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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Hearing and aides
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
I started off with troubles hearing conversation in more noisy conditions like restaurants, then when family continued to accuse me of not paying attention, I had The Hearing Test. I tried as hard as possible, in all of the various bits. To no avail, and I knew it of course. So hearing aide time (crying, weeping, gnashing of teeth, then slap to own face for first worldliness).
Who's got one? and tell all please. What to consider and to avoid? Anyone have a watersports one? I also need to be okay with falling from boat to lake.
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Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
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Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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Porridge
Shipmate
# 15405
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by no prophet's flag is set so...:
I started off with troubles hearing conversation in more noisy conditions like restaurants, then when family continued to accuse me of not paying attention, I had The Hearing Test. I tried as hard as possible, in all of the various bits. To no avail, and I knew it of course. So hearing aide time (crying, weeping, gnashing of teeth, then slap to own face for first worldliness).
Who's got one? and tell all please. What to consider and to avoid? Anyone have a watersports one? I also need to be okay with falling from boat to lake.
I have one in each ear. Your family's and friends' crying, ganshing of teeth, etc., should end as soon as you get yours fitted and you've adjusted (they take some getting used to -- the quality of sound may be different). Yours, too, as you'll rejoin the human discourse.
[ 16. March 2015, 18:32: Message edited by: Porridge ]
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Spiggott: Everything I've ever told you is a lie, including that.
Moon: Including what?
Spiggott: That everything I've ever told you is a lie.
Moon: That's not true!
Posts: 3925 | From: Upper right corner | Registered: Jan 2010
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Lothlorien
Ship's Grandma
# 4927
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Posted
I have worn two aids for about twelve years now, perhaps a but more. I probably should have had them years before that. It was when I could not hear small grandchildren talking to me that I did something about it, much to general relief of family.
They take a bit of getting used to. When my mother first had hers, she was horrified at what she could hear when she chewed. She thought everyone could hear her.
I do find the quality of the sound is different. I have sung in choirs all my life but have given that up. I dicovered that although I was listening to those aroubd me as I should gave been doing, I did not necessarily hear correctly. I would sing sharp.
Keep them clean or sound deteriorates rapidly. Mine fit behind ear with a tube to ear. If yours are similar, make sure the tube is empty of water before replacing it o there will be no sound getting to your ear.
It is good to have a couple of batteries in your wallet in case they need replacing when you are out. I can pretty well judge battery life now but sometimes I will need to use these. Buy your batteries from someone with a good turnover so they are fresh. I ring audiologist and they post out packs to me. Depending on the size and type of battery, turnover can be slow from a pharmacy or similar. Fresh batteries work much better than those nearing end of shelf life,
All the best..
[ 16. March 2015, 20:29: Message edited by: Lothlorien ]
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Buy a bale. Help our Aussie rural communities and farmers. Another great cause needing support The High Country Patrol.
Posts: 9745 | From: girt by sea | Registered: Aug 2003
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Scots lass
Shipmate
# 2699
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Posted
Just to hijack this a little bit - if anyone has any tips for persuading someone to get a hearing aid, that would be fantastic. My dad is getting incredibly deaf but refuses to do anything about it. I'd really like him not to go off in a grump because he can't hear at my wedding in October, but don't know how to talk him into getting it sorted. He's not one for doing what other people suggest at any point...
Posts: 863 | From: the diaspora | Registered: Apr 2002
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
This would be one of those advice thingies that go in All Saints (unless there is more creative merriment to be got from deafness than has hitherto been noticed).
Firenze
All Purpose Host
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
OK. The answer is, as so often, to spend an enormous amount of money.
For rather more than my annual salary when I first started work, I have something the weight of a bumble bee which nevertheless contains within its tiny dimensions two microphones, a computer chip, a battery and a speaker (and, for all I know, the complete works of Shakespeare inscribed on a grain of rice).
My hearing is not that bad - but the 20% that I was losing was in the area of hearing sibilants and frequently initial syllables of words - I could see myself losing confidence with certain situations, such as speaking on the phone, or in noisy rooms, and retreating into the vaguely smiling head nodding I saw in my mother as she grew deafer.
Scots lass - I can't imagine your father doesn't realise the encroaching isolation of not hearing: what he probably doesn't realise is how thoroughly it can be addressed (if you pay for the requisite level of technology). He doesn't refuse to wear glasses, I take it? Can you sell it as not essentially different?
[ 16. March 2015, 22:42: Message edited by: Firenze ]
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Lothlorien
Ship's Grandma
# 4927
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Posted
My hearing loss is much greater than you mention Firenze, but I too hated the thought of doing anything about it. Even after an initial test showed the loss. Family and grandchildren with tiny voices were the motives for me. Little girls whispering and looking puzzled when I misunderstood them.
Then the GP suggested I may have a tumour and sent me to a hearing specialist. No tumour fortunately, just an eardrum which was stretched from countless infections.He did a hearing test while I was there and in two days i had aids fitted. My first pair were hideously expensive but one benefit of growing older is that the government now pays for mine. If I pay about $40 annually, that covers all maintenance and repairs and batteries. Well worth it.
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Buy a bale. Help our Aussie rural communities and farmers. Another great cause needing support The High Country Patrol.
Posts: 9745 | From: girt by sea | Registered: Aug 2003
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
Mr Lamb flat out refuses to get hearing aids, and it makes me near homicidal. He has NO idea how much he's missing, which is why he thinks he has only a little problem. It's driving me insane! He chalks up the resulting issues to everything from "English problems" to "you didn't tell me that," to creeping worries about dementia!
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468
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Posted
I wear them in both ears. I tend to only wear them when I really need them: medical appointments, lunch with a friend, a show/film where accurate understanding of dialogue is crucial. I save them like this because I find them a bit annoying. (I've found that people involved with getting and fitting hearing aids understand that. ![[Smile]](smile.gif) )
The kind I wear are small. Sort of crescent shaped. It rides at the top of my ear, and a tube with a little gizmo at the end goes down into my ear canal. Definitely not water-proof.
When you get yours, they'll probably come with a small, hard case to keep them in. Put your contact info in or on the case, so you can be found if you drop the case somewhere.
Re getting someone to at least get their hearing checked:
--Have a doc check for impacted wax. Sometimes, there's so much that it blocks hearing, and a doc needs to do various things to get it out.
--Find a way to demonstrate to them what they're missing. There was an episode of the Britcom "As Time Goes By", where Lionel was showing signs of hearing problems, and grumpily stonewalled his family. They finally tricked him. Turned out his problem was impacted wax.
BTW: if hearing problems are interfering with watching TV, see if your TV has closed captioning available. Should be in with the menu and options.
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Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")
Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001
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cliffdweller
Shipmate
# 13338
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Posted
Mom had severe hearing loss. What is hard to explain to our loved ones is how much it impacts your relationships. Over time, the effort to carry on a conversation begins to wear, and people-- including your loved ones-- stop sharing those little, not-so-important bits of anecdote that real life is made of. Communication dribbles down to the absolute essentials-- and the relationships with it. I don't know how to explain that to a reluctant relative-- we were never successful-- but I pray to God you do, because the loss is real, and significant. And worse of all, by the time you get to the point where you're finally able to admit that, it's too late.
Which brings me to my second point:
It's not enough to just get hearing aids. You gotta wear them. They will be uncomfortable, as noted up thread. They take getting used to-- both how they sit in or on (depending on type) your ear, and the sound. Ambient noise is often an issue. So, you will find yourself tempted, especially when you're alone, to just not wear them. Sometimes the silence can be lovely, so you leave them in their case.
Resist that temptation, whatever the cost. You simply have to plow thru the discomfort and wear them-- every day. Every hour of every day that you're not in bed or the shower. Wear them. You will not adapt to them, learn how to hear with them, until you do. And even worse, your ability TO hear from them will deteriorate.
That's what happened with my mom. She wore them "as needed"--- maybe an hour or two a day. And over the years she lost her ability to understand the sounds that got thru-- the neural pathways that would interpret sound, filter out ambient noise, deteriorated and all she heard was noise. She had excellent, top-of-the-line aids, and her audiologist confirmed the sound was fully getting thru, but her ability to understand what got thru completely deteriorated. So please please please wear your aids.
It's worth the investment, for the reasons above, to buy the best you can afford-- ones you WILL wear every day. It's just really really important.
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"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." -Frederick Buechner
Posts: 11242 | From: a small canyon overlooking the city | Registered: Jan 2008
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Lothlorien
Ship's Grandma
# 4927
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Posted
What Cliffdweller says is what I was told. If you need them, you need them all the time and neural pathways take time to develop. Mine annoy me on occasions but I leave them in. How else would I hear the doorbell or phone?
Having them properly fitted and adjusted at audiologist goes a long way to making them more acceptable. I was asked what my lifestyle entailed and what adjustments did I think were necessary.
Over the years I have found they work in most places and on most occasions. I do find hearing loops in churches etc hard to cope with. MY son, well trained in sound and production values, says it is because these are not always properly set up or used.
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Buy a bale. Help our Aussie rural communities and farmers. Another great cause needing support The High Country Patrol.
Posts: 9745 | From: girt by sea | Registered: Aug 2003
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Uncle Pete
Loyaute me lie
# 10422
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Posted
This will be a TLDR post. No links though.
I was born profoundly hard of hearing. By the time I was diagnosed and properly fitted, I was 7 years old. So, when I tell you things, I have lived with hearing aids for 60 years and have seen and tried most everything available.
First off, there is no completely waterproof hearing aid. Trust me. Even camping in the rain with BTEs is problematic. Happily I have never been tossed from a canoe. I learnt the hard way to carry a small pouch to place my aid in at night when camping, because moisture gets in the tubing.
A brief chronology follows:
1955-2006 – I used body aids. When I was smaller I had to wear a harness (which I hated, because nothing shouts “stupid deafie” in crowd like a harness to other kids). For a brief time, I tried eyeglass hearing aids, but I kept wrecking it by forgetting to take out both aids before I removed my glasses. After that, I used a clip to my shirt pocket to keep the box safe. Cords were always a problem. I always kept a supply of cords handy. I was grateful when hearing aid batteries migrated to being AA batteries. In the period of 1992-1995, I also used a “waterproof” BTE when outdoors. I gave it up, as it was more problem than it should have been, and reverted to body aids. As the 2000s dawned, it was becoming more problematic to source body aids. I resisted as long as I could. It was the availability of cords that did me in. I sourced a supply and bought them out. It finally happened that my two elderly body aids died within a year of each other that I finally gave up, and got a BTE. My audiologist has told me that the two I have had were, at the time of purchase, the leading edge in technology. I disagreed, but I am now accustomed to only hearing half which is said, instead of 80%. My vocabulary comprehension has dipped from 65% to the low 30s. I am currently wearing my spare, because my newer 3 year old aid is out for the count. I will get it repaired, yet again, when I return home and before the warranty runs out in July.
Church is impossible, but it is good practise for when I come here because I don’t have to listen to anything, because it is a foreign tongue. Crowds are impossible. Malls are problematic. Loud vehicles are difficult to hear in...
A word of warning: Do not ever buy from a single source dealer. Their aim to see you the most profitable, not the most useful. B**t**e is a prime Canadian example. They sell expensive junk, and expect to see you back in a year or so, so they can sell you more expensive junk.
I loved all my body aids. I could hear just fine with them. As far as I am concerned the jury is still out on BTEs. I no longer have choice.
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Even more so than I was before
Posts: 20466 | From: No longer where I was | Registered: Sep 2005
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Barnabas Aus
Shipmate
# 15869
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Posted
I have had two behind the ear aids for about eighteen months, due to loss of high frequency comprehension.
The package provided by my audiologist included the two aids, sufficient batteries for about nine months, additional wax catchers, receiver domes and a hearing aid drier. She also had a key ring attachment which held two spare batteries - a promotion from the manufacturer which may not be available in your case.
The aids were adjusted to suit my needs. I listen to much classical music, and high keyboard notes were being interpreted by the aids as feedback, so the audiologist was able to adjust the firmware to deal with this.
Wear the aids as consistently as possible. The major trouble I have had is when working hard in hot, humid weather. The perspiration which runs down behind my ears gets into the battery compartment and the aids shut down. So I generally leave them off, or if I forget, a short session in the drier soon restores them.
A company called Ear Gear makes covers which are asserted to be waterproof, but I haven't yet tried them - only discovered the website a couple of weeks ago.
Posts: 375 | From: Hunter Valley NSW | Registered: Sep 2010
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Huia
Shipmate
# 3473
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Posted
I love my purple hearing aids.
After not being able to afford h/aids for a few years, the price came down and I paid off my mortgage, so I had the money. This coincided with my joining a church with a brilliant induction loop system and realising I really wanted to hear the native birds when I went bush.
Because I cleaned out my savings paying for them I was determined to use them all the time (getting your money's worth is big in my family
![[Biased]](wink.gif) ). I was surprised that when I did so my hearing improved, even when I didn't have them on, and the audiologist explained that my brain was now more tuned in to hearing.
When they were first fitted they were adjusted to less than full volume so I could have time to get used to them. This was turned up over a number of months, but even 8 years later I still turn the volume down when I'm in the Mall.
Of all the things I own, my hearing aids are up there with my house in terms of how I value them. They have a special transparent shelf inside a built-in cupboard where they live when they are not in my ears.
One note of warning - dogs have been known to eat hearing aids so if you have one keep them well apart.
Huia
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Charity gives food from the table, Justice gives a place at the table.
Posts: 10382 | From: Te Wai Pounamu | Registered: Oct 2002
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Sarasa
Shipmate
# 12271
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Posted
I had measles when I was five that knocked out my hearing in the higher registers. I managed OK without aids till my late twenties when I started wearing one at meetings, to the theatre etc. I moved on to two in my early fifties and started wearing them all the time as my hearing really started to go then. Now I can't hear that much without them. As my audiologist cheerfully said, people with my sort of hearing loss tend to lose their hearing more severely and faster as they grow old than the general population.
At present I have two NHS behind the ear aids with moulds. I'm lucky in that the audiology clinic is fifteen minutes walk from my house and has drop in sessions, there is also a clinic a couple of minutes away where I can pick up batteries.
Aids won't restore your hearing to what it was but they do make it possible to manage to get by.
Pete - I once sat next to a profoundly deaf person at a Bob Dylan concert. He probably had the last body worn aid still going - apparently he serviced it himself so that he could just about manage to hear some of the concert. He signed along with the songs too. I don't know if he wore the aid all the time, or it was his Bob Dylan concert special!
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'I guess things didn't go so well tonight, but I'm trying. Lord, I'm trying.' Charlie (Harvey Keitel) in Mean Streets.
Posts: 2035 | From: London | Registered: Jan 2007
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Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468
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Posted
My hearing loss is in the mild to moderate range. I wonder if that makes a difference in being told it's ok not to wear them all the time? Or maybe it's just because I told the person that the quality of the noise is annoying. I'm in the process of getting new aids, and have an appointment next month, so I'll ask then.
My aids have 2 control buttons--one for volume, and one for programs--1 program for ambient sounds, and 1 for conversations.
Conversing in noisy backgrounds is difficult, especially in a small, intense place like a restaurant or cafe. IME, it's best to avoid busy times. In movie theaters, I don't need the volume, but I do need the clarity.
Oh, and maybe check every so often that the aids are still in your ears--I lost one, and it's definitely not at home, so it must have fallen out when I was out and about. That's one reason I'm getting new aids.
FWIW, YMMV, IANAD.
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Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")
Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001
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Huia
Shipmate
# 3473
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Posted
Barnabas Aus your comment on "Ear Gear" sent me googling and they do have something for the sweating problem, which got a good write-up in an on-line forum that the same search also brought up.
Golden Key they also sell a colourless line you can attach to your aids and your clothing to stop you losing them.
I might investigate whether the local Hearing Association have any of their products, otherwise I might have to make a trip to Auckland, the only place they seem to be sold in NZ ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
Huia
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Charity gives food from the table, Justice gives a place at the table.
Posts: 10382 | From: Te Wai Pounamu | Registered: Oct 2002
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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984
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Posted
I haven't got hearing loss yet, but it runs in the family so I was interested in this thread. Went off to do some googling, I found this piece which I thought made sense. Would those of you who wear aids agree ?
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All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. George Orwell
Posts: 19219 | From: Erehwon | Registered: Aug 2005
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Golden Key
Shipmate
# 1468
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Posted
D--
I get my aids through benefits, so I don't really have much choice of what's mentioned. But it *is* important to have the aids fit by someone who knows what they're doing, is patient ('cause it takes a while), and is compassionate. I had someone like that the first time around, and I'm scheduled to see them again.
If you do develop some hearing loss, see an ear doctor before trying to get an aid. They need to figure out exactly what the problem is--and you may need their referral to go to a hearing aid place.
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Blessed Gator, pray for us!
--"Oh bat bladders, do you have to bring common sense into this?" (Dragon, "Jane & the Dragon")
--"Oh, Peace Train, save this country!" (Yusuf/Cat Stevens, "Peace Train")
Posts: 18601 | From: Chilling out in an undisclosed, sincere pumpkin patch. | Registered: Oct 2001
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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984
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Posted
I wear glasses, and for a while now some of the big opticians in the UK have offered free hearing screening so I get myself screened each time I go for an eye test. I think if something came up I'd go to my GP in the first instance for an audiology referral.
There's a tradion of working with people with hearing loss on my mother's side of the family. My grandfather was a teacher of the deaf in the 50s and my uncle was originally an audiologist and teacher, went on to organise special education services. I would probably talk to him about it too, about what to look out for.
I can tell my parents are starting to lose some hearing, but I 've yet to persuade either of them to go for a test
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All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. George Orwell
Posts: 19219 | From: Erehwon | Registered: Aug 2005
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Lothlorien
Ship's Grandma
# 4927
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Posted
I had some unexpected benefits when I first started with hearing aids.
I was in a train for a two hour trip north to Newcastle. A woman about fifty struck up a conversation with the young man next to her. A vey unwise conversation in my opinion. Sha had been separated from her husband and was on her way back to him. He did not know she was coming.
Then followed lurid details of the past few years, spoken in a voice all the carriage could hear. I was concerned and quite worried for her but could take no more myself. I turned the aids off but left them in my ears. Blissful quiet, as far as I was concerned.
Apparently nothing came of the foolish conversation as there was nothing in the news.
I am quite introverted and coffee hour or similar at church has always been a struggle for me even when I was in charge of roster etc.
My hearing aids are the type which basically amplify what is in front of me. However their nature means they do pick up noise from other directions. I was going crazy listening to several conversations depending on the direction I faced. I solved that problem and felt a huge burden lift when I resigned the roster. I explained to the pastor that it was all just too much and did not go again. I have never picked up the habit again.
Huia, I know of a young boy about eight who has two brightly coloured aids. One is purple and the other blue, both bright. They are easy to find being bright and he knows that each colour is set for the right or left ear, he is profoundly deaf.
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Buy a bale. Help our Aussie rural communities and farmers. Another great cause needing support The High Country Patrol.
Posts: 9745 | From: girt by sea | Registered: Aug 2003
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leo
Shipmate
# 1458
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Posted
I have just started the process of getting hearing aids - should have done so a long time ago because of a perforated eardrum as a result of a road accident when I was aged 10.
For the person above trying persuade someone to get them, two reasons:
1) the longer you leave it, the more the nerve endings die off and won't respond as well when you DO get an aid
2) the NHS is starting to ration them so the longer you leave it, the more it might cost because you might have to go private.
Posts: 23198 | From: Bristol | Registered: Oct 2001
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Moo
Ship's tough old bird
# 107
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Posted
I have been wearing hearing aids for seventeen years. Like many people in my family, I have age-related deafness.
Hearing aids do not help everyone. For some unfortunate people, the aids make everything louder, but not clearer. Before I got my aids, I was tested to see whether they would help. Fortunately, they did.
My current aids have three settings, as well as a volume adjuster, which are controlled by pressing a button on the aid while I am wearing it. The first setting is for ordinary use; the second is supposed to help in an environment where a lot of conversations are going on at once. It doesn't help much, but it is good for preventing the unpleasant noises I get when I hear the church organ. The third setting is for the telephone, and I love it. When I had my last hearing aids, I dreaded making phone calls. With these aids, it's much better.
I still miss a great deal of what is said, but without the aids I wouldn't know what was going on a good part of the time.
Moo
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Kerygmania host
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See you later, alligator.
Posts: 20365 | From: Alleghany Mountains of Virginia | Registered: May 2001
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JoannaP
Shipmate
# 4493
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Posted
i was with my mother when she went to the audiologist, a charming young man who explained that it would take time, up to six months, to get used to her hearing aid but she should persevere. Unfortunately nobody told Dad that when he got his, so he gave up after two days. I am going to have to try to persuade him to go back and try again as he clearly does not always hear what I say to him on the 'phone and his random answers are a tad disconcerting...
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"Freedom for the pike is death for the minnow." R. H. Tawney (quoted by Isaiah Berlin)
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." Benjamin Franklin
Posts: 1877 | From: England | Registered: May 2003
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Uncle Pete
Loyaute me lie
# 10422
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Posted
T- switches are now bog standard on hearing aids. I bless each aid that I have had that has one. I do miss the old Bell telephones though which had extremely efficient volume control handsets until technology and deregulation made them rarer than hens' teeth.
Nowaday (and this is the only thing I really like about BTEs) Bluetooth is available to connect between cellphones and hearing aids (via an adapter which, unfortunately, is model specific)
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Even more so than I was before
Posts: 20466 | From: No longer where I was | Registered: Sep 2005
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Boogie
Boogie on down!
# 13538
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Lothlorien:
I turned the aids off but left them in my ears. Blissful quiet, as far as I was concerned.
My Dad used to do the same
He had two hearing aids, one digital and one analogue - he said the two worked well for him.
He also had a loop system in the house with a mike in the living room for TV and conversations.
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Garden. Room. Walk
Posts: 13030 | From: Boogie Wonderland | Registered: Mar 2008
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cliffdweller
Shipmate
# 13338
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Boogie:
quote:
Originally posted by Lothlorien:
I turned the aids off but left them in my ears. Blissful quiet, as far as I was concerned.
My Dad used to do the same .
But note that Lothlorien did that in one specific instance only. As noted above, failing to use your aids regularly, every day, for most of the day (even if you leave them in) potentially has significant detrimental consequences for the neural pathways that help you understand/ interpret/ filter sound. If you turn your aids off regularly you are in danger of effectively losing your hearing all together, which is what happened to my mom. Once that happens, there is no technology available to date to turn that around.
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"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." -Frederick Buechner
Posts: 11242 | From: a small canyon overlooking the city | Registered: Jan 2008
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Lothlorien
Ship's Grandma
# 4927
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Posted
That's right, Cliffdweller. I live by myself, although son is currently with me. I wear the hearing aids all day, every day, even if no one is here. It is important, as many here have said, to do this. That doesn't mean I like them at all. I appreciate what they do, but still, after many years hate anything in my ears.
My hearing loss is basically from many ear infections as a child and both eardrums are badly scarred. The infections were treated but were fairly constant along with sinus problems and infections there too. Apparently a legacy of a disease I had as a baby which had me in hospital several months.
Hearing loss is considerable. I have forgotten the exact figures but around 70% in one ear and a good deal more in the other. Over 80%
[ 17. March 2015, 21:46: Message edited by: Lothlorien ]
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Buy a bale. Help our Aussie rural communities and farmers. Another great cause needing support The High Country Patrol.
Posts: 9745 | From: girt by sea | Registered: Aug 2003
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Uncle Pete
Loyaute me lie
# 10422
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Posted
I use a decibel scale where a lawn mower (gas powered) come in at 110 decibels.
Dexter ear, on that basis, is a 75 decibel loss
Sinister ear is 98 decibel loss.
I confess that the aids are the last thing I put on as I dress. In the evening, after the likelihood of calls or callers have dwindled to naught. I take them out.
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Even more so than I was before
Posts: 20466 | From: No longer where I was | Registered: Sep 2005
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Huia
Shipmate
# 3473
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Posted
The reason I put them on last is that I'm scared of hopping into the shower with them on. A friend's father did this several times and his insurance company refused to cover his aids any more. I have done it once but I stuck my fingers in my ears (my usual check) before I turned the water on (phew!).
Loth, thanks for mentioning church morning tea. I have just gone on the roster and have done it once, which ended with me in tears from the noise. I think I'll try again with my hearing aids at reduced volume and if that doesn't work will withdraw.
Huia
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Charity gives food from the table, Justice gives a place at the table.
Posts: 10382 | From: Te Wai Pounamu | Registered: Oct 2002
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Miffy
Ship's elephant
# 1438
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Posted
No merriment to be got from hearing aides here, I can assure you; my problem is getting the powers that be to agree that that I have a hearing problem. I'm with you, Firenze, in that I fear throwing money at it might be the only way. I've had two audiograms over the past ten years (last one in Oct of last year), each time to be told that my hearing is within normal range. Right ear readings are just on the borderline of minor loss in several of the higher frequency tones, left ear just above. This was with the standard bleep test, not speech in noise.
I've long found it almost impossible to follow or carry out a decent conversation in a noisy room - bars, clubs etc, or speak on my mobile when at stations on trains, airports and the like. If you ask me out for coffee in town, I'll search round for places with quiet or no background music if available.
Training settings are tricky at times, too. I manage one to one spiritual direction work ok, though in small group training situations, with everybody in the same room, I try to ask if we can move either to the edges or out of the room. It's easier to hear that way.
Ms M's wedding celebrations last week were a case in point: great venues, great people, but after a while you get so tired of nodding, smiling and hoping that other folks don't think you're either stand-offish or stupid. It didn't spoil my enjoyment (well, not completely) but oh, how much better it could have been if I'd been able to really throw myself into the party.
No idea what to do about this. I suspect my problem isn't so much hearing per se as much as how I process what I hear in the kind of situations I've described. I'm booked for another test next month and suspect I know already what the results will be: "Nothing wrong, just get used to it."
Any advice, handy hints etc gratefully received.
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"I don't feel like smiling." "You're English dear; fake it!" (Colin Firth "Easy Virtue")
Growing Greenpatches
Posts: 4739 | From: The Kitchen | Registered: Oct 2001
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Sarasa
Shipmate
# 12271
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Posted
My son, who has very good hearing, finds it impossible to hear in noisy situations. In somewhere like a noisy restaurant he finds it more difficult than me, even if I took my aids out, and without my hearing aids I can hear very little.
My son is severly dyslexic and I assume that this is somehow related. Accordig to him, loud noises confuse him in the same way that they confuse dolphins. My husband, who is also dyslexic, has simiar problems but not to the same extent.
I don't think that helps much Miffy, but you are not alone
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'I guess things didn't go so well tonight, but I'm trying. Lord, I'm trying.' Charlie (Harvey Keitel) in Mean Streets.
Posts: 2035 | From: London | Registered: Jan 2007
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Miffy
Ship's elephant
# 1438
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sarasa:
My son, who has very good hearing, finds it impossible to hear in noisy situations. In somewhere like a noisy restaurant he finds it more difficult than me, even if I took my aids out, and without my hearing aids I can hear very little.
My son is severly dyslexic and I assume that this is somehow related. Accordig to him, loud noises confuse him in the same way that they confuse dolphins. My husband, who is also dyslexic, has simiar problems but not to the same extent.
I don't think that helps much Miffy, but you are not alone
You're right - get the impression there're loads of people with similar problems. I've been that way for most of my adult life. I guess I've got by more or less. The latest doom and gloom I'm sure has something to do with the realisation, with daughter marrying and moving away, that I'm ageing and that my 'time,' is over.
Interesting the link with dyslexia. It doesn't apply in my case - anything but, though I do have problems with numbers and can be quite clumsy at times. I guess I'll have to use my imagination to work out ways of compensating for the disadvantages. I'm not ready to become a little old lady yet!
Posts: 4739 | From: The Kitchen | Registered: Oct 2001
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Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
# 273
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Posted
Hyperacussis and this can include loud conversations. With sounds I am sensitive to it is as if they are trebled in volume and the volume distorts the sound.
Jengie
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"To violate a persons ability to distinguish fact from fantasy is the epistemological equivalent of rape." Noretta Koertge
Back to my blog
Posts: 20894 | From: city of steel, butterflies and rainbows | Registered: May 2001
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sarasa:
My son, who has very good hearing, finds it impossible to hear in noisy situations. In somewhere like a noisy restaurant he finds it more difficult than me, even if I took my aids out, and without my hearing aids I can hear very little.
My son is severly dyslexic and I assume that this is somehow related. Accordig to him, loud noises confuse him in the same way that they confuse dolphins. My husband, who is also dyslexic, has simiar problems but not to the same extent.
I don't think that helps much Miffy, but you are not alone
I'm another like this, since my thirties at least. And my hearing is rated better than normal. But I've been at a conference before where I was seated right next to the presenter, and much to my embarrassment, had to switch to a seat on the far side of the table in order to hear her; it was then that I found out how much I rely on lip reading in noisy situations. And of course I was far too close to see her face!
Think of it: "Why did you move so far away?"
"Um, I was too close to hear you?"
![[Hot and Hormonal]](icon_redface.gif)
We've also had husband/wife exchanges of this sort:
"Hand me my glasses, I can't hear you."
[ 20. March 2015, 20:16: Message edited by: Lamb Chopped ]
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Er, this is what I've been up to (book).
Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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SusanDoris
Incurable Optimist
# 12618
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Posted
This morning from reading this thread, I have already learnt several things about wearing hearing aids. Like many, I have worn them for quite a few years because of age-related hearing loss, but I did not know the reason for wearing them all the time. because I have assistive software and use little, pop-in-the-ear headphones to listen to Synthetic Dave, I have not worn them all the time, but will do something about that from now on. In fact, coincidentally, I bought the other day a better pair of headphones for listening to music, but I suppose it would be sensible to put them over the hearing aids.
The NHS Audiology Service here is very good.
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I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.
Posts: 3083 | From: UK | Registered: May 2007
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
There's also the related problem of tinnitus. I was in a restaurant last evening unexpectedly, and should have pre-emptively gotten the back corner , and I should bring the ear plugs which allow conversation but not noises with me always, but my back was to the crowd, and of course today, I have the ringing in my ears, as usual L>R, an E♭ 7 octaves above middle C, which is what Lilypond and midi player (Linux) tell me.
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Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
\_(ツ)_/
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
That seems to be oneof the joys. On waking up, there's a radio on 2 rooms away. And of an evening, if I'm tired, a baritone is singing indistinct but lugubrious victorian hymns to harmonium accompaniment. I think the hearing aide reduces this latter effect, but I don't have a lot of experience as yet.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Miffy
Ship's elephant
# 1438
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Posted
Hmmm. The whale that has been singing in my right ear all evening appears to have swum off to be replaced by a high pitched though not over annoying whine. I'm hoping it has to do with current cold and recent transatlantic flight and nothing more sinister.
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"I don't feel like smiling." "You're English dear; fake it!" (Colin Firth "Easy Virtue")
Growing Greenpatches
Posts: 4739 | From: The Kitchen | Registered: Oct 2001
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Questing
Apprentice
# 18370
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by no prophet's flag is set so...:
I started off with troubles hearing conversation in more noisy conditions like restaurants, then when family continued to accuse me of not paying attention, I had The Hearing Test. I tried as hard as possible, in all of the various bits. To no avail, and I knew it of course. So hearing aide time (crying, weeping, gnashing of teeth, then slap to own face for first worldliness).
Who's got one? and tell all please. What to consider and to avoid? Anyone have a watersports one? I also need to be okay with falling from boat to lake.
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All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well...
Posts: 4 | From: Lincolnshire | Registered: Mar 2015
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Miffy
Ship's elephant
# 1438
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Posted
I'm back - with a query. Those of you who wear aids (behind the ear type) and spectacles, which go on first, please? Updating from my post upthread, I've followed Firenze's example, spent much money and so far, so good. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif) However, the above is puzzling me and a trawl of the interwebs hasn't helped; opinion seems to be divided. Rather like the perennial milk or tea first question, I guess.
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"I don't feel like smiling." "You're English dear; fake it!" (Colin Firth "Easy Virtue")
Growing Greenpatches
Posts: 4739 | From: The Kitchen | Registered: Oct 2001
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Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Miffy:
I'm back - with a query. Those of you who wear aids (behind the ear type) and spectacles, which go on first, please?
I don't wear either, but it must be hearing aid first, right? You take spectacles on and off all the time...
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
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Lothlorien
Ship's Grandma
# 4927
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Leorning Cniht:
quote:
Originally posted by Miffy:
I'm back - with a query. Those of you who wear aids (behind the ear type) and spectacles, which go on first, please?
I don't wear either, but it must be hearing aid first, right? You take spectacles on and off all the time...
I find I usually put the glasses on first and they certainly don't go on and off. Once on, they stay there all day. Then hearing aids. I really think that the arm of the glasses would find its own place, regardless of order . I know I occasionally put them on in a different order, but have never noticed anything different in the wearing.
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Buy a bale. Help our Aussie rural communities and farmers. Another great cause needing support The High Country Patrol.
Posts: 9745 | From: girt by sea | Registered: Aug 2003
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Huia
Shipmate
# 3473
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Posted
I put my hearing aids on first because the tubes make them floppier and a bit more fussy to put on properly. Then I put on my glasses. Because the earpiece to the glasses are more rigid they neatly slide under the hearing aids and sit closer to my head. Even if I already have my glasses on I take them off and do this.
I tried both ways when I started wearing aids and this is what works best for me. If taking off my glasses only I slide them off carefully and double check my aids are in comfortably.
When buying glasses I always check that the earpieces are not too bulky.
Huia
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Charity gives food from the table, Justice gives a place at the table.
Posts: 10382 | From: Te Wai Pounamu | Registered: Oct 2002
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