Help for Hearing Impairment

katie_w_3

Wow! I have been reading MSE for a good few years now but haven't ventured to the forums much, so it was a nice surprise to find this thread.

I'm 27 and have been wearing 2 (NHS) hearing aids for most of my life. I also get DLA and have done since I was 16. It is heartening to see that so many of you have got equipment through social services, as I am waiting to hear from my local social services about fire alarms and door bells. No response to an email so I will write to them soon. I guess I could save up the DLA for but it would take forever ... even in a 3.5% ISA

Just wanted to share my experience the other day. I like going to the cinema, and as you know there are very few subtitled showings of films. This has improved so much in the last 5 years but it's still not as good as it could be. Several times I've been to see films which were advertised as subtitled, checked as I bought my ticket that they would be subtitled, and when the film starts - no subtitles. Which means missing the first five minutes of the film to dash out and chase them up, GRRR. Last time this happened fortunately the manager was still around at the end of the film, so I explained to him nicely what happened and he was very upset on my behalf, to the extent of refunding tickets for me and the two friends I was with - result! :T

By the way, I haven't seen any mention of this very useful card on this thread yet: if you get DLA and go to the cinema with a friend, you can buy the Cinema Exhibitors' Association card ([www]ceacard.co.uk) for £5.50 which is valid for a year and entitles somebody accompanying you to a free cinema ticket. I figured in return for getting a limited choice of cinema times it's well worth it. (I'm sure when I got mine it was valid for 3 years though... still a bargain even so.)


Katie

rosieben

I've learnt something new again today! I didn't know it was possible to get subtitles at the cinema!! :T

GotNoRhythm

Hi everyone - OP here - sorry I haven't posted for a while but I have been checking in every so often and reading all your comments. *waves* (sorry - smilies aren't turned on...)

Umm, Just felt I had to comment on why I chose the title for this thread - I chose 'impairment' mainly beacuse it's a familiar term to me. I'm sorry if I've upset anyone by calling it that - impairment to me means 'damaged', which is how I'd describe my hearing (well, I'd probably choose another description but I think it would be picked up by the naughty-language police!!) I really do hope that I haven't offended anyone, though.

Anyway, I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to those people who suggested getting in touch with my local social services. I now have a vibrating alarm clock that actually wakes me up!! Also doorbells, and the local fire service are supposed to be calling round to fit smoke alarms with vibrating pads. My mum (who I live with) has also had an assessment and the social worker told her about local deaf groups, lip reading classes and gave her info on other benefits etc that she could apply for. We also had a trial run of a BT phone (but we prefered the one we've already got) and also a tinnitus sound-machine (with aromatherapy beads).the sounds were good but the jury's still out on the aromatherapy beads!!

qwiksave

Thanks for this thread GotNoRhyythm, just discovered it last night. (Stayed up really late reading it all!) I have had hearing aids for 40 years too, started at Primary School aged 6 with one of those old box types - I remember pretending it was my 'radio' .

I find the NHS aids aren't very robust, I frequently break mine (forget I'm wearing them and wash my hair - doh!) I have had anti-allergic moulds but even they still can be uncomfortable at times. The battery cases annoy me too, they break easily and I still think its strange to turn them off by taking the battery case out. I frequently lose batteries at night and at bathtime - how do older people manage?

At one time (before the NHS had digital aids) I bought a private aid from Specsavers (wouldn't recommend btw) it cost me £800 and I lost it out shopping! :eek:

I now have NHS digital ones - how silly/unnecessary is that tune they play when you turn them on? (maybe a professional can enlighten us..?)

I use Sky subtitles which are very 'hit and miss' - sometimes they scramble up and go out of synch with programmes. I wish they were better and on more programmes. I've used the loop system in the past (free from SS) but you can't hear conversations in the room at the same time.

Finally, I would like to add, I got a good hearing aid compatible mobile phone recently - bought it myself at about £85 - but got zero VAT on it because of being 'disabled'. Its called the 'amplicom M5000' and it was from marmobile (you fill in form on site for zero VAT) It has an extra loud ringer and vibration alarm so it works great as an alarm clock too.

marrowgirl

I think the tune some hearing aids play when turned on is to let users know they are working- unobtrusively. (mainly for people with "open" aids, i.e no earmould and a high frequency hearing loss.) Its annoying for most people though -it drove me up the wall-so can be turned off by the Audiologist/dispenser on their computer.
Personally I don't like the aids that you have to turn off by opening the battery compartment. A hearing aid designer (who shall remain nameless) said they showed customers hearing aids with and without the on switch and they preferred without. I think they probably showed a few sales people the pictures and they thought it looked nicer without! The switches can be fiddly for people with arthritis but then the battery compartment way can be bad for those with poor sight so its six of one and half a dozen of the other.
If anyone can design a hearing aid case that is easy to use but not too ugly I could send it to him. Now, theres a challenge for you all!!

Savvy_Sue

I only open my case a crack, don't take the battery out altogether. Of course occasionally it shuts itself and runs the battery down when I'm not looking.

Before I got my open fit mould, I could hear it whistling when it was switched on but not in my ear. No more. Although if I unscrew the mould I CAN hear it! I sometimes have to do this to work out if the it's the battery or the mould that's stopped working.

Mine have never sung to me, and I feel quite jealous! :rotfl:

Errata

Opening the battery door to switch the aid off is more useful to those with dexterity problems than an off switch because the door can be opened by placing the edge of it on a hard surface and then pushing - IYSWIM.
My latest aids 'sing' so I switch them on before I put them in, that way they can sing as much as they like but I don't have to listen ! Although the five minute warning bleeps of battery failure is helpful.

morag1202

My kids find this website very useful for finding info on dates, times and locations of subtitled films.

http://www.yourlocalcinema.com/

becb1

For those who like to also go to the cinema, try:

www.stagetext.co.uk

A brief description:

STAGETEXT is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee, delivering captioned performances and promoting the use of captioning in cultural venues throughout the UK.
Captioning is a way of converting the spoken word into visible text that provides deaf, deafened and hard of hearing people with access to live performance.
Captioning is about developing new audiences; bringing former audiences back into the theatre and providing a more enjoyable experience for current audiences whether they have a hearing loss or not.

Hope that helps. I work in a cochlear implant centre as a speech and language therapist and would be happy to input to this board as and when I can

Great thread - keep it going!!

Hear-Hear

Q. How silly/unnecessary is that tune they play when you turn them on.....

A. You can ask your audiologist to turn the warning tone/tune off for you, but most would not recommend it, as it provides confirmation to the user that the system is functioning at start up. Oh, and some audios may not know how to, as it is not standard practice.



Q. I don't like the aids that you have to turn off by opening the battery compartment

A. Nearly all digital hearing aids can be configured by your audiologist so that when you push the programme button in for 2/3 seconds, a long tone is emitted and the aid swiches off. When you push the button again for 2/3 seconds, it turns back on ! In fact, it's a sort of hybrid standby, so will reduce the life of the battery. This configuration takes your audiologist less than 2 minutes on his/her computer. However, it cannot be done on fully automatic digital aids without any user controls. Nor can it be done on very early generation digital hearing aids, which have a 'switch' instead of the 'push button' found on more modren digital aids.



Q. If anyone can design a hearing aid case that is easy to use but not too ugly.....

A. Much depends on your definition of "ugly", but have you seen modern designs like the Siemens Vibe or the Resound Be or Phonak's Audeo ? Worth googling the above I would suggest.