Audika - St Albans Reviews 

Very impressed especially by Tamsin the lovely patient caring & extremely helpful hearing aid assistant. A great improvement on NHS hearing aids & so nice to have someone who care.

Thank you so much Rupa, of the St. Albans branch. The wax in my ears was so impacted that it made me dizzy and I could hardly hear, plus tinnitus very badly. It took 4 goes but Rupa did not give up. She gave me clear instructions on how to oil and massage, and voila, this week she managed to clear the stubborn wax. Very, very grateful. And such a pleasant, patient person will recommend.

Roopa arrived on time and explained all parts of the procedure really clearly. She was a very nice lady and has cleared the wax from one of my ears thoroughly. The other needs a bit more and she will do this next week. She took videos and showed me all that was going on with my ears. I would thoroughly recommend this service at hidden hearing.

I recently visited Roopa Samani as my recent hearing test had revealed both ears were badly in need of wax removal. Like everyone at Hidden Hearing, Roopa was very careful and caring and I can thoroughly recommend her

Partner could not get doctors appointment to clear ear wax so called St Albans branch, fitted in that afternoon, excellent professional service from Roopa Samani, lovely lady, and only £5 more than Specsavers.

I was told to bring someone with me for most accurate results as a familiar voice was needed. I rescheduled and travelled some distance in order to do so. The Audiologist decided not to even finish the test (made his mind up and said he didn't think it would change the result), so I needn't have brought anyone. Made comments throughout about how he didn't know why I "thought" I had an issue hearing things.

When taking down my medicine, I mentioned my Allergic Rhinitis (AR) and he waved this off as "Coming and going with the seasons due to pollen. It will affect hearing in the same way someone having a cold does." This doesn't seem to correlate with the medical publications and studies that show it can cause damage to the hairs on the cochlear and thereby causing sensorineural hearing loss. This is potentially due to the increased nature of otitis media. AR is not the same as Seasonal, though this is one type that comes under the umbrella. Allergic Rhinitis also includes being flared by dust, dog hair and as the ENT Dr told me "Generally being allergic to life." This is not what prompted me to come, but WAS a relevant factor.

When I finished one part, he even made a crack about how the person I had brought (who was a lot older than me) would probably do worse than me and invited them to have a go.

He told me I was fine, and went on to say my hearing was that of someone in their mid-forties (I am in my late 20s). Told me it was something I just have to deal with, like the fact he has to deal with that he is bad at table tennis.

Incorrectly performed Rinne test. (Asked which I heard better: behind the ear or through the ear, as opposed to asking me to signal when I could no longer hear via each mode.)

Incorrectly recorded Weber result as thought my prior ear infection had been in opposite ear. (Verbally, at least. Presumably in his eagerness to discredit me. Unclear what was recorded in writing.)

After trying to keep him on track from giving the other person an impromptu mini-test to mock me and then talking about his table tennis club, he finally mentioned a total of 1 thing that I could do to improve my hearing: in crowded rooms, sit with my back to the nosiest part.

At the beginning of the appointment, he had told me that someone my age should be 0+. My score was -10 and below, with my overall score being -15db. Certainly not terrible, but not to be sniffed at when the test wasn't even completed.

After a disappointing attitude, I asked if I could be emailed a copy of the result. E.g. a print screen of the audiogram. (This way I could take a look at the numbers which are objective, without his skepticism painting over everything.) The Audiologist snapped that he had spent 45 minutes with me, that it was a free test and he won't be writing me up a report because this wasn't the NHS. I was quite taken aback by this -not least because a fair amount of this was due to his own choice to test the person I brought with me, in order to try and make a point. (Something neither of us had asked of him.) I also hadn't asked him to write up a report, but a copy of the result which the website says will be shared with you afterwards.

I asked if I could take a photo of the audiogram as it was on the screen and he reluctantly let me, but I only got a photo of one ear before he promptly locked his screen.

After lots of research, I can see that the trend of my audiogram shows reverse-slope AKA low-frequency hearing loss (slight). Apparently this type of hearing loss is incredibly rare. Due to a number of my comorbidities, this is likely something I will need to monitor closely.

I appreciate that you only offer free hearing tests with the hopes of selling a hearing aid afterwards, but you really shouldn't be punishing people for not having the range of hearing you want them to. Not to mention, (from the considerable research I have taken into hearing aid settings for low-frequency hearing loss) even the Audiologist's understanding of how a hearing aid could be utilized or impact someone with this TYPE of hearing loss was completely lacking in any form of nuance as it didn't account for the difference in settings that would be used on the hearing aid.

For the avoidance of doubt, I agree that I am not a hearing aid candidate. However, the complete lack of professionalism and lack of general kindness/empathy that would be expected when dealing with people experiencing hearing loss was beyond disappointing. It is incredibly frustrating asking people to repeat themselves constantly, only to essentially be told "It's all in your head."

To put it in the Audiologist's OWN words: he is not a medical professional. He is merely trained to perform a test and examine the results.

Sadly, this also didn't seem to be entirely possible either.

UPDATE: I was later diagnosed with Auditory Processing Disorder at Royal National ENT.

I think that the service I received
both face to face and on the phone was excellent.
I can now hear dogs barking from miles away!