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Written By:
Kimberley BradshawHead of Online Medical Content
Medically Reviewed By:
Paul HarrisonAudiology Expert at Hearing Aid UK
Updated and medically reviewed: 26th September 2024
Bloom Hearing vs Scrivens Hearing Aids
What are the differences between hearing aid retailers Bloom Hearing and Scrivens?
Researching hearing aid providers in the UK
When embarking on the journey to find a hearing aid provider in the United Kingdom, thorough research is essential. Start by exploring reputable sources such as professional associations and customer reviews to identify providers with a solid track record.
Consider factors such as the provider's expertise, certifications, and years of experience. Look for those offering a diverse range of hearing aid brands and models to ensure a tailored solution. Investigate their customer service, including aftercare support and warranty options.
Check for locations near you and inquire about pricing and insurance coverage. By conducting diligent research, you can make an informed decision and find a trusted hearing aid provider in the UK. In this article, we look at two hearing aid retailers in the UK to give clarity and comparison.
Bloom vs Scrivens, which one is better?
We understand the list of complexities when faced with looking for the right hearing healthcare, hearing aids, and aftercare. Finding the balance between such factors as the price of hearing aids for your loss, and the right private hearing services locally and available audiologists near you is tricky to achieve.
All the different services that both the high street retailers and independent audiologists provide can at first seem confusing. Our independent hearing aid company prices are cheaper than those of the high street. What are the differences between each hearing aid retailer? Who comes out on top of hearing aid consumers?
Well, being a network of independent audiologists, our hearing aids are genuinely cheaper than the high street and independents come out on top overall for consumers. But if we were to compare the various hearing aid retailers, we would find some differences between their services and what they can provide for your hearing.
Like with anything in life, we are put off by what we don’t understand – so educating yourself is key to the success of your hearing care journey. We feel that researching all the hearing aid companies available to you is a good place to start.
Here we look at the pros and cons of Bloom Hearing and Scrivens, so hopefully, you will gain some insight into what services and products they can offer you. This way you can make an informed decision on what your next step will be more confidently.
Scrivens Versus Bloom Hearing
Who is Bloom Hearing?
Bloom hearing aids
Bloom Hearing used to be known as Regional Hearing Services, that was until they were bought by one of the big manufacturers of the audiology industry – Widex. With around 20 branches and 50 dispensers, they are still one of the smallest UK hearing aid retailers.
As a result of their affiliation with Danish manufacturer Widex, you might find that they may favour Widex hearing aids when they come to show you the devices available.
Regional Hearing Services, started off as a small family business that employed only friends and relatives at their head office in Cornwall. They are known for being genuinely nice people and are respected in the audiology industry.
For such a small national company and unlike other similar competitors on the high street, Bloom Hearing offers a full home visiting service nationwide. This is possible due to a large percentage of their dispensers not being branch-based.
What are the advantages of Bloom Hearing?
- They offer a nationwide home visiting service for convenient hearing care.
What are the disadvantages of Bloom Hearing?
- As mentioned earlier, they can be quite biased when it comes to showing consumers the hearing aids available. Due to their affiliation with Widex, you might find they will offer devices from this manufacturer above others.
Bloom Hearing Versus Scrivens
Who is Scrivens?
Scrivens hearing aids
Scrivens was founded as opticians in 1938 by brothers, Mark and Nicholas Georgevic and their head office is based in Birmingham. They eventually made the transition into selling hearing aids in the 1950s and at the same time rebranded their name for their hearing aid side of the business to ‘The Hearing Company’.
Their brand name then changed back to Scrivens in 2014. With around 300 locations, this company is one of the largest chains in the UK. However, many of these locations are only manned at most twice a month.
What are the advantages of Scrivens?
- They are considered to be good according to their consumers in regards to their general facilities.
- All their locations are observed as clean, quiet, and comfortable by those who have visited.
What are the disadvantages of Scrivens?
- Scriven's overall consumer experience was rated rather poorly in the latest Which? Report survey.
- The hearing aid collections, look, suitability, and comfort for the device wearer were considered to be poor.
Please note that the above information was taken from the latest Which? Report and therefore a reliable source.
How does Hearing Aid UK compare?
- We are impartial when it comes to offering hearing aids to our customers. So, after your hearing test, analysing your results, and taking all your unique wants and needs into consideration - you will always get recommended a hearing aid that's the right hearing solution for you.
- We have a great selection of hearing aid choices, as we work with all the manufacturers in the industry. Therefore, we can provide you with every hearing aid available on the market.
- Our prices are the lowest globally in the industry, we are always transparent with our prices and publish them online.
- All our prices include testing, fittings, and aftercare for the life of the hearing aids. What you see is what you get!
- We have nationwide coverage with our network of over 200 independent professional audiologists. Our dispensers carry out their services from stores, practices, day centres, and in the comfort of your own home for no extra cost.
- We are proud of our network who are all qualified and registered with the HCPC (Health and Care Professions Council) - so you will always gain from professional service and excellent customer experience.
- The latest Which? Report, states that independent audiologists come out on top when all factors of their hearing healthcare are considered. Therefore, as an independent hearing aid company, we come highly recommended by consumers.
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Paul Harrison
Hearing Aid Advisor
Unlike most national retailers we are not owned by any manufacturer, this means we can offer the full choice of all makes and models of hearing aids
Need more information about Scrivens or Bloom hearing aids?
If you have had a quote from either Bloom Hearing or Scrivens then you should get a second opinion from us. We feel we have more to offer you and your hearing needs and are confident we can beat the quotes you have received.
Call us free on 0800 567 7621 to speak with one of our audiologists who can go through the benefits of our services or compare our prices to that of Bloom or Scrivens.
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Common FAQs when researching hearing aids and hearing loss
Is this the best model for me?
If you are looking at this page then it is likely that an audiologist has suggested that you purchase this particular hearing aid, so is this the best model for you?
In general, any audiologist will always be recommending to you the model that best suits your needs. Here is a useful check list to make sure that is the case.
- Audiologist level of knowledge. The audiologist you have seen will hopefully have a wide knowledge of all available hearing aids, however some will only be familiar with a small number of brands and therefore may not really be in a position to know which model is the best for you. It is OK to challenge their recommendation and ask them to justify why this particular brand is the one for you.
- Do research. Read about the hearing aid that was recommended. Does it seem like it will suit your lifestyle? Does it have more or less features than you need?
- Be aware of sales targets. Many high street retailers have specific tie-ins to a particular manufacturer/brand. The hearing aid they have suggested may still be the correct one for you, but do your research so that you know why they might have recommended it.
If in doubt, feel free to give us a call. That's what we're here for.
Do I need one hearing aid or two?
If you have a significant hearing loss in both ears, you should be wearing two hearing aids. Here are the audiological reasons why:
Localisation. The brain decodes information from both ears and compares and contrasts them. By analysing the miniscule time delays as well as the difference in loudness of each sound reaching the ears, the person is able to accurately locate a sound source. Simply put, if you have better hearing on one side than the other, you can't accurately tell what direction sounds are coming from.
Less amplification required. A phenomena known as “binaural summation” means that the hearing aids can be set at a lower and more natural volume setting than than if you wore only one hearing aid.
Head shadow effect. High frequencies, the part of your hearing that gives clarity and meaning to speech sounds, cannot bend around your head. Only low frequencies can. Therefore if someone is talking on your unaided side you are likely to hear that they are speaking, but be unable to tell what they have said.
Noise reduction. The brain has it’s own built in noise reduction which is only really effective when it is receiving information from both ears. If only one ear is aided, even with the best hearing aid in the world, it will be difficult for you to hear in background noise as your brain is trying to retain all of the sounds (including background noise) rather than filtering it out.
Sound quality. We are designed to hear in stereo. Only hearing from one side sounds a lot less natural to us.
What are the benefits of rechargeable hearing aids?
For most people, the main benefit of a rechargeable hearing aid is simple convenience. We are used to plugging in our phones and other devices overnight for them to charge up.
For anybody with poor dexterity or issues with their fingers, having a rechargeable aid makes a huge difference as normal hearing aid batteries are quite small and some people find them fiddly to change.
One downside is that if you forget to charge your hearing aid, then it is a problem that can't be instantly fixed. For most a 30 minute charge will get you at least two or three hours of hearing, but if you are the type of person who is likely to forget to plug them in regularly then you're probably better off with standard batteries.
Rechargeable aids are also a little bit bigger and are only available in behind the ear models.
Finally, just like with a mobile phone, the amount of charge you get on day one is not going to be the same as you get a few years down the line. Be sure to ask what the policy is with the manufacturer warranty when it comes to replacing the battery.
Are behind the ear aids better than in the ear aids?
For most people, the answer is yes. But it's never that simple.
The majority of hearing problems affect the high frequencies a lot more than the low ones. Therefore open fitting hearing aids sound a lot more natural and ones that block your ears up can make your own voice sound like you are talking with your head in a bucket. Therefore in-ear aids tend to be less natural.
However the true answer is we can't tell until we have had a look in your ears to assess the size of your ear canal, and until we have tested your hearing to see which frequencies are being affected.
People with wider ear canals tend to have more flexibility, also there are open fitting modular CIC hearing aids now that do not block your ears.
There is also the age old rule to consider, that a hearing aid will not help you if it's sat in the drawer gathering dust. If the only hearing aid you would be happy wearing is one that people can't see, then that's what you should get.
Most people can adapt to any type of hearing aid, as long as they know what to expect. Have an honest conversation with your audiologist as to what your needs are.
What are channels, and how many do I need?
Generally speaking, six or more. Unless it's none at all.
The number of channels a hearing aid has is often a simplistic way an audiologist will use to explain why one hearing aid is better than another, but channels are complex and it is really not that straightforward.
Hearing aids amplify sounds of different frequencies by different amounts. Most people have lost more high frequencies than low and therefore need more amplification in the high frequencies. The range of sounds you hear are split into frequency bands or channels and the hearing aids are set to provide the right amount of hearing at each frequency level.
Less than six channels and this cannot be done with much accuracy, so six is the magic number. However, a six channel aid is typically very basic with few other features and is suitable only for hearing a single speaker in a quiet room. The number of channels is not what you should be looking at, it's more the rest of the technology that comes with them.
As a final note, different manufacturers have different approaches. One method is not necessarily better than any other. For example some manufacturers have as many as 64 channels in their top aids. Most tend to have between 17 and 20. One manufacturer has no channels at all.
Where can I get the hearing aids covered?
Hearing aids are easily lost, misplaced or damaged and typically are one of the most expensive personal possessions an individual can own. We offer hearing aid warranty cover for £80 per year per aid. Find out more here
How much does the hearing test cost?
All our audiologists use the very latest technology and provide the full range of tests to accurately measure your hearing for free. Find out about what we offer all our customers here
Do home visits cost extra?
Hearing Aid UK offers all their customers free home visiting services and home visits for hearing aids - Including hearing tests, fittings, maintenance, check-ups and much more in the comfort of your own home and at your convenience. Find out more information here
How come you're much cheaper than other places?
Here, at Hearing Aid UK, we are dedicated to offering low hearing aid prices. We achieve this by having no head office and low marketing costs. Our hearing aid prices are amongst the lowest you will find anywhere in the world.
Other pages you might find useful
Best Hearing Aids 2024
View Best Hearing Aids 2024 Audiology Home Visits
View Audiology Home Visits Hearing Tests at Home UK
View Hearing Tests at Home UK Need advice? Give our hearing aid experts a call for FREE
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6 Morton Lane
Walkwood
Redditch
Worcestershire
B97 5QA
© Hearing Aid UK Ltd. 2024
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