Hearing Care

Most people who experience hearing los as they get older so so because of wear and tear to the tiny hair cells in the inner ear. In the UK, more than 40% of people over 50 years old have hearing loss, rising to more than 70% of people over the age of 70. Other factors that can cause hearing loss include:

• regular exposure to loud noise;
• injury;
• disease;
• certain drugs; and/or
• an inherited condition.

Perhaps you struggle to enjoy conversations when there’s too much background noise, you often need people to repeat themselves or speech can sound muffled or lack definition – these are all signs that you might be experiencing hearing loss.

As hearing loss is often gradual, it can be hard to tell it’s happening. In fact, it’s often a loved one that notices your hearing loss long before you do. On average, it can take around seven years for someone to recognise and accept their hearing loss and choose to wear hearing aids.

Here are some of the signs of hearing loss that indicate it’s a good idea to get a hearing test:

• Finding it difficult to communicate in groups or with background noise
• Needing to ask people to repeat themselves constantly
• Persistent ear ringing
• Turning up the TV volume louder or needing subtitles
• Missing sounds like doorbells, timers or calls
• Feeling isolated from conversations due to difficulty hearing

Apart from difficulty in hearing, hearing loss can also affect your psychological wellbeing. Feelings of isolation and frustration are common amongst those suffering from hearing loss as they find it harder to interact and communicate with other people, so they often avoid doing so altogether. Depression and even dementia are more likely to develop if hearing loss is not addressed, so the warning signs shouldn’t be ignored.

It’s true that your risk of hearing loss increases as you get older: the UK charity Action On Hearing Loss estimates that more than 40% of people over 50 have hearing loss, rising to 71% of people over the age of 70. So it’s tempting to keep putting off getting a hearing test, but the reality is there’s no such thing as being ‘too young’ for a hearing test.

In fact, our audiologists recommend regular hearing tests to anyone over the age of 25, or to anyone who is experiencing signs of hearing loss or changes to their hearing.

THCP recommends that you have a hearing test every two years, which they can provide free of charge.

A full hearing assessment with THCP will include:

1. A discussion about you and your lifestyle, and to hear how hearing might be impacting this. You’ll discuss your work and and environment, your hobbies and your interests.
2. A review of your medical history, asking questions to find out about any relative conditions or symptoms, such as ear infections or tinnitus.
3. Video otoscopy to look into your ears, to check that they are in a healthy condition, with no obvious obstructions, inflammations or earwax build-ups that might be contributing to hearing loss.
4. The audiologist will test the eardrum and middle ear using a tympanometry procedure. It can detect a variety of conditions from glue ear to eustachian tube dysfunction. This part of the test is unique to THCP.
5. The fifth and most important part is the pure tone audiometry test – which is what determines if you have hearing loss and measures its severity. It aims to determine the quietest sound you can hear. Sounds (pure tones) are presented through headphone, to assess you ability to hear different frequencies at difference volumes.
6. Speech testing to review you ability to process words in both quiet and in noise.

All together the hearing assessment takes around 60-75 minutes. And once complete you’ll receive a full breakdown of your results. We’ll then discuss recommendations on what to do next and whether hearing aids or further treatment would be beneficial to you.

You may need ear wax removal if you’ve been experiencing any of these symptoms:

• Lower or muffled hearing
• A feeling of ‘fullness’ in the ears
• Itchiness
• Pain or earache
• Tinnitus (noises being heard without external source e.g. ringing or buzzing)

If any of these symptoms sound familiar, then ear wax may be the cause. If so, you can book an appointment with one of the THCP skilled clinicians who will be able to check your ears and remove any wax that may be present. They will also provide a hearing health check at no additional cost.

Ear wax (or cerumen) is a perfectly normal secretion of the ear canal. It is an important part of our ears’ function, lubricating the ear canal and providing natural protection against bacteria, water, dust and other foreign bodies.

Our ears are generally self-cleaning so small amounts of wax will work their way out of the ear naturally. However, a build-up of excess ear wax can occasionally occur, meaning professional ear wax removal is necessary.

Excess ear wax build-up can happen due to things like prolonged use of earphones, earplugs, or extensive self-cleaning of the ears (with cotton buds or other unsafe implements).

THCP offer a comprehensive ear wax removal service, delivered by their trained professionals. Please note there is a charge for this service.

During your appointment, your wax removal clinician will choose the most suitable method for you based on your level of wax build-up, medical history, as well as the condition and position of earwax within your ear.

Manual Removal
If you only have a small amount of earwax that’s built up near the entrance of your ear canal, manual removal is the best option. For this, a variety of tools may be used to safely remove wax from the ear canal.

Microsuction
The safest and cleanest way to remove earwax from moderately blocked ears is the microsuction method. A gentle procedure to remove excess wax from the ear canal.

Water Irrigation
This is safer, gentler, and more effective technology than the old ‘syringing’ method. With water irrigation, body temperature water is used to flush debris out of the ear canal at a low pressure. It’s ideal for removing larger quantities of ear wax.