Mr Anthony Reynolds served as a soldier and an officer from 1970 to 1994 spending a total of 24 years serving. He wore a headset near enough constantly throughout his working shifts, the radios delivered heavy noise while delivery morse code. When he served in Belfast he was involved in an explosion in a police station which caused him many injuries and described the noise as deafening. Anthony spent a lot of time practicing ambush skills, which involved lots of noise from gunfire with no ear protection. Mr Reynolds has been through a lengthy journey with us, but we are now happy to share he has been fitted with a pair of top of the range hearing aids.
What a game changer after a journey lasting almost two years, that started when I responded to an advert offering support for veterans with hearing problems; that I came across whilst receiving treatment for newly diagnosed PTSD at Combat Stress. Since then I have been supported and guided every step of the way, despite unforeseen delays, by Chloe from UK Veterans Hearing Foundation as they supported my application via RBL.
His Hearing Difficulties:
My response to PTSD and hearing problems has much in common; for many years I lived in denial, suffering with often challenging quality of life issues and always downplaying how severe my conditions were.
Mr Reynolds was always asking people to repeat what they were saying to him, he explained his acoustics are bad especially in group situations. He also found it hard to distinguish speech and suffers greatly from tinnitus, this was causing frustration and upsetting him.
Outcome:
Mr Reynolds has now been been fitted with a pair of Phonak Audeo P90 by Clarity Hearing Solutions, and will now receive theirs and the UK Veterans Hearing Foundations ongoing support with an aftercare service.
Since receiving and using the excellent hearing aids provided free of charge, I have experienced an unbelievable transformation, my hearing which I never realized was so bad has improved beyond belief and I even don’t notice I am wearing the state of art devices, which are difficult to detect by anyone looking at me. I have also been advised that I should be eligible for treatment to combat the tinnitus I have lived with for many years, although the new hearing aids have reduced the condition.
The other two major highlights is that my next door neighbour has stopped complaining about the sound level of my TV and my wife actually asked me to turn the volume up yesterday. Can’t thank Chloe and the team enough. I would strongly urge any veteran suffering with hearing problems to contact UK Veterans Hearing Foundation as soon as possible, you have nothing to lose and so much to gain!
Tony Reynolds
