Blog - The Hearing Suite clinic

30/05/2025 — Comments are off for this post.

2025’s Best Hearing Aids

In 2025, there is no such thing as a bad hearing aid. The big manufacturers are driving technology forward with artificial intelligence, rechargeability, and Auracast compatibility.

So here are a few of our very favourites:

Best for music clarity

Widex Moment delivers rich, natural sound with zero delay, making music feel true-to-life and immersive. With its ground-breaking PureSound™ technology, it eliminates the artificial sound common in many hearing aids, allowing users to experience every note, beat, and harmony just as it was intended.

Best in background noise

Phonak Infinio Sphere, with deep neural networks that lift the speech above the background noise, delivers exceptional clarity even in the most challenging listening environments. Continuously analysing and adapting to surroundings in real time intelligently separates speech from ambient sounds, making conversations effortless in busy restaurants, meetings, or outdoor gatherings.

Smallest in the ear

Signia Silk is small and mighty, featuring soft, adjustable tips and a rechargeable battery, which offers discreet comfort without compromising performance. Designed to fit snugly and invisibly in the ear, they provide a secure fit for all-day wear while delivering crystal-clear sound quality. The advanced signal processing enhances speech understanding in noisy environments, while the convenient rechargeable design ensures worry-free use throughout the day.

Closest to natural hearing

Phonak Lyric, the contact lens for the ear, uses analog processing to deliver sound just 4mm from the eardrum, providing a truly natural listening experience. Worn 24/7, even while sleeping, showering, or exercising, Lyric is completely invisible and requires no daily maintenance. Designed for extended wear, each device can function continuously for up to 8 weeks at a time.

If you’d like to learn more about any of these hearing aids or need guidance on which option is best suited to your individual needs, book a consultation with us, and we will be happy to find the right hearing aid for you.

17/04/2025 — Comments are off for this post.

Mr Mace

We had the pleasure of sitting down with Mr. Mace, our ENT consultant, to talk about his role and connection with The Hearing Suite!

How did you connect with The Hearing Suite?
Mr. Mace: "The Hearing Suite founder and director of audiology, Emily Woodmansey, and I connected shortly after she opened the practice in Harrogate in 2018. We quickly realised how well we could work together to provide top-tier care for people in Harrogate and the surrounding areas."

What do you do in the business?
Mr. Mace: "I’m an ENT consultant surgeon with a special interest in ear disease, hearing loss, and dizziness. I ensure that anyone who comes to The Hearing Suite requiring medical or surgical care receives prompt and thorough treatment."

How did you end up here?
Mr. Mace: "My training in ENT was based in the west of Scotland. At the end of my training, I was awarded the Royal Society of Medicine Ottology Training Scholarship and was a Clinical Fellow in Otology and Neurotology at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney. In 2010 I was appointed ENT consultant in York Teaching Hospital and Harrogate District Hospital. Settling in North Yorkshire has been fantastic."

What moment of your career so far stands out?
Mr. Mace: "Being appointed consultant ENT surgeon in 2010 was definitely a milestone, not least because it had taken 19 years since starting medical school. More recently, I’ll always remember making an initial phone call to Emily to talk about audiological services. This led to some meetings and the start of a successful journey at The Hearing Suite."

We are incredibly proud to have Mr. Mace as part of our team, helping us deliver exceptional care to our patients!

14/05/2024 — Comments are off for this post.

Sophie’s Story

Sophie's Story

Sophie: My name is Sophie Whitley. I'm 35, and I currently live in Liverpool. I split my time between being an events photographer, document photography and the manager for some musical acts that mainly play weddings and functions.

I've had a hearing loss for as long as I can remember. It certainly got worse as the older I became. A lot
of the other members of my family also struggle from hearing loss. It wasn't really until I met Helena from The Hearing Suite that it was properly investigated and I found out that it was a loss large enough to
require attention.

It has really impacted me socially, mainly. It's quite hard to join in in social situations in a busy bar or in a cafe. You might get maybe a quarter of the conversation that's being had and spend a lot of time nodding and smiling and trying to pretend that you've heard what's going on.
I've mainly managed by lip reading and using subtitles on the television. Obviously that doesn't replace human interaction in a social situation.

Helena: I'm Helena Milnes and I am an Advanced Audiologist and Lip Reading Teacher. I have been working in audiology for over a decade, and I am going to talk a little bit about Sophie's experience of hearing and why we decided to go with this product. I've known Sophie for a long time, personally, and throughout that time I've also known about her hearing loss. For a long time it was stable and we believe that it's been there since birth. I wanted to be able to
look at where her hearing was at and have a better assessment of what we could do to help.

I work with a number of differenty manufacturers, and when I'm looking at hearing aids for a client, what I'm looking for is what's the most appropriate for their lifestyle, their needs, and what suits their hearing loss. The reason why I went for a Signia Pure Charge&Go 7 IX is just how easy it would be for her to
adjust to it and how well the hearing aid performs in a number of environments. Sophie, in her life, will be in the mornings going on the school run, chatting to other mums with kids running around, all wanting attention and having conversations. And also she often attends a lot of social
settings, in noise, so I wanted something that would work in each of those, as well as having the app which is really handy. And who doesn't love that the Silk is rechargeable?

Sophie: I had always been quite hesitant to try hearing aids other than getting used to how loud the world was going to be. I was often worried about how they would look. Hearing aids in the past being kind of large, ugly, beige things that make you feel a little bit self-conscious. Being a young woman in my
30s, it was really great for me to be able to find a hearing aid that was not only discreet but pretty to look at, and I was proud to show off to my friends.

It's been a lot easier to socialise. For the first time I can go out to, say, monthly cheese and wine night or a busy pub situation and I'm able to hear everything that's happening. Another feature that I really love is the ability to use directionality. So, the app lets you choose which
direction you want to focus the sound from. If I'm in a busy cafe or a bar, I can switch off the noise behind me and just focus on the person in front of me.

Although I've been lucky enough to know Helena as a friend for many years, it's been a breath of fresh air coming to The Hearing Suite and finding an audiologist that makes me feel relaxed and comfortable. I know that I could call them about any of the needs I have, and I truly wouldn't go anywhere else.

You can watch Sophies story on our Youtube channel here.

06/12/2023 — Comments are off for this post.

Hearing aids in 2024

As we start to wrap up 2023 it is an excellent time to reflect upon the technology we have experienced and look forward to the technology that is to come.
We went into 2023 with hearing aids that had advanced Bluetooth capabilities; the ability to stream music, audiobooks and phone calls with the tap of the ear. Remote microphones, that could stream over many meters, and rechargeable hearing aids that would easily last for 24 hours.
So what has 2023 brought us? We now have the tiniest completely in the canal (CIC) rechargeable hearing aids with the Signia Silk IX. We have the complex processing abilities of the Oticon Real. And the versatility of the Widex Sound assist.

Looking forward, what could be on the agenda for 2024?

My prediction would be new releases from Phonak and Widex. Phonak tends to work on a 2-year cycle, Widex 4; and with releases in 2022 and 2020 respectively it feels like it could be time for something new. I suspect Phonak will be released in late Summer/ Autumn, and Widex in Spring/ Summer.

But what could new releases include? My first guess would be compatibility with AuraCast, the next generation of Bluetooth with audio broadcasting, allowing listening to be shared. I would also like to see more advancements in polar plots and dynamic listening soundscapes, allowing hearing aids even more flexibility to adapt based on a changing acoustic environment. With gimmicks, I suspect we will see more options to translate from different languages.

We won’t know what 2024 will bring until it arrives, but the world of technology is putting more and more emphasis on the listening experience, and I’m confident that this will be to the benefit of people who wear hearing aids.

01/11/2023 — Comments are off for this post.

An introduction to lip reading

An introduction to lip reading.

With Advanced Audiologist, and Lip Reading Teacher; Helena Milnes.

Hearing loss can impact anyone. For some, it is something they are born with, for others it can be acquired during their life. On occasion, it is caused by illness, a love of music or just a life well lived.

Whilst we have no miraculous cure to restore hearing, living well with hearing loss is a realistic goal. Many assume that a hearing aid will bring back sound to the levels we remember. But for some this needs to be coupled with gadgets, auditory training and lip reading classes.

Helena talks more about lip reading in her article in the Yorkshire Post

At The Hearing Suite we look at all of these things, with an aim to getting your hearing back on track, so we are delighted to launch a 6-week

Introduction to Lipreading on 14th November 2023 at our Harrogate practice at a cost of £99 for the course.

Classes will run on a Tuesday at 1pm, and cover

how to recognise visible speech sounds
understanding the process of lipreading
the factors that make lip reading easier

The classes can be booked below or by calling 01423 429222

Book here