Faulty Hearing Aid?

There are lots of rumours going round that those of you who receive a War Disablement Pension because of your loss of hearing can only change your hearing aids through War Pension Services after you have had them for five years.

I would love to know who started these rumours, because they simply are not true. Of course hearing aids, just like your car or your fridge are expected to work well for quite some time. Most hearing aids come with a two-year warranty in relation to any manufacturing faults, and so should work well for much longer than that. Many hearing aids will last longer than five years, and as long as they are still suited to the client’s needs, they will not need changing or renewing.

However, there will be those aids that are not working properly, and are out of the warranty period, or the user has inadvertently caused the fault. If your hearing aid is in one of these categories then return to your audiologist and ask them to do a faultfinding assessment. You may wish to have them contact War Pension Services (0800 553 003) first to advise that they are doing the assessment. The audiologist will then provide a report to say that there is a major or minor amount of work to be done on the aid, or indeed that the aid cannot be repaired. They will recommend the action to be taken and provide a quotation for any work needed. If it would be more cost effective to replace the hearing aid they will say so.

Once War Pension Services have received the report, recommendations and quotation they will consider the best option and be able to make a payment to cover the appropriate recommendations.

The main thing appears to be to get that audiologist report made and passed to War Pension Services, and await approval before getting any work done on the aid or looking to buy a new one.

War Pension Services will only pay for repairs on the latest hearing aids that they have funded, and not any old ones that you are using as back up.

If your current hearing aids no longer seem suitable for you contact War Pension Services and ask for approval for a new hearing test. You can then have your hearing checked out and if appropriate the audiologist will recommend an aid that is better for you, or he may make adjustments to your current aid, because that is all that is needed.

Please do not suffer because you are not getting on with your hearing aids. Please do not make your family and friends suffer because you are not getting on with your hearing aids. If you are having problems see your audiologist, and remember that hearing aids work best when you are totally used to them. That means wearing them all the time when you are awake, and not leaving them in the drawer to come out when somebody arrives at the door, or you’re going out to a meeting or social event.

If in doubt call War Pensions Services on 0800 553 003 and ask if you can get your hearing checked out, or your hearing aid repaired.

If you need hearing aids you should go to a reputable audiologist for advice and the aid. If you select a member of the New Zealand Audiological Society (you will see MNZAS after their name in the phone book) you can be sure that your audiologist is fully qualified.

There is a hearing aid subsidy available for adult New Zealand residents and citizens who cannot have their aids funded by either War Pension Services or ACC. The subsidy is available every five years and is paid by a group called Enable New Zealand. The subsidy is only available for models of hearing aids that have passed certain checks, so you may find that if the aid selected for you is more obscure it will not be eligible for a subsidy. Only Audiologists who are members of the NZAS, (or people to whom Enable New Zealand have given special dispensation) can access this funding.