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Senior Audiologist With 30 Years Experience Answers the 5 Questions Her Patients Ask Most About Hearing Aids

Published by Dr. Janet Morris | Health | Last update: Apr 26 👁 12256 📖 4 min

My name is Dr. Janet Morris. I spent 30 years fitting hearing aids in the NHS and private sector.

 

In that time, the same questions came up again and again. Every patient. Every consultation. The same confusion, the same frustration, the same feeling of being stuck.

 

After the hundredth time, I decided to write it all down. One article. Every question answered honestly. No sales pitch. No brand paying me to say this.

 

Just 30 years of experience on the page.

"Why are hearing aids so expensive?"

This is the one I get asked most. And the answer makes people angry.

 

The hearing aid itself — the receiver, the chip, the microphone — costs about £80 to £100 to manufacture. I've seen the invoices. I know what the NHS pays per unit.

 

The rest of that £3,000 at Boots? 

 

You're paying for the shop on the high street. 

The heating and the lighting. 

The sales staff on commission — and yes, most high street audiologists earn a percentage of what they sell you. That's why they always recommend the premium range first.

 

The area manager. 

The regional manager. 

The head office. 

The television adverts.

 

You're not paying £3,000 for a hearing aid. You're paying £3,000 for the privilege of buying it in a nice chair.

 

Average price at Specsavers: £2,143. Boots: £2,914. Hidden Hearing: £3,720.

 

For technology that costs £100 to make.

 

I spent my whole career watching pensioners choose between their heating and their hearing. It made me sick.

"What about the NHS? They're free, aren't they?"

They are. And the technology is decent. The NHS buys from the same manufacturers as the private clinics.

 

But you'll wait 6 to 18 months to get them. When you do, you'll most likely get behind-the-ear aids. The big beige ones with a tube that hooks over your ear.

 

They work. But the batteries die every four days. They whistle every time you pick up the phone. There's one volume setting for everything. And everyone can see them.

 

I fitted these for years. I know how many end up in a drawer.

 

About 2 in 5 people stop wearing them. Not because they're broken. Because living with them is exhausting.
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"Can I just buy cheap ones on Amazon?"

This is where I get genuinely angry.

 

What Amazon sells are not hearing aids. They're amplifiers. I need people to understand this because it's the single biggest reason people think cheap hearing aids don't work.

 

An amplifier makes everything louder. Voices, traffic, the fridge, your own breathing, all at the same volume. It cannot separate speech from background noise. That's why voices stay muffled while everything else gets painfully loud.

 

A real hearing aid has a digital processing chip that filters sound. It makes voices clearer and pushes background noise down. Completely different technology.

 

That processing chip costs around £80 on its own. If you're buying a complete device for £39 on Amazon, that chip is not in there. What you're getting is a speaker and a battery in a plastic shell.

 

In my testing, Amazon amplifiers were the worst option by far. Potentially dangerous. Risk of further hearing damage from unfiltered loud noise.

 

If you've tried Amazon and given up, you weren't trying hearing aids. You were trying amplifiers.

Please don't let that experience put you off.
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"Is there anything in between?"

This is the question that changed everything for me.

 

For years, I had three answers: wait for the NHS, pay thousands at a clinic, or don't bother with Amazon. That was it. Those were the only options I could honestly recommend.

 

Then the rules changed. In 2025, you could buy proper hearing aids direct in the UK. No GP referral needed. No clinic appointment. Same as buying reading glasses.

 

A company called Smart Hearing was one of the first to do it.

 

When I first heard about them, I assumed it was another Amazon-style amplifier with better marketing. £149 for a pair of hearing aids? It didn't seem possible.

 

So I did what I'd do with any device. I opened them up. I looked at the components. I tested them on real patients alongside everything else.

 

They use Knowles receivers. That's the same supplier Boots and Specsavers use. Same digital processing chips. Proper multi-channel sound filtering, not amplification.

 

The technology is genuinely comparable to hearing aids costing ten times more.

 

They're UKCA certified as a medical device. Same certification standard as every hearing aid on the high street. Same inspections. Same registration process.

 

Amazon amplifiers don't have this. Smart Hearing does.

 

Founded by a man called David Taylor. His father was in his seventies, struggling with his hearing, couldn't afford the high street on his pension, wouldn't wait over a year for the NHS.

 

 Taylor had worked in the hearing aid industry. He knew what the components actually cost. Warehouse in Stoke-on-Trent. Same components as the big brands. No shop, no commission, no markup.

 

I emailed the company with some technical questions. A woman called Diane replied within four hours. Specific, detailed, knowledgeable. Not a chatbot. Not a template.

 

Returns: 45 days. No cancellation fee. Guarantee: two years. If anything goes wrong, they replace it.

 

Rechargeable. No batteries. No fumbling over the sink every four days.

 

In my testing, most patients couldn't reliably tell the difference between Smart Hearing and the hearing aids costing thousands.

 

The feedback was the same, over and over: "Why didn't someone tell me about this sooner?"
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"So what would YOU actually buy?"

This is the question people ask me quietly, after the consultation, almost embarrassed. As if asking an audiologist what she'd buy with her own money is somehow rude.

 

It isn't. And my answer is simple.

 

I would not wait 14 months for the NHS. I know what those aids are and I know how many end up in a drawer.

 

I would not pay £3,000 at Boots. I know what's inside them. I know what the components cost. I cannot justify that markup.

 

I would not buy anything on Amazon. Ever. What they sell is not what people think it is.

 

I would buy Smart Hearing. Same core technology. £149. 45-day trial at home. If they don't work, send them back.

 

I recommended them to my own father. 84 years old. Stubborn as they come. Wouldn't wear NHS aids. Wouldn't pay £2,500 at a clinic. Now wearing Smart Hearing every day.

 

"Should've done this years ago," he told me last week.

 

That's 30 years of experience in one sentence.

What I hear from real people

Since publishing my findings, I've heard from thousands of people who've tried Smart Hearing.

 

The same things keep coming up:

 

"TV volume went from 50 down to 8." — Robert, 78

 

"I paid £3,200 at Boots two years ago. These are better." — Colin, 72

 

"Wore NHS aids for six years. Put them in a drawer after three days with these." — Roy, 74

 

"Wasted £300 on Amazon before my neighbour told me what I'd actually been buying." — Keith, 71

 

This is what people keep telling me, but please make up your own mind.

IMPORTANT UPDATE

Since this article was published, Smart Hearing has gained tremendous attention and interest. 

The company has reached out to our editorial team to inform us that, for a limited time, they are offering our readers an exclusive 50% discount on Smart Hearing. 

Plus, every order comes with a 45-day risk free trial at home, 1 year warranty and free insured shipping.

If you don't experience clearer hearing within 45 days, you can just return it.

 

Check availability

Comments (6)

DerekP_Leeds

25 Apr, 2026 at 3:45 pm

The bit about Amazon amplifiers is SO important. I wasted nearly £500 on three different pairs before reading this. Wish someone had explained the difference between amplifiers and actual hearing aids years ago. Would have saved me a lot of frustration.
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Margaret_S

22 Apr, 2026 at 9:16 am

My son sent me this article after I missed another phone call from my daughter. Just ordered Smart Hearing with the discount. On pension so £149 is a lot more manageable than the £3,200 Boots quoted me. Fingers crossed. Will update in a few weeks.
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SusanW

16 Apr, 2026 at 10:22 am
 

My husband has been on the NHS waiting list since September 2024. Still nothing. 16 months and counting. This article made me angry for all the right reasons. Sharing with everyone I know.
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BrianFromKent

13 Apr, 2026 at 1:16 pm

2 weeks with Smart Hearing now. Returned my £2,400 Specsavers aids for full refund. These work just as well. Already told 3 mates at the bowls club. Dr Morris is right about the markup. Should've found these sooner.
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PatH_Norwich

11 Apr, 2026 at 8:14 am

Bought my husband a pair for his birthday. He moaned about it for a week. Now he won't take them out. Men...
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RobertJames

1 Apr, 2026 at 11:23 am
 

TV volume went from 44 to 11. Wife can't believe it. Had NHS aids for years but these are smaller, no whistling, and rechargeable. Should've done this years ago instead of fumbling with batteries every Monday morning.
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