Why I started The Hearing Suite

Opening The Hearing Suite has been a dream of mine for several years now. I have seen and worked with (or within) Audiology practices in the NHS, national chains and family businesses. I felt like they all had their strengths, but I wanted to create the kind of practice that offered the care that I would want for myself or my own family.

It’s so important that clinical care is of the highest standard, but I also believe that health care shouldn’t have to be a stressful or a dreaded foe. With The Hearing Suite, I have encapsulated a visit to the spa, golf course or a 5* hotel with the finest clinical care.

What drives me as a professional?

• Attention to detail
• Desire to keep learning
• Love of communication

My career in Audiology started with a chance meeting with an orphan.

I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do when I left school, so I applied to a charity called Project Trust (based on Coll in the Inner Hebrides). I was accepted and placed in an orphanage in the North of Peru for 12 months with another girl of the same age. She and I were the only English speakers and were desperately trying to learn Spanish as we went.

There was a little girl called Rocio who was profoundly deaf. She was 11 and just starting to learn the American sign language they use in Peru. Rocio was incredible at using mime/charades to get us to understand what was going on and where we needed to be. She had experienced much in her short life and would spend a lot of her time with us.

One day she came home, and an Italian charity had given her hearing aids and she was so pleased with them. Within the week she had worn them in the shower and brought them to us dripping with water. I remember thinking that I knew nothing about hearing aids, but I was sure that wasn’t right! Working with her something clicked, and I applied to do by Batchelors in Audiology the following year. The rest is audiological history!