FOUR years of hard campaigning finally paid off for the Royal Nation Institute for the Deaf (RNID) yesterday.

Health Secretary Alan Milburn chose his Darlington constituency to announce a £94m investment to modernise hearing aid services throughout the country.

The move will mean that up to 1.8m people with hearing difficulties will get access to the latest digital hearing aids during the next two years.

Until now, a limited number of hospitals around the UK have been fitting digital hearing aids, including Sunderland Royal Hospital.

Dr John Low, chief executive of the RNID, who travelled from London to attend the long-awaited announcement at Darlington Memorial Hospital, said it would transform the lives of deaf people.

"We have been campaigning for more than four years for this change.

"We had a lot of direct action from supporters who sent 70,000 postcards to MPs," he said.

Mr Low revealed that much depended on a successful deal struck between the RNID and the manufacturers, which means that digital devices retailing at £1,600 in some High Street shops will be available to the NHS for only £75.

Digital hearing aids were first made available on the NHS three years ago as part of a phased programme.

Ed Brown, principal audiological scientist at Sunderland Hearing Aid Centre, which has been piloting the new devices, said staff had felt uncomfortable that only local people were eligible for the new aids.

"The staff have found it very difficult to deal with that," said Mr Brown.

Elizabeth Hughes, a senior audiologist at the Memorial Hospital, said: "We will definitely need more equipment and more trained staff to make the change.

"We need to educate adults and children about the new hearing aids and how to use them."

Patient Joyce Heavisides, who wears two old-style analogue hearing aids, said there was "a vast difference" between old and new.