Anybody using NHS hearing aid? 18 January 2019 at 5:01PM in Over 50s MoneySaving 46 replies 13K views

cherry76

Hubby very reluctant agree to try NHS hearing aid to his lt ear. He has some hearing loss but still in denial and says he can hear ok. The problem at home is the tv is loud. Today he got his hearing aid the one with the thin tube behind the ear. It is Oticon BTE and finds it very fiddly to put on and hear whistling sound when on. Is this the norm next appt is in 6 weeks. He has already gave up and I feel he has been wasting the NHS staff time. Thanks

MoneyMate

Happy with mine , should only get a whine when you put your hand over the ear thats its fitted too.
phone up and have your equipment tested at your local centre hospital, you don't have to wait 6 weeks, good luck.

Nearly_Old

I've had NHS hearing aids for over 4 years now and it can take time to get used to them. I seem to have been very fortunate as I had no problems with them from the start and I hadn't realised how bad my hearing had become.

I've managed to find my original documents which included a Trouble Shooting Guide and there a few causes of Excessive Whistling / Feedback including:

1. Incorrect ear mould placement (usually not pushed fully into the ear)
2. Blocked ear mould / dome - clean and replace.
3. Blocked outlet sound filter - make an appointment to get checked.
4. Excessive ear wax - see GP


I found it difficult to push them right into my ears at first until the audiologist put them in a few times and I got brave enough to really push them right in. I wouldn't be without them now as they have made life much easier and I can always take them out when I'm at home which does annoy my wife!

Savvy_Sue

whistling at this stage is almost certainly ear mould not properly in: at our last church we regularly had a lady arrive whistling like a kettle, needing help with putting them in.

but it can also mean that there's tweaking needed to the settings: I found mine would whistle in response to certain sorts of background music until I had it tweaked.

They ARE fiddly and it does take time to get used to them, but it is worth persevering. The other thing I'd recommend is finding a local lipreading class: google lipreading plus your town / city / area. Ideally, go together: I'm not sure it improved my lipreading much, but it was SO good to be in the company of people who understood the issues of not hearing properly, and we shared lots of hints and tips on how to manage. And we had some couples go, and I know they found it useful.

ariba10

Had one for quite a few years.

Once you get used to to it you would not like to be without it.

Had no problems with it that the local hospital could not sort out promptly in the twice weekly repair clinic.

Savvy_Sue

ariba10 wrote: »

Had one for quite a few years.

Once you get used to to it you would not like to be without it.

Had no problems with it that the local hospital could not sort out promptly in the twice weekly repair clinic.

But you need to check the local arrangements: ours used to run a drop-in for 'minor repairs' but now it's all appointment based.

Farway

Mine originally had a whistle, needed "tweaking" at the clinic, now only whistle is when my ear is near say a car window giving feedback

cherry76

Thanks for all your replies. I think it is not inserted properly and it is quite fiddly if fingers are not so nimble. He is a very reluctant hearing aid wearer as I have been nagging him for leaving the tv so loud. He says he does not make much difference to his hearing. The audiologist said he has got a bit of dry wax and use olive oil at night. Just wondering could this be the cause if the whistling. Am not sure whether this is good advice as have read that olive oil can block the tube. He has behind the ear with thin tube, any advice and tips will be much appreciated. Thanks

MoneyMate

The whistling sound you describe as previously mentioned is a simple feed back problem if you cup your hand over hearing aid or put your head near a solid window / back of the chair etc.
Strongly recommend going back to your original centre to have checked out.

mark55man

sadly 4 years in and I'm still struggling, if I'm one to one I don't need them, if I'm one to many then they over amplify the sound and its a nightmare. I've been to the drop ion clinic several times but that doesn't help so now I've given up on them unless its really important but then its quite uncomfortable

the only good thing about them was it enabled me to get a disabled persons railcard for £20 or so that's saved me thousands getting into London over the years as its valid peak time (but not on season tickets which are already discounted)

Savvy_Sue

It might be worth making another appointment, rather than just going to the drop-in clinic, and going through all your options: I started off with a 'normal' full mould, but didn't get on with that, so they drilled a hole through it to relieve the pressurised feeling it gave me. Then I had it made in a different material to see if that helped. Then I spent a while using 'off the shelf' moulds of various shapes - DH gets on very well with these, but I find they still drive me mad and I'm fiddling with them to relieve a feeling of pressure the whole time.

now I'm on a sort of half-mould in sparkly pink, which is probably as good as it gets for me. Actually I'm currently unable to use it following a couple of attempts at re-tubing, but that's another story. Back to the clinic next week ...

I don't find it helps much when there's a lot of background noise, but again, I'd recommend lipreading classes for learning how to cope better with those situations!