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

I've had it in for repair three times and each time it works for a few days afterwards and then goes on the blink again. My DH reckons I should stand on it and pay the fine to get a new one. I don't think there are any options for settings. I assume the button is for a t loop but hardly anywhere uses them any more.

I agree. You see the sign for t loop, switch it on but it doesn't sound any different.
I don't understand

@SuziLikeSuziQ l have Phonak aids.

It should sound different. My T-loop makes every sound incredibly quiet, until you're standing in just the right spot and then I hear the person at the till very clearly indeed, including all the button presses etc! You have to be standing in the right place, though, but you should notice all the sound is much reduced/deadened if you're not. Do yours hero when you switch to different programmes?

@Violinist64 I guess that's why, then. Oticon need an additional device for Android.

Not hero, I meant beep!

Yes I know it sounds different..I know how it should sound as for example in hospital in audiology they have it and it's worked. Yes it beeps.
But whenever there's the sign in a shop for example it never works/goes onto the loop. It's not my hearing aid it must be the place. I guess it's possible I'm not standing in the right place?! But it must be very exact and small if that's the case because I'm where it says it!!

I have Oticon Bluetooth aids. Does anyone know how I would connect them to the tv? I have subtitles on but some programmes don't have them annoyingly!
Thanks

Sorry, didn't mean to talk down to you! Yes, sometimes it can be a very exact place. Do you get the loss of sound, or do you just not get your aids switching to a different programme?

You would need (a) the right kind of TV (b) a separate TV listening device (c) make sure they’re all compatible.

It’s possible but a technological minefield, so you need qualified advice.

You’d be surprised how many places forget to turn them on or check that they work. They have all the signs up but nobody to tell them if the loop is functioning properly. 😖

@DatasCat that sounds typically complicated! I have no idea who to ask for such advice, sigh, I wish they'd just make sure all programmes had them.

Its 99% normal for advertised loops in shops banks etc not to work. I always try to use the loop system if its advertised but it generally doesnt work. I then tell the person behind the counter - often its not been switched on. The RNID did have a card you could give in but havent checked if they still do
My favorite was at work where I said the loop wasnt working in the conference room, got told off severely and publicly by top boss - of course its working - persisted and got the Diversity manager in who went white and realised the contractors had stripped it out when installing something else. The college was renting the room out for conferences as having working loop!!

Ok thank you sometimes I really wonder if it's me with these things!

I've never found a loop that's working either!

The loops in my local sainsburys and costa work great!

Hi all I haven't posted on here for a while but yes to the annoying loops not working! Our post office is the worst as it's all behind glass so I can't hear them even with my hearing aids in and the loop thing never works so I just rely on lip reading luckily I'm very good at it!

Does anyone else forget that hearing people can't lipread?! Often I'll be talking to my husband but he won't be able to hear me as I'm drying my hair or something and I can lipread him but then I'm like Dh....why can't you understand what I'm saying 🤣

Who was asking about decorating their aids? I got some decorations from Etsy but found they irritated my ears but they looked good though 🤣

I had a dream last night that in a big room with a loop, it was working and i dreamt it was amazing!
Then I dreamt it was working in some shop and I dreamt it was amazing!
I think that actually my hearing was more amazing in my dream than real life 🤣🤣

Hi all, new to the thread and looking for a bit of support.

I was diagnosed with a frequency hearing loss and tinnitus in my left ear several years ago (can't remember if it was high or low frequency now). At the time the consultant didn't recommend any hearing aids and I was left to get on with it. It's all entirely self inflicted unfortunately, many years of loud metal music, standing in front of huge amplifier stacks at gigs with no protection etc etc. My own fault.

Since that appointment I've got on with it, I tend to keep people to my right side as it's the good ear, turn up the TV etc. At the start of covid when masks came in I realised I was perhaps compensating a bit by lip reading. It was irritating, but again, I got on with it.

It came to a head on holiday last month. I realised when I was away just how much I'm lip reading when I failed to understand what most people were saying to me because of their different accent and speech pattern. I was in lots of loud environments and couldn't differentiate conversation from background noise. It became embarrassing and I spent most of the holiday defaulting to DH as I could never be sure what had been said, he'd then have to explain to me. I'm 49. I felt stupid.

I messaged our GP for a referral on Tuesday and on Wednesday saw my nurse just to double check I hadn't got wax build ups etc. I hadn't and have been referred to Specsavers for a hearing aid.

I'm torn between the excitement of being able to hear again and trepidation of what it will be like to wear one. DD bless her is sending me links to stickers to personalise hearing aids and telling me if I don't go all Spiderman with it she'll disown me....

Has anyone got experience of the Specsavers processes? Wait times etc?
Thanks all.

Hi Jyn,

I haven't done the spec savers process so I can't help you there.

I just wanted to thank you for posting. You've articulated something for me that I've been struggling to pinpoint. This year I have started travelling to various regional offices across the UK. Each time I go, I really struggle to follow what strangers are saying to me. I'm fine with my team members because I've learned their speech patterns.

It's so frustrating and tiring. I think it's time I put on my big girl pants and got myself booked in.

Thanks for the nudge.

@ThinkWittyThoughts I confess it's not something that had occurred to me until a couple of weeks in. I was in the USA so everyone was speaking English, but the speed they spoke, coupled with the accents just left me floundering completely. It was very much a 2am revelation when I lay awake wondering how I'd suddenly become much harder of hearing than when I left the UK and then the realisation that it had crept up slowly over the years and I was just struggling to lip read.

It is frustrating, and I sympathise completely with you. If you're anything like me you find yourself nodding and smiling along with the conversation but can never be certain of whats been said. I'd figured one of these days someone would tell me someone had died and I'd respond with a smile and a 'how lovely' 😂

@Jyn I've only had wax removal at Specsavers, but the wait time for an appointment was short, the guy was friendly and he even gave me a stash of new batteries as he said they were doing NHS stuff too so could give them to me. Might be easier than getting hospital to post them out.

I'm sure you'll be fine going to them to get your aid. Just remember, though, that having a hearing aid will take a little getting used to (as your ear and brain have to practice hearing more sounds again) and that it won't give you perfect hearing. You'll probably still need to lip-read, but it should be a more subconscious thing and markedly less effort.

Fancy aids now can even do a tinnitus setting (I think like playing white noise into your aid to mask the tinnitus sound, or something like that). So you may find that useful too!

Ugh. I’m still waiting for my mould to be delivered. Not helped by postie strikes.

I cannot get my hearing aid in today without extreme pain which means I won’t be able to wear it. I’m always anxious when I don’t wear it because I’m almost completely deaf.

Going to be really hard for me

Sorry to hear that. I got new moulds last week and the left one is particularly painful. I'm bearing with it to see how they settle down, but I find I'm putting them in later and taking them out earlier just to find some relief from them.

I hope your new ones turn up soon.

@SuziLikeSuziQ thank you. I think the Specsavers NHS is relatively new in our area as I recall my late mum needing to go to satellite clinics in the local health centre for her hearing aids (which lived most of their lives in a box on the kitchen dresser).
I'm guessing NHS aids wont be as fancy as to deal with tinnitus, though if its something that works for me I might go down the private option later on. That said, my tinnitus doesn't especially bother me. I tend to have background music on when it's quiet and at night I find tuning in to the whistle is a bit like white noise for me. It stops my mind wandering and helps me sleep. I'm probably weird though.

@Soubriquet I hope your mould turns up soon. Even discounting the strike I've not seen a postie up here for over a week ☹️

@Jyn my DH's NHS aid has a white noise setting for tinnitus.