To Hear or Not to Hear??????

[leapyrtwins]

Thanks for all the details, Steve.

I didn't think it would randomly fly off, but it's always good to know when I'm correct 

Refresh my memory, please.  Are you SSD? or just have diminished hearing on one side?  Reason I ask is I'm wondering if this aid would work for someone like my mom who just has diminished hearing.

Another question, is there a specific name for your hearing aid so I can encourage her to look into it?

Thanks again,

Jan

[lori67]

I'm not sure if this helps or not, but the last time I was at the audiologist for my usual post-BAHA follow-up, we got to talking about trying to hear in noisy environments or at a meeting or even when the kids are in the way back of the van.  He was telling me about an FM hearing device (I'm sure there's a more technical name for it) that looks a little like Steve's hearing aid - very small.  Then there's another microphone portion that you can either give to the person running the meeting or class (it's small too), or you can put it in the middle of a table at a restaurant, or he said he even has one lady who velcros it to the headliner in her minivan so when she's driving kids around, she can hear them talking to her from the back. ( Big plus here is that you can also turn it OFF!   ).

The cost was about $1700, which included everything, the fitting for the earpiece (which goes in your good ear) and the miscellanous hardware.  I don't really need it at this point, but it's something I may look into at some point when I go back to work.

Something like this might help in the drivers ed situation.  Well, this and a lot of valium, which is what I'd need after teaching drivers ed!   

Lori

[Nancy Drew]

Thanks Steve for the info.  If I ever have to get a hearing aid, I will be especially careful with snowshoeing since I have been known to plant my face in the snow--by accident.  My neighbor told me she has a friend whose dog ate his hearing aid!  What a bummer.  Nancy

[tenai98]

teaching those 16 yr olds are great...they keep me young...lol...I was just recently mistaken for my oldest boy's sister...lol

[LADavid]

Like Steve, I have a behind the ear hearing aid for my "good ear".  It's a Widex Inteo and goes for $2,700.  It's great when there isn't a lot of noise around -- in a car.  But in noisy situations, it amplifies all the noise.  I would think a Hearing Aid would be perfect in your occupation.  You may also want to consider a CROS system -- not sure which ear you said the AN was in.  But I agree with the others, wait till after your surgery to determine your need.  Modern hearing aids are extremely sophisticated and are customized to your level of hearing or lack of it.

[sgerrard]

Jan, if I was SSD, don't you think I would have a BAHA by now? 

I have about 55 dB hearing loss in the left ear, my AN side. The loss spans from low to high frequencies. My word recognition, once the volume gets turned up, is still about 85% on that side. I also have some high frequency loss on the right side.

I imagine this kind of hearing aid would work for most levels of diminished hearing, as long as your word recognition is still in the usable range, above 50% . The hearing aid can't help with recognition, only volume level. It just makes a word that sounds like "aflac" sound like "AFLAC".

Mine is a Unitron Moxi, Element 16, about $2500 with service. It was picked out by the audiologist. For those with less hearing loss, you can also get it with the open ear piece, which doesn't plug the ear. I think the more expensive ones are worth it, since it takes several weeks to get used to them as it is, and any extra noise management or speech enhancement is worth it. At least I'm telling myself that, since I spent the dough already. 

Steve

[leapyrtwins]

Jan, if I was SSD, don't you think I would have a BAHA by now? 

Part of me says yes.  Part of me says you just humor us BAHA users    But based on this response, I guess you haven't been just trying to make us feel better - you really do have BAHA-envy.

I think half the battle of getting my mother to look into hearing aids is the cost and the other half is her perception that hearing aids are inferior products.  She bases that assumption on the fact that her grandmother worn one many, many years ago and it wasn't the greatest.  I've tried to convince her that aids have changed with the times and there are some really good ones out there.  I think the solution is just to drag her to my neurotologist's office and have one of the audiologists sit down with her and show her what's available.  At this point in time, it's a fear factor on her part, but I think with a little (okay, maybe a lot of) pushing from me she could be convinced to check into aids.  She's only 72 and I hate to see her go through the rest of her life with poor hearing, especially since I know know what it's like to be SSD.

Jan

[sgerrard]

Jan,

On the cost issue, I figured out that if it works for four years, a $2400 hearing aid is $50 a month. That's less than some people pay for their cell phone or cable TV, and I think hearing well is easily worth that much. But you know that, you have a BAHA.

My father had a pair of the older style hearing aids, which he ended up not using all that often. I think that is a mistake. If you get the small, light, high-tech ones, meaning the expensive ones, you can wear them all day every day, except when snowshoeing, etc. You are far more likely to get used to them if you do that, and then you start to get the real benefit.

The first day they are not so easy to wear. When I left the audiologist's office, I had the little kit in a plastic bag, and as I rode the elevator down, the crinkle sound from the bag seemed ridiculously loud, and I was tempted to return it right then. My keys, my door lock, every sound seemed to jump out at me. But the brain can adapt to that, and now my voice sounds weird to me when I don't wear the hearing aid.

I hope you can manage to get your mother to give them a real shot, I'm sure she would enjoy them if she can get past the initial adjustment and the cost.

Steve

[LADavid]

Steve I totally understand what you are saying about the amplified sounds.  It's frightening.  When I heard my cat meow for the first time it sounded diabolical as if she had been possessed.  Now I'm not sure what is real sound and what isn't.  I actually don't wear mine at home -- it makes things too loud.  The great thing about a hearing aid is if you are bothered by a noise or someone talking loud or annoyingly, you can always turn the hearing aid off. I do it frequently on the train.  Electronically manipulated peace.

[Omaschwannoma]

Buttinsky here,

Curious regarding all of the devices talked about here....seems they amplify the sound, and wondering if they help in restaurants or large, open areas or by amplifying the sound makes for more confusion?

[AMD]

Buttinsky here,

Curious regarding all of the devices talked about here....seems they amplify the sound, and wondering if they help in restaurants or large, open areas or by amplifying the sound makes for more confusion?

Hi Karen,

In the case of my Miracle Ear aid, it is designed to amplify human voice over background noise.  It has an unbelievable amount of channels that are tweaked using computer software.  It did pretty well for the few times I had it tweaked (I was lazy and should have worked with it more).  Places like movie theaters were way too loud, and i didn't need it there.  But, sometimes at work, it amplified too much background noise and became more of a nuisance since I was having trouble with word recognition as well.

-Amy