Watch Dallas's story and find out how her life changed with Amplifon hearing aids. Dallas can now hear the little sounds others take for granted. She's got her life back.
Deaf from birth, Dallas can now hear the little sounds others take for granted. She's got her life back.
"I can hear the birds again and I can hear silly things that people probably wouldn't be bothered with, but they mean so much to me. Things like: the indicator on a car, the sirens of police cars and ambulances that I can now hear while I'm inside the car that I could never hear before.
"I can even hear the bleeps on the microwave. Little things that might not seem much, but to me it matters."
It hasn't always been like that. 67-year-old Dallas can still remember the childhood visits to unsympathetic doctors. They brushed aside her mother's concerns with comments like: "children hear what they want to hear".
School days were a nightmare too. Dallas's headmaster took great delight in bellowing down her ear when she had struggled to hear what he had said.
"The whole class would laugh and I would start crying," she says. "That gave me a fear of shouting that I've never been able to shake off. I think I missed quite a lot and I had to use my eyes more and lip read, because I just couldn't hear what was being said."
Back then conventional hearing aids proved difficult to use and were cumbersome. In fact, there was one that came with its own satchel, so she could carry around its battery!
As the years went by, Dallas decided to go private because she felt she wasn't receiving the attention she needed, and she got in touch with Amplifon after seeing a newspaper advertisement.
"Previous appointments had been too quick and I used to get frustrated," she said. "At Amplifon, everyone was very friendly and took their time to explain things so I understood. It was a much more relaxed atmosphere."
While she has had different aids to suit changes in her hearing over the years, the quality has been unmatched.
"I don't think people realised at times how frustrating it can be, not to hear properly," she said. "Not being able to communicate with people properly means you take a back seat.
"It's such a shame because there's so much going on in the world and you want to be a part of it."
Now - with a little help from Amplifon - she is.
Book an appointment and come and visit us at one of our Amplifon centers, our hearing care professionals will be ready to answer any of your curiosities about the world of hearing.
