For Those of us who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing Part 2

[Violinist64]

The original thread is almost full and I have found it extremely helpful so have started this new thread.

I only wear distance glasses for driving and occasionally reading glasses, so ha go first.

Following the useful suggestions above, I went to Scrivens. They straightened out, then re-shaped the arm of my glasses so it curves a bit more round my head. This means it's now glasses next to aids, not one on top of the other.

Where I can see it would be more difficult is wearing sunglasses, mine have a thicker arm and not so customised,

I still don't get how they sit next to them
Is it just that your ear is pushed out a bit because they're next to each other on the ear? I just wouldn't have thought there'd be room

Maybe I just have big ears 🤣

My glasses are flush up to my head and then my aids sit by the side 🤷🏼‍♀️

I wondered if anyone knows - are there any UK-centric forums for people who are deaf / hard of hearing / users of hearing aids ? I had a search but couldn't yet spot any.

Not that I know of - would be interested to hear of any though.

I like the Oticon Hearing Aids Users Group on Facebook. I wouldn't say it's UK centric but it's not overwhelmingly US based either. There are a handful of knowledgeable and generous contributors who always have something useful to say.

I did find this:
https://www.hearinglink.org/connect/blogs-forums/hearing-loss-forums/
they are part of Hearing Dogs for Deaf People

There are some forums here which look world wide - part of my interest in UK-centric items is because I've gone through the NHS for my hearing aids, but I'd welcome hearing more from people in the UK who may have chosen either to stick with the NHS or chosen to go private for more choice.

Bit disappointed in my occupational health referral. I've recently suffered SSHL in my better ear. I had the same thing in my other ear in childhood.

Basically, I had two 30 minute phone calls saying absolutely nothing unless I had something specific in mind. I was kind of hoping for some suggestions from them

@oapcarer, are you set up with a vibrating pillow connected to smoke alarm to wake you in the night? I was delighted to find that my local fire service (Dorset) supply and fit them.
If you've lost your good ear, you may benefit from aids with Bluetooth technology that stream phone output straight into your ear, transforming phone calls.
What other kind of thing were you hoping could be helped by the OT? One of us may be able to suggest things

Thanks. It was more in a work context. I don't really know but just something to help me hear better at work like a loop system (too niche, apparently), some equipment for meetings. The upshot was that wear I work us not a good environment for hearing loss. No shit.

Hi
You should qualify for the Access to Work scheme. I got phone clips, Roger pen etc to help me at work.

Thanks. Will look into it. The woman was quite dismissive because I could hear her on the phone, which I can , if the line is good, the room is quiet, or the person speaks clearly- otherwise, I use captions

@oapcarer it's difficult for hearing people to understand just how much effort it takes to follow a conversation when your hearing is compromised. The organisation would be much better off if you could put all that effort into actually doing your job. Anyway, have a look at https://www.connevans.co.uk/catalogue/8936682/Equipment-at-Work for some ideas about what might help.

I qualified for access to work scheme and they assessed me and I got a roger blue tooth microphone thing that detects sound from different locations and sends it straight to my hearing aid.

It was around £1000 I think. Fairly simple process for me to apply. Work were a bit pissed off as they had to pay a big chunk but not my problem / they have no choice if it's recommended.

I should add so I use it for meetings and put the microphone in the middle of the room / near the person presenting. Or I'm working in a noisy room (air con and back ground noise) it helps to amplify the person I'm speaking to voice (GP practice setting).

I've been through AtW as well, got a Roger Pen and table mic. Very useful for work.

For those using Roger pen, table top
Mic etc - were they able to cope with round table discussions so each individual speaker was picked up and fed into your ear from all around the table without the pen having to be passed from speaker to speaker/table top mic moved around?

It can help. Make sure that nothing is in the way between the unit and the speaker.
If there is background noise, that tended to be picked up as well.

Table mics pick up everything. Including people tapping pens and their fingers. The spread is rather like a bathroom light that's upside down. A pen has a pickup spread more like a torch or elongated heart shape (check if it says cardioid or hypercardioid spread - hyper is pointy, the other picks up a couple of people at a time).

(Was a sound engineer, not now for fairly obvious reasons).

That's really interesting

Ok, I'm off the bus and home from work now. I've googled the manual (which is a bit rubbish for anybody who has a bit of technical knowledge that would actually help get the best from it).

The pen has settings to switch from what looks like cardioid (the rounder heart shape, the inside 'V' part actually being around the top part of the pen, kind of like this (room\top part of pen/room) for meetings to hypercardioid (the pointy one) to point at the people - they call it 'interview'.

It's hard to describe because it's a 3D shape - maybe a better analogy would be like a beachball sized, upside down apple with the stalk being where the pen is on the table. The hypercardioid/interview is where the apple has been stretched out to about 4-6 foot long and pinched. The former won't pick up Meeting Mumblers as they'll talk down their chest and to their shoulders.

I've never heard anything good from people who have tried to get anything used by a speaker on a lanyard, partly because it's always going to pick up movement and clothes and partly because untrained people turn their heads away as they speak, which it can't reliably pick up/the volume changes/you get drop out.

That's why performers use the tiny mics taped either to their faces if moving lots or lapel mics clipped securely to clothes that aren't moving if they're mostly stationary and reading the news - or why I spent a lot of time guiding people to their spot and telling them 'do not move, do not touch the mic and whatever you do, DO NOT GRAB THE MIC AND CUP THE ROUND BIT IN YOUR HANDS LIKE YOU'VE SEEN ON TV - because they're usually not even switched on and that performer idiot is lipsynching.

Hello, I would like to join you all please.
I've been struggling (late 50’s) with not hearing my team properly at work and some conversations at home, so after having a micro suction to ensure all clean, had a 90 minute test at a Costco.
My DH works in the AV industry and is very into his gadgets, so had already been researching all the things aids can do, and found that Costco had amazing deals on high end ranges (as they are the largest hearing aid supplier in the US so now branching out into the UK). Lovely staff and absolutely no pressure, big signs that they are not on any comission etc.
I only have a moderate loss but was amazed at the experience of trying some out, especially when they took me outside the lovely quiet testing room onto the Costco shop floor- very overwhelming! Also was surprised how quickly the robotic seeming voices started to sound more normal, but hated my own voice.
Anyway, I’m going back next week to collect my aids (Jabra ones), so reading all the tips here on getting used to them. I think the feeling of the tips in my ears are going to be the worst as I just wanted to keep itching my ear on the few minutes I tried them and for quite a while afterwards.
does anyone else have the Jabra aids?

@Milliways, this sounds interesting. However, mild and moderate hearing losses sound as if they are not too bad, don’t they? I found out that they are much more severe than most people think as the hearing loss is compared with no hearing at all and not with normal hearing as we would normally think. This is why audiologists take any real degree of hearing loss so seriously. Even a mild loss means that we will have lost a fair amount of hearing.