Getting Things Done When You Can't Hear

L

Lon

Well-known Member
Location
Central California
If you think it is easy then I challenge you to go 48 hours with out phoning, listening to TV or talking to anyone.
I am patting myself on the back for finding ways today to get things done that were important and needed doing. Thanks to email, texting, transcribed voice messages This was possible. I still prefer hearing as do most of us.Hopefully I will have some of it restored after November.
 

I know you are looking forward to November. Try doing everything with just one working arm and hand. Like you I manage to get things done even though it takes a toll on the good arm. It has been doing the work of two arms now for 20 years and starting to have problems with it because of overuse. I am just thankful I can still live by myself. Where theres a will theres a way!. You will have an entirely new world opened up for you, Lon!
 
I'm not deaf but very hard of hearing. I cannot watch a television show without closed captioning or it would be a complete waste of time.

If I go to a funeral service, it's a waste of time. Anything over a loud speaker system, I simply cannot understand.
 

Camper6 said:
I'm not deaf but very hard of hearing. I cannot watch a television show without closed captioning or it would be a complete waste of time.

If I go to a funeral service, it's a waste of time. Anything over a loud speaker system, I simply cannot understand.
Click to expand...

Do you wear Hearing Aids Camper?
 
Hearing aids in Canada are not covered under the universal health care and are terribly expensive. I simply cannot afford them. I did try them on a trial basis but they seemed to make things worse. I'll just tough it out.
 
Isn't it strange that they don't cover hearing aids. Medicare in the U.S. doesn't cover them either. It's like they figure hearing isn't important enough, you can do without it. My hearing loss isn't as bad as you guys. I have aids, but even with them I have a hard time understanding people. It's especially a problem when I have to make a phone call. Some voices I can understand and others just sound like gibberish. I hate having to ask people to repeat and talk slower.

I hope your operation is a success, Lon. I miss music too. I hear noise but the notes just sound wrong.

Don
 
Dentistry and hearing are private practice as is sleep apnea in Canada.

And they are not cheap. A lot of the coverage is through work related for hearing before plugs were mandatory. Now everyone except music aficionados pay attention. The future generation will be hearing impaired.

Lons operation would be covered but not the hearing aids .

I think hearing aids are a racket. I wouldn't doubt seeing over the counter models as reading glasses are now.
 
and yes I know how it must be not to be able to do somethings, i have acute copd and even rolling over in bed is a lot of work. try holding your breath for 3 minutes while you wash several dishes in the sink.
 
i know people dont want to talk to you because they have to talk louder then when i talk i talk too loud i figure i cant hear you cant either
 
My father in law lived with us for a few years . He was in his 90's . He got free hearing aids , free batteries - all free from the V.A. He refused to wear the hearing aid . He was so deaf , I couldn't talk loud enough to even hold a conversation. I Actually had to yell at the top of my lungs (and I have a quiet voice - it hurt ! ) That was the straw that broke the camels back . We had to put him in a nursing home. I still feel guilty .
 
Closed captioning on live broadcasts like the news is frustrating. It's delayed and skips a lot, and it's a puzzle to figure out what's being said. This is one application where artificial intelligence could really be a help. I picture some poor soul sitting at a keyboard trying to keep up.

Don
 
Grampa Don said:
Closed captioning on live broadcasts like the news is frustrating. It's delayed and skips a lot, and it's a puzzle to figure out what's being said. This is one application where artificial intelligence could really be a help. I picture some poor soul sitting at a keyboard trying to keep up.

Don
Click to expand...
That's the way it used to be. Now its voice recognition based.
 
Camper6 said:
I'm not deaf but very hard of hearing. I cannot watch a television show without closed captioning or it would be a complete waste of time.

If I go to a funeral service, it's a waste of time. Anything over a loud speaker system, I simply cannot understand.
Click to expand...

Camper and Don have you tried "TV EARS"?. They stream the television signal right into your ears via headphones. A company called Clearsounds sells them. Also Sony has a model. I have some patients with expensive hearing aids who use these devices as they say they are very clear for tv-better than the aids.
 
Last edited:
Grampa Don said:
Isn't it strange that they don't cover hearing aids. Medicare in the U.S. doesn't cover them either. It's like they figure hearing isn't important enough, you can do without it. My hearing loss isn't as bad as you guys. I have aids, but even with them I have a hard time understanding people. It's especially a problem when I have to make a phone call. Some voices I can understand and others just sound like gibberish. I hate having to ask people to repeat and talk slower.

I hope your operation is a success, Lon. I miss music too. I hear noise but the notes just sound wrong.

Don
Click to expand...
You might check your insurance if you have something besides Medicare. BCBS federal (has to be federal) covers some of the cost for hearing aids. Also Cigna and Aetna have some good discount programs.
Some states DSDHH Division of Services for Deaf and Hard of Hearing can help with one hearing aid.
Doesn't hurt to explore options in your state.
 
Last edited:
hearlady said:
Camper and Don have you tried "TV EARS"?. They stream the television signal right into your ears via headphones. A company called Clearsounds sells them. Also Sony has a model. I have some patients with expensive hearing aids who use these devices as they say they are very clear for tv-better than the aids.
Click to expand...

I'm an old guy with an old t.v. Those are wireless phones. What I have done is run a cable under the rug from the jack on the t.v. and I plug in a pair of Panasonic headphones.Really clear sound and I can regulate the volume with the remote. However I still prefer closed captions because of accents. Even the best hearing can't decipher some accents.

And fortunately one of my best friends prefers texting because it saves money. I'm not deaf except on certain frequencies.
 
hearlady said:
Camper and Don have you tried "TV EARS"?. They stream the television signal right into your ears via headphones. A company called Clearsounds sells them. Also Sony has a model. I have some patients with expensive hearing aids who use these devices as they say they are very clear for tv-better than the aids.
Click to expand...

Like Camper6, I have hard wired headphones to my TV. They do make speech more understandable than my hearing aids, which seems strange considering the cost of the aids. Maybe it's the room acoustics. What's really difficult is when they play background music while someone is talking.

The hearing aid business is weird. I've had mine for 11 years. The other day one of the little tubes broke off. I took it in to where I bought them and they fixed it and re-tested me and it didn't cost me a dime. They only make money when they sell the aids. So, of course I got a sales pitch.

Don
 
Grampa Don said:
Like Camper6, I have hard wired headphones to my TV. They do make speech more understandable than my hearing aids, which seems strange considering the cost of the aids. Maybe it's the room acoustics. What's really difficult is when they play background music while someone is talking.

The hearing aid business is weird. I've had mine for 11 years. The other day one of the little tubes broke off. I took it in to where I bought them and they fixed it and re-tested me and it didn't cost me a dime. They only make money when they sell the aids. So, of course I got a sales pitch.

Don
Click to expand...
Haha the hearing aid business is weird. I know my patients don't want an annoying sales pitch every time they come in.
I do tell them I won't assume they don't want to know what's new out there. I like to educate.
 
Got my latest hearing aids at Costco about a year ago. $1800 for the pair. And once I downloaded their app to my smart phone, the aids act like a Bluetooth devise, and are synced to the phone. So I can actually hear better on the phone than in person. They make a similar device that plugs into the TV so that the sound goes directly to the hearing aids, but I haven't tried that yet.
 
Hearlady -- Since you are in the business, maybe you can tell us why hearing aids cost so much. Admittedly, they are amazing devices. Inside is a chip that includes one of more analog to digital converters, a digital to analog converter, digital processor, programmable memory, and output amplifier. And it runs with very little current from a tiny 1.4v battery. But, with today's technology and mass production, that chip shouldn't cost more than a couple hundred dollars. Allow another hundred for parts and assembly and you have a production cost of about $300. That would make a pair of them about $600.

I was just quoted a price of $6,999 for a pair of top of the line aids. They would give me $1000 for trade-in, making the real price $5,999. You could buy a pretty big TV set for that. Who is making all this money? Does one company have a monopoly on the chips?

I will note that I get flooded with ads for competing brands and dealers, as does my wife who doesn't need them. Maybe competition will bring prices down.

Don
 
The hearing aids themselves likely don't cost much to produce. The engineering to fit the components into a tiny device that is exposed to sweat, moisture, and earwax is part of it. Marketing of course to get you to come see me in the first place. Training so that when you do come see me I know what I'm doing. That involves a year apprentice, being licensed in your state, board certified which really means another big ole test of my knowledge and skill.
Then the lifetime aftercare. That means I will see you at least 25 times in 5 yrs to clean, service, adjust your aids to keep them working as well as possible. With some patients that means 10 yrs or more as they want their aids to last as long as possible.
That being said.
There has been a bill passed to allow over the counter hearing aids to be sold. Lobbyists, Hearing Loss Association of America, AARP to fought for this as a way to lower the cost for people with mild to moderate hearing losses.
There has been much debate in the industry over this decision.
For me, I want people to afford hearing aids. I try to help people get something affordable. However, with this bill they may waive the FDA rules that we use when we do an evaluation to rule out any medical issues that need to be referred. Also, there is a lot of information that helps understand your hearing loss that will be missed.
My worry is that people will buy an OTC , try it without proper counseling and fitting,put it in the drawer and say "I'm so glad I didn't buy 6000 dollar aids because they don't work!" Then they may never treat their loss.
That being said it will likely cause prices to come down and be unbundled. We'll see.
 
Hearlady -- Thank you for responding. In the 11 years I've had my aids, I've been back for service or testing maybe 5 times. Most of those were due to being bugged by the dealer. Yet, I was charged the same amount as someone who goes in every 6 months. Yes, your service is definitely worth something. But, making it part of the purchase price doesn't seem fair to me. At least, it should be an option. By the way, even though a simple repair like my broken tubing was free, if one really died, I'd be out of luck. The warranty was for 3 years.

I understand your concern about OTC aids. It would be much better to have them adjusted by a trained audiologist. But, the common perception is that hearing aids are way over priced, and that's going to result in this sort of thing. I would not rule out someone like Amazon coming out with hearing aids with free software that allows them to be adjusted by the user. It's a big market and they could easily do it. There are a lot of people who need hearing aids but just can't afford them at current prices.

I found this article from 2010 about consolidation in the hearing aid chip industry. I wouldn't be surprised if more of this has been going on since then.

Don
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top