"They're more discreet than I thought"

Gadget lover Jamie Cameron found hearing aids that appealed to his inner 'geek' - and looked good too.

Suffering from hearing problems since childhood, the IT professional know he needed to act when he struggled to hear in an open-plan office.

"It made it difficult to hear what people were saying opposite me and then it became obvious that something needed to be done," he says.

At first, ho got hearing aids from another provider, but when they closed he went to Amplifon, where he received a thorough hearing test.

Jamie's audiologist suggested he try the ReSound model - over-the-ear aids with little visual impact. "They're more discreet than I thought, which was important to me - I'd always thought over-the ear meant big and ugly but it doesn't," he says, admitting that they appealed to his inner 'gook'.

Compatible with Apple products, they use Bluetooth to connect with his iPhone to act as earphones when he is taking a call. When he is watching TV programmes on his iPad, the sound is streamed directly to his hearing aids and there is an app where he can adjust the treble and bass and configure the aids for different environments.

"I look like a teenager holding my phone in my hand while I take a call now, but because the sound goes straight to both ears the clarity is much more akin to having a face-to-face conversation," he says. "When it's noisy, people often have to put one hand over an ear while they listen with the other, but I don't have to do that." With his job in IT involving taking regular calls, life has become much easier. "I use a Windows mobile for my job, and being able to use the ReSound Phone Clip to provide Bluetooth connectivity gives me the freedom and mobility to use a phone hands-free and yet still have amazing clarity, which is fantastic," he says.

He can even talk to his 10-year-old daughter without asking her to keep repeating herself as he use to. "I can pick up voices from different directions now, like when my daughter is talking to me in the car, which is amazing," he says.

Jamie believes going private with hearing specialist Amplifon makes good sense. He adds: "There's far more choice, whether you want to go for something loading edge or a bit cheaper, and the level of service is fantastic. The benefits good hearing can bring in terms of your social, work and family life far outweigh the costs of going private. You can't put a price on your quality of life." ■