Help for Hearing Impairment

toscat

Thanks Errata I thought it might be different from area to area to area. The lady I spoke to said they were told they would have to do overtime to reduce the waiting list and if I was available on a Saturday I might get taken sooner. So fingers crossed

toscat

Hi Sunnyone, I am an OAP so access to work would'nt apply to me so I will just have to waitmy turn and I'm sure there are a lot of people on the waiting list who are a lot worse than me,my hearing is'nt that bad yet and I can cope with it at the moment. I've told all my family and friends I have a problem so they don't get annoyed when I have to ask them to repeat what they are saying.

sunnyone

toscat wrote: »

Hi Sunnyone, I am an OAP so access to work would'nt apply to me so I will just have to waitmy turn and I'm sure there are a lot of people on the waiting list who are a lot worse than me,my hearing is'nt that bad yet and I can cope with it at the moment. I've told all my family and friends I have a problem so they don't get annoyed when I have to ask them to repeat what they are saying.

It was just a thought.

I can't see why diffrent areas can vary so much for so many things, I didnt realise how lucky I was until I heard from others with the rolling out of the internet that people in other areas had to wait for up to five years for diffrent NHS items, my things dont even last five years lol.

Guardsman

I find it strange that the waiting list is so long yet each time I visit my audiology department there are far more staff than patients. Private audiologists would soon be out of business if they were so inefficient. Last time I was there the audiologist told me that I was fortunate to get hearing aids for free but I reminded him they are not free and that he should not quote high street prices to me when the NHS only pay a fraction of what a private clinic would pay for similar hearing aids.

Hear-Hear

Gosh, this thread goes dormant for days on end, and then all of a sudden there's a mad rush of posts.

Guardsman

What a wonderful first line you wrote: "I never realised how poor my hearing was until I had hearing aids". I hear that phrase word for word every single day, when I see 'new' hearing aid users for their first follow-up visit, but it really stood out when I saw it typed / in print.


heathmar

Print off the first sentence of Guardsman's post (the one above yours) and show it to OH. There's not much more that could be added, expect to confirm that hearing loss/deterioration is normal over time, is exacerbated by exposure to noise at work, and that 9,000,000 people in this country alone have aidable hearing loss. A hearing assessment is free, whether OH goes via the NHS or privately, so no reason not to get it checked out professionally. NHS aids are free, and private aids should always come with 60 or 90 days no-strings-attached full money-back guarantee, so no reason not to try hearing aids if recommended to do so.


toscat

That is out-of-date information, surely ? Some PCT audiology lists were anything from 12 months to 60 months in 2007, but should all be below 18 weeks now. I will understand if you prefer not to respond, but I'd be very curious to know which PCT is still quoting waiting times of 12+ months in 2011. It is definately not the norm. (Don't underestimate how annoying and frustrating it really can be for family and friends when you don't hear them properly).

Savvy_Sue

Errata wrote: »

An urgent tip for you: make sure you have smoke and carbon detectors he can hear go off when he's alone in the house, your local Fire Service will assess, supply and fit free of charge.

They do flashing strobe lights too. and vibrating pads which will get you out of bed at night.

toscat wrote: »

The lady told me the waiting list is at least 12 months so it will be the end of the year before I get them. Does anyone know if this is the norm or is it only in my area ?

I don't know if it's still the same, but when I got mine (about 5 years ago) I was told that there were two lists and I was on the 'young persons' list. Why? Because I was working. If I hadn't been working, I'd have gone on the other list which had much longer waiting times.

Tip to all of you (and I know I bang on about this all the time!) but see if you can find a local lipreading class. Learning to lipread isn't like learning a language, and even after 3 years I'm still hopeless, BUT what I've learned about coping and dealing with deafness makes it all worthwhile.

Of course it doesn't help that the local College, which used to offer an evening class for lipreading, decided that anyone with a hearing loss must be able to attend during the day, because we obviously wouldn't be working, would we? So for a couple of years there wasn't a class I could attend. My teacher's got round that by going freelance ...

toscat

Hi Hear-Hear, pct was Fleetwood hospital in the North West and it took a week from when doctor referred me for the appointment service to phone asking which hospital I preferred. about a week later I got the appointment from the hospital for the hearing test for the following week .so all in all it took about 3 weeks from beginning to end.There were only me and one other person in the waiting room and when I got the test done the way the doctor spoke I understood it would be a short time till I got fitted.but with me being deaf I might have picked her up wrong. It's been 4 months now and I phoned on 7th March and I was told about the long waiting list.but they were trying to cut it down by overtime on a Saturday,I told her I was available any Saturday so hopefully I might get taken sooner. I had mentioned it to the doctor and it was he who told me to phone up and ask what position I was in the queue and I still haven't found that out yet though I did ask.

hethmar

Im being totally a dummy here, but is there a BEST hearing aid? Also, are they fairly invisible nowdays as I can see him getting one but not using it if its blatantly obvious. How much is a good one privately please? Oh it would be lovely not to have to keep telling him what people are saying on the tv if they speak quietly

GlasweJen

Different hearing aids have better results for different people. I can't get on with closed channel hearing aids but have open channel ones which I find better, they make my hearing feel more like how i normally heard. I know several people who can't get on with open channel aids though so it's really an individual thing.

Savvy_Sue

hethmar, I agree with GlasweJen, the 'best' hearing aid is the one which is right for him.

You can usually get a smaller one if you go privately, but that's not always the best solution, and the 'in-ear' ones are, I believe, not suitable for some kinds of hearing loss. And it's not just hearing aids, the moulds themselves can make a big difference, I have 'open' moulds which are less conspicuous, but they are definitely not suitable for all types of hearing loss. And I've discovered there are (at least) two different types of 'open' moulds, in different sizes, and I'd been through three 'closed' moulds without really being happy!

The other thing is that the controls are more fiddly on a smaller aid. Some of them are SO fiddly you get a remote control with them.

I've always said that it's a good idea to start by using an NHS aid. Overcome your pride (his pride!) - no-one bats an eyelid at glasses, do they? These are glasses for the ears! When you know you'll use it, that's the time to look at spending a few £000 on a private aid, because it really is a waste of money to have one of those sitting in the drawer unused!

Tell him to look around and see how many hearing aids he can spot - if you're looking out for them, you'll see more than if you're not, and it isn't just oldies wearing them either!

And me, I'd start talking more quietly. On purpose. And switching on the sub-titles - DH and I are often saying to each other "What did s/he say?" and then we miss the next bit, so we really ought to do that, it's just habit that we don't. I have my hearing aid, but he has tinnitus, and no hearing loss last time he checked ...