Hidden Hearing customer Alex Slight

Read how a hearing aid transformed Alex’s life

Alex struggled to hear his students and found meetings a challenge until he found the right hearing solution.

“Meetings at school are much easier to follow!”

Alex Slight is Head of Design Technology at a south London school. The married father of two has been teaching for over 25 years, and can usually be found in the workshop, classroom or IT suite most days of the school year.

Alex keeps fit and cycles up to 20 miles to school each day on busy London streets, navigating the increasingly heavy traffic.

Hidden Hearing customer Alex Slight

Around four years ago, Alex had an infection from a cold that spread to his ear. After an appointment with his GP, he was referred to a specialist who confirmed that the nerve endings in his ear were damaged and who told Alex that the hearing loss would be permanent.

Since losing the hearing in his left ear, Alex has struggled to hear his family and students, and started to feel unsafe on his daily commute as he became aware of ‘blind spots’ created by his hearing loss. He found it hard listening to students with the background noise of the workshop or trying to hear them over the sound of machines.

At home, his wife and children often had to shout when in another room and meeting friends in the pub was difficult as he would simply zone out of conversations.

Coping with background noise was one of the hardest things to deal with, whether in a restaurant or bar. Meetings at school had started to become challenging, as he would need to position himself so that he had his ‘good’ ear facing the right direction.

Alex Slight

Watch Alex’s story and see how a hearing aid helped improve his work and home life, as well as helping him to keep safe on the roads.

 

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However, it was when machines were being used in the classroom workshop that was Alex’s worst and most pressing concern – the thought that he might miss the changing sound of a fault on a machine. This is what gave him the push he really needed to do something about his hearing loss.

Alex had originally been prescribed an aid on the NHS that ended up in a draw. He admits, “I found the NHS hearing aid uncomfortable to wear and I couldn’t get on with it, finding life harder with it than without! So, I gave up using it after a week – that was about two years ago.”

It was the nagging concern about missing something important at home, school or on the road that Alex went to see Mark, the Hidden Hearing audiologist in Croydon. Alex had heard about new the hearing aid technology and wanted to see for himself if this was the solution for him.

Alex was fitted with the Oticon Opn S, and it has transformed his personal and work life, so much so that he has never looked back.

If you’re suffering from a hearing loss book your free hearing test now.

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