I’m from Scotland and I was very sick in my younger years. I contracted Tuberculosis which was treated with the antibiotic Streptomycin. The Streptomycin and the tuberculosis caused me to be tone deaf and I also have nerve damage.

I first realised I was having hearing loss when I was at High School. When I went to Bunbury High School, because I wasn’t a local, the teachers put me at the back of the class and I wasn’t able to understand what they were saying and I couldn’t get to grips with some of the school work. It wasn’t until the science teacher put me at the front of the class that I started to understand what they were saying and also what he had been telling me became clear.

I first gave hearing aids a try when I was in my early thirties when my wife talked me into getting them and I went to the local clinic in Bunbury. I was given little tiny hearing aids that go right in the ear but they did not help me at all. When I went back to the clinic later I was told these aids were not suitable for me and I needed stronger hearing aids. The next lot of hearing aids I got, the dog ate one of them so that didn’t help.

Then I went off hearing aids for a long time and many years went by but my daughter gently suggested I return to see someone about my hearing so I said “alright I will give them another go”.  After a hearing test with Kathy at Advanced Hearing WA, I could see how much hearing I had lost so I decided to give it one last try.

The results were impressive. As an Officer of the Masonic Lodge I used to sit at one end of the room and I could not hear what they were talking about down the other end and so my hearing aids now help me understand what is going on over that distance. When the Secretary is reading out things I was always asking for clarification on what was said but now I can hear 75% of what is being said. I can now try my Bluetooth streamer and remote microphone to see if that helps me even more.

When I’m at a busy restaurant with my son and using the hearing aids and using the Bluetooth streamer with the microphone I can now hear just about everything, about 90% of what he was saying, and I don’t have to ask him to repeat what he was saying even when there is quite a lot of background noise. With my business dealings I’m finding communicating with people so much easier and effortless with my new hearing aids.

I recommend that if someone like Kathy from Advanced Hearing WA suggests you try hearing aids then give it a go even if you tried them 20 years ago.  Hearing aids can help many people and at the same time they are not for everyone. Kathy would be the best to judge and only recommended what was suitable to you and I don’t believe she would recommend something if it wasn’t likely to work for you. She is not pushy and she sets you up for realistic expectations.

From my recent experience at Advanced Hearing WA I don’t understand why someone wouldn’t want to try a hearing aid! This experience has been very pleasing. Now I have 90% hearing all the time, and if I had known they were so good I would have had hearing aids long ago.

Ross Porter