Anyone else been told hearing aids won't work?

[HannahHut]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone else was in the same position?

I have hearing loss at low frequencies but not high, as a result my hearing has been impacted but I will been told hearing aids won't help and it's something I just have to love with.

To be honest I was quiet upset, I just wanted something to help me hear better as I am missing out on group conversations and so on which is difficult for me.

Has anyone else been told they are unable to be helped with their hearing loss?

Sorry for spelling errors, fat fingers on this phone!

I have hearing loss (but only in one ear) at low frequencies, but I've always had it. Hearings aids hadn't occurred to me, so I imagine yours is much worse than mine. I don't have location on my hearing, so often can't tell what direction noise comes from and I struggle (more than others!) to hear in noisy places with music like pubs and clubs. I do miss things people say and prefer to talk where I can see someone so I can see their mouth - I don't lip read but I definitely find this helps.

A colleague suffered from loss of low frequencies. He got an expensive digital hearing aid which transposed frequencies up to a higher range where he could hear them.
He said the only drawback was young children in large numbers - their voices are already quite high, and, when transposed, became an unbearable high pitched shrieking!

The audiologist basically said the same thing about if I had a hearing aid the low frequencies could be become high enough for me to hear but the high frequencies would be unbearable, therefore I cannot have one.

I think I was more upset there wasnt something to fix it. It's hard when people get angry having to repeat themselves or if you miss part of a group conversation they say "never mind" and carry on without you.

My dad has always worn hearing aids.
I know the nhs ones he uses aren't that good at certain frequencies but I met a man with expensive digital aids who has no problems with them picking up any frequency.

Yes I have.

Yes it is upsetting.

I have been told that I can be fitted for a hearing aid but was told that tuning up the low frequencies would drown out the high.

Also in my case in addition to the permanent loss I do have fluctuations in hearing loss so tuning would be a problem.

I'm a few years down the line so I have adapted to it.

Actually my dad finds being in a busy pub with mates very hard.
I don't think the nhs ones are good for that but I will ask him later.

I have high frequency loss in one ear. My other ear compensates but it is really hard to hear conversation with a lot of background noise.

I used to work in a very loud factory and they wanted to dot all is and cross all tees that it wasn’t their fault. They sent me to a very expensive private consultant who basically said I had been born with it and hearing aids would be of very limited use.

It doesn’t help that I’m partially sighted due to macular degeneration and so cannot lip read either. Basically, I’m fucked.

@HannahHut did you see someone privately or in the NHS?

@gnoomi there is a system that can help with localisation, called a Cros/Bi-Cros system. Have you tried or come across this? Might be worth exploring

NHS, I can't afford to go private. I felt very uncomfortable in the appointment. The audiologist was there but there was also some bloke in the room just standing behind me, very weird!

I did get upset and he said he was sorry he couldn't help as this is a common issue and that no audiologist would give me hearing aids for this.

Oh no I'm sorry. I have the opposite problem with high frequencies. I can sympathize with how hard it is People saying never mind etc I don't understand why people do that I find it so disrespectful

I have hearing loss at low frequencies and I wear hearing aids. They just turn up the frequencies you can't hear very well. I'm surprised they won't give them to you.

no audiologist would give me hearing aids for this.

Ok, this is very different to advice I was given. I was told that they would try to fit a pair but in their opinion hearing aids would be of limited use to me.

I was also told that if I change my mind I can self refer back to audiology without going through GP.

I was also directed towards support groups and offered sessions with hearing support.

Hearing support helped me to deal with issues around my hearing loss. For example, I've become very noise sensitive which seemed counter intuitive to me.

They explained why I struggle to follow conversations despite me thinking I could hear them. (Apparently I can't hear all vowel sounds) I'm not aware of this because my brain is "filling in" and the extra "stress" means I just can't always comprehend. It was a huge relief to have this explained as I actually thought I was going a bit mad.

The point is, not being suitable for hearing aids is not the end point. There should be other support available to you.

I don't know if it's because I'm very early twenties but I just felt like they had made up there mind and even when I explained the issues I have day to day he wasn't really listening.

I was just upset that there is nothing to be done, I don't think he realised how this effects me socially especially as a young person, younger people seem to have a lot less patience for repeating themselves and tend to just want to move on.

I also feel that if you tell people you have hearing loss they don't really take you as seriously if you don't have "proof" i.e. a hearing aid. It's just so frustrating.

Hi Hannah. I have the opposite problem to you . I have extreme ski slope hearing loss. So called because of what my audiograms look like. I have lost all my high frequencies.
I have been wearing nhs hearing aids since I was about 40 . I am now in my early fifties. They help but at the end of the day they are aids not magic wands. I still struggle in group conversations.
I’m not sure what would help you . Just wanted to say I sympathise.

That sounds really hard OP, hopefully someone will have some useful experience. In the very short term, just for conversations at social things like the pub or a wedding or something, would it help to learn to lip read at all?

www.hearinglink.org/living/lipreading-communicating/what-is-lipreading/

Hi OP I wear a hearing aid and am in my twenties. I know a lot of other young people in their twenties (or younger) who have them and really don't think they would've made their mind up just based on your age.

Do you know what level of loss you have? As depending on your level of loss (by that I mean mild, moderate, severe, profound) this can also affect whether aids will have. Did you get a copy of your audiogram?

I have been lip reading for a while when in groups, I tend to lose conversation if someone has their back to me. I was told mild-moderate but nearer moderate.

iliketomoveitmoveitMOVEIT. I think most people with hearing loss learn to read faces and lips to some extent, even without formal training. I never learned to properly lip read, but learned at a very young age to place myself where I can see a person's face to aid understanding.

I have the high frequency loss, and aids have been a godsend. But even having the aids is not a foolproof solution, even if everyone wigh normal hearing assumes it is.

An audiologist told me I had picked up lip reading naturally . Just out of necessity . Obviously formal training in lip reading is better . This may be something you should consider.

Audiologist told me to stand Infront of people, look at their mouths to lip read when talking. This is ok in theory and something I do anyway, but some people either look away when talking or cover their mouths, it's also hard when you're in a group to move to stand Infront of the one talking. I look a right pillock!

I have high frequency hearing loss mainly in one ear since I was 15. I had an over the ear hearing aid for about three year - I was told that I couldn't have an inner ear one as it wouldn't work due to the type of hearing loss I had. This was over 20 years ago so maybe things have improved.
I found when wearing mine that it was very difficult to use in social settings anyway as the background noise tended to over amplify. I stopped wearing it because I was too vain but in the years since have not missed it so much as I've picked up lip reading/body language. My pet peeve though is when I ask someone to repeat what they've said & they say 'never mind'

londonliv I get that too! So annoying because then you're left out!

When lip reading, people get self conscious about their mouths. I guess people worry they have something in their teeth if you stare intently at them!

So when I’m lip reading, I look away a lot. I’ll get the gist of what they’re saying, catch all the nouns and look away for the flowery stuff either side.

It is tedious. I don’t do this with people who know I’m deaf, they know how to speak to me, mostly just new people.