New Zealand’s #1 Direct to Consumer Hearing Aids
600+ Five Star Reviews
New Zealand’s #1 Direct to Consumer Hearing Aids
600+ Five Star Reviews
By Don Hudson, CEO of PocketAid
We’ve all heard it, or maybe said it ourselves: “You’ve got selective hearing!”
Usually aimed at a husband who’s mysteriously deaf to “take the bins out” but fully alert to “dinner’s ready.” It’s a classic joke, and for a good reason – it resonates (pun intended). But underneath the humour is something very real, and increasingly common: a pattern of hearing loss that fools us into thinking it’s about effort, not ears.
Let’s be honest. No one wants to admit they’re not hearing as well as they used to. It’s far easier to believe people have just started mumbling more (or to blame your wife’s ‘whispering voice’) than to accept that your ears might be missing frequencies like an old radio skipping over half the stations.
But this isn’t laziness or denial. It’s biology.
Hearing loss isn’t all-or-nothing. It’s not about plunging into silence overnight. It’s more like a slow fade-out, where certain frequencies drop off the map before others. That’s why you might hear the rumble of a car engine perfectly but struggle to follow your granddaughter’s high-pitched story.
Think of your hearing like a piano keyboard. If some of the higher keys are broken, you’re going to miss the melody in a lot of conversations, even if the bassline still thunders through just fine. You’re not not listening. You’re just not hearing the whole tune.
And that’s where the misunderstandings begin. When someone says, “You’re mumbling,” what they often mean is, “I can’t make out what you’re saying.” But the problem isn’t your enunciation, or volume control knob, it’s their hearing filter.
Traditionally, we’ve told people: go to a clinic, get an audiogram, sit in a booth with headphones on while someone plays beeps.
For many, that’s a non-starter.
Between the stigma, the inconvenience, and the denial (which can be strong!), this approach simply isn’t working. By the time most people get diagnosed, their quality of life has already taken a hit – social withdrawal, misunderstandings, and frustration have crept in. What’s more, with such high hearing aid prices in Australia, this path often leads straight into a high-pressure pitch, and a big decision made in a moment that doesn’t always feel like your own.
We knew there had to be a better way.
At PocketAid, we’ve developed a free, online Hearing Aid Simulator that brings early detection right into the living room. No booths. No pressure.
It walks you through 12 common real-world listening scenarios, from café chatter and group conversations to children’s voices. These are the exact situations where people with early hearing loss struggle but might not even realise it yet.
Our idea is to gently demonstrate to people where their hearing may need support.
Still not sure how hearing aids help? Here’s a quick analogy.
Imagine your hearing is a pair of sunglasses, scratched and a bit faded. You can still see, but things aren’t crisp. A hearing aid isn’t just turning up the brightness; it’s polishing the lenses and restoring the contrast. It helps you focus on the sounds that matter, not just make everything louder.
It’s time we stop thinking of hearing loss as something to be ashamed of, or something that only happens to ‘other people.’ It’s time we stop saying “You’re mumbling” and start asking, “Could I be hearing differently?”
With tools like PocketAid’s Hearing Aid Simulator, the first step no longer requires a clinical setting or a major financial commitment. It just requires curiosity and, maybe, a bit of courage.
Being able to laugh with your partner, hear your grandkids, or follow the punchline at dinner – that’s worth hearing.