Help for Hearing Impairment

lemontart

this thread is fantastic, I have been wearing an aid for around 3 yrs - review today as now always on maximum and other ear slowly going, waiting for a special head set at work that is compatable with my hearing aid as now causing issues at work, the comments by one poster about people thinking you are ignoring them or rude for staring as you concentrate to work out what they are saying ring so true,

thankyou all I was feeling pretty isolated this week due to my hearing getting worse and this thread has defo lifted my spirits and suggested a few things to help me further adapt to my bubble of a world.

wolfehouse

looking for opinions from you experienced folk

i went for a free boots test after years of my family complaining about my hearing. result was 'mild hearing loss' (my graph was in the 20-40 decibel range) but he just said to do another test next year.

as with all these things, now that i know it is bothering me much more (a bit of tinnitus too) and my boss comments on how i'm either too loud or mumbling.

my question is: when should i be going to my gp about this?
thanks

Errata

Any sensory impairment can have several causes so I guess the first port of call for anyone experiencing any kind of difficulty would be their GP.

Indie_Kid

wolfehouse wrote: »

my question is: when should i be going to my gp about this?
thanks

As soon as possible.

dont pay vat wow did not know that

You don't pay vat on an item that is adapted for use by a disabled person.

Hear-Hear

Hi Wolfehouse,

Great that you went for a test. If you are over 40, you should be doing this every 2 years. Once you reach 55, it’s every 12 months. Boots seems to be as good a place as any if you want the test done without a waiting list, and most of their shops are easily accessible. And they are free of course !

The person you would have seen was a fully qualified hearing aid audiologist. All of these, like Opticians, are required (under statutory rules) to refer you to your GP for medical advice for a variety of conditions if found. From what you say, no such conditions were found, otherwise you would have been referred accordingly. A GP is not qualified to carry out hearing test (or eye tests for that matter), but will refer a person onwards on ENT/Audiology if they have problems with their hearing, (or on to Ophthalmology for medical problems with their vision). As Errata says, it is an alternative route available ot you. What's important is the fact that you did something to get it all checked out. Of the 9,000,000 in this country who should do something, around 7,000,000 simply carry on in denial.

You should expect to receive a reminder from Boots next year, in just the same way as you receive reminders from your Optician about routine eye tests. Expect referral to your GP if any medical conditions have arisen. Alternatively, you can choose to go see your GP in 12 months time, and ask for referral to your local hospital for testing. The procedures are the same (to British Society of Audiology standards) and will be free of charge as well. The only real difference is the waiting times and the ease of access.

In the 20dBHL to 40dBHL range, your current hearing loss would be described as “mild”, and it would be rare to offer hearing aids unless you had very specific or particular listening requirements.

Hope this helps.

Savvy_Sue

Hear-Hear wrote: »

There's a difference between channels and programmes. Most NHS digital aids come with up to 3 programmes - say, 'Normal', 'Noise', and 'Telecoil'. I think that's what you are talking about. In my reply to Ginger Nut, I was talking about channels. This relates to the way the digital chip works. I was trying to explain that the more channels you have, the clearer the sound will be.

Ah, thank you, that makes more sense, and makes me feel less deprived.

Although I'd just like to suggest that as with increasing numbers of pixels in cameras, there comes a point where an increased number of channels doesn't necessarily make a huge difference to the hearing loss. I can see how 6-12 channels would make a difference over 4 channels, but think you would agree with me that most of us wouldn't much benefit from more than 12, especially given that it can't give back what's gone completely, only amplify what's still there.

Because I believe you agree with me that it's always worth starting out with what's available (FREE!) on the NHS, and upgrading later if we can see a benefit.

Errata wrote: »

Any sensory impairment can have several causes so I guess the first port of call for anyone experiencing any kind of difficulty would be their GP.

Another vote for the GP, because although Boots may say the loss is mild, and it's good that they haven't tried to sell you an aid, clearly the loss is enough to cause problems. So first, an aid might help, and second, the sooner you're in the NHS system the better ...

although I would also recommend finding a local lipreading class, if you possibly can, and for lemontart too (although I may have suggested this before!) The support and 'tip swapping' which goes on is invaluable.

Hear-Hear

Oh Lord Savvy_Sue, it would not be my place to make you feel “deprived” of anything surely !

You are spot on about the top-end systems. A mid-range pair of hearing aids will work very well – if programmed correctly of course – for the majority of people. A low-end pair may be all that is needed for folks with non-demanding listening needs and/or fairly simple amplification needs. The top-end pair would be needed for those exposed to very demanding listening environments, or with steeply sloping sensori neural losses.

It really comes down to lifestyle needs. At a simple level, even with identical audiograms, a 45-year old teacher or owner of a restaurant is likely to have very different needs from those of her (hypothetical) parent, say an 85-year old who lives alone, in a pretty sheltered existence. That’s where the skill of the audiologist comes in, helping to choose the right product and fitting style for that specific person's actual needs.

Always good to try the NHS route first, as long as one doesn’t mind the BTE style of fitting, the waiting time, and the aftercare system, and as long as one doesn’t need remote control, bluetooth options, and the like. As I said above, the actual performance of aids like the 12-channel NHS Siemens Reflex can be very very good indeed.

Unity

Hear-Hear wrote: »

Oh Lord Savvy_Sue, it would not be my place to make you feel “deprived” of anything surely !

You are spot on about the top-end systems. A mid-range pair of hearing aids will work very well – if programmed correctly of course – for the majority of people. A low-end pair may be all that is needed for folks with non-demanding listening needs and/or fairly simple amplification needs. The top-end pair would be needed for those exposed to very demanding listening environments, or with steeply sloping sensori neural losses.

It really comes down to lifestyle needs. At a simple level, even with identical audiograms, a 45-year old teacher or owner of a restaurant is likely to have very different needs from those of her (hypothetical) parent, say an 85-year old who lives alone, in a pretty sheltered existence. That’s where the skill of the audiologist comes in, helping to choose the right product and fitting style for that specific person's actual needs.

Always good to try the NHS route first, as long as one doesn’t mind the BTE style of fitting, the waiting time, and the aftercare system, and as long as one doesn’t need remote control, bluetooth options, and the like. As I said above, the actual performance of aids like the 12-channel NHS Siemens Reflex can be very very good indeed.

Could I just ask how you rate the Oticon Spirit 3? I have two of these with three programmes, the basic, directional and loop, but I don't find the directional is up to much, or perhaps it is the environment I'm using it in. I try to get out and socialise once a week with my 'hearing' friends but although we meet in a fairly quiet cafe, the ceiling is really high and I find myself straining to hear, especially as it's a large group and we move tables together into a long rectangle, which makes it even more difficult. I really worry about talking over people, if I don't hear them and at times it makes me so embarrassed that I wonder whether I should go :embarasse. I was given an Echo MiniTech+ personal listener by Social Services to use with my TV but it was hopeless so they put in a fixed loop system. I wondered if this might be helpful in this sort of situation? I would certainly take it along if so, but I don't want to look a complete dweeb if it's not going to help.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Unity

I never had any problems with ear wax until I got my hearing aids and always believed what the mid-wife said when I had my first child: "The ears are a self-cleaning organ and nothing smaller than an elbow should ever be inserted!":eek:

Now I have hearing aids in both ears and whenever I go for check-ups I'm told I have a lot of wax in there and they can't do a re-tune until it is removed.

My GP will not allow me to have my ears syringed, since he thinks my deafness is due to a bout of pneumonia where he suspected my eardrums burst . Therefore I have to go on a waiting list for ENT to have them vacuumed. It only took seconds and was brilliant but it's the waiting times between appointments. I tried buying one of the cheap ear vacuums currently on the market but it was a complete waste as the suction just isn't strong enough.

Can someone help initiate a relatively new 'deaf-lugs' into coping with things like this? I have tried putting warm almond oil in my ears at bed-time, but the wax that comes out is pretty miniscule.

Many thanks :wave:

Errata

Unity - the only thing I can suggest is that at your next de-coke at ENT you ask them what you can do to minimise the problem.