Oreille IR
Senior Audiologist Reviews Every Irish Personal Sound Amplifier Option — From HSE Waiting Lists to €4,500 Private Clinics — and Reveals What She'd Actually Recommend
My name is Dr. Janet Morris, I'm a retired clinical audiologist with over 30 years of experience fitting personal sound amplifiers in Ireland.
And I've never been more frustrated with this industry.
Every week I hear from people in their 60s, 70s, and 80s who are stuck in the same impossible situation.
The HSE will give them personal sound amplifiers free — but only with a Medical Card, and the waiting list is up to two years.
Private clinics will see them tomorrow, but they want €4,500 or more.
And Amazon is full of cheap devices that promise the world for €50.
Most people end up doing nothing.
They turn the TV up.
They ask people to repeat themselves.
They stop going to places they used to love because they can't follow conversations anymore.
After 30 years of watching this happen, I decided to do something about it.
I bought all the different personal sound amplifier options with my own money and tested them all.
On real people. Over six months.
Here's what I found.
Government Subsidies Personal Sound Amplifiers (HSE)
They're heavily subsidised — sometimes free if you qualify. The technology is decent, the government buys from the same manufacturers as the private clinics.
But you'll wait 6 to 18 months to get them. When you do, you'll most likely get behind-the-ear aids.
The big beige ones with a tube that hooks over your ear.
They work. But the batteries die every four days.
They whistle every time you pick up the phone. There's one volume setting for everything. And everyone can see them.
I fitted these for years. I know how many end up in a drawer.
About 2 in 5 people stop wearing them. Not because they're broken. Because living with them is exhausting.
Specsavers, Hidden Hearing, and the Private Clinics
Average price at Specsavers: €1,900. Hidden Hearing: €3,500. Independent premium clinics: €4,500.
The technology is good. I'm not going to pretend it isn't.
But after 30 years in this industry, I can tell you exactly what you're paying for.
The personal sound amplifier itself — the receiver, the chip, the microphone — costs about €110 to €140 to manufacture. I've seen the supplier invoices. I know what these components actually cost.
The rest of that €4,500?
The retail location.
The sales staff.
The audiologist's commission — and yes, most private clinic audiologists earn a percentage of what they sell you. That's why they always recommend the premium range.
The regional manager.
The head office.
The TV adverts.
And nobody tells you about the ongoing costs before you buy.
Batteries: about €60 a year for two aids.
Replacement parts when something wears out: €50 to €95.
When something breaks, one customer told me her private clinic charged €140 just to assess the problem.
Repair on top: €480 to €700.
Over ten years, you're looking at closer to €7,000.
For technology that costs €140 to make.
And yes, the PRSI Treatment Benefit gives you up to €500 an ear, so €1,000 towards a pair. But on a €4,500 clinic bill, you're still paying thousands out of your own pocket.
I spent my whole career watching pensioners choose between their heating bill and their hearing. It made me sick.
Amazon
This is where I get genuinely angry.
What Amazon sells are not personal sound amplifiers. They're amplifiers. I need people to understand this because it's the single biggest reason people think cheap personal sound amplifiers don't work.
An amplifier makes everything louder. Voices, traffic, the fridge, your own breathing — all at the same volume.
It cannot separate speech from background noise. That's why voices stay muffled while everything else gets painfully loud.
A real personal sound amplifier has a digital processing chip that filters sound.
It makes voices clearer and pushes background noise down. Completely different technology.
That processing chip for personal sound amplifiers costs around €110 on its own.
If you're buying a complete device for €50 on Amazon, that chip is not in there. What you're getting is a speaker and a battery in a plastic shell.
In my testing, Amazon amplifiers were the worst option by far. Potentially dangerous. Risk of further hearing damage from unfiltered loud noise.
If you've tried Amazon and given up, you weren't trying personal sound amplifiers. You were trying amplifiers.
Please don't let that experience put you off.
Direct-to-Consumer: Lunova (€149.99)
This is the one that surprised me.
When I first heard about Lunova, I assumed it was another Amazon-style amplifier with better marketing. €149.99 for a pair of personal sound amplifiers? It didn't seem possible.
So I did what I'd do with any device. I opened them up. I looked at the components. I tested them on real patients alongside everything else.
They use Knowles receivers. That's the same supplier Specsavers and Hidden Hearing use.
Same digital processing chips. Proper multi-channel sound filtering, not amplification.
The technology is genuinely comparable to personal sound amplifiers costing far more.
They're a CE-marked medical device. The same certification standard as every personal sound amplifier in a private clinic. Same essential requirements.
Amazon amplifiers don't have this. Lunova does.
I looked into the company.
Founded by a man called David Taylor.
His father was in his seventies, struggling with his hearing, couldn't afford the private clinics on his pension, wouldn't wait two years for the HSE.
Taylor had worked in the personal sound amplifier industry. He knew what the components actually cost.
When the rules changed and direct-to-consumer personal sound amplifiers became more accessible, he set up Lunova. Same components as the big brands. No retail location, no commission, no markup.
I emailed the company with some technical questions. A woman named Diane replied within four hours. Specific, detailed, knowledgeable. Not a chatbot. Not a template.
Returns: 45 days. Full refund. No cancellation fee. Guarantee: two years. If anything goes wrong, they replace it.
Rechargeable. No batteries. No fumbling over the sink every four days.
In my testing, most patients couldn't reliably tell the difference between Lunova and the personal sound amplifiers costing thousands.
The feedback was the same, over and over: "Why didn't someone tell me about this sooner?"
What I hear from real people
Since publishing my findings, I've heard from thousands of people who've tried Lunova. The same things keep coming up:
"TV volume went from 50 down to 8."
Robert, 78, Cork
"I paid €4,000 at Hidden Hearing two years ago, even after the grant. These are better."
Colin, 72, Galway
"Waited nearly two years on the HSE list. Put those aids in a drawer after three days with these."
Roy, 74, Dublin
"Wasted €200 on Amazon before my neighbour told me what I'd actually been buying."
Keith, 71, Limerick
My recommendation
After 30 years fitting personal sound amplifiers, here's what I tell everyone who asks.
If you hold a Medical Card and you're happy with behind-the-ear aids, the HSE route is a perfectly good option. It's free and the technology is solid — if you're willing to wait up to two years.
If you want the best technology and money is no object, the private clinics will look after you. You'll pay for it, but you'll get good aftercare.
But if you're like most people I've worked with — who can't justify thousands even after the grant, can't wait two years, and don't want to waste money on Amazon rubbish that whistles and screeches — try Lunova first.
€149.99. Same core technology as private clinics.
45-day trial at home. If they don't work, just send them back for a refund.
I recommended them to my own father. 84 years old. Stubborn as they come.
Wouldn't wait on the list. Wouldn't pay €4,500 at a clinic.
Now wearing Lunova every day. "Should've done this years ago," he told me last week.
IMPORTANT UPDATE
Since this article was published, Lunova has gained tremendous attention and interest.
The company has reached out to our editorial team to inform us that, for a limited time, they are offering our readers an exclusive 50% discount on Lunova.
Plus, every order comes with a 45-day risk-free trial at home, 1-year warranty and free insured shipping.
If you don't experience clearer hearing within 45 days, you can just return it.
Check availabilityComments (6)
The bit about Amazon amplifiers is SO important. I wasted nearly €200 on three different pairs before reading this. Wish someone had explained the difference between amplifiers and actual personal sound amplifiers years ago. Would have saved me a lot of frustration.
My son sent me this article after I missed another phone call from my daughter. Just ordered Lunova with the discount. On a pension so €149.99 is a lot more manageable than the €4,000 Hidden Hearing quoted me even after the PRSI grant. Fingers crossed. Will update in a few weeks.
My husband has been on the HSE waiting list since September 2024. Still nothing. 16 months and counting. This article made me angry for all the right reasons. Sharing with everyone I know.
2 weeks with Lunova now. Cancelled my clinic appointment. These work just as well as my brother's €4,000 pair. Already told 3 of the lads. Dr Morris is right about the markup. Should've found these sooner.
Bought my husband a pair for his birthday. He moaned about it for a week. Now he won't take them out. Men...
TV volume went from 44 to 11. Wife can't believe it. Waited on the HSE list for ages and gave up, but these are smaller, no whistling, and rechargeable. Should've done this years ago instead of fumbling with batteries every Monday morning.