior Audiologist, I nonetheless feel the need to contact you to discuss firstly my disappointment with the aid itself, and also the fact that I have been forced, by Medway NHS, to give up my analogue hearing aid and start wearing a digital one. For your information, I was told during my last appointment that I have a “sloping high frequency hearing loss”, described as severe to profound in the higher frequencies.

I was given my first hearing aid at the age of approximately six years. It would appear my hearing was damaged whilst suffering from an illness some years earlier. Although the initial period of adapting to having a hearing aid was difficult, this was bearable due to the fact that there was a noticeable, positive difference. I was suddenly able to hear, and interact with my peers to a much greater extent, and was also able to benefit more from my education.

I am now 29 years old, and have worn my analogue hearing aid all day, every day since first being fitted with one, approximately 23 years ago. In that time I have managed to complete my education in a mainstream setting, obtain ten GCSE’s, 2 A Levels, and a professional Social Work qualification (Diploma in Social Work). I am currently employed by the Local Authority as a Social Worker, specialising in working with disabled children. I have also been able to learn to play guitar, and sing in bands and have played live in front of crowds of people.

All of these achievements have been made possible for me due to my analogue hearing aid, which I have always been extremely grateful for. Without the hearing aid, I am unable to hold a conversation without lip reading, let alone perform in a band. Also, without my aid all I really hear is lower frequencies, therefore my hearing aid has been absolutely vital in giving me access to the world around me. I am extremely frustrated therefore to hear that it would appear analogue hearing aids are no longer deemed by the Medway NHS Trust as being adequate, and have consequently been replaced by digital models. I would be very interested to know what level of consultation took place with patients before the decision to phase out analogue aids was made? As a user of audiology services for the past 23 years, I certainly do not recall being asked what my thoughts on this matter were. It would also be interesting to know why it is seemingly impossible to supply both analogue and digital aids.

I was first told about the fact that analogue hearing aids were being phased out by Medway about two years ago, during a visit to your department. The audiologist spent some time on that occasion trying to set me up with various different digital models, before eventually admitting that actually none of the available models were quite suited to my particular type or level of loss. I regret the fact that I did not dedicate more time to fighting the decision to switch to digital at that point. I guess to some extent I hoped the problem would go away, but this is obviously not the case.

Since being given my new digital hearing aid, I have had to take two days sick leave from work due to the fact that I quite simply could not cope with the change in how the world sounded. This has caused me vast amounts of stress and anxiety, not least due to feeling as though I am letting both my colleagues and services users down by not being available to them. In my opinion this would have been completely unnecessary if analogue hearing aids were still readily available to patients of audiology departments. Using the new aid I cannot bear the sound of my own voice. Other’s voices sound distorted and unclear. Ambient noise within rooms has been suppressed, leaving what remains sounding false, as though being heard through headphones. Other random sounds appear highly amplified for no apparent reason. A trip to the local supermarket was completely unbearable, meaning I had to remove the aid completely. The only positive in this situation was that thankfully I didn’t need to speak to anyone within the shop, as this would have been impossible.

I am very grateful that at the appointment I attended I was told I could keep my analogue aid. Otherwise I would be completely lost, unable to go to work, engage in conversation, play guitar or cope in general with day to day life, and all because of a decision that was made on my behalf (yet without my consultation), that digital hearing aids are better than their analogue predecessors.

I fully understand how it is often necessary, when someone has a new digital hearing aid, to have further adjustments made at a later date. I also know that it takes time for the brain to adjust to changes that are made. However I do not feel able or willing to adjust to changes in my hearing which in this instance equate to accepting less than I had before. So far, being denied access to analogue hearing aids, and having to accept digital devices has made me more disabled than I previously was. In my opinion, changes in a patients treatment should be in their best interests, whereas this particular change is most certainly not.

I have recently been made aware of some cases where refurbished analogue hearing aids have been given to patients. It would be helpful to know why this has not been offered to me, when I have clearly expressed that I do not wish to change to digital. I am also aware, and a quick search online clearly shows, that there are a lot of people who continue to struggle with digital hearing aids, and would be ecstatic to have their analogues aids back. I would be very interested to know what plans the NHS has for those people, myself included who do not feel they are suited to digital hearing aids, and perhaps most important those who want to stick to what has served them very well over many years. The website for the NHS clearly shows the slogan “Your Health, Your Choices”. Why does this not apply to hearing aid users?

I apologise for the length of this letter, but hope it has helped to show you the extent of my frustration with the situation I now find myself in. Having worked hard, and achieved a lot, with my analogue hearing aids I now feel as though it is being assumed that I am not capable of choosing how to cope with my disability. My analogue hearing aids have served me extremely well, and I hope you can see why I am unhappy about having to change to what, in my opinion, is a substandard replacement.

I hope you will find the time to respond to this letter, and give your opinions on some of the issues I have raised. I would also be happy to meet with you to discuss the way forward on these matters, if you wish to do so.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours Sincerely

Andrew Oates.

This letter should now have been received by the audiology department. In the past week  here at Operation Analogue HQ we have been working hard to get a campaign going to get the NHS to keep analogue hearing aids available on the NHS. Much more information can be found on Mrs O’s Blog, this Facebook page and this thread on the RNID forum

We would love to have you on board.

Thank you so much for reading. There will be more news very soon.

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