digital hearing aids are about to be introduced to the audiology department at Harrogate District Hospital.

The move is part of a Government initiative to modernise NHS hearing aid services.

Digital hearing aids can offer improvements that can have an impact on a patient's quality of life and how they are able to communicate with others.

Harrogate Health Care NHS Trust general manager Timothy Ling said: "We are thrilled to be putting this service in place and all patients who wish to try a digital aid will be able to join the waiting list for an appointment.

"Many people will have high expectations of the new digital aids, however, they are not ideal for everyone and patients should bear in mind that they may not always achieve significant improvements in their hearing with a digital aid.

"In previous years, the digital technology has been beyond the reaches of NHS budgets, but as a result of new developments combined with the purchasing power of the NHS, costs have been dramatically reduced to a more affordable level," said Mr Ling.

Chief audiologist Liz Fawcett said: "Our key task now is to start prioritising patients in the trust's catchment area so that we can assess each patient individually to ascertain if a digital aid will be of clinical benefit to them."