I must admit that when I was first asked to review this book I tried to find excuses not to do it. The title rather put me off as whilst I am Hearing Aid Dispenser registered, I do not dispense hearing aids for sale.
However, I am very glad that I did read it as I rather enjoyed it and found it very useful from a National Health Service (NHS) dispensing perspective and as a manager of an NHS audiology service.
The clue is in the title – this book is about selling hearing aids – very much in a quality way. It takes you through the journey from first contact with the patient, gathering patient history and understanding their difficulties, conducting assessment, discussing the results and closing the sale.
This book is packed with resources and references current and past research. There are links to websites for further study / investigation and many examples of literature that can be used with patients. Dr Taylor makes a good case for the routine utilisation of QuickSIN and Acceptable Noise Level (ANL) tests as part of the assessment protocol with good links to hearing aid candidature and efficacy.
Much use is made of ‘Bright Ideas ‘sections in the book which are tips on practice or concise summaries of the text. This helps to break up what could have been a dry text, but isn’t. In fact, this book manages to perform a neat trick, in that it is far from simplistic in content but easy to read. It holds the attention to the end with the possible exception of the last few pages on manufacturer selling which seem a bit of a bolt-on.
I would recommend this book for any professional involved in the hearing aid dispensing process, especially those embarking on a career. Whilst reading, I could not help but compare this total quality approach to that prominent in Any Qualified Provider.
