Best hearing aid providers

If you're looking to buy the best hearing aids, it's the fit and aftercare that matters most for a good experience. So the provider you choose is of the utmost importance. 

To find the best, we surveyed 3,609 hearing aid users about their experiences with hearing aid providers. We asked them everything from the range of products they were offered to the quality of aftercare and whether they thought it was value for money.

We also asked how much they spent and what type of hearing aids they bought to see how hearing aid providers compare on costs.

Two providers impressed enough to be named Which? Recommended Providers (WRPs). Discover the best places to buy your hearing aids here.

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Hearing aid providers rated

Our 2025 survey reveals how customers rated providers, including Amplifon, Boots Hearingcare, Hidden Hearing and Specsavers, as well as independent retailers.

We asked about nine key areas of care, including the suitability and comfort of products offered, value for money, aftercare and facilities. We also gathered insights on the typical hearing aid prices at each retailer.

The highest-scoring high street provider received an overall customer score of 86% and top ratings for its facilities and staffing, as well as the comfort of the hearing aids it provides.

Only logged-in Which? members can see how each provider was rated in our survey and our full results and verdict below. If you're not yet a member, join Which? to get instant access to this and lots more independent advice, including our insider guide to hearing aid prices.

Amplifon

Amplifon is an Italian multinational company with over 100 clinics across the UK, and home visits for those who need them, selling brands including ReSound, Phonak and Widex. 

Log in or join Which? to find out more about Amplifon and how it fared against rivals.

Bayfields

Bayfields is a group of private independent opticians in England with 51 clinics. Hearing aid brands include Widex, Oticon, and Starkey. It offers a seven-day free trial of hearing aids.

Log in or join Which? for more on this provider and to find out whether it beats the competition.

Boots Hearingcare

Boots Hearingcare has a huge 400 branches UK-wide. It sells brands including Phonak and Starkey, as well as AudioNova and Coselgi. 

Log in or join Which? to discover whether the high street giant got the thumbs up in our customer survey.

Hidden Hearing

Hidden Hearing is one of the bigger hearing aid providers, with more than 300 local clinics across Great Britain and a home-visit offer. It sells Bernafon, Oticon and Starkey hearing aids.

Log in or join Which? to find out if Hidden Hearing should be your choice of provider.

Leightons

Leightons was founded as an opticians in 1928 and now has 35 branches across the UK. It's been offering hearing care since 2006 and sells Oticon, Starkey and Phonak hearing aids among others.

Log in or join Which? for the lowdown on Leightons, including how it performed in our survey.

M&S Opticians

M&S Opticians, which also offers hearing care, has 38 clinics in Great Britain. It sells Starkey, ReSound, Phonak and Oticon hearing aids.

Log in or join Which? to see whether M&S Opticians is up there with the best for hearing aids.

Scrivens

Scrivens is one of the main hearing aid providers, with more than 160 clinics across England and Wales. It also offers the 'Any Qualified Provider' (AQP) service. This is where the NHS commissions it in certain areas of England to provide assessment and hearing aids – free of charge – to NHS patients.

Scrivens sells ReSound, Starkey, Oticon and Phonak hearing aid brands.

Log in or join Which? to find out how Scrivens was rated by its customers.

Specsavers

Specsavers is a major hearing aid provider in the UK, with over 800 branches offering hearing services and home visits available. Specsavers offers the 'Any Qualified Provider' service as well as selling privately.

Specsavers sells its own-brand Advance hearing aids, as well as others, including Phonak and Signia.

Log in or join Which? to find out if you should go to Specsavers, or if there are higher-scoring choices.

More hearing aid providers

There are other high-street providers in the market that we didn't have a big enough sample size to rate in our survey, including Costco and Outside Clinic. 

Costco

Warehouse chain Costco has eight hearing aid centres in England and Scotland. You have to be a member to shop at Costco, which you pay an annual membership fee for. 

It sells Philips, ReSound and Rexton hearing aids.

Outside Clinic

Outside Clinic focuses on home visits, although there are seven hearing centres in England you can go to if you prefer. It also offers glasses.

Hearing aid brands it sells include Signia, Starkey and Widex.

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Best hearing aid brands

We don't have ratings for the best hearing aid brands, because years of experience researching and reviewing hearing aids has shown us that its the provider and the service you receive that is most important in terms of how happy you are with the outcome.

The right retailer will take the time and skill to pinpoint the right brand and type of hearing aid for you, and then fit it so it works optimally.

Retailers and brands are often tied in, too, so you will only see certain brands at certain retailers, so it's better to focus on the more important choice and not get too worked up about the brand you're buying.

Who sells which hearing aid brands?

Most big retailers only stock specific brands, often the ones that they are tied into, so you won't get the full range of choices at any one retailer. 

"You can buy the same brands privately as you'd get from the NHS. The most common NHS and privately bought brands in our survey were Oticon and Phonak. The only real difference in NHS-supplied aids is likely to be that you'll get last year's model."

Joanna Pearl, Which? hearing aids expert

Here's who sells what brands:

• Amplifon sells Phonak, Oticon, Signia, Widex and ReSound, as well as its own brand.
• Bayfields sells Widex, Starkey and Oticon.
• Boots Hearingcare sells Phonak and Starkey, as well as AudioNova and Cosegi.
• Hidden Hearing sells Bernafon, Oticon and Starkey.
• Leightons sells Oticon, Starkey, Phonak, Widex, ReSound and Unitron.
• M&S Opticians sells Starkey, ReSound, Phonak and Oticon.
• Scrivens sells ReSound, Oticon, Phonak and Starkey.
• Specsavers sells Phonak, Signia and Resound, as well as its own-brand Specsavers Advance range.

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Why does it matter where I buy my hearing aid from?

It's crucial to choose a trusted retailer to maximise your chances of getting the right hearing aids for you. The difference between a good and a bad option isn't usually the aid itself, it's the fit and service given by the provider that matter more.

It can take time to fit and adjust an aid correctly so that it's working to maximise your hearing and doesn't cause you to get frustrated and give up.

Your audiologist can also advise on what high-end features you really need.

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Hearing aid buying pressure

We always ask about this in our survey, as we've found some evidence of it in the past. This year, 13% of respondents told us they felt under some pressure to buy from their retailer or to buy immediately.

This did vary between providers – it was just 3% for those who bought from a local independent retailer. But results weren't statistically significant enough between brands for us to report on them.

Remember, don't feel like you have to buy there and then, whatever the salesperson says. Take your time and think about it if you need to. If they won't honour the price they are offering at a later date, then you are free to go elsewhere. Going in armed with our pricing insights can help you to feel more confident about the kind of prices you are being quoted too.

Our hearing aid research: how we uncover the best providers

Experience has taught us that asking customers who have bought and used hearing aids about their experiences is the best way to uncover who's making people happy, and who's not delivering a great experience.

We surveyed more than 3,600 people about their experiences and asked them 26 detailed questions covering everything from the range of products offered, through to the aftercare they experienced.

Our researchers and statisticians then delve into the data to calculate an overall customer score, based on ratings for customer satisfaction and likelihood to recommend, and to produce star ratings for different factors to make it easier to compare across brands.

How we select Which? Recommended Providers for hearing aids

Which? Recommended Provider status is only awarded to brands that are most highly rated by consumers in our survey and pass our additional vetting process.

We scrutinise the highest-scoring brands against a number of measures, including the terms and conditions, and what was included in standard offerings – as well as any potential red flags – to determine the brands we're happy to recommend.

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