Hearing Aid Rant

[Sibling DavidH]

I've been thinking for a while that I might be getting a bit deaf.  So off I went to the audiology clinic this morning and the news was medium bad.  In both ears the response drops dramatically above 4KHz, the right one is almost 30dB down between there and 8KHz. I expect all the shooting I did in my youth didn't help - we didn't use ear defenders in those days.

Anyway, the verdict is I need hearing aids in both ears.  The appointment to fit them is next Friday, 26th

[Swatopluk]

At least these days hearing aids can be rather inconspicuousand quite effective. How many people know for example that Bill Clinton uses one (and not just since yesterday)?
My mother seems quite happy with hers' (both ears for quite some years).
It's just that the really good models are not exactly cheap (and insurance fully covers only more basic models over here, so the difference is the patient's to pay). But the expensive parts also last quite long and the others can be exchanged easily and cheaply (like the nose saddle in eyeglasses).

[Sibling DavidH]

I'm afraid I'll have to make do with the free ones from the NHS.  New bits and batteries also free with those.  They don't look all that bad, but whatever, I can't afford to be vain. 

[Griffin NoName]

(Thankfully) I know nothing about hearing aids. I do know a bit about NHS breast protheses but I guess they are a bit different. I'm sorry you have to bother with all this, getting older is fraught with obstacles. I don't know why we spend our youth thinking it'll never happen to me (old age). I think if I get deaf I shall just ignore it and go around saying What? What?, it's not as if I have people to talk to much anyway  (I might miss music and TV though).

I hope you will be able to get used to the darned things, and maybe to say they changed your life David !!

[Swatopluk]

I do know a bit about NHS breast protheses but I guess they are a bit different.

So, tech-tits were not covered?

[Sibling DavidH]

Maybe I was careless, but I never asked about prosthetic boobies.

Yes, I hope they will change my life in that I'll be able to hear what people are saying.  That's why I requested the test.  Snag is, they tell me it can take a while to get used to them.

[Swatopluk]

Well, many say the same about glasses and contacts.
The good hearing aids allow for a lot of fine-tuning with different programs for varying situations but it takes time to find the optimum settings.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

My dad's experience with hearing aids has been mostly bad.

Part of the issue, unfortunately, is that he has had really crap luck with the companies he chose to fit him out-- finally, this last (and yet different again) company seems to actually give a crap, and has fitted him out with some that actually seem to work.

We'll see.

Here in the USofA, where health care is a luxury, he's had to foot the entire bill himself.  So, it's taken him 15 years or so to get to here... meh.

On the other hand, he seems happy with them, finally.

[pieces o nine]

Good for you, DavidH!   

When my maternal grandfather first received his hearing aid, he quizzed the doctor about the squeaking noise -- was it a malfunction in the piece? No, it was a small squeak in his chair which all of us heard and immediately tuned out! He really enjoyed re-connecting with the world again, and rediscovering how much he had gradually lost. Very best wishes that yours work as well for you!



~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~
Murkins who can  afford to get hearing aids but refuse to do so,  then compensate by grunting HUH?  at everyone, or irritably picking fights over nothing because they fear others are "whispering about them", or belligerently ordering everyone to STOP MUMBLING!  are very high on my pet peeve list.

[Sibling DavidH]

Thanks, Pieces. 

[Opsa]

Let us know how it goes, willya? I feel that someday I will have to get them, too. (Propensity for standing near the speakers at loud concerts.) I want to have a clue as to what to expect.

[pieces o nine]

Let us know when you hear cool new (or old!) things...     

[Opsa]

What?

[Sibling DavidH]

Pardon?  I'm in Exeter at the moment, so I couldn't understand the locals if I could hear them.  But I'll be back in Yerefrrd and get sorted out on Friday.  I think she said Friday ...

[Opsa]

LOL! What a great photo.

[pieces o nine]

That is a great photo!

I'm envisioning a daring Onion exposé on the terrible state of Socialism on medicine...   

[Sibling DavidH]

I've got them in - one in each ear.  They are truly excellent; hearing doesn't seem different, it seems normal now and different when I take them out.  Despite all the dire warnings about taking time to get used to them, I have no problem, except that my own voice sounds loud compared to other things.  They said I should talk to myself or sing when alone to give my brain more chance to get accustomed!  And Wendy says you can hardly see them - not that I'm greatly bothered about appearances.

So I've got these two which I think cost several hundred pounds each (it's hard to find out) plus free batteries and other bits for life, plus two hours of specialist's time.  All entirely free, within a month of asking my doctor.  Tell that to these folks who don't want socialised medicine.



This is the one, though for comparison they've put a ring in the picture, which I didn't get.

[Opsa]

Whotta ripoff! I would have demanded the ring. 

That is amazing. I don't think we can get them that fast here, even paying all outdoors for them.

Glad to hear that they work so well! Do you think the fact that you hadn't had time to get used to deafness made it easier to adjust?

[pieces o nine]

I'm glad you're starting out on a positive note with them, DavidH!   

[Sibling DavidH]

Do you think the fact that you hadn't had time to get used to deafness made it easier to adjust?

No, I've been getting deafer for a very long time, and had got used to it.  Now I notice all sorts of odd things I never knew about such as the horrible squeaking noise the big freezer in the garage is making!  Flushing the toilet is amazing!

Another good thing is that Wendy says I now have the TV and HiFi turned down to reasonable levels, and I've set the bass and treble back to medium levels.  Poor wife, she never complained.

[Opsa]

They should include the ring so you can give it to your spouse. She is Teh Peach.

[pieces o nine]

No, I've been getting deafer for a very long time, and had got used to it.  Now I notice all sorts of odd things I never knew about such as the horrible squeaking noise the big freezer in the garage is making!  Flushing the toilet is amazing!

Like grandpa's squeaky chair, which we all heard and tuned out, but he hadn't. I'm curious: did losing that register of sound help with being around the piercing treble yelps of small children, or does Capn B modulate his voice better than the average kid?   

Another good thing is that Wendy says I now have the TV and HiFi turned down to reasonable levels, and I've set the bass and treble back to medium levels.  Poor wife, she never complained.

You mentioned a couple posts above that your voice now seems louder to you. Is the talking to self/singing helping reset your 'normal'?

And I agree with Opsa -- they should come with something nice for the spouse.   

[Griffin NoName]

So I've got these two which I think cost several hundred pounds each (it's hard to find out) plus free batteries and other bits for life, plus two hours of specialist's time.  All entirely free, within a month of asking my doctor.  Tell that to these folks who don't want socialised medicine.

Clearly the post code lottery is in your favour re hearing clinics and equipment. Doesn't mean such great service is endemic. In fact, I bet it isn't. And how long it will last in your area is probably not likely good news. <THEY ARE RUINING OUR NHS FREAK >

[Sibling DavidH]

I'm curious: did losing that register of sound help with being around the piercing treble yelps of small children, or does Capn B modulate his voice better than the average kid?  

I don't know yet, but he'll be arriving in an hour or so; I shall find out!

You mentioned a couple posts above that your voice now seems louder to you. Is the talking to self/singing helping reset your 'normal'?

I dunno - I'm not doing it.  But it is getting better.

And you're probably right about the clinic, Griffin, but at least I've got a six-month supply of batteries in hand. 

[Griffin NoName]

I'm glad you got in before the great collapse which is surely just around the corner.

Another PFI failure in the NHS announced in Observer today - don't have ref. to hand, but 2 patients died.

[Sibling DavidH]

As for hearing aids and small boys: Pieces is right; Cap'n B now sounds like a demented banshee on zoom pills.  Oh, well....

[Swatopluk]

Another PFI failure in the NHS announced in Observer today - don't have ref. to hand, but 2 patients died.

Not limited to Britain that. Currently we have premature infants dying from hospital infections around here (and it's not even fully privatised yet).

[Opsa]

As for hearing aids and small boys: Pieces is right; Cap'n B now sounds like a demented banshee on zoom pills.  Oh, well....

The nice thing about hearing aids is that you can take them out sometimes.

[Aggie]

As for hearing aids and small boys: Pieces is right; Cap'n B now sounds like a demented banshee on zoom pills.  Oh, well....

Perhaps this is the evolutionary reason for hearing loss; it makes grandparents fonder of small children.

[Sibling DavidH]

The nice thing about hearing aids is that you can take them out sometimes.

Yes, it's even pretty easy to switch them off in place, but at the moment I'm trying to persevere through thick and thin.  I may resort to stuffing his mouth with chocolate.  

Perhaps this is the evolutionary reason for hearing loss; it makes grandparents fonder of small children.

Less likely to strangle them, anyway.

[Opsa]

The nice thing about hearing aids is that you can take them out sometimes.

Yes, it's even pretty easy to switch them off in place, but at the moment I'm trying to persevere through thick and thin.  I may resort to stuffing his mouth with chocolate. 

Perhaps this is the evolutionary reason for hearing loss; it makes grandparents fonder of small children.

Less likely to strangle them, anyway.

Can you adjust the volume settings? (...on the hearing aid, not the kid. I tried adjusting the volume on my kid, once. Didn't work. Especially since she's my kid and therefore naturally loud.)

[Sibling DavidH]

No, unless I take it back to the clinic, where they can do it in software.  It's supposed to adjust itself automatically, but maybe the designer didn't have kids.

I, too, have found that kids are not adjustable for volume.  They are either flat out, or asleep.

[Opsa]

It's a good thing they are so doggoned cute.

[Sibling DavidH]

I thought I had really got used to my new electric ears and that nothing would bother me now.  Then yesterday we went to Capn B's school to collect the little fellow, and suddenly zillions of little kids were rushing around screeching.  Aaagh!  Agony!

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

See?  Sometimes loosing one's hearing can be ... a blessing.

Good thing your new ears have an "off" switch, yes?

[Sibling DavidH]

I'm now nearly through the 12 sets of batteries they gave me, so I wondered how much bureaucracy would be involved in getting new ones.  There was as good as none: I walked up to the counter of the 'drop-in clinic', a woman looked at my log-book, gave me a new lot and made a note in the book.  Wendy was waiting in the 20-minute free drop-off parking and I was back in about 4 minutes.

You won't hear me moaning about the NHS.

[Opsa]

Nice!

I often wonder about the NHS. I wish we had it, here. Some people complain about the bureaucracy, but it doesn't sound any worse than what we pay for at a huge expense in the States.

[Griffin NoName]

The trouble with the NHS is that it is patchy. When properly run, yes, fantastic. But stuff like having to wait up to four weeks to find out if one has cancer is a nightmare when one knows it takes 0 to week privately...... I've never understood why they don't do one-stop clinics for stuff like that, it takes next to no time to read a scan and write the short report they do; I'm sure it would actually be more efficient for them too.

[pieces o nine]

You won't hear me moaning about the NHS.

Especially if we don't got no hearing aid batteries!   

[Sibling DavidH]

^