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Old 02-07-2015, 03:58 PM
 
2,630 posts, read 1,446,039 times
Reputation: 3595

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no kudzu, using the closed captions function on the remote control can help with understanding TV programs while keeping volume at a more normal level.
When it comes to movies at the cinema, don't stay home. Most cinemas have assistive listening systems to either read the dialogue or to hear the movie. Just call and asked first and then when you get to the box office requests the option that you want.
Also, to help you minimize isolation join a group that focuses on hearing loss. Two suggestions would be:

SayWhatClub.com

hearingloss.org
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Old 02-07-2015, 06:55 PM
 
1,774 posts, read 1,179,935 times
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Hello Sera -- Welcome back! I am very sorry to hear about the loss of your husband. Interesting that you happened to post on the topic of hearing loss. It is a daily topic of conversation in our house. My husband has great hearing and mine is not as good as it once was. We find it difficult to watch television together as hubby will not turn it up. I have seen advertisements for the TV ears, but have never known any one who used them, until No Kudzu mentioned them just now.
Does anyone know how much they cost?

My mother, who is 95, wears hearing aides, and my older brother is at about 50% loss, at age 61, but does not yet wear hearing aides. I am considering having a hearing test so that I have a baseline to measure against. Neither of us ever listened to loud music, so it wasn't caused by that.

Anyway, I'm glad you posted on this subject. Now I'll have to Google the TV ears!
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Old 02-07-2015, 09:54 PM
 
Location: Chapel Hill, N.C.
36,499 posts, read 53,845,993 times
Reputation: 47912
Quote:
Originally Posted by SoloforLife View Post
no kudzu, using the closed captions function on the remote control can help with understanding TV programs while keeping volume at a more normal level.
When it comes to movies at the cinema, don't stay home. Most cinemas have assistive listening systems to either read the dialogue or to hear the movie. Just call and asked first and then when you get to the box office requests the option that you want.
Also, to help you minimize isolation join a group that focuses on hearing loss. Two suggestions would be:

SayWhatClub.com

hearingloss.org
One theater in my community has a device which amplifies sounds - all sounds in the theater. So if I cough or sneeze or accidently hit the device the sound is incredibly loud. the other theater does not seem to keep their devices in working order. A new stadium seating theater is being built now and i hope they have better sound equipment.

My whole family has come to like the
TV ears. Radio Shack is where we always get them but with them in bankruptcy I guess Amazon will have to do. With TV ears i can enjoy any TV program I like without worry my kids will overhear something inappropriate. DH has no hearing problem and he likes them too.
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Old 02-08-2015, 05:28 PM
 
Location: Idaho
6,339 posts, read 7,694,931 times
Reputation: 14126
Quote:
Originally Posted by biscuitmom View Post
Do you shop Costco? If so, and if the one in Durham isn't too far from you, I can HIGHLY recommend Costco hearing aid centers and their Kirkland brand aids, about 1/2 the cost of brand-name aids. True to Costco standards, they have a generous 90-day trial period. If you return them within that window, there is ZERO cost.

I've worn hearing aids since 1984 and have dealt with a number of audiology centers, including a university-affiliated clinic. Costco beats them all.
Thank you all so much for this thread, and the Costco recommendation. I've been wondering if I should make an appointment with my doctor to have him check out my ears. I've had slight hearing loss in one ear since childhood due to a misdiagnosed adolescent ear infection. Wasn't bad enough to keep me from joining the Navy, but has caused minor problems throughout most of my life. I can really tell these past ten years when the difference really manifests itself when in bed. If I'm laying on my left side, I can hear stuff just fine. On my right side, everything is muddled and I have to raise my head to hear what is being said.

The past week or so, I have a low frequency rumble in my left ear. The best way to describe it is the background mechanical and air flow noise while on a ship at sea. You can't hear distinct noises, but a low rumbling. I'll send him an e-mail tomorrow to ask.

After church today, we stopped at Costco and I checked out the audiology center. Of course, it is closed on weekends, but I looked at the displays and picked up the brochures. It was nice to see that the audio exams are free of charge. I'll at least have a talk with the doctor, but I wonder if there is a conflict of interest.

Thanks again for the input. It's giving me the incentive to get off the couch and get the ears checked out. One line of my family tree does have hearing loss issues.
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Old 02-08-2015, 09:28 PM
 
Location: Bend Or.
1,126 posts, read 2,917,403 times
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Some don't think to check their Insurance coverage. Mine pays up to $5000 for hearing aids every three years.....
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Old 02-09-2015, 06:47 AM
 
1,321 posts, read 1,678,474 times
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My insurance does not pay for hearing aids It is a wonderful idea to call and ask.
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Old 02-09-2015, 11:39 AM
 
11,181 posts, read 10,483,322 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by whirnot View Post
Some don't think to check their Insurance coverage. Mine pays up to $5000 for hearing aids every three years.....
My insurance provider - BCBS of Texas - has what it calls a "contractor relationship" with a vendor called TruHearing that provides discounts for aids. But even with the discount, they're higher than the equivalent products at Costco.

In the literature they sent me, BCBS says they didn't review and don't endorse the information provided and TruHearing is "solely responsible for the products or services provided".
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Old 02-09-2015, 06:11 PM
 
Location: Maryland
1,534 posts, read 4,251,581 times
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My $0.02:
I'll hit 65 this month and have been wearing hearing aids since 1974. I suffer from genetically inherited Otosclerosis as well as some frequency specific trauma damage from being too close to loud booms (bombs which the Navy jets dropped on the wrong hill - fortunately they bombed the other side of the hill and not us Marines) in Viet Nam.

My left ear is now to the point of decline where I don't bother with an aid - it doesn't buy me much of any improvement. My right ear is in the severe/profound loss range but with a quality aid I do fine in most hearing environments. The relatively new receiver in the canal version has been a huge improvement over the full ear mold version I previously used.

Just a note for single ear folks: When one looses stereo (dual ears) you lose some discrimination in hearing, especially in identifying the direction of where a sound is coming from, but it is not a huge problem.

In our three level split SFH - if I'm on the middle level, it can be hard to discern whether DW is speaking from the lower or higher level - but like I stated, its not a big issue. If you have decline in both ears that is remediable then you are much better off.

I was a senior cost/benefit analyst for the majority of my professional career. The point therein is that I crunch numbers and data like most folks breath. Being seriously hearing impaired for most of my adult life - I applied my professional orientation to assessing and experimenting with the ongoing developments of Hearing Aid technology (which has been enormous) over the past 40 plus years.

I've spent some serious dollars over the years on hearing aids. My income level was such that I could afford the best aids currently available at any point in time and I tried most of them at one point or another. One can easily fall into buying the latest and greatest HAs which don't really buy you much in real world performance - been there, done that - got multiple T-Shirts thereof.

What follows is purely my personal opinion - I'm not giving medical advice - I'm relating what I do based on my 40 plus years experience.

1) I suggest that you first get an evaluation performed by an ENT (ear/nose/throat) MD - a Doctor of Otolaryngology. That is to assess whether your hearing problem has causes other than simply "aging ears" (usually Otosclerosis). If other issues are not present then -

2) Have an audiogram performed by an independent audiologist - not as a freebie but as a straightforward fee for professional service. (Most audiologists will try to sell you a HA - don't go there.) You likely will need an ongoing relationship (as I do) with a local audiology provider for periodic ear wax cleaning. Many insurance plans will cover some if not all of the audiogram costs and ear wax removal.

2) Then go to Costco and have them do their hearing test, then have it compared to the independent one - there may be minor differences but the two audiograms should be very similar. Then see what recommendations Costco has on their products.

The logic of my above comments is thus:

A) You need to have an ENT evaluation to assure that some other medical complications/conditions are not causing the hearing problem. That is a MUST DO step (IMO).

B) The reason for an independent audiogram is that you want a dual check on your hearing situation. My local Costco has a superb audiology service - I wouldn't make that assumption or recommendation generically. I also use my local audiologist for necessary periodic ear wax cleanings which Costco does not offer and HA adjustments.

C) Why Costco - my current aid purchased two months ago - which is virtually identical (same company/same specs/different name) to the one recommended by my long term audiologist cost me sub $1300 at Costco. My audiologist offered it for $3200.

Costco HA service - in my opinion - is the best deal you are going to find this side of the Holy Grail (JMO). Also - Costco's price for ear molds is about half what my audiologist charges.

D) Some generic additional trivia:

1) Don't buy more technology than is useful - dual aids that WiFi communicate with each other was not a biggie improvement back when I wore dual ears and tried them (your experience may vary but the issue is that you can be sold more technology than you need for everyday utility).

Additionally - having a gazillion channels sounds cool but there are practical limitations in real world improvement in my experience. Testing an aid is a really good idea before laying out your cash.

2) Do buy and religiously use a HA dryer - either the canister type or the better powered version - keeping your aid(s) in top condition is a must.

3) Learn to be pleasantly aggressive about controlling your hearing environment - that means not being shy about telling folks that if they want to chat with you at a party you need a quieter space to do so.

I cheerfully avoid environments where I am not fully capable of interacting with folks
hearing-wise - it saves a lot of stress. I've been hearing impaired for a very long time and am totally comfortable adapting to my limitations and have no reluctance in informing folks of my problem. IMO - to do otherwise is just dumb.
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Old 02-09-2015, 07:02 PM
 
11,181 posts, read 10,483,322 times
Reputation: 18618
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pilgrim21784 View Post
My $0.02:
Are you, kidding? That's about $2000.00 worth of outstanding advice and information!

I laughed at the below. We live in a 3-level house also, and I have exactly the same complaint:
Quote:
In our three level split SFH - if I'm on the middle level, it can be hard to discern whether DW is speaking from the lower or higher level - but like I stated, its not a big issue. If you have decline in both ears that is remediable then you are much better off.
I wear two aids but since the microphones are behind my ears, sound sources are always scrambled.
Since I've worn aids for 30+ years, you'd think that DH would have learned that "Here" is not a useful response when I call out "Honey, where are you?". I've tried in vain to train him to say "kitchen" or "bedroom" or "study".
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Old 02-09-2015, 08:08 PM
 
Location: Maryland
1,534 posts, read 4,251,581 times
Reputation: 2326
Damn - that gave me a huge chuckle - the "Here" --- ROTFLOL!!! Yeah - it takes a while to train them. Fortunately DW has adapted to answer my query with a location and blessedly always stays on my good hearing side whenever we are walking together. We travel a fair amount and its really nice to have a "hearing assistant" handy. Heathrow's public announcements are the worst in the world - absent DW I'd end up in Syria!

She (much to her credit - I'm really fond of her) has also adapted to knowing that at a multiple person dining setting its hard for me to catch all the conversation - she discretely repeats stuff for me (did I mention I was really fond of her?)

Adapting to hearing impairment is an ongoing challenge, but Lord I am so thankful for the improvements over the past decades. Having been a high power BTE user with full molds for decades, the recent receiver in the canal model with the mini-mold has been a huge improvement for me.

One secret benefit the "normals" don't have - my new aid has a remote volume adjustment - when my beloved 4 year old granddaughter gets too screechy its a boon to discretely tune it down while the others suffer the noise! Such is life.
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