PN. Interested in your advice that one is entitled to replacement aids every 3 years. At my last check up at my NHS hospital, the (jobsworth) audiologist advised that policy had changed and they only replace aids when they’re broke. My Oticon Spirit 3 aids are well over 5 yrs old, and another (less jobs worthy) audiologist suggested accidentally “dropping one in your coffee”. I went along some weeks later and said one aid was intermittent (couldn’t bring myself to deliberately damage it!), and the dear audiologist replaced the single “faulty” aid. So I have a nearly 6 yr old one and a new one, still both Oticon spirit 3. My surprise was that NHS hearing aids haven’t progressed at all in the last 6 years. My better half is convinced that my ability to hear things with these ones is getting markedly worse, though the NHS assessment disagrees.
Incidentally my hearing was noise induced as a result of Gazelle helicopters. I too made sure I had a record of the service doctor admitting it and took copies of my records before leaving the service (2005). The criteria for compensation in those days was you needed to demonstrate 20% disability to get a medical war pension. That equated to 50 dB over three frequency bands. Anything less than that was rewarded with a gratuity of around £1500 max. Nowadays you have a much bigger fight on your hands to prove service fault as they leverage in age related deafness. What helped my case was my indicating an intention to sue the RN for medical negligence as they continued to fly me knowing that my hearing had been damaged by flying. That smoothed the way for my claim to be accepted. I get around £300/month tax free.