Our team at Kent Hearing
Director and Consultant Audiologist
Dr. Priya Carling, AuD, RHAD
She has worked as Head of Audiology, Neurophysiology and Speech Therapy at the BUPA Cromwell Hospital, London and was Head of Audiology for East Kent Audiology Services. She then spent 7 years as Director of Education, Principal Investigator and Senior Lecturer at UCL’s Ear Institute in London.
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She has worked as a consultant to the World Health Organisation (WHO) for whom she has helped develop their Basic Ear and Hearing Care resource. She has also been a member of the scientific advisory board for the BEAR project in Denmark and is currently a sections editor for the clinical publication ENT and Audiology News.
Priya is a regular speaker at global hearing events and conferences and provides guest lectures at UK and overseas universities. She is an associate member of AIHHP and a Senior Fellow of the British Society of Audiology (BSA).
Practice Co-ordinator
Stephanie Hogan
Having started her career in the restaurant industry, Stephanie worked for a chain of national opticians before joining Kent Hearing in 2018. She is responsible for much of the important behind the scenes administration and organisation that keeps the practice running smoothly and efficiently.
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Steph’s responsibilities include booking and managing patient appointments, organising follow-ups, book-keeping and finance, IT and all other aspects of day-to-day office administration. She also attends patient consultations when required, assists with hearing aid maintenance and care, and enjoys meeting the wide range of patient’s of all ages that come to the practice.
Audiologist
Ruth Bannister BSc
Ruth joined us in 2020 and is a highly experienced audiologist with over 15 years’ experience in her field. She works with us on a part-time basis, also working with Dr Carling as part of the Kent Community ENT team at Borough Green medical practice and additionally as a bank team member of the children’s audiology team at the Kent Community Health Foundation Trust.
Ruth volunteers for the Kent Deaf Children’s Society and the British Academy of Audiology (BAA) where she is a conference committee member.
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At Kent Hearing Ruth works closely with Dr Carling, both taking and assisting with paediatric clinics, fitting hearing aids and running hearing aid follow up clinics. She also oversees Kent Hearing’s monthly audiology clinic at Sheppey Eyecare on the Isle of Sheppey and takes school hearing screening appointments in local schools.
Ruth holds a BSc Honours degree in Hearing Science in 2018 from Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, as well as a Foundation degree in the Sciences Hearing Aid Audiology and a BSA Certificate in impression taking. Her past roles have included both Senior Paediatric Audiology and Liaison Officer and Paediatric Audiologist for the Kent Community Health Foundation Trust. She also has a level 6 qualification in British sign language.
All hearing tests are undertaken in our relaxing and comfortable Kings Hill and Tunbridge Wells clinics, using the very latest available technologies.
Consultant in Otological Medicine & Medico-legal assessments.
Nigel Padgham, MB ChB FRCSEd. FRCSEng.
Nigel joined our team in 2019, bringing with him a wealth of expertise and experience gained over 35 years as a surgeon and 29 as an ENT consultant.
His specialist areas of work include vertigo, tinnitus, hearing loss and ear infections.
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At Kent Hearing, Nigel runs clinics for patients with complex otological conditions and handles medico-legal assessments, providing additional support and expertise to the Kent Hearing team when required. He also works with Dr Priya Carling, AuD and Ruth Bannister as part of the ENT team at Borough Green medical practice.
Nigel has held many high-level ENT consultant posts both in the UK and abroad. These include ENT Consultant at East Kent Hospitals (1994-2013), at The Chaucer Hospital, Canterbury and at Spencer Private Hospitals, Kent (1994-2019), Benenden Hospital (2012-2016) and at KIMS Hospital, Maidstone (2014-2019). He has also been a visiting Fellow at hospitals in Paris, Zurich and Malaysia and is the author of 22 peer-reviewed ENT papers, including 4 on Tinnitus. He is currently a Community ENT Consultant for East Kent, West Kent and Swale.
Nigel has also held a number of advisory positions throughout his career, including East Kent Advisor on Cochlear Implantation (1994-2005), Lead Clinician ENT and Clinical Director Head and Neck Surgery East Kent Hospitals (1998-2018), and Vice Chairman Medical Staff Committee QEQM Spencer Private Hospital (2000-2018) and Chairman at Spencer Private Hospital Ashford (2010-2018).