About Us

The Full Story…

Telecare audiology has arguably been around since 2015 and audiologists have been quite happy to let it simmer in the background. Sometimes referred to as e-Audiology and remote programming; telecare audiology is a term that is used today to describe hearing care services that are delivered remotely. A hearing care provider can make changes to hearing aids without the patient being required to physically visit a hearing centre. Essentially, telecare audiology provides alternative ways for clinicians to connect with individuals and families who are living with hearing loss.

Let's be honest, there has been a niggling fear that this technology could somehow replace the role of the clinician. Historically, telecare within the health sector developed out of a need to overcome the problem of distance or lack of healthcare providers in an under-served area. Well, something else came along that forced us all to take a closer look at the merits of telecare.

COVID-19 has and will continue to change many people's personal and working lives for some time. As an industry, we realised that we would have to embrace the new technology to be able to offer valuable services during the global pandemic. And we may have to get used to a ‘new normal’ for the foreseeable future, especially as many of our middle aged/older clients fall into the ‘at-risk’ groups. Many people have had to adapt and learn how to effectively work from home. In this way, we've tried to engineer systems to enable us to continue providing care where we can, whilst not seeing anyone physically.

COVID-19 doesn't look like it's going away and we quickly needed to find a way of fulfilling our roles as hearing care providers, whilst protecting people from unnecessary danger. We've naturally invested in the correct, personal protective equipment and reassessed our infection control policies for our hearing centre but the best way to mitigate risk is to not see people at all.

We decided to investigate if a ‘no-touch’ solution to hearing care was possible with today’s technology. There are other companies doing something along those lines but during our research we found too many bugs in their processes. They all had their individual merits but we wanted ours to be an all-round much slicker, quicker and better value solution.

The reasons for why there wasn’t a slick, online version of hearing care, is that telecare in audiology is an extremely difficult process to administer in its entirety due to four key considerations:

1.     We assign great importance to visually examining ear canals and eardrums.

2.     Online hearing tests haven't proved to be all that accurate or user friendly.

3.     Fitting a hearing aid has required someone to mould or measure a person's ears to fit it correctly.

4.     How can any adjustments be made if the patient didn't like the initial set-up?

I immediately had a solution for points 3 and 4. I already knew of one particular, completely-in-the-canal hearing aid (the only one of its kind currently manufactured) that didn't require any moulding or measuring. In fact, it comes with various sizes of domes and sleeves that easily click on and off to fit nearly all ears comfortably and discreetly.

These brilliant hearing aids can also be connected to an app that behaves like a remote control. Programming changes can be sent from the audiologist in the hearing centre to the hearing aid wearer at home via the clever app.

That solved a few problems, but what about the test element? I tried and tested them all and found only one suitable contender - a multi-award winning maker of the world's first iPad audiometer. However, the online version was so new that I couldn't buy the license yet!

Without a decent online test, I wasn’t prepared to continue and there was still the problem of how to look in a person’s ears without being physically present.

So, we had solved the fitting and programming issues of hearing aid telecare, but what about testing and visually inspecting the ears?

Out of the blue, a hearing aid manufacturer who knew that I was trying to solve the telecare problem of testing got in touch with me. They recommended a new and very exciting online hearing test - it was just like the real hearing tests that we conduct in our clinics. Unlike other online tests, it didn't seem to matter which headphones or earphones were used. Their online test has been used over 28,000 times and has proven to be very accurate in almost every case.

So what about the ear examination? We briefly considered sending out ear endoscopes to people to check their own ears. However, they aren't easy to use and it’s unreasonable to expect people to know what they are looking for. Not only that, but they cost about the same as going to a clinic for an ear wax removal appointment. On that note, it just so happens that we own earwaxclinic.co.uk and represent over 300 clinics in the UK and Ireland! Depending on your geographical location, the nearest clinic will examine your ears and remove any excess wax for between £40 and £100. Job done, with the added bonus of having your ears cleaned!

Now I just need needed someone with some website skills to throw it all together online…and I knew just the person – my beloved husband! Pocket Hearing has now become a reality!

Lastly and most importantly, this time I wanted to set up a business that allows us to use our skills and give back in a very direct way, so I set up ‘Mission - Deep Pocket’. When we realised that we could provide fully-functional hearing aids with a professional, online hearing test and provide an instant fit solution, with real support via an app; we knew that we could help people hear all over the world with comparable ease. Removing the need for a hearing centre or a physically present hearing professional makes this possible.

This is not only great for business but fantastic news for those who don’t have access to hearing care. Through the help of volunteers, Pocket Hearing is committed to donating 30% of company profits to give the gift of hearing to those in need.

For the hearing aids that we donate, our manufacturer has agreed to supply them at cost price. Therefore, roughly every pair of hearing aids that you purchase, you give someone less fortunate a very special gift - the chance to achieve their potential.

Our drive to deliver great value, online, aesthetic hearing solutions conveniently and safely is powered by this amazing opportunity. Together we can make a difference.