hearing Archives - Neil Turner's Blog

New Bluetooth hearing aids

June 7, 2026 by Neil Turner

Back in autumn 2022, following a decline in my hearing, I started wearing hearing aids. Almost four years on, and following a new hearing test, I’ve got new, upgraded hearing aids – and these ones have Bluetooth.

Bluetooth hearing aids have been around for some time now, but were normally only available if you paid to have them fitted privately. And privately paid-for hearing aids are not cheap – Specsavers charge a minimum of £500 for a pair, and up to £3000 for top-of-the-range models. So I’ve gone with standard issue NHS hearing aids, which don’t cost me anything as long as I don’t lose them.

It’s only been recently that hearing aid manufacturers have started offering Bluetooth functionality in the cheapest models that they sell to the NHS. It offers some advantages to them – my old hearing aids had metal contacts on the bottom so that my hearing profile could be uploaded to them, but now this can be done wirelessly by Bluetooth. That, in turn, allows for a more streamlined casing for the hearing aids.

Phone connectivity

For me, the major advantage of Bluetooth is that I can connect my hearing aids to my phone. They support Apple’s Made for iPhone (MFi) standard, and so they work a bit like Bluetooth earbuds. Once paired, then you can route your phone’s audio to your hearing aids. However, unlike most Bluetooth audio devices, you can opt to not route system sounds and ringtones to your hearing aids, which is good. You also get to see the battery status of your hearing aids if you have the battery widget enabled on your home screen, and can use your phone to control the volume.

Another feature on iPhones is Live Listen. This allows you to use your phone’s microphone to route sound to your hearing aids. It’s useful for noisy environments, where people can talk into your phone’s microphone to help you hearing them better. Whilst you can buy microphones that also do this, it’s handy to be able to use a phone that you already own.

Other Apple devices linked to the same Apple account should be able to interact with your hearing aids when in Bluetooth range, even if not paired. I say should because my iPad says it can see my hearing aids, but I haven’t yet worked out how to route audio from my iPad to my hearing aids via my iPhone. I assume that if I buy a Mac in future, this will also work.

I’m sure Android phones also support these features, but I haven’t had any experience with them.

iPhone App

My hearing aids are manufactured by Oticon, and they also offer a companion app for your phone. This also allows you to control the volume (for both hearing aids together or individually), switch modes to enable Telecoil, and also mute the microphones. This latter option is useful for listening to music or podcasts over Bluetooth; by default, the hearing aids still listen for sound in your environment (albeit a slightly reduced volume) when Bluetooth audio is playing. If you just want to listen to audio and not your environment (essentially using your hearing aids as headphones), then the mute function is useful.

You can also enable a ‘SpeechBooster’ mode that amplifies speech in noisy environments. Being as I am mostly stuck at home at present, I haven’t tried this yet.

Not rechargeable

Whilst most paid-for hearing aids now come in a charger box, like Apple’s AirPods, these basic ones that I have still use disposable batteries. I don’t have to pay for these either – I get a supply of free batteries from the NHS. And thankfully they’re the same type as my previous models, so I can still use the spare ones I had left over. I expected the Bluetooth support to affect battery life, but they seem to last 8-10 days, which isn’t a major difference.

I’m really happy with my new hearing aids, as they negate the need to take them out to use earbuds or headphones to listen to music and podcasts. Whilst the sound quality isn’t as good as some earbuds, they’re a lot more convenient – especially when you can mute the microphones. Most of all, I’m glad Bluetooth hearing aids are now available on the NHS and that I haven’t needed to pay for them.

The Darling Buds of May

May 1, 2026 by Neil Turner

A photo of some bluebells against a moss-covered dry stone wall.

How are we a third of the way through the year already? Mind you, the recent weather has seemed rather more summery than spring, so it’s not surprising that summer is fast approaching. And May should be quite a busy month for us.

Bank holiday celebrations

Our wedding anniversary, on the 4th, and my birthday, on the 25th, both fall on the two bank holidays respectively, which is nice. Neither is a particularly notable number – we’ll have been married 13 years, and I’ll be making further progress into my mid-forties. But at least we both get days of work. I suspect some of our wedding anniversary may end up being spent in Ikea, but we’ll see.

As for my birthday, we may plan a nice meal somewhere.

Travel

Christine has an overnight stay in London coming up in the middle of the month, related to a professional development course that she is doing alongside her work. Meanwhile, I’m planning to go the Everything Electric Show in Harrogate.

We have tentative plans to go to a gig around my birthday weekend. Tickets haven’t yet been booked, but we have provisional childcare in place. We’re also considering a trip to the UK Games Expo in Birmingham at the end of the month, but we’ll see. At least it happens just after we get paid, although that could prove dangerous.

Health

It turns out I should have had another hearing test last summer. Anyhow, instead, I’m having one this month, which may mean I get new hearing aids. Last year, I took one of mine in to be replaced, as it had stopped working, and was told that my particular model was no longer issued by my local NHS trust. As such, my replacement was a refurbished model from another patient. I assume that, following this new test, I’ll be due the newer model, but we’ll see. It would be great if these new ones work with Bluetooth, so that I can stream audio directly from my phone.

We’ve also got a couple of appointments for our ten-year-old, which we’ve been waiting almost three years for. Which will be a big relief.

All in all, a busy month for us.

Apple AirPods Pro as hearing aids

September 10, 2024 by Neil Turner

Screenshot from Apple showing the AirPods Pro hearing aid features

I don’t tend to follow Apple’s new product announcements very closely anymore, but yesterday’s announcement that Apple AirPods Pro 2 will be able to act as medical-grade hearing aids interested me.

I’ve been a hearing aid user for almost two years. My hearing aids are really basic, standard issue NHS over-the-ear models. They work, and are loaded with an audio profile that amplifies the frequencies where I need the most assistance, but they’re basic. There’s no Bluetooth, and I have to take them out to use a headset. They don’t even have rechargeable batteries – my local NHS hospital has to send me packs of little button batteries every few months.

Hearing aid costs

Whilst I get them free on the NHS, were I to lose one, I would need to pay £75 for a replacement (so £150 for a pair). And that’s pretty cheap as far as hearing aids go. For context, basic hearing aids from Specsavers start at £499 a pair if bought privately. Top-of-the-range hearing aids cost closer to £3000 a pair. I guess the high prices are partly to do with the cost of being certified as medical devices and limited number of customers.

With this in mind, the £230 cost of a pair of rechargeable AirPods Pro 2 is fantastic value for money for hearing aids. Especially as they will work well with an iPhone and support Bluetooth – which is something that would otherwise cost four times as much. And, it’s a lot more accessible – it took me several months following my hearing test to get a referral via my GP to audiology, whereas these will be available to buy on the high street without any gatekeepers.

Replacing regular hearing aids

Before we get too excited, Apple’s press release notes that the hearing aid functionality will be for mild to moderate hearing loss only. That includes me at the moderate end of the hearing loss spectrum, but for people with significant or profound hearing loss, regular hearing aids will still be necessary. There will be a ‘hearing test’ feature included in iOS 18 to tune the hearing aid functionality of the AirPods Pro. However, I doubt it’ll be as accurate as an audiogram that has been produced by a qualified audiologist in a sound-proof room using professional equipment.

I also think that others will find it confusing if you’re talking to them whilst wearing AirPods. Most hearing aids are designed to be relatively discreet – the visible bits of mine are clear plastic with the electronics hidden behind my ear. Whereas it’s pretty obvious that someone is wearing AirPods.

But on the whole, I think this is a massive game changer for people with hearing loss. Having hearing aids so easily and cheaply available could help so many people. I might have to consider getting myself a pair.

Sign language on trains

February 11, 2024February 11, 2024 by Neil Turner

A photo of a screen in a train announcing the next stop is Bradford Interchange, with a video of the announcement in British Sign Language.

Northern Rail has started playing videos with announcements in British Sign Language on some of its trains. It’s a trial at present, and I happened to see one last week.

This is in addition to the existing text-based and audio announcements, and is designed to increase the accessibility of the railways for people with disabilities. Elsewhere in the north, Transpennine Express is rolling out BSL screens at stations.

When I shared this photo on Facebook, it got the usual likes and hearts from friends. But, predictably, there were some comments on the lines of ‘can’t they just read?’. And, recently, over at X/Twitter, its overly impulsive edgelord owner recently asked the same question in a tweet.

I too would have probably asked the same question until recently. However, over Christmas, I read Samantha Baines’ brilliant book ‘Living with Hearing Loss and Deafness’ (sponsored link). Baines’ book helpfully explains that British Sign Language is, well, a language – and it’s distinct from English. Furthermore, some deaf people who have always been deaf will have BSL as their first language and English as their second. If you ever go abroad, to France for example, and have to constantly translate signs into English, it can get tiring after a while. Now imagine that your first language is sign language, and you have to translate written English into the signs that you have learned, all the time.

So that’s why making BSL more widespread in Britain is important. Indeed, it is now a legally-recognised language in England, Wales and Scotland. That means BSL has the same status as British English, Welsh and Scots Gaelic.

As someone who wears hearing aids, learning British Sign Language is something that I plan to do in time. This is because my hearing could continue to deteriorate to the point where hearing aids can’t compensate. Being able to understand BSL may still allow me to communicate with some people should that happen. So whilst these BSL announcements won’t necessarily help me, they will hopefully make trains more accessible for BSL users.

SoundPrint – an app for finding quiet spaces

January 7, 2024 by Neil Turner

Today I want to share with you an app called SoundPrint, which is an app for finding quiet spaces to eat and socialise.

You can install the app on your phone (iPhone and Android), and it’ll pop up a list of places nearby where other SoundPrint users have done a brief sound test. The venue database is from Foursquare, a site where I’m a superuser and still an active user of its Swarm app.

Incidentally, Swarm came in very useful when writing my review of 2023 and 2023, quantified, as I could see exactly where I had been all year.

Using the SoundPrint app

You don’t have to register an account if you’re just browsing to find a venue. However, if you want to contribute your own sound checks, then you can register an account. A sound check is as simple as holding your phone up for 15 seconds to measure the noise levels, and then telling SoundPrint where you are. You can also specifically recommend places for SoundPrint’s ‘Quiet List’ if they are particularly quiet, and submit noise complaints for very loud venues. SoundPrint will try to reach out to such venues with suggestions for how they can become quieter.

Venues are categorised as ‘quiet’, ‘medium’, ‘loud’ and ‘very loud’ with the number representing the decibels (dB) recorded by user’s sound checks. It’s worth noting that the repeated or prolonged exposure to noise above 85 dB can lead to hearing loss.

I found out about SoundPrint from Samantha Baines’ excellent book ‘Living With Hearing Loss and Deafness’ (sponsored link). I saw it whilst out Christmas shopping and subsequently borrowed from our local library. I’m partially deaf and wear hearing aids, and this book has lots of helpful tips, both for deaf people and their friends and family.

That being said, SoundPrint isn’t just for people who have hearing loss. If you are autistic, then you may benefit if you find noisy places overwhelming. I can see my wife using this app as well, as though she has good hearing, she struggles in noisy environments.

I wear hearing aids now

December 10, 2023 by Neil Turner

A photo of the side of my face, showing one of my hearing aids

Last month, I wrote about how I started wearing glasses in the summer of 2021. And, as if there was any further indication that I’m getting older, I wear hearing aids now too.

I’ve been aware that my hearing has been getting worse for some time, and a hearing test four years ago suggested that I may need an intervention. At the time, my GP wasn’t too concerned, and then the Covid-19 pandemic happened which meant that any work interactions were through a pair of headphones anyway.

But as we started returning to the office, it was clear that my hearing was still an issue. Another hearing test confirmed this, and so another GP referral. This took several months to sort out, and finally in early autumn 2022 I had a follow up appointment with audiology and ENT at one of our local hospitals. I was given the option of having surgery, or hearing aids.

Surgery may have made a greater difference, but I was concerned about the recovery times and how likely this would make a difference in the short term. So, I opted to have hearing aids, and I had them fitted in October 2022.

My hearing aids

The hearing aids I have are very basic, NHS standard issue behind-the-ear models, manufactured by Oticon. This means that the electronics are in a small metal container which sits behind your ear, and then a plastic tube connects to a moulded earpiece that sits in your outer ear. The earpieces are moulded specially for each ear, so that they’re comfortable enough to wear all day.

As they are very basic hearing aids, there’s no Bluetooth support, so I need to take them out to listen out to music. Whilst Bluetooth hearing loop devices exist, they’re expensive (as they’re classed as medical devices) and the sound quality apparently isn’t great. In terms of controls, I can adjust the volume on the hearing aids, and switch them in and out of hearing loop mode, but that’s all. You turn them off by opening the battery compartment. They take small button batteries which aren’t rechargeable, but each battery typically lasts 10-14 days.

What a difference

The hearing aids made a massive difference from day one. My wife no longer has to shout at me to get my attention, and I can hear colleagues across our large open plan office at work. In the car, I can have the stereo at a much lower volume too. The only downsides are:

having to take them out to listen to Bluetooth ear buds
they can be a little uncomfortable with my glasses after a while, as these sit on my ears as well

Having in-ear hearing aids with Bluetooth would mitigate these issues, but I would have to buy them privately. And they can cost a fortune – a colleague of my wife spent several thousand pounds on hers. Meanwhile, mine are free on the NHS, and even the replacement batteries are free. Maybe if I come into a large amount of money in future, I’ll consider some buying some more advanced hearing aids privately.

Whilst with the audiologist at one of my check-ups, I noticed a poster about the link between hearing loss and dementia. We don’t fully understand why people with hearing loss are more likely to develop dementia, but one theory is that such people ‘tune out’ if they can’t hear. I’m hoping that using my hearing aids and having regular hearing checks will reduce my risk of developing dementia in later life.

If you can’t remember the last time that you had a hearing test, I recommend getting one. Most branches of Specsavers now offer audiology services as well as optics, and they can do a GP referral if they have concerns.