I have Otosclerosis. This was diagnosed in my early twenties (I am in my early fifties now!) and a stapedectomy was performed on one of my ears. Unfortunately this was not successful, but I was very fortunate in that the ear was still able to benefit from wearing a hearing aid. I have been wearing two hearing aids all day, every day since then.

I am an musician. My main instrument, and my greatest love, is the church organ, and from 1986 until the last few years, I have played mainly in three local churches. I also accompany singers on the piano and used to play the double bass when I was at school, but stopped when I became anxious about not being able to hear such low sounds.

I first met Mr Parfitt (of Broom Reid & Harris) in 2008 when I went for a hearing test at Broom Reid & Harris. (This firm as had a very good reputation in this area for decades.) I explained to him that I was really keen to know if he could improve my hearing in any way at all. Now that my family were more grown up, I was hoping that I would be able to find time to have some organ lessons and maybe, one day, get some sort of advanced qualification, and of course, I am always wanting to hear as well as I can in social situations. I did have some lessons in my late teens but my teacher was elderly and became too ill to teach. As I could manage well enough to play for church services, I just carried on doing so.

There are several difficulties with playing the organ when wearing hearing aids – the size and nature of the building, the huge range of volume of the organ stops, the need to be able to hear what the choir are singing, and the need to be able to hear readers and preachers in order to know what to play! Distortion is a particularly unpleasant problem. Naturally, it is very difficult to be confident in this sort of circumstance and any distraction affects the standard of playing.

Right from the start, Mr Parfitt was eager to see if he could improve things for me. At every appointment, (and I have had many!) he has taken the time and trouble to listen and try to understand the problems. He first went to great lengths to find out the right sort of ear piece for me and then proceeded to programme my hearing aids, taking into account every piece of information I could offer to work out the next adjustment to make. Everything has had to be recorded accurately and methodically because the smallest incorrect adjustment can start to cause difficulties and confuse the situation.

Manufacturer's recommendations and suggestions for adjustments have often had to be modified as they do not apply either to my sort of loss or to my interpretation of sound. He has made a huge effort to balance the requirements for my music against my 'every day' hearing needs, and I feel we are very close now to getting the best 'set up' for me. He has been exceptionally patient and encouraging and at not time have I been made to feel silly or a nuisance.

As a result of his support and efforts, I am now confident enough to have regular lessons with a teacher of the highest standard. I now play the organ in a number of different churches locally, for services, weddings and funerals, and regularly accompany the choir at our local town church. I can take the junior choir practice if required. I am confident enough now to be able to do some singing in the choir myself, because I can now hear the others more clearly. I am able to accompany soloists more confidently, and I play for the school choir. If things continue as they are, it may even be possible to attempt to gain an advanced organ qualification. I have also tried playing the double bass in an orchestra and discovered that I can do that once more.

I had accepted that I would never now have chance or the confidence to tackle some of the things I am doing now.

Janet Dietz