Living with someone who is hard of hearing

[whatisforteamum]

I find it quite stressful tbh.
Years ago dh was given hearing aids after joking for ages that. He tuned out from my chatter.
They take some getting used to so I had to bear with.
Nine or ten yrs later he still misses lots and repeating everything is exhausting.
He will wear them if we go out.
Anyone else constantly repeating sentences.
It causes arguments and misunderstanding.
I know it is not his fault.

You don't know if they won’t work for you / be uncomfortable until you try them though! At that point, my patience will turn back on as you have tried to help yourself. It’s the not even trying them that reduces my likelihood of being patience.

(Also, I’ve spent a fortune over the years learning BSL to make communication better in some instances, so I’m not in the least impatient/ lacking in disability awareness.

Oh, and I’m also disabled, so ya know, aware of how disability works)

Coronafiona sorry to hear about your daughter.

@Kazzyhoward

"You do realise that cheap, badly programmed NHS hearing aids can cause really bad headaches and still don't necessarily make hearing voices much clearer?? There may be a reason that other people "don't help themselves"!!!

Kazzy - just to add another perspective.

I have had nothing but an excellent service from the NHS audiology department in my town.

It took me about 2 years to face the truth and finally go to be tested.

Little did I know that the tinnitus I had ignored was a direct result of hearing loss. I hadn't a clue.

But it was a double whammy and I was devastated.

The NHS quickly diagnosed the problem, sorted me out with hearing aids (which as they explained not only help me to hear, but also minimise the tinnitus).

They also sorted both MRI and CT scans to see if anything could actually be done. Sadly not as it's a congenital fault.

I am on my second pair of free hearing aids and I've not paid a penny for anything.

I am immensely grateful.

The thing is that the private audiologist did it all within a single 1 hour appointment, including initial consultation and hearing test and programming the aids. The programming probably only took 10-15 minutes and it was right first time so I didn't need to go back.

I must have had about 20 separate appointments with a succession of different NHS audiologists, each probably 20-30 minutes as they faffed around programming them, having to constantly go back because they were still wrong.

Perhaps if the NHS audiologists had actually done it right in the first place, they'd not have wasted so many appointments? Some of them didn't seem to know what they were doing and seemed to just random change a few settings and send me on my way, presumably with the intention of a different audiologist doing a better job of it next time.

Yes, the quality (or not) of the NHS generally is very haphazard and also something of a postcode lottery because different trusts have different rules as to the quality of hearing aids issued. Eg. I believe some people have been given bluetooth enabled ones from their trusts, but others living in different trusts don't get them.

@Kazzyhoward

Yes mine are Bluetooth, I have an app to control them when the need arises, and they are discreet.

My local trust is Royal Berkshire.