Help for Hearing Impairment

Savvy_Sue

If you haven't yet had any adjustments made, then definitely worth going back and asking for them.

Have you found the cookie bite chronicles flagged earlier in this thread? On wrong computer, and in a bit of a rush to look for it myself.

mojy

Hi

No haven't had adjustments made so will go back and try that. Was told though that with this type of hearing loss it's difficult to adjust hearing aids to get it right.

I did find the cookie bite chronicles and have started to plough my way through it.

Thanks for the reply.:)

swampduck

Well I booked an appointment for a digital repair on Monday and then spent a frustrating week dealing with the changes which made things incredibly difficult and far worse for me.
But thankfully I saw the same technician when I went back today and hopefully we have now sorted the problems that I was having. The technician explained that they too (as technicians/consultants) have problems trying to deal with vast array of patients and their varying degrees of hearing which is not helped by the manufacturers who refuse to liaise with each other and work for the common good of all hearing challenged people.
The software used is not the same for all brands of hearing aids and even though vast amounts of research is done they are more concerned with what the computer says rather then what the individual needs from their hearing aid.
We'll see how we go with this latest bit of tweaking - I had made notes of the situations that I was having problems with and did the same again during the past week. These were handy to look at while we tried to adjust my hearing aids - a bit like going the doctors with a list of ailments that you are suffering with.
So hopefully things are now heard with more clarity and not muted and muffled as if my ears are full of water. I have some work meetings coming up so that will be crunch time - seeing if I can hear people over machinery in the office and buses going past the window!!
I often wonder if it were possible to make people wear my shoes/hearing aids for a day (so to speak) if they would be a little more understanding when they realise just how difficult life can be rather than assuming you can turn them up as if that will magic the hearing aids into giving you perfect hearing.

I could have quite cheerfully decked a few people this week who had that attitude:mad: ............and breathe........:)

Swampy

littlemoney

Recently following a hearing test at the local hosptial, the settings were changed and I was given new moulds which completely fill my ear rather than just a narrow tube with a dome. The problem is that my right aid keeps whistling. What is the cause of this and how can it be stopped. I did not have this with the narrow tubes.

Also I cannot use the phone with the aid fitted as I can't hear anything and need to remove the aid to use the phone. Is this normal?

Guardsman

You need to lift the phone higher up the ear, Hold the phone earpiece against the back of your hearing aid and move it around until the sound becomes clearer.

Savvy_Sue

littlemoney wrote: »

Recently following a hearing test at the local hosptial, the settings were changed and I was given new moulds which completely fill my ear rather than just a narrow tube with a dome. The problem is that my right aid keeps whistling. What is the cause of this and how can it be stopped. I did not have this with the narrow tubes.

Also I cannot use the phone with the aid fitted as I can't hear anything and need to remove the aid to use the phone. Is this normal?

Guardsman wrote: »

You need to lift the phone higher up the ear, Hold the phone earpiece against the back of your hearing aid and move it around until the sound becomes clearer.

Actually I think littlemoney has two separate problems here, and they may both be solved by heading back to the clinic ...

The whistling is a sign that something needs adjustment: either the mould isn't fitting as well as it should, or the settings aren't quite right, or possibly both.

And while fiddling with where you hold the phone receiver may help a bit, if you use the phone a lot then you might find using the T setting helps if the phone is the right kind, or you may be able to have a phone setting on the hearing aid which reacts to the right kind of phone.

I'm sure HearHear will explain better than I can, especially as my information may be out of date, and I never got on with phone settings anyway (I trained myself to put the phone to my 'good' ear - it looks awkward because it's left hand to right ear while I try to take notes across my body with my right hand, but hey!)

Guardsman

I did not get on with the T settings and I worked around it by getting a amplified phone and it does what's asked of it.
When I use the mobile phone I'm able to hear it much better with the hearing aid out.

Here is a selection of Amplified phones but do shop around because there are bargains out there.
http://www.hearingdirect.com/products/Amplified-Phones/

spenderdave

I also find hearing aids are useless with most telephones and the widely issued suggestion that you need to position the earpiece higher up so the microphones pick it up simply does not work. I have spent ages trying to find the right position and when I find what presumably is meant to be the place I only hear a low frequency buzzing noise - Siemens Impact Pros, I am told that they do not do auto-T switching. My mobile seems rather better though and is useable, with my old phone I used to take the aid out. I now have a new phone with speakerphone which works absolutely fine but not really appropriate to use when there are other people around.

Savvy_Sue

spenderdave wrote: »

I also find hearing aids are useless with most telephones and the widely issued suggestion that you need to position the earpiece higher up so the microphones pick it up simply does not work. I have spent ages trying to find the right position and when I find what presumably is meant to be the place I only hear a low frequency buzzing noise - Siemens Impact Pros, I am told that they do not do auto-T switching. My mobile seems rather better though and is useable, with my old phone I used to take the aid out. I now have a new phone with speakerphone which works absolutely fine but not really appropriate to use when there are other people around.

It's the fiddling around which is so difficult, isn't it? I really only use the phone at work, so it's hard to 'practice', especially as the people I'd practice with have familiar voices, which are easier to hear ...

Hear-Hear

littlemoney

Holding the telephone at the top of the ear, just above the hearing aid microphone, almost always works. If you need a demonstration of exactly how to hold it, ask your audioogist to show you. It looks and feels strange at first, but the sound quality is vastly improved, with no feedback or buzzing.


spenderdave

The Impact Pro is the very latest NHS digital, and can be very very good, if set up properly.

If you have the Impact Pro L, then the following won't apply. However, if you have the Impact Pro M, Impact Pro DP, or Impact Pro DSP, then the aid should indeed have Auto-T switching. If the audiologist is inexperienced, ask him/her to do the following on your next visit.
1. Connect the aid to the Siemens software.
2. In 'Basic Tuning', activate the next available unused programme by using the drop-down menu to look for "Phone (T)" not "Phone (Acoustic).
3. If there is no "Phone (T)" option, then select "Telecoil" to create an additional Telecoil programme.
4. Go to the 'Fine Tuning' tab, and click on the additional programme that has just been created.
5. Select the 'Microphone' tab within 'Fine Tuning'
4. De-select the check-box marked "Accessible Manually".
5. You now have Auto-T switching ! This will work will all hearing-aid compatible telephones.


Savvy_Sue

You can practice with '1471' on a phone. She talks and talks and talks.... won't even answer back !