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Original poster

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

986 replies

flamingo40 · 04/09/2021 17:45

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

OP posts:
Thread gallery
27
Soubriquet · 02/12/2022 13:36

Thank you. I managed to wedge it in as I get extremely anxious when I can’t hear anything.

I have an open sore that scabs up and then reopens every time I have to remove it and there is a thickening of the skin from scar tissue on the bottom of my ear where the mould sits and now a new one is forming in a second place. So bloody painful.

I have been wearing hearing aids for years. Like 25 years and I’ve never had this problem before so it’s very confusing.

purpleme12 · 06/12/2022 00:17

Do employers have to make adjustments if needed? Because of hearing loss? Is that the law?

purpleme12 · 06/12/2022 00:50

And has anyone ever used an amplifier for a work phone? To make the phone louder?

SuziLikeSuziQ · 06/12/2022 17:21

purpleme12 · 06/12/2022 00:17

Do employers have to make adjustments if needed? Because of hearing loss? Is that the law?

Yes they do. Gov.uk has info but see my screenshot.

Thread for those of us that are deaf/hard of hearing?
SuziLikeSuziQ · 06/12/2022 17:24

purpleme12 · 06/12/2022 00:50

And has anyone ever used an amplifier for a work phone? To make the phone louder?

I have used a Roger Pen which connected to my hearing aids (with little receivers) that meant I could hear my phone in my hearing aids to help with amplification. I used Access to Work, which essentially meant my work had to pay for the equipment for me.

I'm sure you could get a different kind of amplifier, but the Access to Work people were great and talked me through the situations I found difficult to hear then recommended the equipment.

TroysMammy · 06/12/2022 19:16

@SuziLikeSuziQ thank you for the info on reasonable adjustments in the workplace. In my place of work, GP surgery, they had a full sized glass screen installed. They took ages to get microphones installed. The microphones are now causing horrendous feedback so it's been switched off. I can't hear a flipping thing. I can't wear my hearing aid as my colleagues are loud (talking, laughing), noisy in their actions (door slamming) totally unaware (stand behind me looking in the script box whilst using the phone headphones to resolve a query whilst I am dealing with a patient at the desk). I've been off work 12 days, back tomorrow 😭 and I wouldn't be surprised if the microphones haven't been fixed.

Chocchops72 · 07/12/2022 06:46

Not sure if this has been discussed on this thread but… masks. 🙄

since COVID started I have found this a nightmare. Physically, with the elastics adding yet another thing to sit behind my ears (along with glasses and hearing aids) and the elastics catching my aids and pulling them out when I remove the mask.

Not being able to lip read!! and all sound from behind a mask being muffled. And not being able to see facial expressions, which I never realised I relied on so much.

i even find that I struggle to speak myself - I think it’s because I am concentrating so hard on understanding what being said, I can organise my own thoughts to respond.

mask use is increasing where I am due to the 9th wave of Covid being recognised 🤷‍♀️.

Violinist64 · 07/12/2022 18:56

Oh, masks. Horrendous for us as lip reading is such an important part of hearing. Many people mumble at the best of times and masks make this worse.

Jyn · 18/12/2022 19:01

Ooh, I've had an appointment! 29th December, which is a lot quicker than I'd thought.
Speaking to a friend about it the other day and she told me to be sure to ask for a hypoallergenic one because she has an aid for similar reasons (I didn't know this, we always meet at home and she doesn't need it in quiet environments) and hers causes irritation.

Soubriquet · 20/12/2022 15:02

Finally received my new mould and it’s sooo weird.

It has a jelly like texture. Very flexible. Hard to put in!! But no pain!

Jyn · 20/12/2022 17:22

Good news @Soubriquet glad you're comfier.

I've just had the following conversation with DH....

'I've been listening to The Specials all day, did you know the car from Ghost Town is in the motor museum?"

DH "Yeah, it's the one they picked up magnets in"

"Magnets? Why were they picking up magnets? I don't understand"

Dh "MADNESS JYN, MADNESS. What date is your hearing appointment again?"

😂

Soubriquet · 20/12/2022 20:01
Grin
Polgara2 · 20/12/2022 20:06

🤣 story of my life these days (and that's with my hearing aids in!)

SuziLikeSuziQ · 20/12/2022 20:16

@Soubriquet Nice, you got soft ones! I wish I had. My new ones are hard again and I hate them. My right ear feels like it's blocked when I put it in and my left has given me a sore in the 'concha' and is just so painful after a while. Honestly, it's like they were made by someone who isn't very good at making them. I've put the old ones back on and am waiting for another appointment to be fitted for new ones.

Soubriquet · 20/12/2022 20:55

I told them whilst I was being fitted that I was having a lot of ear pain. I’ve never had one like this before and it’s taking some getting used to. No pain though

Soubriquet · 21/12/2022 22:27

Well, I’m a picky fucker. I don’t like this new mould at all. Yeah it’s pain free but it’s awkward. It doesn’t feel like it fits in properly and a good shake of my head makes me feel it’s gonna go flying.

I keep having to fidget with it and wiggle it about which is not normal for me. Most of the time I forget I’m wearing a hearing aid.

nope. This one makes me feel it.

so in the new year (I’ll suck it up for now), I’ll get an appointment and get it replaced

Jyn · 22/12/2022 14:53

@Soubriquet You're not being a picky fucker at all! If it doesn't work for you then it's not right. Don't feel guilty over that. It's there to improve your life and if it's not doing that then it's pointless.
Hope you get it sorted.

Jyn · 29/12/2022 15:32

I'm back, and I confess I'm a bit emotional. I can hear.

As it transpires, not only is there a 45% loss in my left ear, but a 35% one in my right. The lovely man fitted a pair of Signia, turned them on and all of a sudden the world was different.
They will take some getting used to. I've just spent ten minutes in the kitchen wondering what a new noise I could hear was, turns out I can now hear the boiler 😂

Now going to make a cuppa and switch the telly on....

Soubriquet · 29/12/2022 15:45

I’m so pleased for you!!

I still remember getting my second type of hearing aid. I’ve been wearing them since I was 5, but at age 15ish, I was given a new digital type of hearing aid.

Im completely deaf in my right ear, and my left ear only has about 20-30% of hearing, so I’m severely deaf.

Anyway, I got given a new digital hearing aid and we went shopping. I could hear things I never heard before. Like the freezers in the shop.

We spent longer looking around the shop identifying sounds than we do actually shopping Grin

Jyn · 29/12/2022 16:05

@Soubriquet this is where I'm currently at. I hear a noise and have to investigate. Current fascination is my keyboard clicks. I walked around town for a bit after the appointment but it was all a bit overwhelming.
Funny thing though, when I was leaving I shoved my phone in my pocket, I had a pack of herbal tablets in there. I heard the packet rustle and jumped a mile. Poor bloke was laughing his head off at me.
TV is on 50 and I can hear it perfectly, it's never been below 65.

I now need to figure out if I should connect bluetooth and listen to music through the aids or stick to my AirPods. I rarely make phone calls so I'm wondering whether to bother with that side of it. I think I'll let things settle and then decide.

Soubriquet · 29/12/2022 16:06

Oh please try the Bluetooth for me!!

I’m gonna bring it up at my next appointment so I would like to know if it’s worth doing

Jyn · 29/12/2022 16:11

Soubriquet · 29/12/2022 16:06

Oh please try the Bluetooth for me!!

I’m gonna bring it up at my next appointment so I would like to know if it’s worth doing

I'll have a look tomorrow and see what the crack is. For now I'm very distracted with noises 😂
I love the app, I have an auto, tv, background and loop setting. He did put a tinnitus program on there but I didn't like it. Weirdly the tinnitus is reduced with them, I'd half expected it to be amplified .

I don't think I expected them to be quite this advanced.

PurrsAreAudible · 29/12/2022 16:21

I've posted on here at the beginning (can't remember username!) just with a link. As I'm the parent of deaf DC but not deaf myself I didn't keep posting but have been reading. I only wanted to pop on to say this (as I think you may appreciate it atm). My DD was recently fitted with new hearing aids. She was stroking the cat and said "oh my god <catname> is making a noise! Is she OK?!" I came over and said "err yes she's just purring Confused". It turns out DD had no idea that purrs were audible, she just thought you knew cats were purring when you felt them "vibrate". She was amazed. She is 20 Grin

It's things like this (like in your recent posts!) which hearing people just take for granted and it wouldn't cross our minds that deaf people don't even know of their existence, if that makes sense? Technology is amazing, it's just a shame and so infuriating that people have to fight so hard to get access to it.

When our DC were little we went on a deaf awareness course which involved wearing special ear plugs/defenders so you couldn't hear anything at all. It was a huge eye opener. I remember seeing people talking to each other and it felt so disorienting not having a clue what people were saying or even just the topic of conversation. And that was just for an hour. When I rule the word and BSL is taught in schools, I would also like the ear defender experience to be mandatory for a day.

DS's pet hate is missing something in a conversation and asking "what did you say?" and the person saying "oh it doesn't matter". it's so fucking isolating and infuriating as well as disrespectful. That will be made illegal too Smile

Wishing you joy of new hearing aids Smile and a lovely 2023 to all.

DatasCat · 29/12/2022 22:14

When our DC were little we went on a deaf awareness course which involved wearing special ear plugs/defenders so you couldn't hear anything at all. It was a huge eye opener.

I bet this could be modified these days to approximate different forms of hearing
loss, from the sort of so-called ‘mild’ ones which turn English into a foreign language, to the horror of tinnitus, to the sheer annoyance of being able to hear only one pitch of voice.

I fantasised today at work about a ‘deaf awareness’ day that involved everyone at work wearing headphones that modified everyone’s conversation to mimic particular types of deafness. Surely it could be done?

Violinist64 · 29/12/2022 22:25

@PurrsAreAudible, I have always found it difficult to hear a cat purring. When I had my first hearing aids it was Autumn and the dry leaves were on the ground. It was the first time l could remember hearing them - up until then I never realised they made a noise when you walked on them. Each Autumn l am now like a five-year-old as I rustle through them.