Read Peter’s story…
Peter from Leicester recently had Phonak B90 Naida super power hearing aids fitted under the RBL Veterans Hearing Fund trust through the UK Veterans Hearing Foundation and the first thing Peter said was “These have brought back music to my ears”.
Peter, a veteran from WWII served most of him military career in Burma where he was responsible for the maintenance and use of extremely noisy vehicles. Furthermore, he was responsible for looking after a generator which was used in the production of Penicillin, a very new drug at that time, which meant the engine had to be run continuously and very close to where he was billeted. Together with small arms training over a two-year period, the level of noise had an adverse effect on his hearing.
Peter’s passion is music and he used to play in Jazz bands as well as a church organist however, he noticed he was struggling to hear the music properly. This was confirmed by a visit to a recent event where, despite being told the organist was play quite loud, he could not actually hear what was being played. With sadness and a broken heart, Peter had to give up his love of playing the church organ. In fact, Peter stopped listening to music as he found it muffled and distorted despite wearing NHS hearing aids. This was also experienced when in a group situation where he often had to ask people to repeat themselves as he could not distinguish what was being said.
Roger, one of the UK Veterans Hearing Foundation Audiologists, fitted Peter with his new aids funded by the RBL Veterans Hearing Fund to which Peter decided to put them to the test by playing his own keyboard. Tears of joy and a smile told Roger that Peter was experiencing something he had not done so in years; he could hear what he was playing and his passion had been reborn.
Peter could not believe the quality of hearing provided by the Phonak B90s and said “he had not heard so well in years”. We wish him well and hope that he is able to enjoy the new world around him especially his love of music.
