HEARING-AID SUBSIDY

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29950, 11 October 1962, Page 15

HEARING-AID SUBSIDY

Claim Procedure Outlined

A deaf person who wishes to obtain social security help in buying a hearing aid must have his need for the aid confirmed by an otologist, says a Health Department circular to doctors.

“A deaf person is entitled to receive a hearing aid without charge when it is issued through the hearing aid clinic of a hospital board He is entitled, alternatively, to a subsidy towards the cost of an aoproved hearing aid purchased privately from a dealer, if the aid is certified by a recognised otologist as being necessary and of a suitable tyoe.” says the circular “At the hearing aid clinic the patient has an audiometric test and is examined by an otologist, who authorises the issue of an aid if the patient is likely to receive benefit from it. Certain standards must be complied with There is a choice of aid within certain limits and adequate periods of home trial are allowed before final selection is made. The hearing aid then becomes the property of the patient. “If a deaf person intends to purchase a hearing aid privately without going throueh a hearing aid clinic, he will, if he is wise, seek the aid of his doctor, who will refer him to an otologist if this is indicated. The patient is under no obligation to be seen by a doctor or otologist, and there is nothing to prevent his going direct to a dealer, who will no doubt perform some kind of hearing test. If, however, ho wishes to claim the subsidy (£l3) he must then apply to the hearing aid clinic, have an audiometric test, and be examined by an otologist, who will authorise payment of the subsidy. So the patient may find himself saddled with an expensive aid which is useless to him. “Before purchasing a hearing aid, anyone who is deaf should seek medical advice, preferably through his family doctor, from an otologist, or hearing aid clinic, but this cannot be made compulsory,” the circular says