Milton Keynes Adult Hearing Service

We are a small and dedicated team of five offering a simple service for adults (16+) in Milton Keynes who experience hearing difficulties. 

The people closest to us are normally the first who begin to notice changes in our hearing. If you have any concerns about your ear health, or hearing levels we can help. 

You may require a hearing test, and an onward referral to an Ear, Nose and Throat team. We can organise this for you too.

Other clients are not worried about hearing levels, yet have other concerns about their hearing. This may require a hearing test and an onward referral to an Ear, Nose and Throat team. We can organise this for you too.

If you have any concerns about the health of your ears or your hearing levels, are aged over 16 and registered with a Milton Keynes general practitioner (GP), then you can refer yourself to the service. Click here to for a detailed explanation of how to refer yourself, if you are a new service user. 

Exclusion criteria

We cannot see the following people via self-referral:

• Anyone under the age of 16
• Anyone with learning difficulties
• If you require home/nursing home visit
• If you are currently under the care of Milton Keynes Audiology Department
• Someone with a diagnosis of dementia
• If you require any transport to be arranged

Please be aware some GPs do not come under Milton Keynes Commissioning Group, which means the Adult Hearing Service will not be able to see you. Examples are Hanslope, Woburn and Asplands.

If you have any concerns about your hearing, are aged over 16 and registered with a Milton Keynes general practitioner (GP), then you can refer yourself to the service by completing this form.

Alternatively, if your GP has decided you require an NHS hearing test, they will refer you via a national system called e-referrals. This is how it works:

• You will be given some paperwork with a reference number
• The paperwork will contain instructions to ring the Adult Hearing Service admin office on 01908 725 330 (confidential out of hours answer machine available)
• On the call, you will be asked for the reference number and person details.
• We will have to check that your referral has been received from the GP and approved
• We will call you back to book your appointment

To book another appointment, ring the office on 01908 725330. If you get the answer machine, please leave a clear message with your details and a contact number. A member of the team will respond within 1 work day.

 If you do not hear from us, it may be due to a reason below:

• Our telephone number appears as 'withheld' and we will not be able to call you, if you have a block on these numbers.
• If you are not available and do not have an answering machine where we can leave you a message.

If either of these are the case, you will have to ring us again.

Alternatively, you can email us at adult.hearing@nhs.net and we will aim to respond within 1 working day.

Please note, we do not offer repeat hearing tests within three years unless there is a medical reason for it.

Please note we are not a battery distribution centre and do not provide replacement tubes. You will have been provided information on where to obtain these in your initial pack. Please also see links on the right for battery issuing centre's.

The Adult Hearing Service is open Monday – Friday at Eaglestone Health Centre accessed via appointment only.

If you are already known to the service call 01908 725330 to book an appointment.

If you have never been seen by the Adult Hearing Service, please complete the self-referral form.

Bus: 1, 4, 5/5A, 18, 19, 24, 25, 28/29, 32

Rail: Milton Keynes Central

Parking: Pay and display

When you come in for a hearing test, you should allow:

• 5 minutes for the initial assessment, which includes completing a questionnaire and learning about your concerns surrounding your hearing. (You may have to wait beforehand to be seen)
• The actual hearing test takes about 45 minutes.
• 1 hour for the fitting of hearing aids (should you need them)

The process of a hearing test

• You will be provided with headphones (recommended to remove earrings) and a response button
• You will hear a number of little sounds, which you have to respond to using the response button
• The purpose is to understanding the quietest sounds you can hear and takes into account the entire hearing pathway, from the outer ear to the brain.
• On occasions, we may need a second headset called bone-conduction testing. For this, we use a smaller headband, which sits behind your ear.
• Once again, we will repeat sounds that you will have to respond too.

What happens next?

If you require hearing aids, these will be arranged for you and fitted. Click here *LINK* to learn more about what happens during fitting.

Discharge

Occasionally, people do not want a hearing aid, which is fine and we respect your decision. You can always get back in touch, should you change your mind. 

Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) advice

You may not require a hearing aid but have other concerns regarding your ears. For example, you may experience a feeling of fullness/pressure or sudden onset of tinnitus (sounds that only you can hear in your head). On these occasions, we may refer you to direct or alert your GP and request they refer you to the Community ENT Service or Hospital ENT Service.

Due to Covid restrictions we are currently not able to run our drop-in hearing screening clinics but you can still self-refer to us and we will book a time for you to visit us. 

If you are already known to the service call 01908 725330 to book an appointment.

If you have never been seen by the Adult Hearing Service, please complete the self-referral form 

This page will be updated once the drop-in hearing screening clinics are allowed to re-open across Milton Keynes.

Hearing aids come in different sizes, levels of application, ease of handling, volume control and availability of special features. A hearing aid will be dependent on the nature and severity of hearing loss and the dexterity of the user.

Mutual components of a hearing aid are as follows:

• Microphone: A microphone picks up external sounds.
• Amplifier: This makes sounds louder.
• Receiver: Delivers amplified sound into the ear.
• On and off switch
• Battery pack
• Earmolds or Earpieces: Direct the flow of sound into the ear and enhance sound quality. 

Your hearing aid

If you choose to wear hearing aids, the following will happen:

• You will be offered a choice of colour to choose from
• We will advise which style of hearing aid suits your clinical and physical requirements
• We will organise an ear impression, if needed
• We will book a fitting appointment.