Author Topic: Hearing aids  (Read 7512 times)

Offline B.D.F.

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #40 on: May 28, 2018, 09:01:37 PM »
Well, it is actually not 'severe' but moderate, according to all the audiologist data, including the one who gave me the test. There are two stages left- severe and profound.

My hearing curve looked like that almost 30 years ago though not quite so severe; most of the damage was done in my teens and 20's, with later years just being the 'icing on the cake'. By the time I was 35 or so, I was wearing ear protection in all noisy environments but again, it was too late, plus hearing loss is more hereditary than any other single factor. Both my mother and M-I-L suffered severe hearing loss without ever having been exposed to excessively (read: damaging) noisy environments.

The good news is that when people mumble at me, my brain makes up something that sounds similar to what the person said but is in fact much, much funnier. "Darkest Hour" becomes 'Doctor Sour', and "sheet ripper" becomes 'sheep dipper' and so forth. hijinx ensue. :-)

As to the high frequencies, while humans can hear a theoretical 20 KHz, it is of little actual import. Almost all of the intelligence of speech, for example, is carried below 5 KHz, actually well below 4 KHz, making the higher frequencies unimportant. No one tests above ~8 KHz, and no hearing aid devices report on amplification or total harmonic distortion above this level. In fact, the frequencies above 4 KHz are relatively unimportant for any circumstance.

Remember, "we all know" a Stradivarius is the finest, most bestus' violin ever made..... until an actual double- blind study is made, and then "we" (trained musicians) cannot pick out the Stradivarius even 50% of the time. :-)

There is a group who can hear far above the nominal limit of human response of 20 KHz but I think that is better left to the thread about nothing.....

Brian

Wow- that was the first thing I noticed, that the chart only goes up to 8Khz.  Seems odd they wouldn't test for a full range, from perhaps 20khz to 15Khz.

You do have a severe hearing loss in quite a wide range of upper frequencies.  I am amazed you could tolerate that for so long, the world would sound like... well, muffled mud.
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Offline maxtog

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #41 on: May 28, 2018, 10:45:33 PM »
That was a typo, I meant 20Hz to 15kHz
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Offline B.D.F.

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #42 on: June 19, 2018, 04:34:21 PM »
I finally send my Sonic 20 hearing aids back to the mfg. for a refund. In the end, I found that while they did amplify sound, they did not allow me to hear any better or understand some people any better than I did w/out them. And very loud noises were actually amplified to a painful level. So back they went.

The Opticon One H.A. that I 'test- heard' with for a weekend worked much better for me but again at $6,200, I just do not feel they improved my quality of life enough to justify it.

In the end, I can hear most things pretty well, and the things that I do not hear clearly (some video and my wife, mostly) can be compensated for; I can use closed captioning to read the more subtle words on TV, and what I hear when my wife speaks is hugely more amusing than what she really says anyway ("Let's watch Doctor Sour" is much funnier than "Let's watch Darkest Hour") so I have work- arounds in place.

Maybe at some point in the future, as my hearing deteriorates, the hearing aids will become a viable option but not at the moment.

Brian
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Offline gPink

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #43 on: June 19, 2018, 07:06:47 PM »
Won't be too long before you can get Medicare to pay for them will it?  ::)

Offline mr t

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #44 on: June 20, 2018, 06:00:12 AM »
Medicare won't pay for hearing aids.

   Tom Taylor COG#7173

Offline B.D.F.

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #45 on: June 20, 2018, 08:46:12 AM »
Medicare / Medicaid will not pay for hearing aids.

This year, my personal health insurance will pay $560 for each ear; this year only because I have exceeded my 'out of pocket' maximum expenditure. So essentially the hearing aids I just sent back did not cost me anything. Still, no need to spend <anyone's> money on something that did / does not work.

Brian

Won't be too long before you can get Medicare to pay for them will it?  ::)
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Offline FTB530

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #46 on: June 20, 2018, 09:34:38 AM »
I usually pull my hearing aids out when riding ,  I have only been wearing the right one lately because the left one seems to do nothing, but yesterday I made a short run to the dealer and I left my one hearing aid in and I believe since it has the noise canceling in my hearing aid it was actually a lot quieter than riding  without it, so today when I go to pick up the bike I’m gonna wear both of them in the helmet and see what that’s like.

I know I need some new ones so instead Of buying the Bluetooth capable ones that are over the ear I’m just going to buy in the canal HA again,the best I can get and use those from now on and see how that works.

I did use the loaner set fromOne hearing aid center here in town and they were worked pretty well,sitting in my house with the door open the little Tweety birds outside drove me crazy for a few hours because I haven’t heard that for many years. I like some of you guys I can’t get past the thought of paying $6200 for the set.

Offline B.D.F.

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #47 on: August 27, 2020, 09:40:12 AM »
Update Aug 2020:   Well, still no hearing aids. Still having trouble understanding people, and the masks they wear are not helping at all. The good news is that most everyone seems to be having trouble hearing people wearing masks so at least I am blending in better :-)

On the bright side, as there is no public gathering where I am, I am no longer having trouble hearing anyone in a crowded environment. There are no crowded environments. Ah Covid, the gift that keeps on giving.....   ;D
Homo Sapiens Sapiens and just a tad of Neanderthal but it usually does not show....  My Private mail is blocked; it is not you, it is me, just like that dating partner said all those years ago. Please send an e-mail if you want to contact me privately.

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Offline Conrad

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #48 on: August 28, 2020, 07:47:14 AM »
Update Aug 2020:   Well, still no hearing aids. Still having trouble understanding people, and the masks they wear are not helping at all. The good news is that most everyone seems to be having trouble hearing people wearing masks so at least I am blending in better :-)

On the bright side, as there is no public gathering where I am, I am no longer having trouble hearing anyone in a crowded environment. There are no crowded environments. Ah Covid, the gift that keeps on giving.....   ;D

Weren't we told that the virus was going to "magically disappear"?
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Offline B.D.F.

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #49 on: August 28, 2020, 08:42:42 AM »
I think that everything that can / could be said about this virus HAS been said by someone at sometime. This is supposed to be the 'information age' but it seems more like the 'disinformation age'.

OFFTOPIC: but I think we are stuck with Covid 19. The relief will come in the form of a vaccine; and of course enough people will not be immunized that we will not have herd immunity. So we will have to tag people that have been vaccinated- I am thinking a small brass disc on a neck chain..... you know, sort of like a rabies tag for dogs.

Remember, you heard it here first when some of us are wearing some kind of 'tags'.

Brian

Weren't we told that the virus was going to "magically disappear"?
Homo Sapiens Sapiens and just a tad of Neanderthal but it usually does not show....  My Private mail is blocked; it is not you, it is me, just like that dating partner said all those years ago. Please send an e-mail if you want to contact me privately.

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Offline gPink

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #50 on: August 28, 2020, 02:37:37 PM »
I think that everything that can / could be said about this virus HAS been said by someone at sometime. This is supposed to be the 'information age' but it seems more like the 'disinformation age'.

OFFTOPIC: but I think we are stuck with Covid 19. The relief will come in the form of a vaccine; and of course enough people will not be immunized that we will not have herd immunity. So we will have to tag people that have been vaccinated- I am thinking a small brass disc on a neck chain..... you know, sort of like a rabies tag for dogs.

Remember, you heard it here first when some of us are wearing some kind of 'tags'.

Brian


Offline B.D.F.

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #51 on: August 28, 2020, 02:42:34 PM »
Yeah, sure, that oughta' do just fine.  ;D

Brian


Homo Sapiens Sapiens and just a tad of Neanderthal but it usually does not show....  My Private mail is blocked; it is not you, it is me, just like that dating partner said all those years ago. Please send an e-mail if you want to contact me privately.

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Offline maxtog

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #52 on: August 28, 2020, 03:32:42 PM »
LOL   :rotflmao:

Anyway... speaking of heading aids, these new noise cancelling headphones are da bomb in some ways.  A majorly violent storm moved through last night and it was deafening.  The continuous thunder and insanely loud rain on my skylights disappeared when I put them on.  I just didn't realize the technology had improved so much.  So sometimes the best aid to hearing is not to hear.

Even my dense foam earplugs simply will not block low frequencies.  But the headphones somehow do.  I wish they could counter/mask my tinnitus, too; that would be a major feat.
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Offline Conrad

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #53 on: August 29, 2020, 07:13:37 AM »


Gotta admit, that's funny right there!     :rotflmao:
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Offline Conrad

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Re: Hearing aids
« Reply #54 on: August 29, 2020, 07:16:02 AM »
LOL   :rotflmao:

Anyway... speaking of heading aids, these new noise cancelling headphones are da bomb in some ways.  A majorly violent storm moved through last night and it was deafening.  The continuous thunder and insanely loud rain on my skylights disappeared when I put them on.  I just didn't realize the technology had improved so much.  So sometimes the best aid to hearing is not to hear.

Even my dense foam earplugs simply will not block low frequencies.  But the headphones somehow do.  I wish they could counter/mask my tinnitus, too; that would be a major feat.

I told ya they were awesome!
Northern Illinois   Silverdammit '08 C-14 ABS

"Don't bother me with facts, Son. I've already made up my mind." -Foghorn Leghorn