Best Hearing Aid For 2021

This leads to entirely biased advice. How can this be allowed? Hearing aids are an important healthcare device, so this could even be considered unethical !?

Why are they biased?

All the Uk's High Street hearing aid chains are now either owned or tied-in to a hearing aid manufacturer. So when patients attend these centres, they are only recommended hearing aids that are manufactured by their owners. 

To illustrate, I will use another example from another consumer product. If I were buying a car and I wanted advice on the best car for my needs, would I ask a Ford showroom what the best car is for me? I think the likelihood would be that the salesperson would recommend Ford, even if they knew that there was a better model on the market for the buyers needs.

There are 8 reputable global manufacturers represented in the UK. A truly independent hearing clinic should be able to supply from the whole range, according to what is best for the patient and their unique requirements. Each manufacturer produces niche and unique features in their models, so it is very important that the clinician is able to consider all of these features before advising on the best model.

Below, I have listed the manufacturer ownership of hearing aid centres most commonly seen in the UK today:

Boots Hearingcare - Owned by Phonak (and sister company Unitron)

Hidden Hearing - Owned by Oticon

Bloom Hearing  - Owned by Widex

Specsavers - Tie-ins with Signia/Sivantos and one or two other brands at any one time.

Amplifon - Tied-in to one or two brands at any one time.

Independent Hearing Centres - NOT tied in to any manufacturer

Here at Audiological Science, we have maintained our independence from manufacturers since opening in 1998 and it has always been a firm principle of ours. See all the manufacturers we represent here

Price Considerations

Some may expect that prices are lower from providers that are owned by a manufacturer. This is simply not true. Our prices are lower than Boots, Specsavers, Amplifon, Bloom and Hidden Hearing . Additionally, we check the prices of other chains and independents to make sure our prices are lower than any other firms in the market. For 23 years, we have been well known for our price promise on all models. See our price list here

Service Considerations

Whilst the High Street chains mentioned above are all required to provide a minimum standard of aftercare, none of them will provide a service with the features we do. See our Platinum service plan here

In our view, and according to published evidence, these service features are actually crucial in ensuring the optimal performance in a hearing aid system. Patients are well advised to consider the features of our Platinum service to get the most from their hearing aids, and thereby enhanced quality of life.

Which? Report

In the independent 'Which? 2020 Hearing Aid Report on Hearing Aid Providers', Independent hearing centres came out with a Consumer Score of 86% - higher than all the high street providers mentioned above. Furthermore, independents came out on top for EVERY category in the survey - the categories were as follows :

Staff

Thorough Testing

Product Range

Hearing Aid Appearance

Hearing Aid Suitability

Aftercare

Price 

Call Us Today - London's Leading Independent Hearing Clinics  Tel - 020 8059 9645