Thread for those of us that are deaf/hard of hearing?

[flamingo40]

I've looked through the health topics and can't find any particular areas for those of us who are deaf or hard of hearing to turn to if we are after advice or just fancy a chat with people who are in the same situation?
I guess I'm asking firstly if I'm missing something or secondly if there isn't an area we can go to would this be something Mumsnet would think about adding?

Having been hard of hearing for years and now a permanent hearing aid wearer I'd love you get help and advice and talk about experiences to other people

A somewhat different topic ... I almost didn't start a course because I was sure I wouldn't hear. I have severe/profound hearing loss and heavily depend upon lipreading. I borrowed an Apple Mac Book Air (I think) and just opened Word with dictation and it scribed almost everything well enough that most of it made sense. No worse than TV subtitles. It's not specialized equipment but it's really, really good. May help some posters in meetings or appointments. Highly recommend trying.

That's brilliant @Straysocks

I’ve only just come across this and not read the full thread so apologies if I repeat what others have said
I found out how bad my hearing was when I was around 29 or 30 as I had to take toddler DS for hearing test and I couldn’t hear hardly any of the sounds!
I don’t wear hearing aids all the time as I’m not too bad face to face with just one person and do find them irritating and itchy - probably due to my eczema and psoriasis - I also wear glasses and when we were wearing masks couldn’t cope with all 3
now have the nhs blue tooth enabled one and access to work provided me with £5k plus worth of extras including phonak receivers, roger pen and pair of table speakers
I also connect them direct to my work mobile
it has made a big difference to some of the things I do work wise including lecturing with Q n A, attending conferences and just attending big meetings
DP still feels my hearing is selective and just doesn’t get it - however as we are both not far off 60 he is starting to experience some minor hearing loss which helps

www.wholesalehearing.co.uk/products/phonak-roger-pen-in?variant=35731209027739&currency=GBP&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gclid=Cj0KCQjwkOqZBhDNARIsAACsbfKITRd5vTSu0DvCjzqo9VIVyTv1uxwQZIs3o94ghSrAu_zrtvzeED8aAtbEEALw_wcB
this is the type of thing I mean - it did not cost anything for myself or my employer

Hi all I think I've posted on here before can't remember. if not then hello!

I have a mild-modearate loss but it's getting worse so I just tend to say moderate now. Had hearing aids for a couple of years but I don't wear them as often as I should tbh. I find it quite overwhelming hearing everything but equally when I have them in I find my brain gets so much less tired as I'm not having to lipread as much which I think I did without realising. Covid and masks and screens was so hard.

I also forget other people can't lipread and will try to talk to my husband when the kettle and tumble dryer is on etc and he can't hear me and I'm like look at my mouth and he's still nope can't do it!

I think I didn't realize how bad my loss was until I got aids and can hear everything so clearly. When I take them out or turn them off everything is so muffled and some things disappear eg I can't hear clocks without my aids in.

A pp mentioned the speech banana. When I first was diagnosed and saw my audiogram I thought oh that's not too bad, until the audiologist overlayed a "normal" audiogram on top and it wasn't even close. Then she put the "speech banana" on top of mine and most of the sounds were missing.

The selective deafness thing really annoys me. As a ToD I have known a fair few class teachers who have told me " He can hear me, he turns to sounds, he's just choosing not to respond." 😡

I would explain that hearing a noise and being able to discriminate the complexities of the speech sounds are very different. Yes the hearing aids are supposed to amplify the speech sounds that are missing in natural hearing but throw even the quietest background noise, open windows and poor acoustics and an individual with even the mildest of losses will miss out on so much. Radio aids really help with this ( e.g. Roger pen) Although I have experienced odd teachers who are very reluctant to use these. One told me "They don't need it, I have a loud voice." Another described the radio aid a child's "little toy" which "we don't need to play with for this lesson!" 😡

The speech banana is helpful in explaining this but simulations of hearing loss in different settings is also quite powerful.

Is there any other special headsets or something I can get for work? Does anyone know
I'm still struggling with the t link one.
I don't know if my hearing has got worse or if it's the background noise or what. I'm going to go to hospital again to tell them in struggling with one ear, see if they can help as well. I'm quite worried

Also, the t link thing on the headset only seems to come on sporadically. It's very strange and I don't understand it

Hi @purpleme12 you poor thing. It's so awful isn't it? During lockdown I used to have to do infernal Zoom calls with about 50 people on a screen all talking across each other. I had feedback, couldn't work out who was speaking or what they were saying...

I don't know what is wrong with your particular headset. Can't remember - do you have Bluetooth hearing aids? Mine are Bluetooth but don't link straight to my phone or laptop without going via a little receiver which I charge up and clip to my shirt or top. I got it from the ConnEvans site and claimed the cost back from work on reasonable adjustments. If you don't know the ConnEvans site, it is brilliant for browsing all types of accessories for deaf people and the customer services people are incredibly helpful. I called them up, told them which hearing aids I had and what I needed to do, and they told me what I needed.

So in my case, I wanted to be able to do zoom calls through my computer without swapping my hearing aids for either airpods or another headset. They recommended this little receiver thingy and it works very well (also has an inbuilt microphone that works with the laptop) as long as I remember to charge it. It flips to my phone to make normal calls too.

No mine aren't Bluetooth.
The thing is my whole job is on the phone.
Thank you for the connevans suggestion.
When I had these hearing aids fitted they said my right one whistled a bit and I believe that they turned down some tones/pitches or something so that it didn't whistle. I think this is what they said. And actually I'm wondering if it's to do with that. Because it is my right ear I believe I'm struggling with. But then I also feel like that's worse even when I don't have them in (even though on the graph from my last test the ears aren't massively different or anything)
I'm just sure that it'll be brought up soon by someone listening to my calls and it'll be awful 😞

How long have you had your current aids? When I rang my audiology place and asked the specific question - am I due an upgrade? They just said, yes you are. They hadn't rung me to tell me that of course ...but when I asked point blank it was a different matter! It's worth asking because you shouldn't be struggling at work and feeling rubbishy and isolated about something that certainly isn't your fault. Either the headset is malfunctioning or your aids are out of date. Whichever it is, needs sorting out or it will only get worse for you.

I think call audiology folk first and maybe you could take your headset to show them (if they won't do an upgrade that is). If it's broken then your work needs to sort out a new one and Connevans can advise on the best for your needs.

But hopefully you might get new aids and new accessories thru work!

Phew. Long post. Sorry....

Oh last thing. My right one also whistled. I was sticking the little receiver thing too far down but it kept happening - it just sat too far into my ear canal. They swapped the long clear tube for a shorter one. I also had that ear micro suctioned to get the wax out because that was also making a rustling noise. It sorted it all out.

@friskybivalves I got these hearing aids last year because they said my previous ones were obsolete

It wasn't really me who said they whistled. It was when they were fitting them so I had the wires in. It was them who said it when they were fitting them. I think I might already have the smallest ear tube? I think

Do you know what model you have? I'm upset on your behalf that they have been fitted only a year ago but they seem to be old school tech.

When everyone was wearing masks I'd walk around shops or on the bus etc. with my phone on a dictation setting so I could see at least roughly what they were saying. Little things like that can really make a difference to your day, can't they?

Do you want to share what course you're doing?

Like @friskybivalves I've got a device (Roger Pen) that I can connect to my laptop that connects using Bluetooth to my hearing aids. I need receivers, though, as adults aren't getting the fancy Bluetooth hearing aids in my area yet (although the kids are!).

I tend to use the live captions when I'm on MS teams for work, which can be a bit rubbish but are generally okay. I hate the way the window for them is only 3 lines big, though. Sometimes I'd quite like to flick back to the previous speaker to confirm something they said or whatever. But the words can disappear quite quickly.

I've not found a headset that works with my hearing aids in. I have to remove at least my left aid, as I get feedback from that one if I wear a headset with it on. So it's receivers and pen or no hearing aids in.

Have you got the little tulip buds? Or full ear moulds?

SuziLikeSuziQ yes, the notes app is useful but speed & accuracy can be difficult. It's a post-grad leading to me becoming a practitioner with own clients. If anyone is considering further study contact the institution's Disability Team. They've helped me to apply for a Disabled Students Allowance - part of Student Finance England but I don't repay - my needs will be compared against types of learning in course and requirements by an assessor (2 hrs) and they'll provide equipment to assist for duration of course. Things I could never had ever afforded. I can't believe my lack of hearing nearly scuppered this. So far uni has been outstandingly accessible.

I'm so in awe of the Roger pen - and the price tag! This is what I have:

www.deafequipment.co.uk/viewProduct.do?id=12930934

Which is more the £200 mark. The speech quality is ok.

It's so great to hear how the university has helped you, @SuziLikeSuziQ. My work has been good too. I would really hope that @purpleme12 would find the same if you explain that the headset isn't suiting your set-up and perhaps you could explore other options? A call to Connevans just might come up with some other headsets that don't give you this same issue.

Gonna be a hard few days now for me.

The last couple of weeks, my hearing aid has been hurting my ear. Inside my ear where the mould sits.

Usually I can grin and bear it. Today, no chance. It’s agony and there’s a little lump where I’ve been forcing it in.

So I’m going to have to contact ENT, and get an urgent appointment, and now have to go without my hearing aid for a while.

I am almost completely deaf without my hearing aid.

Im ok got TV as I have my laptop and I’ve got a pair of over the ear headphones, so that’s sorted, but I cannot communicate with anyone really.

I feel daft [embarassed]

Turns out I had a massive spot which was causing pain. Dh got it out and now I can wear my hearing aid again

I got mine with Access to Work, so my work paid for it. I'll have to give it back when I move on. But I do really like it! I attended a meeting yesterday and used a Roger table mic and the sound access was so much better!

Thank goodness for technology!

Ah don't feel embarrassed! that is great news :)

Would they really make you give it back? I mean, who else would use it! I bet they'd 'forget'...

Guaranteed my employer wouldn't forget! I'm a Teacher of Deaf Children and Young People so our day job is looking after hearing equipment. Admin have just logged the serial numbers as they would for any pupil!

@Soubriquet Sometimes my ears hurt with my aids in. If I've got a raw little patch of skin it never has time to heal if I have them in every day, or if the tubes start going hard. Every now and then I have an aid-free day and it's bliss!