Hearing aid has '˜improved my life no end': Leroy

40-year-old Leroy Dempster, who has suffered from hearing loss for most of his life, said the device had “improved his life no end”.

Father-of-two Leroy’s mother noticed that he wasn’t taking in a lot of the lessons in primary school and after that he underwent many operations to help improve his hearing. As a musician and someone who participates in pantomimes and musical theatre, hearing is of paramount importance.

Audiologist Andrew MacPherson of the Coleraine’s Hidden Hearing branch nominated Leroy as part of the CSR programme the company is promoting to improve peoples’ hearing. When Leroy got the phone call to inform him he was chosen to benefit from the scheme, he was over the moon.

Leroy said: “I was speechless when I got the call, when the news sank in I thought this was amazing. The quality of the hearing aids I am wearing is state of the art. It’s improved my life no end.

“I used to back off when in group situations, I was scared to get involved in case I missed something, but with my new hearing devices I know what’s going on around me. Before this, I might not have heard something the right way and I would come out with something random. And my friends would look at me as if to say – what is he going on about.”

Audiologist Andrew MacPherson has been working for Hidden Hearing for 14 years and nominated Leroy for the company’s “Give Back” programme. Andrew said: “I think Leroy is a good example of how hearing loss can affect people of all different ages. Leroy is only 40 but has had difficulty hearing from an early age. I think unfortunately there will always be the stigma that being hard of hearing means old age or aging but it is just a medical condition which can be helped with hearing devices and these days hearing aids are so discreet – you wouldn’t notice them.”