Hearing aids saved my career

Goalkeeping ‘Legend’ is top of his game “I’ve now been going to my local Amplifon branch for eight years and the service has always been fantastic. They have always taken time to understand my needs.”

Injuries are an occupational hazard for a professional footballer and when you’ve clocked up 801 games you’ll have had more than your share of bumps and knocks. But former Portsmouth goalkeeper, turned coach, Alan Knight says the injury which threatened to destroy his career — and his confidence — happened off the field.

It was in 2004 when he was coaching in America and felt a pop in both ears as he was driving. “It didn’t feel like a life-changing incident at the time — but it was,” he says.

The man the fans called ‘The Legend’ says: “When I was playing, I broke many bones, strained plenty of muscles and suffered lots of minor injuries, but what happened that day in Texas was different.”

He recalls: “At first I tried to move my jaw around like you do in a plane after your ears pop, but I still couldn’t hear properly. I was 44 and suddenly I had muffled hearing that wouldn’t go away.”

When his hearing didn’t improve, Alan saw doctors in Dallas who told him a viral infection had caused permanent damage to both ears. “Worse still, there was no cure,” he adds.

When he returned to England a short time later, NHS specialists confirmed the diagnosis. “I’d lost about 75 per cent of the hearing in my left ear and 30 per cent in my right. I was suddenly facing a sporting life wearing hearing aids.

“I told players I was coaching that I might not hear them if I couldn’t see them and they were largely sympathetic. But if some players know your weakness, they will exploit it. Also, our game is about banter, and you can’t be involved in all that if your hearing is impaired.”

An NHS hearing aid helped a little, but it wasn’t until Alan discovered Amplifon, a Global Hearing Specialist with 200 hearing centres nationwide, that he found a lasting, and life-changing, solution.

“The only way I can describe the difference is that with the NHS hearing aid it sounded as though I was listening to the world in mono, and with the Amplifon hearing aids it was like surround sound.”

He explains: “Amplifon understood that I needed two aids because the ear that had only 30 per cent loss also needed help. That made all the difference.

“I’ve now been going to the Amplifon branch in Portsmouth for eight years and the service has always been fantastic. They have always taken time to understand my needs.”

Alan, who is now 56, says: “The best part is being with my granddaughter. Without my Amplifon hearing aids, I’d have to give her a little nudge to check if she was asleep. With my Amplifon hearing aids I can hear her breathing when she is asleep. The difference is amazing.

“Without the help of Amplifon I wouldn’t have continued coaching, so I am the company’s biggest fan.”