Help for Hearing Impairment

Errata

markyb123 wrote: »

Thanks Savvy-Sue - I was too busy being hyperactive and the class clown to be diagnosed with anything I told my dad about needing the aids last night and he cried on the phone (he's 76 bless ). I'm not at all down about things - life gives you challenges so you have something to work at

BTW - my tinnitus has been lots worse since the hearing test - is this usual and will it return to its loud but totally cope-able state soon ? tks.

Poor dad, but good to see you so positive about it. I've never noticed my tinnitus worse after a hearing test and there's no way of knowing if yours is worse co-incidentally or not. My tip for dealing with tinnitus is to concentrate on the sound and try and make it louder and louder which seems to exhaust it and it shuffles off back to sleep

Tigsteroonie

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Not necessarily, because you don't miss what you've never known, and in some cases neither do parents!

Savvy_Sue, I was just meaning that hearing loss from premature birth tends to be very noticeable rather than progressive in nature.

• no response to loud noises or a parent’s voice at six months corrected age
• delayed babbling and initial words such as “mama” and “dada” at 12 months corrected age
• delayed speech and an inability to identify the source of sounds by two years corrected age

Savvy_Sue

Errata wrote: »

Tip of the week :T

don't thank me, thank the class mate who gave me that one! I think it was someone at audiology who gave it to her, mind you, and you never know whether you'll get someone for whom nothing is too much trouble, or someone who thinks that you should just go away and put up with the whistles / discomfort / head full of cotton wool which comes from a not properly adjusted hearing aid, simply because the adjustments needed are fine tuning! At least that's my experience ...

BTW that classmate also told me that with an open fit mould, it may be easier to put the mould in before hooking the aid over the back of the ear. Then you sort of 'twist to fit'.

And I can't see why the plastic clothes tag tip shouldn't work with closed moulds either, BTW, because even though the hole is not so fine, it can still clog up with wax!

Hear-Hear

From April 2012, in certain parts of the country, NHS-funded hearing aids will be available from a variety of outlets - not just from the local NHS hospital !

To find out if you live an area where can use "Choose & Book' (from April 2012) here's the link. You need to click on the second button on the list: "Adult Hearing" to show the map for hearing aids
http://www.supply2health...ntre/AQPMap/AQPMap.aspx

If your local area is not highlighted, you have to wait until April 2013.

Savvy_Sue

Hear-Hear wrote: »

From April 2012, in certain parts of the country, NHS-funded hearing aids will be available from a variety of outlets - not just from the local NHS hospital !

To find out if you live an area where can use "Choose & Book' (from April 2012) here's the link. You need to click on the second button on the list: "Adult Hearing" to show the map for hearing aids
http://www.supply2health...ntre/AQPMap/AQPMap.aspx

If your local area is not highlighted, you have to wait until April 2013.

So, what does this mean for those of us who already have NHS hearing aids, can we go elsewhere for service, fine tuning etc? Or will we have to keep going back to where we got it from?

Hear-Hear

Yes, Sue. You stay with your existing provider until your hearing aids are three years old. This is now the recommended replace/upgrade cycle. For your 'Year 3' re-assessment, you and your GP will be able to use "Choose & Book" to decide where you wish to go for your supply for the following three years.

Savvy_Sue

Hear-Hear wrote: »

For your 'Year 3' re-assessment,

:rotfl: you mean at some point someone's going to offer another hearing test and an assessment of whether this is helping or not? Or should already have done so?

I've just checked back on this thread, I got my hearing re-tested just over a year ago, when I pushed for it. But there wasn't really much dialogue about the changes.

I must have had my hearing aid for over 5 years now. I've had a couple of new ones: once it just stopped working, and then I lost one. But that's the only time my hearing's been tested since I first went.

Hear-Hear wrote: »

you and your GP will be able to use "Choose & Book" to decide where you wish to go for your supply for the following three years.

So I'd need to go back to the GP to change? And would the 3 years run from that second hearing test? TBH, apart from the original referral my hearing loss has never been a subject for discussion with my GP. The bouts of dizziness, occasionally, but he prefers to stick to my blood pressure!

Hear-Hear

The new system takes a best-of-breed approach, Sue. That is, all providers doing what the very best current providers currently do .... short re-checks and adjustments at least annually, and full re-assessments and replacement/upgraded hearing aids at least every three years. If you are in an area that doesn't do this at present, then you will soon be free to choose when and where you wish to go for NHS-funded hearing aids. In a nutshell, the whole idea is to improve standards and contain costs.

On the downside, the minimum standards dictate that you still need referral from your GP - unlike eye care, where you can simply choose your optician and they bill the NHS accordingly. But again, the best providers (hospital, private, social enterprise, or charity) will be the ones that the GP is more likely to recommend.

Richie-from-the-Boro

AQP's start rolling next year, the NHS care part for my own area is at 2.4. The alternative to the NHS refferral, the Direct Access Adult Hearing Service details start at 4.1. Appendix 1 lists those symptoms that the Direct Access Adult Hearing Service should not deal with.

Guardsman

Nadolig Llawen pawb.. Merry Christmas everybody.