Hearing Health
Quick hearing test
Take this short quiz which may help you identify the symptoms that indicate possible hearing loss:
1. During conversations, do you miss key words or ask people to repeat things?
2. Do you have difficulty hearing conversations in noisy places like crowded restaurants, shopping centres etc?
3. Do you often need to turn up the volume on your TV or radio?
4. Do you have difficulty hearing on the telephone?
If you answered ‘Yes’ to two or more questions, it indicates potential hearing loss and you should get your hearing tested.
Click here to arrange a free hearing check with AudioClinic.
More than hear say
Still unsure how AudioClinic may be able to help you hear better?
AudioClinic clients Tim Bowden, Frank Leo and Vikky Tague talk about their experiences.
They’re asked:
* What prompted you to do something about your hearing problems?
* How has your life improved since you’ve been fitted with hearing aids?
* What was your experience with AudioClinic?
Find out what they have to say.
Hearing benefits for people still working or self-funded retirees
While the federal government offers subsidised hearing services for eligible pensioners and veterans, people still in the workforce or self-funded retirees don’t miss out altogether.
Health fund cover
Most Australian private health funds, such as Medibank Private, nib, HCF and HBA, offer rebates on hearing aids. The value of these rebates is around $600 – $1,000 depending on the fund, the duration of cover and the associated waiting periods.
As benefits also vary from state to state, we recommend that you check the details with your health fund provider. Please note that hearing checks and hearing aids are not covered under Medicare.
Tax deductibility
The Australian Government recognises the value of good hearing, and as a taxpayer you can be eligible for a tax rebate of 20% on every dollar over $1,500 spent on medical services — including the cost of hearings aids and associated services. Talk to your tax agent or financial adviser, to ensure you take full advantage of your entitlements.
Work cover entitlements
If hearing loss is suffered due to any work-related cause, such as an accident or prolonged exposure to noise, there may be a claim to benefits. Your local AudioClinic can help advise on specific entitlements as they vary state by state.
Premier Care Plan — Rewarding you with peace of mind
AudioClinic, one of Australia’s most respected hearing service providers, will offer you a free, no-obligation hearing check to assess your hearing health. If you do require treatment such as hearing aids, their experienced clinicians will make recommendations based on your specific type of hearing loss, your lifestyle and physical activities, plus the affordability of the various options to suit your needs.
In addition, AudioClinic can offer you the Premier Care Plan to help protect your investment. The Premier Care Plan provides a range of benefits, including full insurance of your hearing aids wherever you are in the world and free battery replacement (potentially worth hundreds of dollars).*
Click here to find out more about AudioClinic’s Premier Care Plan.
*Conditions apply. Please read the documentation carefully.
Get a free hearing check and $500 Senior’s Discount
Because we recognise the importance of hearing health, we want to make it as easy as possible for people to have regular hearing checks. A check is completely painless and usually takes less than hour, and it’s the best way to ensure your hearing is as good as it can be.
To make an appointment for a free hearing check, click here.
Introducing Agil — More energy on the important things
Agil (pronounced ‘agile’) is a new, intelligent hearing aid that supports your natural ability to organise sound and focus on what you want to hear. In a sense, it forms a natural partnership with your brain, so you can spend less energy trying to understand what you’re hearing, and more energy actively participating in virtually any professional or social situation you encounter.
This is all made possible with the introduction of a number of groundbreaking features designed to make you feel confident about playing an active role in conversations, even in difficult environments.
The unique ‘Spatial Sound’ concept helps you locate sounds and make sense of your surroundings. This makes it much easier to focus on exactly what you want to listen to.
In conversations, ‘Speech Guard’ takes the hard work out of following and understanding voices, and enables you to engage with people in a variety of situations.
There is a complete range of Agil hearing aids — whatever your degree of hearing loss, you can enjoy the unique benefits that Agil has to offer. What’s more, with seven skin and hair colour tones, and a wide variety of in-the-ear or behind-the-ear fittings, Agil caters for all your personal style and comfort preferences.
Click here to learn more about the unique benefits of Agil.
Turn the TV down!
Hearing is an easy thing to take for granted. It’s one of those things we don’t tend to think about until we experience some hearing loss. Then, all of a sudden, life isn’t nearly as simple at it used to be.
It becomes difficult to converse in a crowded room or over the phone. It’s hard to hear the television. And it’s not that things aren’t always loud enough, but that they’re not clear enough — people often claim that there wouldn’t be a problem if others would just stop mumbling!
Left untreated, hearing loss can affect relationships and quietly erode quality of life. That’s why if someone close to you seems to be experiencing these problems, it is very important to encourage them to get their hearing tested.
Recognising the signs of hearing loss
The following questions will help you to make a quick assessment of the hearing of a loved one. If you answer ‘yes’ to more than one or two of these questions, there may be a problem, but only a professional hearing test can confirm a hearing loss.
What can you do to help?
The first step towards better hearing is to visit a hearing care professional for a hearing test. This takes less than an hour and is completely painless. Since there is a lot of information to digest, offer to go along with your loved one or friend so that, between you, you can ask questions and remember more of what’s said.
If the hearing test shows signs of hearing loss, the next step is to find the right solution. Although hearing aids can never totally restore a person’s hearing, they can usually restore their ability to communicate, which will improve the quality of life not only for them but also for the rest of the family.
In over 90% of cases, hearing aids are the best form of treatment. People are often surprised to see that today’s hearing aids look nothing like their predecessors. The ‘big beige bananas’ of the past have been replaced by sleeker models that are much more attractive and, in many cases, virtually invisible to others.
Click here to make an appointment for a free hearing test.
Myths about hearing aids
Despite dramatic improvements in the quality of hearing aids, they continue to be the subject of myth and misunderstanding.
Hearing aids are large and clunky
The hearing aid has come a long way, particularly since the arrival of digital technology which helped eliminate many of the problems experienced by users until then. Hearing aid technology is now so cutting edge that devices are tiny and almost impossible for anyone else to notice.
Hearing aids are for old people – I’ll worry about it later
Hearing loss is certainly not restricted to the elderly. It is common for factory and farm workers, musicians and those involved in theatre to have hearing problems at a younger age due to prolonged exposure to loud noises in their professions. Hearing devices can significantly improve the quality of life of anyone suffering from hearing loss.
Beethoven and Pete Townsend
Famous and well known people with hearing loss or deafness
Pete Townshend - (born Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend on 19 May 1945 in Chiswick, London), is an award-winning English rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, composer, and writer. The Who rocker Pete Townshend is losing his hearing, and fears the disability will end his songwriting career. Pete Townshend blames his hearing loss on a lifetime spent using headphones; experts say today’s iPod Generation is storing up trouble for the future by listening to music at high volumes.
Ludwig Van Beethoven - Beethoven was as we know a great source of confidence for himself and for others, being able to create music and play music even after being completely deaf is by itself quite a miracle. Although it was clear to everyone that Beethoven was but a man, he conquered his disability and led himself to being one of the greatest musicians of all time. If there was one thing that was affecting his struggle to succeed it was not only being deaf, but also having to fight all the emotions that he felt inside when he had to turn around to look at the audience applause because he could not hear.
Linda Bove - (born November 30, 1945) is a deaf American actress who played the part of Linda the Librarian on the children’s television program Sesame Street from 1971 to 2003. Bove has introduced thousands of children to sign language and issues surrounding the Deaf Community. Her role as Linda on Sesame Street is currently the longest recurring role in television history for a deaf person. Bove attended Gallaudet University. She has been married to Ed Waterstreet since 1970. Like Bove, Waterstreet is also deaf. He also performed with the National Theatre of the Deaf.
