Help for Hearing Impairment

cairndog

Thanks very much Hear-Hear for all the info and your time. Looks like I'll have to make the best of what we've got then. I just wish my surgery could get their act together and be more efficient. I rang again this am and all they had to do for me was fax the missing referral (which I suspect was never done in September) to the right hospital, whose audiology dept fax I gave them. Yes, they had to get my GP to redo it, and they are very busy, but now theyve sent it to the wrong hospital! This apparently requires the GP to action it AGAIN. It's so frustrating especially as one of the partners at my surgery is part of the local Commissioning Group. Kent are obviously not a good place to live if you're hearing impaired. Sorry everybody about this rant but I'm feeling sorry for myself today.

Savvy_Sue

cairndog wrote: »

Thanks very much Hear-Hear for all the info and your time. Looks like I'll have to make the best of what we've got then. I just wish my surgery could get their act together and be more efficient. I rang again this am and all they had to do for me was fax the missing referral (which I suspect was never done in September) to the right hospital, whose audiology dept fax I gave them. Yes, they had to get my GP to redo it, and they are very busy, but now theyve sent it to the wrong hospital! This apparently requires the GP to action it AGAIN. It's so frustrating especially as one of the partners at my surgery is part of the local Commissioning Group. Kent are obviously not a good place to live if you're hearing impaired. Sorry everybody about this rant but I'm feeling sorry for myself today.

Complaints procedure ...

Bryen

I've started looking at private hearings aids. Specsavers suggested a model they call an Advance nano rite 845 NR after testing my hearing. I believe it is a rebranded Bernafon, but wondered if anyone knew the exact model?

I'm considering a trial as whilst a big improvement on unaided hearing my NHS supplied oticon zests reach their limit of performance in difficult situations, like meetings, office banter, restaurants and cars/trains. (Also the ear moulds on my zests are uncomfortable - despite going back several times for tuning, I was basically told to get used to the moulds, and I hope a RITE design with a dome will be more comfortable).

Hear-Hear

Bryen

The Specsavers '845' does indeed appear to be made by Bernafon. I'm surprised that the audiologist at Specsavers couldn't give you the specific information that you require, as the major high street suppliers tend to be able to produce as much detailed information as you are likely to need.

Any Specsavers model with an '8' at the start means it's top of the range, so probably akin to the 'Bernafon Verite 9' or the 'Bernafon Chronos 9'. It would probably be best though to ask your audiologist for the specific details that you need, now that you appear to have been recommended a particular product.

Guardsman

Does deafness contribute to dementia?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20556598

bluedog

I've tried searching on this thread but not found anything so apologies if this has been covered before.

Sorry if this comes across as jumbled/angsty/ranty, but to be honest, I'm a tad upset and frazzled by the lack of information given to me over the years regarding every aspect of my hearing loss, caring for aids etc by the people I've seen about it. I want to preserve what's left of my hearing and am worried repeat infections could damage my ears more.

I've got yet another ear infection in both ears and the worst affected is my better ear - again. There isn't pain and the first symptom I get is blood staining on the cotton bud when cleaning (the outer part of) my ears.

I got anti-biotic drops from my gp on monday and went to the hearing aid clinic yesterday. I needed the aids checked so thought I'd take the opportunity to ask their advice what could be the best methods and/or products to clean the aids, where to get them from etc, to hopefully help prevent future infections, especially with my skin sensitivity. I fully understand that "nothing bigger than an elbow should go in the ears " and just wearing aids can contribute to getting infections, but I was made to feel an idiot for asking. Perhaps its just me, but seems sensible to preferably put clinically clean aids in my ears to prevent re-infection and if I'm going to be prone to them? (after all, there are products for contact lenses so why not aids??!) As well as skin sensitivity, I've been told my ear canals are quite narrow which I understand can also be part of the problem. I figured they were probably the best people to ask about these things. ... ho hum.

In brief ...

I have congenital hearing loss in both ears which is classified as significant/severe and narrow ear canals. It was first diagnosed when I was 18 years old, but only found out the level of loss by a chance comment by the tinnitus specialist last year .... 30 years later.
(When I was amongst the first people in my area to be given digital aids - and 2 of them!, I thought it was them just being very nice to me!!)

My aids are Oticon Spirit Zest and the moulds are hypo-allergenic. My other concern was not damaging the moulds in anyway with cleansing solutions.

By coming on here, I now understand about the very nature of my loss and why I've found it so hard to adjust to the volume of the world and how it sounds with aids. It has helped in everyday life too as I've been able to explain the difficulties I have all round and why to people.

If anyone has any suggestions of what to do, try, use and/or where to get them from, I'll be very very grateful please. By the reactions of the audiologist yesterday, they don't have any information on basic things I've read about on here, such as blowers for drying them, so suggestions on where to get these from too will be an enormous help too.

Thanks in advance .

piglet4

bluedog wrote: »

I've tried searching on this thread but not found anything so apologies if this has been covered before.

Sorry if this comes across as jumbled/angsty/ranty, but to be honest, I'm a tad upset and frazzled by the lack of information given to me over the years regarding every aspect of my hearing loss, caring for aids etc by the people I've seen about it. I want to preserve what's left of my hearing and am worried repeat infections could damage my ears more.

I've got yet another ear infection in both ears and the worst affected is my better ear - again. There isn't pain and the first symptom I get is blood staining on the cotton bud when cleaning (the outer part of) my ears.

I got anti-biotic drops from my gp on monday and went to the hearing aid clinic yesterday. I needed the aids checked so thought I'd take the opportunity to ask their advice what could be the best methods and/or products to clean the aids, where to get them from etc, to hopefully help prevent future infections, especially with my skin sensitivity. I fully understand that "nothing bigger than an elbow should go in the ears " and just wearing aids can contribute to getting infections, but I was made to feel an idiot for asking. Perhaps its just me, but seems sensible to preferably put clinically clean aids in my ears to prevent re-infection and if I'm going to be prone to them? (after all, there are products for contact lenses so why not aids??!) As well as skin sensitivity, I've been told my ear canals are quite narrow which I understand can also be part of the problem. I figured they were probably the best people to ask about these things. ... ho hum.

In brief ...

I have congenital hearing loss in both ears which is classified as significant/severe and narrow ear canals. It was first diagnosed when I was 18 years old, but only found out the level of loss by a chance comment by the tinnitus specialist last year .... 30 years later.
(When I was amongst the first people in my area to be given digital aids - and 2 of them!, I thought it was them just being very nice to me!!)

My aids are Oticon Spirit Zest and the moulds are hypo-allergenic. My other concern was not damaging the moulds in anyway with cleansing solutions.

By coming on here, I now understand about the very nature of my loss and why I've found it so hard to adjust to the volume of the world and how it sounds with aids. It has helped in everyday life too as I've been able to explain the difficulties I have all round and why to people.

If anyone has any suggestions of what to do, try, use and/or where to get them from, I'll be very very grateful please. By the reactions of the audiologist yesterday, they don't have any information on basic things I've read about on here, such as blowers for drying them, so suggestions on where to get these from too will be an enormous help too.

Thanks in advance .

Seems like a very sensible question to me, not sure why your audiologist wasn't more helpful! I used to have a lot of problems with ear infections so you have my sympathies, it's miserable

My cleaning routine is to wash the moulds in very warm soapy water (I use Simple antibacterial hand soap), rinse and leave to dry overnight. I do this every other day, and haven't had an infection for years. (N.B. I have the custom moulds that you can detach from the hearing aid electronics, obviously you mustn't do this if you have CIC/ITE/RIC aids!)

I also replace the tubing every 2 months or so, a lot of gunk can build up in there which is hard to clean out.

It's really important to keep your ears as dry as possible, so I wear earplugs when washing my hair and also wait at least an hour before putting my aids back in. If I'm at home I take my aids out from time to time just to air my ears.

Connevans sell all sorts of stuff for cleaning hearing aids but I've never tried any of it myself, soap and water does the job for me
http://www.connevans.co.uk/store/viewCategory.do?id=190

Savvy_Sue

piglet4 wrote: »

It's really important to keep your ears as dry as possible, so I wear earplugs when washing my hair and also wait at least an hour before putting my aids back in.

Just wondered what sort of ear plugs you use when washing your hair? I've got several different sets because I swim a lot (but not without ear plugs!) but woudn't say I was happy with any of them.

piglet4

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Just wondered what sort of ear plugs you use when washing your hair? I've got several different sets because I swim a lot (but not without ear plugs!) but woudn't say I was happy with any of them.

They are custom swim plugs, like soft hearing aid moulds. I get mine free from audiology, but you may have to pay if you don't have a medical need (about £20-ish I think).

They're not 100% watertight but better than most other earplugs

Safetyone

Swim moulds from Wigan and Leigh hospitals cost £70 a pair ,they forget to tell you this on the poster and the web site, you only find out when you ask