Clarity is key when talking to those with hearing loss

At Leightons we do our very best to ensure that we explain to you all the steps involved with the fitting of digital hearing aids during your treatment with us.

While the devices have come on leaps and bounds over recent years, the process can still be a little bit tricky for people to get to grips with, especially if they are hard of hearing.

We aim to practice what we preach and speak clearly to patients so they understand exactly what is going on, otherwise the process of recovering from hearing loss can be a long, drawn-out affair.

To showcase just how important an issue this is, one needs to just take a look at recent survey from Action on Hearing Loss, which found that around a third of patients struggle to understand what GPs are telling them.

This is a huge number of people who could potentially have incorrect or inaccurate information during what is a crucial time and it's why our audiologists ensure clarity is at the centre of everything we do.

The poll revealed that many misunderstandings during such meetings come about because doctors don't speak clearly or, sometimes, don't even face their patients when talking.

Paul Breckell, chief executive of the charity, said: "It's disappointing that many people with hearing loss have difficulty understanding vital health advice because GPs aren't meeting individual communication needs."

He added that, with a little bit of care and training, all health experts can "provide a much better service for patients who are deaf or hard of hearing and help avoid unnecessary follow-up appointments or the risk of exacerbated poor health".

We always recommend that families and friends of hearing aid users adopt techniques to make themselves clearer and more easily understandable and we aim to adopt these too.

From our experience, this is one of the best, and easiest, ways that those who wear aids can be helped to hear better.