Sam shares the benefits of independent hearing care – Sidmouth Herald

Published:
6:00 PM February 25, 2022

Southwest Audiology Services is an independent East Devon business offering full diagnostic hearing tests, hearing aids and accessories, tinnitus counselling and management, workplace noise risk assessments and reports, custom hearing protection and microsuction wax removal. It was founded last year by Sam Humphries, a registered clinical audiologist and hearing aid dispenser, who holds weekly clinics in Newton Poppleford, Sidmouth and Exmouth.

Sam strongly believes that being independent enables her to give customers the best service. Unlike many high street retailers, she is not ‘tied’ to selling hearing aids from any particular manufacturer, or those that are being promoted in marketing campaigns. She is also able to devote plenty of time to each customer, assessing their individual needs and ensuring that they have exactly the right product, correctly fitted and fine-tuned.

Sam is well placed to understand customers’ needs, having a long history of hearing problems herself. As a child, she had the common condition of ‘glue ear’ and underwent several operations. She also has tinnitus and a fluctuating hearing loss. She uses high-tech wireless hearing aids linked to her phone, using an app as a remote control. Her son, in his 20s, is also a hearing aid user – and his is even more technologically advanced, with a virtual assistant, language translation function, voice-to-text transcription, AI technology, and much more, all in a tiny unit.

Sam began training as an audiologist in 2003, and has spent her career working at NHS hospitals in Devon, including the RD&E in Exeter and Sidmouth Hospital, as well as carrying out home visits. In 2015 she helped to set up and run a brand-new hearing centre in Exeter, and spent the following three years dispensing private hearing aids, connectivity devices and custom hearing protection, as well as gaining an additional qualification to carry out workplace noise risk assessments.

She said: “I founded Southwest Audiology Services as I wanted to take the ‘best bits’ of the NHS – care, kindness, empathy, training, expertise, professionalism – whilst removing the ‘not-so-great bits’ – time pressures, ‘red tape’ and bureaucracy.”

Sam has created her own test battery for diagnosing hearing problems, which involves a much more comprehensive series of checks than a standard hearing test, and provides a realistic and meaningful assessment of ‘true’, real-life, functional hearing ability/impairment.

She said: “Both NHS audiology departments and high street retailers sadly would not have the time to devote to such a comprehensive test battery, or would view them as ‘specialist’ tests – however, I believe that these tests are absolutely and fundamentally essential.”

She applies the same attention to detail to hearing aid fittings: “It …….

Source: https://www.sidmouthherald.co.uk/news/independent-audiologist-in-sidmouth-8713166