| Audio |
Visual |
| My hearing loss came when I was 38, it was quite a shock really. |
Sandra is walking through a reception area. |
| My husband at the time kept saying to me, “I’m talking to you, you’re not listening to me.” |
Sandra is shown sitting against a wall with a flowered pattern. She looks into the camera and is laughing. |
And it started off as a mild hearing loss but in the last 20 years now it’s literally gone like that [motions a steep decline with hand]. I wanted to train to be a teacher. I’d gone back to do an IT access course. I couldn’t hear what the teacher when they were writing, when he had his back to me writing on the board, or any of the students in front of me, so I had to change tack.
It affected my family life, I think… the children – especially my middle son, he’s got such a soft voice. One of the things I used to despair at more than anything was when you had to ask them to repeat themselves and they’d say, “It’s alright Mum, it’s fine, doesn’t matter.” Well it does matter, you do want to be part of their conversation and I used to find that very upsetting. I’ve done a lot of nodding in the right places and sometimes you get caught out because it doesn’t always work.
I wanted to go to a networking meeting, but the thought of doing… They used to do these “you have to talk about yourself for a minute”. I couldn’t make out what the lady was asking me in front. |
Sandra is now sitting on a sofa in a grand reception room while she is talking to us. |
| I thought: “there’s got to be something better out there that can help me,” and that’s where I discovered Hidden Hearing. |
Sandra is engaging lively conversation. She is sitting across a table from another lady in a dining room. |
| I think the service and support that I’ve got from Hidden Hearing has been first class, explaining why you should wear you hearing aids every day, and they check to make sure you’re getting on with them, if there’s anything that might need tweaking. |
Sandra is sitting in the grand reception room.
Sandra is again show engaging in conversation in a dining room.
|
| Being told that you need to wear hearing aids every day for your brain to adjust and get used to them. |
Sandra is laughing at what is being said by her companion in the dining room.
Sandra is again sitting in the grand reception room.
|
| Well the hearing aids that I wear now are Oticon Opn and they’re more discreet, you’ve got tiny, tiny tubes that run down the side here [motions to ear]. For the first time ever I now wear my hair up so, you know, I can literally wear my hair up and I don’t feel ashamed. I used to feel ashamed of big thick tubes, so they’re quite discreet and the clarity’s wonderful with them. |
The camera is now focusing on Sandra’s hair from behind. She is pulling her hair up into a ponytail. Holding her hair with left hand, she is motioning to her right ear, gesturing to where the tubes on her old hearing aid would have been on the outside of her ear. |
| With my hearing aids and my mobile phone – I absolutely love it – the fact that it’s all Bluetoothed into your ears. Embracing my hearing has been one of the best things for me, my family and my career. It’s just improved year on year since I’ve had my new hearing aids. I’ve now gone from a team of - I had three, I think, three years ago to, I think, we’re up to 67. The best thing about switching my life on with my newfound hearing is I’ve got my confidence back. I’ve got my wiggle back – that’s how I see it – and I’m loving life again. |
Sandra is sitting in a dining room, talking with a male and female companion.
Sandra is sitting in the grand reception room.
|
| |
Screen fades to white and then the Hidden Hearing logo appears. |
