A hearing aid is a tiny device that houses an entire sound processing system. It is composed of:
- A microphone that will hear the sounds happening around you
- A power source, which will be either a standard battery or a rechargeable battery
- A receiver, also known as the speaker, which will produce the amplified sound, and
- An amplifier, a highly customizable chip that houses the technology found in the hearing aid
As with all technology, things can go wrong. Further, day to day life does present risks – if your hearing aid has stopped working, or if the dog has ‘eaten’ your hearing aid, all is not necessarily lost!
How it works
If you have a hearing aid that’s not working or is damaged, just contact us at your nearest practice (see our clinic locations) and book in for a free consultation. We’ll have a look at the instrument and assess the problem; it is important that you book at appointment so you can explain what you feel the issue is and we can discuss your options.
We can fix most hearing aids depending on the nature of the fault, although sometimes hearing aids are beyond repair. If the aid cannot be repaired there will be no charge and we will be happy to talk to you regarding a replacement and with our Price Match Promise, we are confident we can beat any quote.
Prices
Our standard repair charge is £95 for minor repairs.
If the aid requires a major repair such as re-shelling or the internal electronics need attention and can be repaired, then the charge is £195. On rare occasions this may be higher depending on the nature of the fault: if this is the case we will contact you with a quote before going ahead with any work.
If new ear impressions are required for the repair of an ITE (in-the-ear) hearing aid or custom shell, there is an additional charge of £25 per ear.
We can also retube most aids which carries a charge of £25 per aid and can normally be done the same day.
*If your hearing aid is programmable your hearing settings will usually be 'saved' in the aid, depending on the fault, and won't be affected by our repair. Sometimes your settings cannot be recovered. If this is the case a new hearing test and re-program may be required which Hummingbird will be happy to do but that will carry an additional charge of £95. (Alternatively, you could just take the repaired instrument to your current audiologist for this service.)
We use original parts wherever possible. In older hearing aids the original parts can sometimes be discontinued, so in those instances we'll use the nearest equivalent parts if they are available.
How long it will take
Our turnaround time for most repairs is 7-10 working days but if we have to order parts or send the aid away for a major repair it may take slightly longer. We can post the repaired aid back to you, if you prefer, or if the aid needs reprograming you can book back in with the Audiologist to collect in store.
