Hearing aids? Audiologist?

[oknow]

I was in the military, and I had testing when my enlistment was up that showed I had a hearing loss due to being in the engine room of an MLB for years, but I am avoiding the VA like the plague.

Besides the delays, I don't want to go near those anal orifices and their regs. Pass.

Lol. Understand

 

[Caveman Jim]

I don't know how the thread got resurrected. Maybe I liked a post last night when I looked at it again last night because I was thinking of going to Costco because I really need to do this.

I've had tinnitus and hearing problems since I was a kid, and now at 62 it is getting to the point where I simply don't understand half of what is said by people in person or at work. It isn't that I can't hear them speak, it is that I am missing much of the sounds so I can't understand it.
BINGO!!!! I too can hear them talking (if they are close enough and talking in my direction) but the comprehension is the culprit. I miss certain words and the conversation gets lost.

When I put on my hearing muffs with microphones in them, I am amazed at all the sounds I can hear that I couldn't hear before, and how much clearer speech is on the TV.
I have one digital aid (a Phonax BTE HA) that is over 15 years old and parts are hard to come by, so the audiologist tells me.
It does help to some degree for comprehension but sometimes it squeals so bad I have to quickly yank it out!!! Especially when I were a hooded rain jacket, a hiodie is no problem (soft material).....

So I really need the aids.

 

[Stomper]

Getting old AIN'T for the weak!

 

[Scott F]

I was in the military, and I had testing when my enlistment was up that showed I had a hearing loss due to being in the engine room of an MLB for years, but I am avoiding the VA like the plague.

Besides the delays, I don't want to go near those anal orifices and their regs. Pass.

I am in the Portland system and before that was in the Seattle System. The VA provides me the best health care I have EVER had. I have had no hassles of any kind only concerned, caring and friendly care. MY Dr in WA was a shooter and we often talked shooting.

The hearing aids are about a month wait once they are ordered so I would guess you are two months or less from great audio care and batteries for life.

Don't believe the tin foil hat group. grab you DD214 and walk into the hospital and you will walk out signed up and ready to see your new primary care DR.

The VA hearing aids they got for me are top of the line and I can now hear my grandchildren.

 

[The Heretic]

I've had a few years experience with government provided health care and "insurance" for myself and my family when I was in the military - I don't care to repeat it.

*IF* the VA did what they were supposed to do (provide good prompt healthcare for vets) and weren't infamous for long waits, and weren't infamous for turning away some vets, and weren't infamous for being a political tool of the current admin by trying to put vets on a mentally incompetent list so they can't own/buy guns, and they weren't infamous for being incompetent and corrupt themselves, I might consider them.

But since I have the wherewithal to pay out of pocket for the hearing aids myself, and since I want to make my own choices about what hearing aids I use, including the features and quality, and since I don't want anything to do with the VA, and since I want to get what I want when I want it, not months later - I'll just go the private sector route.

I am glad the VA pays for or provides hearing aids for vets, it means that at least in that respect they are doing what they should be doing. But for me it isn't worth dealing with them. Maybe someday somebody in a position of power who has promised to cleanup the VA with actually follow through on that promise - then maybe I will go to them for their services. Right now, I don't even want them to know I exist.

YMMV

 

[Oregonhunter5]

OK, for years I refused to get hearing aids. I'd worked in steel mills and power plants for 30 years, been shooting since I was 5 years old, and built and ran oval track race cars since I was 16. Imagine 30 of these going by at once:

<broken link removed>

My wife finally got fed up and said it's hearing aids or else.

I went to Costco and got tested. My hearing on the high end was terrible. I got a pair of Resound behind-the-ear hearing aids ($2700). My medical savings account just happened to have a little more than that in it. They tuned the hearing aids' response curve to my hearing curve. It took a couple of visits (free), but eventually the hearing aids were comfortable, stayed in place (I quickly ditched the little whisker things that are supposed to help keep the hearing aids in place), and I could hear things really well without it being painful if someone dropped a spoon on a tile floor. I went back again after about 18 months and got another tuning for free. My hearing aids came with a remote and they programmed 3 different sets of filtering into them. "Everyday" is the one I use for most situations. It amplifies the frequencies where my hearing is poor. "Noisy" is the program I select for a noisy restaurant. It filters out everything that's not coming from straight ahead of me. Works beautifully in restaurants and meetings. The third program is "Outdoors" and it amplifies everything and filters out nothing. I use it for hunting and other outdoor activities. With the volume turned up I can hear water running in a 12 inch wide stream at 100 yards. That's really nice when deer hunting. The wireless remote is about the size of an old Zippo lighter and fits in my jeans pocket nicely. It controls the volume and selects programs.

I'm very happy with my hearing aids and with Costco and their service. Most of the people I meet don't know I'm wearing them unless I point them out. I understand that they are now coming out with Resound hearing aids that can be controlled from your iPhone, it would be really nice to be able to ditch the dedicated remote, since I'm already carrying a cell phone anyway.

http://www.gnresound.com/hearing-aids

I do highly recommend Costco and Resound.

Is that you driving that sprint car?

 

[Caveman Jim]

Speaking as a deaf person whose parents were offered the options of hearing aids or cochlear implants... here's the main problems with CIs.

1) they use magnets, So there's risk for damage.
2) a concussion, or a hard fall can and will damage the internal implants, and possibly cause internal bleeding near your brain, which is a terrible thing.
3) you have to be very careful not to get the removable receiver part wet.
4) Depending on the level of hearing loss; you might not be able to hear the same things you used to. (I got menigitis and lost hearing at a young age of 18 months, I had some language but it wasn't enough to keep me fluent in spoken english.)
5) not EMP proof or solar flare proof or electrical storm proof.

Now.... since you've already acquired language and understanding of audio noise, it might work for you, but remember these problems above.

With hearing aids, it can help a lot. I use one digital and one ancient analog, because insurance only covered for one digital hearing aid....
On the telephone or headphone setting, I get a lot of Radio Frequency Interference from just about anything electrical in nature...its worst near outlets and fuse boxes.... so its difficult for me to listen to music on headphones if I'm too close to electrical wiring and such.
http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/P...andProsthetics/CochlearImplants/ucm062843.htm -Note, this is from a medical perspective in which deafness is treated as a disease and a medical condition to fix. Most of the focus is on deaf children or babies, because their parents are hearing, and wish to have their child/children involved with the hearing world. (This is called Audism, and is a sort of problem with the Deaf Community; PM me for more info on that, it is not a liberal thing I promise you lol)
EDIT: WOw its a thread necro; but relevant.
TL;DR, if you're old enough and know what things sounded like before, and already could hear things before the loss, then CIs may work, but HAs would be better, depending on how severe the loss. I am personally against forced CIs for children.

At the age of 35 I was attacked by a viral infection, so said the Dr.s, as they scratched their heads.
Ice pick sensations in one ear, also plugged up feeling and 747 loud tinnitus roared on 24/7. Then the dreaded dizzyness and vertigo followed for years with 85% hearing loss and 100% comprehension loss in that one ear. The other faired a slight bit better with 50% hearing loss and 60% comprehension loss. So basically HA's have little benefit for my comprehension during conversations. Forget it in noisy areas, gonna eventually have to learn sign or just fade away.

During my research on CI's I found that some patients would get shocked by the battery underneath their skin. That right there was enough to make me say NO WAY!!!

 

[The Heretic]

Everybody is different.

Hearing loss is quite prevalent in my family - many of us operated machinery on the farm - tractors, combines, nut harvesters you could hear a mile away (we could tell if the operator was having problems by going outside the house and hearing whether the harvester was running down the hill a mile away). The nut dryer (we raised hazelnuts and walnuts among other things) was quite loud and only much later in our lives did we start wear hearing protection.

Then there were the guns.

I am probably the worst - I worked around machinery the most, besides the farm I worked in canneries (all of us kids did), worked in factories, worked in the engine room of CG boats, worked on equipment after the military as a diesel mech, and then there were the guns. I had the most exposure, except for my dad who worked long hours on the farm.

I also had an incident during military training where I damaged an ear drum. All of us boys had ear infections when young, and measles.

For some reason I had intermittent tinnitus of a sort when I was a young kid. I would all of a sudden hear an almost pure tone - not a ringing like I do now - for a short period of time - maybe 30 seconds - unrelated to loud noises. I thought I was like Spiderman and it was a warning of danger. I still get these once in a while - much louder than the tinnitus (which is variable in volume and a multitude of tones and sounds), it overrides it completely for a short time.

For the most part the tinnitus doesn't bother me - I have learned to mostly ignore it - except that it interferes with enjoying music and understanding speech.

My main problem is that increasingly I am unable to understand some speech, especially certain types of voices, soft ones, some low tones and so on. This interferes with my work, and some people get frustrated having to tell me something multiple times. That is mostly what I want the aids for. I think they will help as when I wear my hearing protection muffs with microphones, I can understand speech better - same with headphones connected to the TV.

 

[Caveman Jim]

HA's work for those who have hearing loss due to noisy environments, just be forewarned that all they do is amplify ALL SOUNDS. Sounds like you should benefit from the technology with the digital HA's and a remote control. I would use an ENT audiologist as they will give you free cleaning maintenance (if it breaks or gets wet then that is on you) and batteries for the life of your HA's, mine does anyways just ask.
Good luck.

 

[ZigZagZeke]

Is that you driving that sprint car?

Nope, I'm a chassis builder/tuner, though I have driven a few times. I also once crewed on a AA/FD dragster for Don Prudhomme. Wiping tires with the exhaust tubes in my ear was one of my jobs.

 

[ZigZagZeke]

I thought I had posted this previously, but can't find it, so here's a little addendum to my story above:

During our move/remodel, with everything and everyone in complete chaos for several months my hearing aids went missing. The remote and aids were in a ziplock bag on my desk in the basement as we remodeled the main floor (tore it down to floor joists and bare wall studs). I went to look for them one day and they were nowhere to be found. I looked for a month and finally gave up, went back to Costco and got the iPhone compatible hearing aids for $1700. They were every bit as nice as the $2700 ones and they were controlled through my iPhone. Not only that, they could route sound from the phone (calls, driving directions, music, video sound, etc) to my new hearing aids (Kirkland Signature 6). This makes these hearing aids indispensable to me. Everything is hands free in the car, and I can even watch HBO on my phone while waiting at the doctor's office with the sound coming directly to my hearing aids. There's also a TV module that will communicate directly from the TV audio to these hearing aids, but my hearing isn't that bad yet.

BTW, we eventually found that after repeated denials from my 5 yo daughter, she admitted that she had moved my hearing aids for me because she didn't want them to get lost. She put them somewhere for safe keeping because they were in her way. They were in a boot, in a closet, behind a couch. A friend of mine who couldn't afford hearing aids is now their happy owner. Costco was very helpful in testing his hearing and tuning them for him, all for free.

 

[The Heretic]

Went to Costco and tried out some hearing aids

Of course, they made quite a bit of a difference.

I could hear a lot of things that I couldn't before, but the most important thing was that I could hear and understand voices from a distance where before I might not even have heard the voice, much less understood them. It was almost like I was eavesdropping on them (bear that in mind when next in public - with the new hearing aids they have directionality that a person can tune, and they can hear a lot).

The tech said they were turned up to 75% of what I needed and that as I got used to them they would be turned up even more. Not sure I need more, but we'll see how it goes.

I don't mind the relative silence most of the time, other times I really do need to hear people talking.

So I went ahead and ordered them - $2600 - and they will be there in about a week.

 

[The Heretic]

They came in.

I've had them for two days now.

They make a significant difference for me. They fill in the frequency gaps so I can understand voices in most environments now.

I hear a lot of other stuff too - noises I didn't notice before. Squeaky chairs, paper rustling, and so on - much of which I don't care about. It is nice to hear pet's voices - neighborhood dog and daughter's cats. Nice to be able to listen to TV at daughter's home without it blasting them out or me having to wear their bluetooth headphones.

That said, except for interfacing with people, I don't really need them. Sure it is nice to hear birdies and the wind in the trees, but most of the time I prefer the relative silence. In the city, the city noises I can totally do without.

I have them turned down most of the time - and even at their lowest setting they give enough amplification for me to hear people talking and usually understand them.

It is nice to use them with the cell phone - I can understand voices on the phone with the bluetooth. Music from the phone or computer via bluetooth sucks though - sounds like it is coming from a cheap small speaker - like the speaker on the phone itself. Today I used bluetooth headphones on top of my hearing aids to listen to music on the computer, and that worked okay - not that comfortable, but the hearing aids did make that music better.

I will try to have the audiologist adjust the bluetooth settings to work better with music, but it isn't that big of a deal I suppose - I can wear the headphone, it is just that the hearing aids are more convenient because they are so small and lightweight.

I think the bluetooth may not be good for music because it isn't the hearing aids that have bluetooth, it is the connection thingy that goes around my neck - it is an induction loop that works with the t-coil in the hearing aid, certainly sufficient for voices, not for music? I don't know, but I was and am dissapointed with any music that comes in via that connection.

 

[Scott F]

It takes a while to get use to them but it is worth the effort. Just a hint, if you start to stem into the shower and it sounds real loud stop and take out your hearing aids. Don't ask me how I know.

 

[The Heretic]

Thanks. But I take them off when I get home and I don't put them on until I am going out the door to work. Except for watching TV, and maybe not even then, I don't wear them at home - for now anyway. After wearing them all day I don't care much to wear them at home.

I am going to get different domes (much smaller and open) and longer wires, so maybe then they will be more comfortable, but I always know when I have them on.

 

[Scott F]

As I said, it takes a while to transition from our quiet world to the world field with sound. It took me months. I was able to hear sounds I had forgotten existed and had to have my wife tell me what they were. I didn't know the kitchen clock ticked, I forgot what a flight of ducks sounded like, I laughed out loud the first time I used a urinal and scared the guy next to me.

 

[The Heretic]

Yeah - I didn't know the turn signal on my new car clicked, that my keyboard made such a clacky sound and so on.

Most of that I can do without - Aspergers makes a lot of noise annoying - not small sounds like that, but in a real noisy environment (party, restaurant, etc.), without hearing aids, I get uncomfortable and it is tiring. It is more frustrating though to not be able to understand people talking and to not be able to carry on a conversation - it is isolating - so I will wear the aids in those environments.

At home though - I am single - I don't have the need to converse with others, and up here on the mountain it is quiet most of the time, so no big need to be wearing them all the time.

I will just wear them when I anticipate having to converse with or listen to people.

 

[Scott F]

It is a big change. Road noise can get real tiring. Part of my problem comes from fluctuating hearing. My volume will go up and down sometime about every ten seconds. Being a navy hardhat diver screwed up my life a lot.

 

[Larrytpdx]

I am going to get different domes (much smaller and open) and longer wires, so maybe then they will be more comfortable, but I always know when I have them on.

Glad you got the aids. When my wife finally got hers she wished she hadn't put it off for so long. Smaller domes will make a big difference in comfort. She has small ear canals and uses the 6mm childs domes which don't actually touch. The only smaller ones were the 4mm which are basically just nubs and for very small toddlers. Batteries can be pretty expensive if you just buy the 6-paks at the store. I get her batteries on eBay and watch for people selling expired ones (batteries dont go bad for a long time). The last time in February I picked up 480 expired-2013, Rite-Aid batteries for $29.99 (just over $.06 each)! Much better than $1.00 each at the store. Even if they only last 1/2 as long they should last 2-3 years so I'm way, way ahead. Best of luck with your new "ears" amigo.

 

[Scott F]

I just go on line to the VIAnd click one time to get six months worth shipped to my door.