Simon’s journey back to better hearing

THE Falklands veteran has overcome his hearing difficulties, thanks to Amplifon. Hearing loss had never been Simon Weston’s biggest concern. When the Falklands veteran sustained severe injuries after his ship the Sir Galahad was bombed and set on fire, his main focus was on getting through the operations which would help to save his sight and repair the injuriescaused by severe burns.

“I could hear what the doctors were telling me whilst I was in hospital, so I thought my hearing was okay,” he admits. “But I’d been in a member of the Welsh guards shooting teamand had operated mortars before I was injured, and over time the damage that caused started to become apparent.

‘I first noticed a change in my hearing twenty years ago. I was out running and I noticed a sort of ticking – I thought a moth had flown into my ear.”

Simon also started to develop tinnitus, which gradually became louder and lasted for longer periods of time. ‘It really got me down,” he says. “It’s like having a nag in your ear all the time.”

But it wasn’t until 5 or 6 years ago when his wife and children started to comment on how loud the volume was on the TV and to joke about him missing bits of conversations that he decided to take action to address his hearing.

“I spend a lot of time doing public speaking, and in certain venues where the acoustics weren’t quite so good it was becoming more difficult to hear when people were asking questions – especially if they were all the way up on a balcony!”

After hosting an event for global hearing specialists Amplifon and learning about the hearing technology and expertise they could offer, Simon booked a test with his local branch and was impressed by the level of detail his audiologist went into at the appointment.

“Talisha, my audiologist, was excellent,” says Simon. “She talked me through what would happen in the test and discussed with me in depth the hearing difficulties I encountered.

“I’d been to the NHS about my hearing previously, and although they were able to help, the test Talisha carried out was much more in depth.”