One of Northern Ireland’s leading providers of hearing care services, Audiocare, has expanded with the opening of its second branch this year located on the Andersonstown Road in Belfast following a £100,000 investment and the creation of three new jobs.

Audiocare now has two standalone branches in Belfast and Ballymena and also operates out of the company’s two Opticare branches in Holywood and Crumlin as well as satellite clinics across six local opticians and pharmacies.

The business was started in 2016 by Michael McCourt, who is an Optometrist and recently retrained in Audiology, and his wife Jade, who is also an Optometrist, when they opened their first Opticare branch in Crumlin. A second Opticare branch was opened in Holywood in 2020.

The company has been offering audiology services for six years and following the continued demand, the first standalone branch of Audiocare was launched in Jade’s hometown of Ballymena in May, followed by the recent opening of the second branch on the Andersonstown Road.

Opticare and Audiocare have 16 members of staff across Northern Ireland including Audiologists, Hearing Aid Audiologists, Hearing Care Assistants, Optometrists and Dispensing Opticians.

Michael McCourt, Owner of Audiocare and Opticare said: “We are delighted to open our new Audiocare branch on the Andersonstown Road in West Belfast. Over the last three years, we have continued to experience a huge increase for our audiology services and have gone from offering one hearing clinic a fortnight and having one member of staff, to now offering 25 clinics every week and employing seven highly-experienced hearing professionals.

At Audiocare, we offer a wide-range of hearing care services including earwax removal, hearing tests in our sound proofed facilities and the provision of hearing aids. I am proud to be expanding the offering of Audiocare across the province, as it’s a vital service that on many occasions can be life-changing.”

“The new branch also offers a private ENT Kids Hearing Clinic with advanced machines to test children’s hearing and assess middle ear function and will be led by Mr Andrew Kelly who is a Clinical Lead ENT Surgeon in the Northern Trust. Hearing plays a critical part in a child’s development and problems can lead to a number of issues including delays with speech and language development. Through this service, we aim to help parents who have any concerns about their child’s hearing to identify any hearing impairments and create a plan to help and support their child’s development,” Michael added.

To celebrate the opening of Audiocare Andersonstown, over 65s can avail of a free hearing test. To book, go to www.audiocare.co.uk/book-online