Help for Hearing Impairment

rosieben

textqueen wrote: »

:T hiya ive got a hearing aid and i couldnt hear my alarm or smoke alarm.

i got into with social services they were really good they came out and asset me and she told me about these gadets. ...

textqueen, I've just had an environmental assessment with a social worker who brought me a crystal neck loop system on loan- works great with tv and radio. She's also ordered me

• a call alert, free from BT;
• a doorbell with a portable alerter, so I can carry it with me to another room.
• a fire alarm - very loud and flashes.
• she's also ordered another call alerter which will probably be more use to me than the free bt one which she thinks isn't actually much louder than the phone.

All the extras are are on loan, and fitted by the local council. What a brilliant service! :T:T:T

The one thing she hasn't been able to track down is local sign language lessons. I'd rather learn whilst I still have some hearing left but all courses tend to be too far away and inaccessible without a car. Has anyone used video/books to learn sign language? I know it will be difficult, it is a whole new language after all. Short of asking the SS for financial help to buy video course or books, I dont have any other ideas


Edited to say, I read about having an environmental assessment on this thread so thanks to whoever posted that, its making such a huge difference to my day to day life! :T:T:T

rosieben

I meant to say, pages and pages back :rolleyes:, to Savvy Sue and Bluedog that I once dropped my hearing aid into a mug of scalding hot tea :eek: I managed to rescue it (cue 2 burnt fingers!) dried it out and it worked perfectly the charge for a replacement aid in our area is £70 ... :eek:

lozzer90

rosieben, i learnt the basic sign language from a book called "Let's Sign" by Cath Smith.

marrowgirl

rosieben wrote: »

I meant to say, pages and pages back :rolleyes:, to Savvy Sue and Bluedog that I once dropped my hearing aid into a mug of scalding hot tea :eek: I managed to rescue it (cue 2 burnt fingers!) dried it out and it worked perfectly the charge for a replacement aid in our area is £70 ... :eek:

Most hearing aids are water (or tea!) resitant but not waterproof. If they get wet pop them somewhere warm like an airing cupboard overnight but not too hot or they will melt! Often the aid will come back to life. I would open the battery compartment too . In fact I would advise to open the battery compartment every night because that is where moisture tends to lurk and this saves the compartment corroding.
Oh and though most departments charge for lost or "abused" aids, legally I do not think they are allowed to (I was told this by our legal department) as h/aids are supposed to be free on NHS. They do it to discourage serial offenders (it can be an expensive habit) but if this is a first time offence (I think I've been watching too much of the Bill!) you could always mention this to them and see what they say!!;) Oh and generally they will replace broken aids free of charge so even if it has gone in the wash (or chewed by a dog -happens quite a lot!)still bring it back to the department and you won't have to pay.

Hope this helps!:D

Errata

Oh and though most departments charge for lost or "abused" aids, legally I do not think they are allowed

I think you may be right, I don't think there's anything which allows the NHS to 'sell' its service(s). Except to foreign nationals and where any charge can be reimbursed through insurance, like the Ambulance service called to road traffic accidents.

marrowgirl

Hi Rosieben,

You could try contacting the BDA. They may have info about classes in your area.
email: [EMAIL="avrilh@bda.org.uk"]avrilh@bda.org.uk[/EMAIL]
The Cath Smith books are great. I think there are some videos too, I think these may be available from the British Deaf Association.
http://bda.org.uk/Resources-i-86.html

Hear-Hear

marrowgirl wrote: next if the NHS can't do anything (unlikely though) I would ask if they can suggest an Independent Private dispenser (not tied down to any specific company). Don't buy anything straight away, get a free assessment &, see what they recommend. You may be able to get your work to pay for it, although the NHS Audiologist should be able to advise you about this.

Hi marrowgirl. :kisses2: Nice to have a fellow professional around to give a balanced view. Just to add to your comments, whenever a recommendation is made privately, make sure that you are offered a no-risk money-back guarantee of at least 30 days, so that the aids can be returned with a FULL refund if desired. The advice from the RNID on this is - if a money-back guarantee of at least 30 days is not offered to you, then walk away. Regarding getting work to pay for aids, this used to be the case under the Access TO Work Scheme. However, since the NHS went over to digital 5 years ago, ATW will no longer contribute to hearing aids. They will only consider providing "other" assistive devices which the NHS do not provide, such as FM systems and direct audio boots. FM systems really are the absolute bees knees!!


rachelandgromit wrote: they said they wouldn't be suitable - (the in the ear ones) as they said I would get whistling.

You will get feedback (whistling) from analogue older technology digital ITE aids, but not from more recent models from the likes of Starkey and Phonak. These have the most amazing feedback cancellation software, that essentially cancels out any feedback in milliseconds, as soon as the microphone detects it. Both of those manufacturers as well as others can make ITE's to suit even Severe hearing loss down to 90 dBHL. Siemens can do the tiny CIC (called the "Nitro") that will even work beyond what many consider to be Severe loss, and no whistling !! Have you any idea how low the readings on your audiogram go ? The main reason that NHS won't provide ITE's is the reliability issue. They need to be managed much more carefully than BTE's and they simply breakdown and clog with wax much more frequently. BTE earmoulds of course can simply be rinsed in Savlon - ITE's can't.


rosieben wrote: and fitted by the local council. What a brilliant service!

Absolutely right. The Sensory Impairment Team in each County Council have quite a lot of money to spend. They do need to spend it too, otherwise their funds get cut back the following year. The folks there are usually very well-trained, tend to have a vocation for the work that they do, and have loads of empathy towards the d/Deaf and HoH. You might also want to ask then if they could loan you a TypeTalk machine. Brilliant piece of kit.


Errata wrote: I don't think there's anything which allows the NHS to 'sell' its service

It started with Holby City > HolbyCare. :eek: The Royal Berkshire NHS is now in the process of formulating its plans for the coming year, including the sale of hearing aids privately for those who don't want the standard NHS issue BTE, or who want more sophisticated/newer technology (for better clarity, for instance). Times they are a-changing ! :dance: :dance::dance:

Savvy_Sue

marrowgirl wrote: »

Most hearing aids are water (or tea!) resitant but not waterproof.

Apparently sending them to the laundry while on holiday because you've left them in your shirt pocket is fatal. FIL's trick, but they didn't ask what he'd done to it, just tested it, agreed it didn't work, and gave him a new one.

Whether they should or not, I think it's fair enough they charge me for losing mine. However I am a bit miffed to have a reminder to pay, even though I did so. Did it online, so maybe they haven't matched the payments up, but I sent an email too!

I have finally put my name and address in the case, and written my postcode on the aid itself, although that's wearing off now.

rosieben, can I suggest respectfully that lipreading would be a lot more use than sign language. IF you can find a class ... I really miss my class, we don't have an evening class any more, because apparently there isn't the demand for it (although there were 12 of us in September 2007) and OBVIOUSLY no-one loses their hearing while they're still holding down a job so we can all get to daytime classes (9 of those 12 were still working!)

It was so helpful being around people who understood the difficulties, and we used to swap tips and examine each other's equipment. Someone brought their Sonido in, and we all had a go with it. Someone else showed off their open-fit moulds, so I was off to Audiology saying "I want one of those!" and so on.

I don't know to what extent my lipreading improved, but I learned a lot of strategies for handling the problems.

rosieben

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

...
rosieben, can I suggest respectfully that lipreading would be a lot more use than sign language. IF you can find a class ... I really miss my class, we don't have an evening class any more, because apparently there isn't the demand for it (although there were 12 of us in September 2007) and OBVIOUSLY no-one loses their hearing while they're still holding down a job so we can all get to daytime classes (9 of those 12 were still working!)

It was so helpful being around people who understood the difficulties, and we used to swap tips and examine each other's equipment. Someone brought their Sonido in, and we all had a go with it. Someone else showed off their open-fit moulds, so I was off to Audiology saying "I want one of those!" and so on.

I don't know to what extent my lipreading improved, but I learned a lot of strategies for handling the problems.

Thanks for that SS, hadn't really thought of lipreading although I've had to learn to do it to some degree obviously; I'll check out classes around here. I live in the middle of [STRIKE]a field[/STRIKE] the country and don't have transport so getting to any evening classes is a non-starter for me.

My big fear is that I will lose my hearing completely - already way below 30% and one ear totally u/s and I understand that Menieres can damage hearing - so I think I'm having a panic really;)

I've never had the opportunity to mix with other hoh people, would absolutely love that chance! meantime this thread has been a bit of a lifeline for me, I've found a lot of info here, so thanks everyone! :T

lozzer90

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

rosieben, can I suggest respectfully that lipreading would be a lot more use than sign language. IF you can find a class ... I really miss my class, we don't have an evening class any more, because apparently there isn't the demand for it (although there were 12 of us in September 2007) and OBVIOUSLY no-one loses their hearing while they're still holding down a job so we can all get to daytime classes (9 of those 12 were still working!)

It was so helpful being around people who understood the difficulties, and we used to swap tips and examine each other's equipment. Someone brought their Sonido in, and we all had a go with it. Someone else showed off their open-fit moulds, so I was off to Audiology saying "I want one of those!" and so on.

I don't know to what extent my lipreading improved, but I learned a lot of strategies for handling the problems.

I used to go to lipreading classes but they closed it saying there wasn't enough money to fund it, there was between 15-20 people that went every week. I miss going, like you said SS it was helpful being around other people with the same thing.