Do you wear a hearing aid?

[Bill Douglas]

I said "DO YOU WAER A HEARING AID?"

GF has just got one. Specially for her. Tuned for her hearing loss.

I tried it and it's amazing. I had one about 30 years ago but, haha, as you can imagine they have improved since then.

[JackDidley]

Yes. 50+ years.

[Racerbvd]

Yes, I have them as well. Yes a huge difference between when I wear mine and don't
Plus I have the Bluetooth version so I can stream my phone calls straight to my hearing aids and when I am driving one of the track cars, I can stream music from my phone straight to my hearing aids, crazy being able actually listen to music in a loud car( loud cars probably had a lot to do with my hearing loss)

[cstreit]

I can't understand why I can't just pop my airpods in when I really need this.

What?

I may need them...

[Bill Douglas]

Thanks Guys!

I think I will go for it. But I wanted to quizz you guys first LOL

GF got the hearing test then the hearing aids were made up for her particular hearing loss. We have Specsavers here, the British cut price glasses company that have started doing earing aids too but GF said not to be so ferkin Scottish and pay full price for a real audiologist to do a good diagnosis and setup for me. I guess that's good advice as your day depends on hearing things as well as possible.

I think her's are Oticon.

[Crowbob]

Definitely go for it.

I can garuntee you have no idea how frustrating your hearing loss is for those around you.

[MMiller]

Originally Posted by Crowbob

Definitely go for it.

I can garuntee you have no idea how frustrating your hearing loss is for those around you.

This!

I recently got them thru Costco, I can't believe how noisy the world is! One of the biggest things that goes with hearing loss is what the brain is no longer able to process. I was only processing about 80% of what I was "hearing"... Get them sooner rather than later..

[Bill Douglas]

Thanks. It sounds like good advice.

although GF's ones were made up for her, I thought they were incredible. Just crisp clean clear voices around me.

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by MMiller

This!

I recently got them thru Costco, I can't believe how noisy the world is! One of the biggest things that goes with hearing loss is what the brain is no longer able to process. I was only processing about 80% of what I was "hearing"... Get them sooner rather than later..

This, and hearing loss is tied to dementia and if you have ever been around friends or family who have it, you understand how hard it is on everyone.

https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2021/hearing-loss-and-the-dementia-connection

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by Racerbvd

This, and hearing loss is tied to dementia and if you have ever been around friends or family who have it, you understand how hard it is on everyone.

https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2021/hearing-loss-and-the-dementia-connection

Yes, thanks Byron. Good advice.

I have heard bad hearing chews up a lot of brain power. The brain is franticly working to figure out what the sounds are. Whereas with a hearing aid, the brain power can be used for more purposeful things. Or to give the brain a rest LOL

[Bugsinrugs]

I was born with a hearing impediment. Going to Fillmore every Friday night didn’t help. Wife was going to leave me if I didn’t get hearing aids. They are great. I can now participate at dinner parties and other social gatherings.

[Crowbob]

One vastly way under-appreciated negative side effect of hearing loss is…SOCIAL ISOLATION. It becomes too stressful and exhausting to concentrate simultaneously on sound, speech, language and context to try to even carry on a meaningful conversation so people basically give up. Music, sports events, restaurants, Thanksgiving dinner all become chores. Noisy environments are shunned. What is the cause of most noisy environments? People.

[MMiller]

Also, don't use closed captioning on your TV... Make your brain and hearing work to understand. You want the brain to process the sounds that it hears.

[Crowbob]

I use CC exclusively. Face reading (used to be called lip reading) is extremely difficult on video. Off camera speech is wasted. Overtalking (people talking over each other) is gibberish. Televised sports is notoriously dependent on background sound (such as football) in order to recreate the live event which virtually cancels out commentary. Animated speech (cartoons) is impossible to decipher.

However, sound threshold, speech recognition, verbal IQ and language are as individual as fingerprints so do whatever works. I would be totally exhausted in less than half an hour w/o CC .

[MMiller]

CB, I "hear" and respect what you are saying... I'm just repeating what those in the field have told me in my quest to hear and process better. CC does make life easier and was an absolute necessity when I was watching Game of Thrones a few years back.

I think the "new" school of thought for both eyes and ears is to make the brain work for it even with modern aids... YMMV

Good conversation!

[craigster59]

My Wife asked me if I had a hearing problem.

I said "Yeah, I'm hearing you, and that's a problem!".

Ba-dum-tiss

Seriously though, I think I have a problem hearing lower tone voices. Basso Profundo mostly. I wear hearing protection at work and try and wear ear plugs at concerts but I wasn't so careful in my younger days.

Besides, selective hearing has always been my "go to" excuse. So I'm good for now.

[Superman]

Originally Posted by MMiller

I recently got them thru Costco, .

I did this too, recently. just from curiosity. The hearing analysis is free. It's a game-changer. Forgot them last night for a family restaurant dinner. Frustrating.

Today's hearing aids....the good ones anyway....are programmed across quite a few frequency bands to address your specific hearing loss frequency profile. What you will hear is the highs and high-mids that you have been missing. The sound of your own voice ill be different. Wifey says my voice is sexier now.

Once I got then, wifey confessed she was hoping I would get them. Her reason: Apparently, hearing loss accelerates dementia. Hearing aids slow that process down.

Costco carries several brands. The audiologist recommended the Rexton. They are comfortable and almost invisible. The app lets you control volume, of course, but there is another very important feature. It lets you control direction. For example, at an intimate restaurant dinner I can use the app to eliminate sounds behind me and to my side......focusing only on the 90 degrees ir sixty degrees or whatever in front of me so that I can clearly hear my wife's voice.

The charger is a small convenient case that can recharge them several times on the go. Wall power is then used to recharge the charger.

Go for it, Bill. Your buddies are in consensus on this. You're welcome.

[Superman]

Originally Posted by Crowbob

One vastly way under-appreciated negative side effect of hearing loss is…SOCIAL ISOLATION.

This is also true. Virtually any (competent) psychologist can tell you that the sense you DON'T want to lose is hearing. Because of the social isolation.

[tops911]

I used to sit in meetings at work lost most of the time. If I could not see the persons face I was clueless as to what was said. I think it was worst with a PA system. Of course everyone probably racked it up a thats just the "crazy old Sergeant Major". Hearing aids made a huge difference for me.

[wdfifteen]

I'm on the fence about it. My wife got hearing aids about 6 months ago. They cost upwards of 5K. Has an iPhone app so it's one of the advanced ones. She hasn't worn them in months, I'm thinking of trying them out since she isn't using them.