Hearing aids

[slide]

I am 64 years old. Had the whooping cough when I was a baby and it did some damage to my ears. Have always had some trouble hearing but as I get older it gets worse. It is getting to the point where I am going to have to do something. How many others have this problem and what did you do about it? There are all kinds of aids out there and cochilar implants(doubt I spelled that right). I have been to an ear specialist and he recommends hearing aids. Thanks Guys!

[runfiverun]

once you get to a point you gotta have them.
be prepared for some sticker shock.
but they do have some cool features now they didn't have just a couple of years ago.
you can Bluetooth your phone right into your hearing aid, and talk on the phone or listen to music in them.

the cochlear implant is best reserved for when your hearing gets to 0%.
you can hear just fine with them but you can't tell things like if it's a man or a woman on the phone.
most tones are just audible noise and sound like everything else.[computerized kind of]

[M-Tecs]

I helped my Dad select several pairs. Sticker shock is right but the high end ones worked for Dad when the others didn't. Do your research well.

[smoked turkey]

I have extreme hearing loss in my left ear, My right ear is quite a bit better but still over all my hearing is not good. I also have ringing in my ears most all the time. I got my hearing aids three or four years ago. They do help me a lot. I will say though that they can only do so much. Even though my hearing is much better with them, they leave a lot to be desired in my opinion. As stated above they are pricey and like a lot of other things you get what you pay for. I would definitely get the digital ones because they can do so much more with them as compared to the older style. I would recommend that you wear them a lot because having them is a great help to those around you who try to communicate with you.

[waksupi]

I have several pairs, but very seldom use them. I find when I DO use them, people tend to interrupt me when I am talking. When I don't have them in, I can just keep on talking until they decide they have listened long enough.

[dg31872]

Tractor diesel engines ruined my hearing in a certain pitch. Other sound pitches and levels I can hear somewhat.
Spent six grand on the best available behind the ear aides. Now I can hear perfectly behind me, But I still cannot understand what someone in front of me says.

[claude]

Both of mine are behind the ear type, and they help a good deal, BUT. They provide zero directional hearing, I still need to ask people to repeat themselves because no matter how many times I tell them to get my attention, and then talk, they don't. What that means is I Hear enough noise to look at them, but the words are just that, noise. If they will get my attention first, and look at me while they talk, I can generally catch the drift of what they are saying. If there is any background noise, forget it, I can't understand anything being said.

Get your hearing aids and use them, because one day, you'll wish the hell you did.

[Screwbolts]

I have worn aids for many years. Go to a hospital ENT and get your aids from them, an outside vender will charge you all you pocket can bear. Go to an ENT at a hospital, very important. I now have a Cochlear implant on left side, can not say enough good about it. The total experience is beyond words. as said before aids until you are beyound what aids will do. I wear the cochlear from the time I get up until i sleep again, other than bathing. (Only time during day that it is off is when hearing protective muffs are worn.) still use a HA in rt ear.

when you get your aids, wear them every day, every waking moment other than bathing, your brain and every other hearing impared persons has gotten lazy, go figure. it hasn't had to seperate backround noise for decades so for 30 to 45 days it will be overwheming, then it will be as everyone else, your brain will tune out the backround noise and you will hear much better. Many stubern people get there aids and only wear them occasionaly. If you have several pairs and only wear them on ocasion they are worthless IMHO to you because of the overwhelming back round noise.( your brain has never re learned how to seperate the backround noise.) get the aids, wear them from the time you rise till you sleep again every day and that will give you the real value of hearing aids.

Ken

[C.F.Plinker]

Ask your specialist if he/she recommends any providers of hearing aids. Get a copy of your hearing test and visit them to see what they offer. As mentioned earlier there are more than a few manufacturers of aids and usually several levels (and prices) of features. Figure out what features are important to you. One that was important to me was being able to adjust the volume myself rather than having to go back to the audiologist to have it reprogrammed. The type of hearing loss you have will determine how many frequency bands your hearing aid needs to correct for your hearing loss. This, in turn, affects price. I stayed away from the mass merchandisers such as BelTone and Miracle Ear and looked at the independent audiologists because I felt they would be able to select from different brands to pick out the aids that would work best for me.

Ask about warranty and any ongoing costs when you talk with them. Find out how much it costs to have an aid returned and rebuilt if it stops working after the warranty is up. In my case it is $210 to have it shipped back to the factory, rebuilt, and returned. They ship express mail and it takes about a week. I have the behind the ears type. One uses the 1/8 inch plastic tube to connect the aid to the ear piece. They are nice and flexible when new. But after a couple of months they shrink and get hard. Then the aid stops working like it used to and the tube has to be replaced. This was at no charge while it was in warranty. After the two years it was $10. I'm frugal so I figured out how to do it myself. Now all I have to do is buy tubing at the hardware store for 35 cents a foot. The other one uses the really tiny wire from the aid to the receiver in my ear. I asked about it and was told that the wire lasts about 8 months and a replacement is $85. Mine lasted 16 months so when it went out it was still covered by warranty. Lucky me. The other ongoing cost is batteries. Mine last about 2 weeks for the left aid and 3 weeks for the right. The cheapest place I have found to get them is Costco. Forty batteries is $9. The savings on batteries when compared with the drug store is enough to pay for my Costco membership. When you pick up your aids have them show you how to clean them because they don't work when they get wax in the earpieces.

I live in a dry area so I don't need a dryer. I was on vacation overseas in a humid area and they stopped working. I figured that it was the high humidity and was able to improvise a dryer and got them back to working. Now I carry a jar of the desiccant beads when I go on vacation.

Are they worth it? For me, very definitely. I've had aids for well over 10 years now and wouldn't give them up. Shooting with them gets to be interesting. One range I shoot at has target returns that are operated from the firing points. Since there is to range officer I can take the aids out, put the plugs in and put the earmuffs on. I want to keep what hearing I have left for as long as possible. Now when I shoot league I need to be able to hear the range commands. I went to using the electronic ear muffs. Ideally I would turn the aids off, put the muffs on and regulate the sound level using the muffs. The problem is that most muffs are small enough that they can either push the button or close the battery and turn the aid back on. Now I have to take them out, put the earmuffs on, and adjust the volume. If I use double protection (plugs and muffs) I can't hear the range commands.

I hope yours work as well for you as mine have for me. If you don't hear well you will not be able to enjoy the people you are with because you can't participate in what is going on.

[Calamity Jake]

I am 64 years old. Had the whooping cough when I was a baby and it did some damage to my ears. Have always had some trouble hearing but as I get older it gets worse. It is getting to the point where I am going to have to do something. How many others have this problem and what did you do about it? There are all kinds of aids out there and cochilar implants(doubt I spelled that right). I have been to an ear specialist and he recommends hearing aids. Thanks Guys!

If your a Veteran then the VA will buy your hearing aids, just have to get tested by them and apply.
My FIL got his this week.

[Rufus Krile]

Between the pig and the radios, my hearing pretty much took an Indochine retirement... but you adapt to whatever your environment provides and I've gotten to the point that I kind of like it in here where it's quiet. You don't HAVE to hear everything directed at you. Another example of the guile of old age overcoming the exuberance of youth.

[jimofaz]

Rufus ... the 'wife' mode (program #1 on my set of HA's) surely does come in handy now & again! :razz:
Jim

[shooter93]

My hearing is going because of several reasons....but I'm not sure I mind not hearing.....lol.

[skeettx]

I lost my hearing to Airplanes and munitions.
VA supplies mine
Mine are BlueTooth capable and really help me when I watch television
I can even understand most of the words :)

[GL49]

Mine are paid for by the company where I work. I've lost 85-90% of my hearing in the highest four of the seven ranges that the yearly company hearing test measures. "WOWEE! They'll furnish my hearing aids!" When I have them in I don't notice the ringing in my ears as much. But..... prepare yourself.

Potato chip bags are REALLY noisy, the newspaper being rattled about drives you nuts, I had no idea my car had so many rattles, and I'll be doggoned, the microwave and oven timer "beep" when they're done. You can hear it raining and hear the crickets and frogs at night. Wear them when you're hunting in the woods and you'll quickly figure out why you don't see as many deer as you did in the past. Fingernails on a chalkboard or feedback from a microphone will drive you right to your knees.

For the first couple of weeks, all these extra sounds are a bit much, but you'll get used to them. My wife is very happy with them, and so am I. All of this has value.

Being able to turn them off.......priceless.

[nicholst55]

Tank engines, artillery fire, and small arms fire have rendered me nearly as deaf as a stump. The VA provided me with two very nice, bluetooth-capable hearing aids, my choice of styles. I chose behind-the-ear models, because I have to remove them at work due to truck and tank engines, and air impact tools.

[bubba.50]

a childhood full of ear infections followed by quite a few years of shootin' when people didn't know/were too stupid to use muffs or plugs followed by the rock-n-roll era all combined with a few years of heavy machinery noise & my hearin' ain't what it used to be. I just turn the teevee up louder. bonus benefit-it cuts down on conversation(read that naggin') with the mizzus.

and luckily my tinnitus most of time sound like insects & birds chirpin' and is an almost pleasant experience.

[farmerjim]

Make sure you can get a 100% refund if you don't like them.
I am deaf at different frequencies in each ear, and no high freq in either ear. I can hear most things somewhat, but I don't know what direction they are coming from. I have trouble understanding people talking behind me.
My doctor advised against aids for me. He said they would not help enough to overcome the trouble of wearing them. In other words, my hearing is not bad enough yet.

[BrassMagnet]

I lost my hearing to Airplanes and munitions.
VA supplies mine
Mine are BlueTooth capable and really help me when I watch television
I can even understand most of the words :)

VA also provides all of the batteries if you suffered hearing loss in the military.

My loss came from living on aircraft carriers and jet engine noise.
Mine help, but I can not make sense of what was said when more than one person is talking.
I have no ability to determine directin of sound.
I get about two days from a battery. Both ears' batteries die at about the same time.
I misunderstand what was said much of the time.
Life is still better with hearing aids, just not as good as with natural hearing. Protect what you have!

[cheese1566]

Degenerative heredity hearing loss and I think some misuse of headphones in high school added to my severe loss. I have had them for the last 14 years and since I was age 30. I got 13 years out of my miracle ears and had them rebuilt twice for $100 each. I dropped one and it shattered,, no rebuild on that one anymore. I shopped around and went with ReSounds. Wow! I found my old ones were really wore out and the amplifiers were almost dead. I could hardly stand the noise of the new ones and had them programmed to a reduced level for the first week. I can have several programs wirelessly synced to them in the office. I can also control them off an app on my android phone. I can stream them to my iPad and could do hands free and stream to an iPhone if I had one.
They were $5000 for the pair though. Ouch!! Nope, insurance typically don't cover. Nice thing about them is I can wear them all day and they are comfortable. I forget they are there. My old ones were molded to my ear canal and could only wear them 3/4 of the day.

[William Yanda]

If your a Veteran then the VA will buy your hearing aids, just have to get tested by them and apply.
My FIL got his this week.

I served. I got mine 2 weeks ago. VA gave me the same hearing aids the local Ontologist wanted nearly $3K for. My hearing loss is about 20%-and growing-in the 2 or 3 higher frequency ranges. A year ago they said borderline, now recommended. Balancing aggravation vs advantage, right now aggravation is winning.

[jcwit]

I have gotten 3 pr of hearing aids from the VA so far, I get new ones every 4 to 5 years. These new ones I got last Feb. are a whole bunch better than any of the others. They are made by Starkey, Model Z Series, behind the ear. If your a Vet, be sure to check it out.

[gmsharps]

I received my first ones from the VA in 2002 and they really needed to be replaced. I had been working overseas for quite some time and was not back in the US for a long enough time for the VA to redo them but I have recently returned and I received stellar treatment at the VA and am the recipient of behind the ear hearing aids which are Bluetooth compatible that allows you to track the last know location in the event that you lose one. It's amazing how good the technology has changed since I received the last ones. The sounds are as close to natural as you can get and best of all they work. It sure cuts down on the arguments with the better half when I before couldn't hear what she is saying.

gmsharps

[1187Shooter]

I've had a pair of Starkey Wi series behind the ears for about 4 years now... the tag was $7300 for the pair, but the company I worked for at the time paid 90% so I figured I'd go for it. I'm glad I did, I can hear my daughters now, and they made a big difference in church as a worship musician.
Unfortunately in my line of work it is pretty much impossible to wear them on the job.
They definitely are worth getting if you need them, but make sure when you do, that you consult with your tech about your hobbies and other activities so they can find the perfect match for your lifestyle. I went to three different offices before I settled on the Starkey brand, and I'm very happy with them.

[dave524]

I've had tinnitus for over 20 years in my left ear and substantial hearing loss in that ear as well and some on the right as well. From my reading that is typical of shooting right handed, most loss occurs on the left. I worked in a steel mill also , which didn't help as in my early years there , hearing protection was not mandatory. On retiring, I put in a claim to Workmans Compensation and got a small lump sum for disability and they pay a fixed amount towards aids every 5 years and my insurance through work will pay up to a certain amount as well, making the cost of a high end pair, minimal to me. I have a high end pair of Oticons with the bluetooth thingy you wear around the neck. You can pair it with your phone for hands free while driving and play any music on your phone but the frequency response for music sounds like an old cheap transistor radio, also an adapter for plugging it into the headphone jack of a computer or TV. The fellow I deal with is a certified audiologist and after the sale support is fantastic, without the support they would have been put in a drawer long ago, he has made several adjustments to the amount of boost in several frequency ranges over the 3 years I've had them based on follow up checkups. Choose your vendor wisely for the best results.

[Taylor]

Small arms fire and other really loud kabooms.Yes,paper is really loud.Mine are blue tooth,my phone is not.One ear is worst than the other,I sleep on the good ear.Nice and quite.Oh and VA pays for them,they are nice and hardly noticeable.