Q: Are there any benefits to seeing people, who have hearing loss in their own home environment?
OA: So, a lot of the time I think it’s actually better to see people when they are at home because the patient is more comfortable and also in their own environment.
That’s where they’re going to be, particularly for hearing assessments. That’s where they are going to be most of the time. So if I do a hearing aid demonstration for them for example, they can put the hearing aids on and we can put the tv on or they can have their husband or wife in the background, or the kitchen or wherever it might be where they’re noticing that there’s a problem. We can play around with the settings on the hearing aids and set them up so that they’re hearing the best in that environment.
Sometimes it can be a bit more difficult in a clinic because of the fact that they’re talking to me and its relatively quiet. That doesn’t really give a good indication a of what it’s like when you’re out and about in your everyday life but then I tack that by giving people a free trial, so it works both ways really. But definitely in the home environment we can set things up, we can set up accessories and stuff you may need to set up yourself and I’m happy to do that for people if I go and see them at home.
Generally people are more comfortable and I get to chat to them in a more relaxed environment.
