A tale of two hearing aids….
A tale of two hearing aids….
(Or the how’s, why’s and wherefore’s of Affordable Hearing)!
A tale of two hearing aids: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”. A bit of Dickensian word wizardry there. That’s going to be a pretty tricky act to follow, In fact, I feel fairly confident in saying that, in a literary sense, the only way from here, is down – sorry in advance!
Although, I do also have to say that well fitted hearing aids always contribute to better times! In order to stay loosely on task (for now – never lasts long!) and on subject I am going to explore the lives of two hearing aids and the impact Affordable Hearing will have on their lives and the knock on ripple effect that will create in many other lives. Focussing on a pair of NHS traditional zinc air battery powered hearing aids and a private pair of rechargeable aids. Shall we give them names to make it more personal? Up to you, you name them if you fancy it. These (insert you own name) are clearly not the only kinds of hearing aids around. However, to attempt to remain vaguely true to the ‘tale of two’ title, those are our subjects for today!
A tale of two hearing aids!
Once upon a time……. this (Atale of two hearing aids) would have been a very short story. Some may argue that would seem a blessed relief. The whole story really would have been: Once upon a time there were two hearing aids. Both were good, one arguably better. One had batteries for breakfast, the other was charged overnight. Both worked hard and consistently for their wearers, enabling them to live their best hearing lives. After several years they were no longer needed and went in the bin. The End. More a horror story, than fairy tale, to us at Affordable Hearing. So, for the third time in not very many words, I’m going to ‘borrow’ some for an opening: Let’s GO!
“This one time at band camp”, OK, that’s not it…. This story is the aforementioned “A Tale of Two Hearing Aids”,
the Affordable Hearing Director’s cut.
Which follows exactly the same plot as the tale of an NHS battery and Private rechargeable hearing aid up until the point where they ‘were no longer needed and went in the bin’. In the ‘Affordable Hearing Direct’or’s cut, they got rescued at the last moment from the gaping jaws of the landfill crusher and lived another good few happy, productive, loved and needed, years more. How, (we hear (because we have our hearing aids in!) you cry))? Or do we??
In essence our little hearing aid characters became teeny tiny heroes (or more sensibly put as: examples of Circular Economy and Sustainable Aid (more on this later – all will be revealed – we promise). We (Affordable Hearing) are a BCORP pending business. We’re hoping to further the BCORP cause of Doing Business for Good. Part of our commitment to the process is to write an amendment into our articles of incorporation. All sounds very serious and grown up, doesn’t it? Well, it sort of is. We may work with small (but very clever) bits of kit but we ‘think big’ and ‘dream big’. We feel that hundreds of thousands of hearing aids going to landfill and hundreds of millions of people not having access to them, coupled with NHS waiting lists is a big problem and we’d like to try and fix it with small (but very clever) bits of kit!
The amendments we’ve just mentioned as part of our commitment to BCORP are the 3 P’s. Profit, People and Planet. In essence, by applying to be part of BCORP we have committed to trying to make a Profit; whilst looking after as many People as Possible; whilst doing our utmost to Protect the Planet and safeguard it for future generations, as we go. OK, so that’s even more P’s in there but, they sound good, don’t they?
We know we’re not going to give Mr Dickens or Bill Shakespeare a run for their money any time soon but, we do always ‘do our best’. It’s the Fourth Agreement doncha know – (the first 3 being, speak nicely to yourself and others, don’t make assumptions and don’t take anything personally’). We never miss any opportunity to sneak those 4 little bits of wisdom in! Like a hearing aid, they’re small and sit quietly at the centre of things, but make a BIG difference!
Time to focus again….. A tale of two hearing aids…
Right, time to focus on the main story again! Let’s take a deeper dive into what and why the 3 P’s of BCORP goodness and how they are reflected in the guiding principles of Affordable Hearing.
As an organisation we are mission led. The mission comes first and everything else follows to make it happen! The ‘mission’ being affordable, sustainable, available hearing care regardless of economic and geographical situation. We’re very fond of tea and biscuits. Lucky as many cups were drunk and many biscuits dunked in our pursuit of the right organisational structure! We know we shouldn’t but isn’t there just something about finding exactly the right immersion time? The ‘will it/won’t it drop off’ high wire? After much sipping (no slurping), munching (no crunching – too dunked) and general chewing of the cud.
Yikes, off on another tangent. Enough tea, biscuits and cud chat. We came to the conclusion that a commercial BCORP enterprise was the way for us to ‘try our best’ to achieve some of our lofty goals. We are the perfect fit for BCORP and hope we reflect everything the movement stands for. The 3 P’s are right for us for the following reasons:
The 3 P’s (of BCorp goodness)
The first P: Profit:
Would be lovely one day. For now it is a long way off. We seem to be much better at giving hearing aids away than selling them! ‘We’ are: Gordon and Zoe (Founders of Affordable Hearing). We’ve worked together and separately on various other ventures, over the years, which could be described as ‘worthy’. A Not for Profit trying to tackle roadside litter. It’s not just ‘rubbish’ to look at (sorry, couldn’t resist the pun!) but incredibly harmful to flora and fauna too. A charitable venture to retrieve and repurpose polluting plastic in the marine environment. More specifically from inaccessible beaches on the West coast of Scotland (RCC-CREW). A perfect opportunity for Gordon to combine several of his great loves Scotland, the sea, boats and his trusty, omnipresent and adorable sea dog The Count of Mondego (Pindywhip for short – no obvious explanation, just ‘cos!).
As well as various ‘entrepreneurial’ adventures. All of which led to an amount of head scratching (from confusion, there’s no flies (or fleas) on small dog Mondego) with the tea and biscuits. We just didn’t know which organisational structure fitted with and would let us maximise everything we wanted Affordable Hearing to do. An ultimately fruitless visit to a team of branding and marketing experts led us to BCORP and we’d found our spiritual business home.
The BCORP movement is moving fast and spreading wide. Well known long time members include companies such as Patagonia. Yvon Chouinard’s awe inspiring example of good business practice. His book ‘Let My People go Surfing’ is a highly recommended read from us to you – if you haven’t already. Newer kids the block include ‘Innocent’ Smoothies and ‘Who Gives a Crap’ – more on them now!
Who Gives A Crap – A study in how to do business for good!
It was a chance encounter with Mike Steven’s book ‘The Direct-To-Consumer Playbook’ and, more specifically, the case study therein featuring ‘Who Gives Crap’ that really made all the pieces land together. One of the Co-Founders, Simon Griffiths explained their motivations in easy to digest lingo and thank heavens there was a tea and biscuits hiatus. Too many biscuits aren’t good for you! Affordable Hearing was born and the BCORP application in the post! Showing our age a bit there. It wasn’t literally ‘in the post’ but it was winging it’s way electronically to BCORP central. Like Affordable Hearing, Who Gives a Crap is using the need for a connected product ‘here’ to solve a problem ‘there’. For Simon and his team their focus and passion is to try and make sure everyone on the planet has access to sanitation and they are going to sell loo roll for a profit until they achieve that goal. For us, for fear of stating the bleedin’ obvious, it’s hearing aids (did the name give it away by any chance!?).
Profit? – Why not a charity? – Admin!
Admin! We hate it, don’t you? Actually, that’s not entirely true but it’s not our favourite thing. However, we did find with RCC-Crew that as a small charity there was a disproportionately large amount of admin in relation to the running of the charity. That this took a lot of our time and resources before we started to even contemplate getting out to sea to pick up a piece of plastic or two (million!). That the ‘charity’ structure limited the ‘good’ we were able to do. Something we were keen to minimise with Affordable Hearing.
Profit? – Why not a charity? – Investment and Scale!
Mike Steven’s Case Study of Simon Grtiffiths’ Who Gives a Crap explained this perfectly for us. He highlighted a charity’s constant need for funds and how restrictive to growth and size this can be. Charities are mainly financed through donations. Either from individual or corporate fundraising. Both of which are fickle and precarious. Individual fundraising for a small charity can take a lot of time, distracting energy and focus from ‘the cause’. Something that was a problem for us and our marine litter. It’s also a fire that needs constantly tending. If you divert your attention from asking for money to positive action towards your main aims then the fire goes out. Not so much a vicious cycle as a restrictive tyranny. Corporate fundraising isn’t any easier or more stabilising. As not traditional profit making organisations, charities aren’t high on the list of attractive investment, high return promising, investments. So, again, you’re dependant on donations. Which are discretionary and reliant on ‘good times’. When the economic outlook is buoyant and the balance sheet full then it is relatively easy to attract funds. However, those donations are the first things to stop at any sign of economic turmoil. Putting a charity at great risk of collapse. Something we had seen enough times to know we didn’t want to put Affordable Hearing in the firing line.
Profit? – Why not a charity? – Could a share of ‘profits’ achieve more?
We looked, again, to organisations we felt encapsulated our beliefs and aims. Including most of the BCORP retinue and in particular, I know we keep going on about it but… Who Gives a Crap. Their linked ‘product to sell’ and ‘problem to solve’ (loo paper for loos) was such a no brainer for us ‘Hearing Aids for Hearing Aids’! Simon Griffiths and his team had, in our view, invented the ‘cause led commercial wheel’ and we were going to roll with it. Simon’s early endeavours to ‘do good’ had given him an understanding of how to maximise the benefit of his activities. He worked out that as a man on the ground teaching in Africa he could only help as many people as could physically fit in a room with him for the hours he, too, could be in it. In his view, not enough. So, then came the fundraising bar. Again, limited by the physical number of people who could process through his pub during opening hours. Still not enough! In order to help as many people a possible his best option was to think Big. He realised that to create a large amount of consistent money to tackle his ‘cause’ he’d be best placed to run an ethical commercial company with a commitment to donate a large proportion of the profits. In their case 50%. Several years, over £7 million, stacks of loo roll and a lot of loos later, we can’t argue with that. Simon and the crew, thank you. We’d found our mould and fit (couldn’t resist squeezing a bit of hearing aid jargon in there!). We’re also grateful we didn’t have to sit on the loo for over 50 hours to do it. Less random than it sounds!
The second P: People:
People – all of ’em!
The second guiding principle of BCorp goodness is people. All people. People who help you, to help the people you want to help. For us it’s a ripple effect. Each little hearing aid is the drop in the middle with the people radiating out further and wider from the central point. In this story it’s two little hearing aids in the centre. Aha, we’re back on point. Did you think we had completely lost our way and that this tale would bear no relevance or reference to it’s starting point? In case it’s just too many twists, turns and digressions ago. We started with ‘A tale of two hearing aids’ (a battery powered NHS one and a rechargeable private one) – you may have named them, we left that up to you. It’s been at least 30 seconds since our last ‘p’, yes, we realise we could have a problem! So, it’s time to squeeze a few more out. These are: ‘P’eople with us, ‘P’eople here and ‘P’eople there. Here goes:
‘P’eople (and dogs) with us!
We’re a (very!) small team. We’re almost (but not quite!) always outnumbered by our canine counterparts. In fact, there are often more dogs than people in the office. Part of being a BCorp is looking after your ‘people’ (and dogs) as well as you can. We’ll be adding more info on ‘our people’ (do you want the dogs too?) in the About Us section soon. However, suffice to say they’re all very happy and very well fed (adopting an all for one and one for all biscuit eating policy, regardless of how many legs you’re rocking). The office stalwarts and least likely to be enjoying the benefits of Affordable Hearing remote, flexible working policy (a people happiness generating tool) are deaf Co-Founder Zoe and 2.75 legged Angus. Angus the Goldendoodle, is a bit of a star in his own right. Having been on TV, in a book and mentioned in a theatre tour, thanks to the amazing Supervet Noel Fitzpatrick, who literally put him back together following a serious accident (you can see Angus’ story here in Episode 6). Being the ‘office stalwarts’ is probably helped by most of the key, day to day,
operations happening in Zoe and Angus’ kitchen. It’s where the magic happens (as a by the by, we love the story of the magical kitchen (no time now, here’s a link incase you’d like to explore it further though). Again, wrestling it loosely back to the subject in-hand (and ear). If you’d like to gain greater understanding of all things BCorp, please click this link too. What’s the next ‘P’?
‘P’eople – here!
The first ripple. If you’ve made it this far then (well done and) hopefully you’re beginning to realise that we are trying to take a very serious situation and tackle it in a light hearted (but hopefully very effective) way. Co-Founder Zoe began to lose her hearing when she was 14 and received her first NHS hearing aids at the age of 17.
It would make a lovely neat Hollywoodesque story for that hearing aid and one of her subsequent private ones, years later, to be the heroines (are hearing aids female – no time now, answers on a postcard – showing our age again!) of our tale. However, as illustrated perfectly by the previous sentence Zoe was 17 a VERY long time ago so those first NHS hearing aids are museum worthy ones. However, it was at the fitting of her second set of private hearing aids that Zoe took along all her previous sets (NHS and private) and asked what could be done with the others. The shock of being told to keep some good ones as spares and throw the rest away was almost as profound as her hearing loss. The attempt to visualise her pile of hearing aids, destined to go in the bin, multiplied by all the other hearing aid wearers’ hearing aids, made her mind literally boggle. It seemed such a terrible waste. We’ll get on to ‘’P’eople there’ in a mo’. However, just Zoe’s initial thinkings of ‘P’eople here was enough for her to know something had to be done. Our UK system for hearing aid provision is very simple. We are truly blessed to have the NHS (there’s more on NHS hearing aids HERE). If you need a hearing aid in the UK you will be given one free of charge. However, you may have to wait a VERY long
time for it. Otherwise you may decide to try and buy them privately and then they are very expensive. With an inevitable difference in functionality between the two. Zoe knew, from experience, how life changing access to NHS hearing aids and then private hearing aids had been for her. She was also acutely aware that it wasn’t just ‘at home’ in the UK where there were accessibility problems. There was an even bigger problem for ‘‘P’eople there’.
‘P’eople – there!
It didn’t take very long for Zoe to start thinking about just how many people in the world didn’t have access to hearing aids at all. Less a case of having to wait or struggling to afford them. There were hundreds of millions of people around the world who could wait forever, they would still never be able to afford a hearing aid. Knowing that millions of hearing aids were being thrown away every year. She knew she had to do her very best (the fourth agreement again!) to try and stop people throwing them away and to get them to the right people in the right place at the right time. This is what we do! We do this by not only accepting but actively seeking the donation, part-exchange (and hopefully one day trade-in) of all hearing aids. Regardless of make or model. NHS or Private. We then sort and process them and put them to a next best use. Either through circular economy (more on this in a mo’) or charitable distribution. We’ve collected over 60,000 to date and have sent out nearly 16,000 so far this year. In 2024 we have sent several shipments to Fletcher Chisalipo in Malawi. His work and commitment to serving people in his rural outreach programmes often gives us goosebumps. We love receiving his updates, pictures, videos and messages. Fletcher, we love you! Fletcher’s work is so impressive we’ll dedicate a whole post to him soon!
As well as Fletcher in Malawi, we’ve supported many others. Including: George Ole at the Kenya Deaf Schools. The Kenya Deaf Schools have over 170 schools across Kenya.
Bridget Wolhunter at ZANE
Vijaya Francis in Johannesburg
Margaret Wilson for the servicemen in Ukraine
With more being added every day. We’re so grateful we get to do this!! At the time of typing, shipments are being prepared for rural Pakistan, Uganda, Tanzania and Jordan. We’re so thankful to everyone who buys hearing aids from us and enables us to support all of these other organisations, in their work and efforts to also ‘help other hear’.
We have around 44,000 (some are not usable and we recycle those back to components and parts) in the process of being made ready for their next chapters. Which brings us back to P, P, P (there’s definitely a song in there somewhere?) for……
What’s next, another ‘P’?
So that’s the 1st two ‘p(ee)’s’ out of the way. Well it is for us. Are you still holding on? Ok, ok, as you can tell we think Who Gives a Crap is absolutely great but we should probably move on from loos and toilet humour – shouldn’t we? Unless you have a great or pants (too toiletty?) joke to share? In which case please ping it over to us at info@affordable-hearing.co.uk. We’ll find a little hole on the website and plop (enough already!) them in there to share. Sorry, it had all got a bit sensible and serious there for a minute. We do know deafness and lack of access to hearing aids are both those things. One of our many reasons to be grateful is that we work for a mission led business so it’s something we care about that makes us get out of bed each morning. What gets you out of bed each morning (other than a pee – sorry!!)? Our final BCorp ‘P’ is for ‘P’lanet.
‘P’lanet!
The 3rd P: Planet:
What is Circular Economy? A tale of two hearing aids!
Circular Economy is best illustrated by the Ellen McArthur Foundation’s Butterfly Model.
The circular economy is a system where the regeneration of nature is prioritised and no resources become waste. Instead they are are ‘circulated’ through a mechanism of being looked after, reused, refurbished, resold, up-cycled, recycled or composted. In essence the circular economy helps redress many modern day global challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, waste and pollution. It severs the link between commercial activities and the expending of finite resources.
Never ones to shy way from the task at hand, we’d like to share another butterfly with you.
This one is an American Painted Lady. Photographed by Co-Founder Zoe whilst walking the Pembrokeshire Coast Path (in late August 2024). Isn’t it beautiful! She’d love to take credit for noticing and knowing how special it was but that would be utter nonsense.
She had the very good fortune, on rounding a corner on the path, to come across a gentleman who asked “are you here for the butterfly or just walking?”. Zoe explained that she was really there ‘just walking’ but always curious, asked about the butterfly. A description of rocks and distances and scabious bushes ensued and Zoe continued on her way. Thinking she was probably as crazy to be looking for ‘the butterfly’ as the man who described it as “exactly like a British Painted Lady but just a bit more jazzy”. However, following the instructions diligently she stumbled across this lovely butterfly. A quick Apple photo ‘look up’ indeed identified it as an American Painted Lady that had been blown all the way across the Atlantic, Quite extraordinary. Zoe’d actually very much like to say a big thank you to the gentleman. As well as also apologising for her skepticism that a butterfly really could fly across the Atlantic. Evidence if ever it was needed to SPREAD YOUR WINGS AND REACH FOR THE SKY. That butterflies may be small and delicate (like a hearing aid) but they really can take on the greatest oceans (like Ellen McArthur) and that a diagram based on their physical form can create a movement of business that may just save our planet from us.
What makes Affordable Hearing’s Circular Economy?
We are striving to create perpetual, self-financing aid from the profits of a circular economy business. Commerce for the planet. So not only are we trying our best (yep, the 4th again!) to do business in the least impactful way. Making sure our emissions are as low as possible. That our demand for resources is as low as possible. That we minimise packaging in all areas (particularly with the biscuits, better to buy them in a bulk box – honestly!). We are also striving toward over 85% of our sales across hearing services, hearing aids and hearing accessories being circular.
How are we doing it? A tale of two hearing aids.
We are doing this by giving no longer needed hearing aids second lives. If you ever have the good fortune to land in Hearing Aid Central the second most common thing you’ll hear after ‘pass the biscuits’ is probably: “What would a Womble do with it?”. Anyone else remember the Wombles? Their motto was: “make good use of bad rubbish”. Their Wimbledon Common antics were trailblazing examples of creating Circular Economy, 30 years before it was even ‘a thing’. The Wombles were, in our opinion, hairy, living embodiments of Circular Economy. You can never go far wrong asking yourself just that – “what would a Womble do with it?”.
What did all that have to do with our ‘Tale of Two Hearing Aids’?
If we put all the ideas, intentions, hearing aids, hairy and winged creatures, biscuits, office dogs, a dollop of hard work and lot of love into a big pot and stir it all up our no longer needed NHS battery and rechargeable private hearing aids (insert your name here if you’ve named them) emerge like new. Cue some impressive music…. The NHS ones to be sent to the furthest corners of the earth to transform lives through access to hearing. The private ones will probably stay home and be made available to someone in the UK who can’t afford the newest private hearing aids but will have their life massively benefited by having affordable premium hearing aids, when they need them and not in 2 years time.
The best bit….
The best thing about our long and winding tale is that it’s a true story. We really are recovering, repurposing, reselling and redistributing every possible hearing aid until everyone on the planet who needs one has access to one. We (the small but perfectly formed Affordable Hearing Team) get to do it together. We’re lucky, we work on something we care passionately about. We eat a lot of biscuits. We laugh at ourselves as well as at and with each other. It makes sense of Co-Founder Zoe losing her hearing at 14. That the insights she has gained and our hard work will be put to good use to help change lives around the world. Most importantly we get to do it with you. Whether you have an old hearing aid, need a new hearing aid, know someone who has or needs one or even just want to share a really ‘crap’ joke. We’d love to ‘hear’ from you in all the usual ways! Help us ‘Help Others Hear’.
No Wombles were harmed in the writing of this article.
