What to expect at your hearing aid appointment

A referral is a request made, from one clinician to another, to see a patient for investigation or treatment of a particular issue. The referral may come from your GP or alternatively another healthcare professional, such as an ENT consultant. When we receive your referral, your file is assessed to ensure you are eligible to be seen by our department. At this stage, your referral may be accepted, redirected, or rejected. All referrals are assessed in this way within a few days of being received by the department.

Accepted referrals

If you are eligible to be seen by our department, and the clinician has included all necessary information in their referral, you will be accepted as a patient. Your file will be moved to the next stage and an assessment appointment will be requested.

Redirected referrals

Occasionally, a referral will be sent through to our department that was intended for another. Typically, we would be able to redirect that referral to the correct department for their consideration. This process happens on our computer systems and the transfer will take effect immediately. We are not able to redirect a referral that was intended for a different hospital, and for these cases we would need to reject the referral entirely.

Rejected referrals

Unfortunately, some referrals are sent through to us incorrectly and the referral is rejected. There are many reasons a referral may be rejected but the most common are; a lack of information in the referral, you as a patient are ineligible to be seen by our department for geographical reasons, the referral was addressed to the wrong hospital, the condition being referred for is not investigated or treated by the department (and we are unable to redirect). When a referral is rejected, the original requestor is notified so that they can correct the referral or send to another provider/department. I.e. If we have rejected a referral from your GP, your GP will need to decide what steps they wish to take.

This appointment is expected to last 50 minutes and is conducted by an Audiologist.

You will be booked for this type of appointment for one of the following reasons:

• You have been referred for a first assessment of your hearing.
• You have had a hearing test in another department and have been referred for a hearing aid assessment.
• You currently wear hearing aids and have requested a hearing test to check for any deterioration.
• You currently wear hearing aids, and you are now eligible for an upgrade.

The appointment will consist of; a conversation to explore the problems you are having, some medical questions related to your hearing and general health, a visual inspection of your ear and ear canal, a hearing test, an ear pressure test, a discussion of these test results, and if required measurements are taken of your ear shape and size.

If you already have hearing aids, we ask that you bring them with you to this appointment. We also advise bringing a list of any medications you are currently taking to this appointment, as it may be relevant to your ear health.

You are welcome to bring along someone to your appointment; however, please be aware that some of our rooms are very small and so we may only be able to accommodate 1 additional person.

This appointment is expected to last 50mins and is conducted by an Audiologist.

You will be booked for this type of appointment for one of the following reasons:

• You have had your hearing assessment appointment and are now being fitted with a hearing aid.
• You have had a hearing aid fitted recently but need to change to a different hearing aid.

The appointment will consist of; setting up your hearing aid, some testing of the hearing aid to verify the set-up, an explanation of how to use and maintain your hearing aid, and information on how to contact the department for supplies or repairs.

At the end of this appointment, you will have your hearing aids set up and ready to take home and use.

If you already have hearing aids, we ask that you bring them with you to this appointment even if you are expecting new ones. All hearing aids remain the property of the NHS and are provided on a long-term loan basis.

You are welcome to bring along someone to your appointment, however, please be aware that some of our rooms are very small and so we may only be able to accommodate 1 additional person.

This appointment is expected to last 25 minutes and is conducted by an Audiologist.

You will be booked for this type of appointment for one of the following reasons:

• You have had your hearing aid fitted and are returning to check on progress.
• At your previous appointment, a clinician had requested another appointment to check progress or make specific adjustments to the hearing aid. This request may have originated outside of our department, for example, at an appointment with an ENT doctor.
• You have contacted the department requesting that alterations be made to the hearing aid.
• You have sent in your hearing aid for repair, but we need to see you face-to-face to fix the issue.

The appointment may consist of; a conversation to explore any problems you may be having with the hearing aid or earmould/fitting inside the ear canal, alterations to the sound quality or volume of the hearing aid, alterations to the set-up and controls of the hearing aid, a conversation on maintaining your hearing aid, a conversation on how to get the most out of your hearing aid.

We ask that you bring your hearing aids to this appointment.

You are welcome to bring along someone to your appointment; however, please be aware that some of our rooms are very small and so we may only be able to accommodate 1 additional person.

Most hearing aid maintenance can be done at home, and guidance on this is shown further down the page. We do, however, offer appointments for several issues that may arise. Please refer to the table below to discover more about these options.
 

The amount of maintenance a hearing aid needs depends on the style and materials used. General guidance is provided below:

• Daily – clean your hearing aid at home to remove any wax or skin debris. This will help to keep the ear healthy and will extend the hearing aid’s life.
• Every 1-2 weeks – change your hearing aid battery at home. The life of each battery will depend on; how much you use the device, how powerful the device is, the size of the battery, and the age of the device. Your Audiologist should be able to provide an estimate of battery life for your specific device. You should also hear warning beeps from your hearing aid when the battery is running low.
• Every 6 months – change the tubing. Whether you do this at home or request an appointment for it to be done in our clinic will depend on the type of tubing you have, and your experience in changing tubing. We can post tubing to you if required.
• Yearly – replace your soft earmould (if applicable). Soft malleable earmoulds have a shorter expected lifespan than harder earmoulds. There are acoustic reasons why a soft earmould is selected over a hard earmould. To replace your soft earmould you will need to request an impression appointment.
• Every 2 years – replace your hard earmould (if applicable). Hard earmoulds have a longer expected lifespan than softer earmoulds. There are acoustic reasons why a hard earmould is selected over a soft earmould. To replace your hard earmould you will need to request an impression appointment.

Our Audiologists and Technicians will usually check your eligibility for a hearing aid upgrade when they see you during any maintenance checks. If, however, you feel you are eligible for a hearing aid upgrade, contact us on the information provided in the ‘Contact Details’ section of our homepage, and we can check your eligibility.