The NHS currently provide free digital hearing aids. So why do people decide to go private? There's been a lot of publicity in recent years about how long people have to wait for a hearing aid, but is that all there is to the discussion?

Take a look at the benefits of going NHS... and some of the downsides.

First, a bit of history…

Until recently the NHS were supplying an older type of hearing aid technology called "analogue". These hearing aids were notorious for making everything sound louder, including background noise. Consequently many people did not like to wear them and left them unused in the drawer.

But this all changed with the recent modernisation of NHS hearing aids services.