Help for Hearing Impairment

Guardsman

NHS hearing services 'being cut'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20034646

Kev627

I have a pair of Oticon Spirit Zest BTE hearing aids and have been told by another wearer you can switch on a background noise reduction option. I have looked in the manual that came with my set and can't find anything about this feature. Can anybody on here help?

Guardsman

Yes you can have them set to cut out the noise from behind and focus on sound from the front, It's useful for watching the TV or having a one2one chat.
Have a word with your audiologist about setting this option if it's not already been programmed for you.

Hear-Hear

If you live in the following areas, you can now ask your GP to refer you to a wide choice of suppliers, all of which can now supply NHS-funded hearing aids. No cost to the individual.

- ASHTON, LEIGH AND WIGAN PCT
- BOLTON PCT
- BURY PCT
- HEYWOOD, MIDDLETON AND ROCHDALE PCT
- MANCHESTER PCT
- OLDHAM PCT
- SALFORD PCT
- STOCKPORT PCT
- TAMESIDE AND GLOSSOP PCT
- TRAFFORD PCT

A good number of GP's may not yet fully understand the process, so you may need to tell them to look at 'Choose & Book' on their computers screens, from which you can select together the preferred supplier and location, from the following list:

- BOLTON NHS FOUNDATION TRUST
- CENTRAL MANCHESTER HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST
- COMMUNITY HEARINGCARE SERVICES
- COMPLETE PRICE EYEWEAR
- INHEALTH LTD
- PENNINE ACUTE HOSPITALS TRUST
- PENNINE CARE NHS FOUNDATION TRUST
- REGIONAL HEARING SERVICES LTD
- SALFORD ROYAL FOUNDATION TRUST
- SCRIVENS LTD
- SPECSAVERS HEARCARE GROUP LTD
- ST HELENS AND KNOWSLEY TEACHING HOSPITAL NHS TRUST
- STOCKPORT NHS FOUNDATION TRUST
- TAMESIDE HOSPITALS FOUNDATION TRUST
- UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS SOUTH MANCHESTER
- WRIGHTINGTON, WIGAN AND LEIGH NHS FOUNDATION TRUST

That looks like a fairly good mix of hospitals and private practices to choose from.

Tehya

Hi all, just wanted to come back and say thanks for this thread and advice. In August I received 2 BTE Oticon Zests (NHS) they are now programmed with volume control which I only asked for after reading about it here. I think this post is one of the most helpful on MSE.

While I'm here can I be a little cheeky and ask if anyone has a little advice again? I sometimes like to listen to the radio on my phone but to use headphones I have to take out my HAs. As I only really listen to the radio on the bus I'm scared I could lose or damage one of them so is there something I could buy to allow me to listen to music without taking the HAs out?

I would now say to anyone who thinks that they might have a hearing problem but are a little reluctant or hesitant because of wearing an aid please go and get tested. It's the best thing I've done, I now know just how much I've been missing out on by not hearing correctly. Also the aids themselves are pretty neat and tiny, they can't really be seen and after just three months I don't even realise I'm wearing them.

brook2jack

Yes ear hooks. Look just like headphones but you put your hearing aids on t setting and put the hooks over your ears , they fit fine around the hearing aids. eg http://www.connevans.co.uk/store/viewProduct.do?id=4371281

Tehya

brook2jack wrote: »

Yes ear hooks. Look just like headphones but you put your hearing aids on t setting and put the hooks over your ears , they fit fine around the hearing aids. eg http://www.connevans.co.uk/store/viewProduct.do?id=4371281

Thanks for taking the time to reply they would seem like an ideal Christmas gift idea from hubby though I don't know if my hearing aids will work with those. They don't have a button for T setting so is that something I don't have on mine? They're Oticon Spirit Zest BTE and have the open fit ear piece instead of ear molds.

Errata

Sorry I can't help with any tekkie info, but do not despair hearing aid users - you are not alone in the weird and wonderful things you don't hear, and the ones you do -
http://thecookiebitechronicles.wordpress.com/category/hearing-aids/

Hear-Hear

Tehya

Modern digital hearing aids, such as the Oticon Zest, have a Telecoil built into the internal components. Your audiologist would have to programme it (activate it) for you, if not done already ? A typical set up would be something like: Programme 1 = Automatic, Programme 2 = Background Noise Reduction, Programme 3 = Telecoil. If yours aren't set up this way, all you need to do is ask.

Also worth checking if you have the "Zest C" version. It will clearly show the letter C after the word 'Zest'. Again, this is an NHS-only product, but it's Bluetooth enabled, so you could then simply pair a Bluetooth radio or MP3 player with your hearing aids via the Streamer. Bliss !

Savvy_Sue

Errata wrote: »

Sorry I can't help with any tekkie info, but do not despair hearing aid users - you are not alone in the weird and wonderful things you don't hear, and the ones you do -
http://thecookiebitechronicles.wordpress.com/category/hearing-aids/

Errata, you shouldn't have posted that, I'm not going to get anything else done until I've read the whole blog ... :rotfl: all sooooo true, and I'm a reverse sloper too! Someone in church the other day had a whistling hearing aid, I think I was the only person who could hear it!