Stephen Griffiths, who is head of the highly-regarded audiology department at Noble’s Hospital, had already studied for, and achieved, a Master’s degree alongside his normal role.

So when he signed up for an even tougher qualification, a doctorate, he knew what he was letting himself in for. What he hadn’t bargained for was receiving some unexpected news when he was just four weeks into his course: his wife, Nicola, was expecting twins.

Scarlett and Sophie were born in July last year and Stephen is now just weeks away from completing his course. No wonder he says: ’It’s been an extra tough year.’

Audiology is one of those specialities that’s a little ’under the radar’ yet the audiology department at Noble’s epitomises the NHS at its very best in its caring and personal approach.

That was nicely summed up by one patient who attends the department: she told me that, when she turned up for her regular appointment on Valentine’s Day, all the patients were given a red rose.

And he goes on: ’Audiology as a whole is a really nice job, based on the fact that we get patients who’ve been having terrible communication difficulties and have become quite isolated and quite cut off because of their hearing problems and it’s one of the few medical professions where patient comes in, you fit them with a hearing aid, and you’ve got an instant result.

’It’s like switching a switch back on for them and they can hear again.’

Stephen’s team is made up of five audiologists, two newborn screeners, one assistant audiologist and three admin staff, who are all supported by a number of trained volunteers, not forgetting cocker spaniel, Dottie, the hearing dog.

Stephen explains: ’One of my audiologists is profoundly deaf and has an implant hearing aid and Dottie is her assistance dog. She’s trained to alert my colleague to certain things she can’t hear and obviously the dog comes into work: the patients love her, she’s a proper little character.’

One thing that Stephen is very keen to point out is how advanced technically their service is. This is particularly important for older people struggling with the beginnings of hearing loss who might be tempted to buy very expensive hearing aids.

He said: ’There is a misconception within the public that, if you go and spend thousands of pounds on a private hearing aid, you’re going to get better hearing and that’s not the case.

’The hearing aids that we supply, which are free, are made by one of the world’s top manufacturers, fully digital and very good quality and we get fantastic results from them.

’A hearing aid is a prescribed device, like glasses, so you have to have tests done and it’s fitted to scientific prescription and it has to be fitted properly.’

This goes back to how highly qualified Stephen and his team are, able to fine tune a hearing aid to each patient’s requirements. However, he admits that taking on the doctorate took things to a whole new level.

The course requires 5-6 hours of reading and lectures to watch every week; weekly examinations; three core assignments per module within the course, and there’s a final exam at the end of each module.

In the final eighth module, which Stephen is just approaching, there are also comprehension exams: seven essay-type questions of 2,000 words each alongside the normal course requirements

He says: ’I naively went into this thinking I was pretty comfortable with my skills and my knowledge but when you’re studying it at this level you realise how much you don’t know, not that in any negative way that would impact your ability to do the job, but it goes into so much depth.

’There isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t come into work and say to my team: "read up in this" or "read up on that" - I read this last night and there’s something we didn’t know".

’So it is benefitting my team, being able to share all this extra knowledge with them.

’All of the lectures I’ve had to attend have all been recorded and all the recorded materials I’ve downloaded and I’ve been allowed to bring them in and transfer them onto our shared area here so everyone can access them.

’And the public, of course, benefitting from a team that have an even greater degree of specialist knowledge than we had before. To have any extra knowledge we can, especially to this level, can only make it a better service.’

The tuition fees and other expenses for a course like this are not cheap and Stephen says it wouldn’t have been possible without a grant from the Henry Bloom Noble Trust, which was matched by his employer, the DHSC.

The HBN Trust has also helped another member of his team, James Dernie, to study for a distance learning diploma in hearing aid dispensing.

Stephen says: ’This has enabled him to come in as a hearing aid dispenser. The patients love him and it’s what he’s always wanted to do.

’Once he’s been in the job for a few years we can start looking at the more advanced level qualifications.

The support of the HBN Trust has meant that, rather than recruiting off island, we were able to train a Manx person and save a significant amount of money which is what we should be doing.’

Stephen himself, when he reaches the end of his study course in a few months’ time will be the first doctor of audiology here.

He says: ’Many UK departments, certainly the better ones, are led by a doctoral level audiologist so it really does give us maximum credibility with our service with our peers across the water.

’That’s really a shout out to the Henry Bloom Noble Trust and Noble’s Hospital for affording me the opportunity and I would like to thank them and the Manx public who have donated and left legacies to the Trust.’