Devika Tranter
RHAD,FdSc,BSc,HCPC
Who we are and why we set up our business
I began working in a newly opened hearing aid shop as a receptionist in West London over ten years ago. My previous career had been in administration so this was a change of direction. Like a lot of people I wasn't really aware of hearing aids, being so discreet they aren't particularly noticeable, so it was only when I became more aware of them that I saw the amount of hearing aid users out there.
I quickly found that I enjoyed the customer facing role and having not known anything about hearing aids I was amazed to see how intuitive and discreet they could be, and just how they made a difference to someone’s life.
I enrolled at Anglian Ruskin University in Cambridge to study to become a hearing care assistant, HCA. I qualified after two years and this then allowed me to interact with the customer more, to be able to service hearing aids and help the customer to get the most out of them and importantly show them how to look after their hearing aids to keep them working at their best.
A few years later I had a great opportunity to be able to go back to Anglian Ruskin University to study and become an audiologist, which I qualified from after two years.
I continued to work for one of the largest Audiology companies in Europe, where over my time there, I managed several branches. I found that a computing degree I gained when I left school, allowed me to have the confidence to get into the micro processors found in all modern hearing aids. This meant I could get the absolute best from them to give the patient the best possible experience and achieve a good level of sound quality.
Having progressed so far in the industry I wanted to be able to offer more. So my Husband and I decided to open our shop within the community where we live and where we raise our children. We wanted to be able to offer the John Lewis level of customer care and satisfaction to our customers. Since we opened, it has allowed us to be able to dedicate the time to allow my patients to get the most from their hearing aids. When somebody hasn't heard sounds for a period of time, where the brain has slowly gone to sleep having not heard sounds that we often take for granted, suddenly introducing hearing aids can result in a harsh experience. The sound of keys dropped on a hard floor, or a knife scraped across a plate can be unbearable at first. So I take my time to work with my patients to gradually help them acclimatise to the hearing they have missed over the years. I never get tired of seeing the look on my patients faces when they come back for their subsequent check ups, and they tell me how they have improved their quality of life. But also how their partners and family are no longer deafened by the booming TV or constantly repeating themselves.
There's one thing however you won't get from us, pressure selling. When you have a hearing test with us we will give you best advice and take time to go over your results. If the results show you would benefit from a hearing aid then we will discuss your options, and our free no obligation trial. If you decide you don’t want to proceed then no problem, we'll contact you once a year to invite you in for your hearing test so we can monitor your results, and when you're ready to try out hearing aids, we'll be here for you.