Kateweb

ok about me since it's been ages since my intro post , I have had truble with my ears all my life , up untill a few years ago it has been rather mild. now that I have inshurence I went to see a audiologest i have mild loss in both ears more so in my left. On monday I will be starting the prosses of getting a hearing aid for my left ear. hears some of the things I would like to know. I allready know that I have no intrest in the kind that go all the way in the ear like a lot of old people ted to use I'm not vain and wont mind a behind the ear type. I think i may like to go for the colorfull type.
1) what should I expect ?
2) what brands are good / commfy
3) what battarys are cheepest - I live on a fixed income and I don't know if my inshurence will pay for them I have medicade tho.

thanks peps

Deafness

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Ephesians2_8

If you like musics, I say go for analog hearing aids.

If you hate backgrounds, some digitals are good for that. But the bad side of of digitals is that they will filter out musics when you don't want it to. At least mine did. I don't know about the latest HA's though.

If you have allergies to latex or silcones, Let your audiologist know.

You will have to pay your own hearing aids, but they can last up for a week. at least mine did. I don't think it would matter what size batteries that will save you money. They all are the same, in my opinion. My sister keep her hearing aids off whenever she is not talking to anyone to save batteries.

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Hear Again

1) what should I expect ?

Most importantly, expect that it will take some time for your brain to adapt to what it hears through hearing aids. Getting used to hearing aids takes time. You might find it helpful to wear your aids for a few hours at a time in the beginning and gradually increase the number of hours they are worn. When I started wearing HAs, I wore them for 3 hours at a time and gradually increased the time from there.

2) what brands are good / commfy

It's difficult to say what hearing aid brand is best since experiences differ from person to person. Having said that, I know many HA users who have had positive experiences with Oticon and Phonak. I still have a pair of Oticon 380P BTEs that have never required a single repair and still work perfectly to this day despite the fact that they are 16 years old.

3) what battarys are cheepest - I live on a fixed income and I don't know if my inshurence will pay for them I have medicade tho.

The type of battery you buy will depend on your particular hearing aid. Microbattery.com (Watch Batteries, Hearing Aid Batteries, Cochlear Implant Batteries, Lithium and Sealed Lead Acid batteries, Battery Chargers) is one of the least expensive vendors on the Internet.

As far as Medicaid is concerned, depending on what state you live in, Medicaid may or may not pay for batteries. In my state, Medicaid does pay. My former hearing aid clinic had a free program for Medicaid recipients which mailed out several packages of batteries every month -- that's something else you might want to look into.

Kateweb

In in New York btw. Also what should i expext from the prsses i read something about ear molds whats that all about?

Hear Again

Earmolds help keep your hearing aids in place. Earmolds are made of two materials -- soft plastic and hard acrylic. They come in several varieties including skeleton and full-shell. If you have skin sensitivity, there are hypoallergenic earmolds that can be ordered by your audi. Some hearing aids have an "open fitting" meaning that they do not use earmolds.

Kateweb

wow thirs a lot i dont know about hearing aids.

deafdyke

You can also get the aids and molds in cool colors so that you can look cool and not look like an 80 year old great grandma

Hear Again

You can also get the aids and molds in cool colors so that you can look cool and not look like an 80 year old great grandma

LOL!

Hear Again

Even behind the ear (BTE) hearing aids come in a variety of awesome colors -- from purple to transluscent hot pink. Beats "boring" beige anyday!

Kateweb

I saw a girl at school who had tie die BTE's

Roadrunner

Congrats on the possibility of getting a BTE (behind the ear), hopefully it'll work out nicely for you. Being able to do a little research to what type and kind of BTE will go a long ways for you, ensuring that you'll greatly benefit and be satisfied with the type/color, etc., that you do decide to go with. Keep us posted and good luck!




~RR

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deafdyke

Hear Again, I read someplace that at Gally, it's common to see kids with colored hair and hearing aids to match!
Kate, experiment with the different types,. Take advantage of the 30 day trial period. Or maybe try on both analogs and digitals and see which ones you like best......have the audi administer a HINT test in the booth.
What kind of audi are you seeing? One good hint for dhh kids and adults is getting serviced at a school for the Dhh......they tend to be more experianced in fitting kids, as opposed to most practices where they only fit old people.

Hear Again

deafdyke,

I think that's pretty cool! I wish colored HAs and earmolds would have been available when I started wearing HAs at age 15. That way, my parents wouldn't have had to nag me to wear them. LOL! Despite the fact that I was self-concious about my aids and did everything I could to hide them, my audi wouldn't let me wear anything but BTE aids. Although I never would have admitted this at the time, I'm thankful for that decision given the advantages of BTEs (such as DAI, t-coil, the ability to add more amplification when needed, etc.)

I wish my CI processors came in all of these cool colors! One of them comes in black, brown, beige or silver but it also has a selection of 12 different battery covers in a variety of colors to match my mood and/or wardrobe. The other comes in blue, pink, black, brown, beige and silver. I would have chosen blue, but it wasn't available at the time I was implanted, so I chose black to match my other processor.

Kateweb

the consences among my friends is purple so that may be my first choice if it is dark enof I dont like light purple. and I hope medicade will let me do the 30 day trile thing thay are rather picky,

deafdyke : my audi works with difrent ENT's on difrent days , and is only in her office a day or 2 a week depending on appoments - she has taken ASL I found out because I was talking to her about the trouble im haveing in school beacuse I have trouble haering the teacher even tho i sit in the front of the class but in ASL it's not so much a problem she seems realy nice tho.

so how long dose this whole prosses ushaly take for people ? I know I'm not going to get them the first time in her office ( i saw her at the ENT) is it a lot of fittings? or just like get the mesuerments and order ? I'm just wondering - the sooner the better because of school.

hohDougRN

Good luck on getting a new HA Kate. the sleek colors of the new bte's are awsome. As others know, mine are clear/transparent models.
I can hear music well with mine and they are digitals, so I don't know what ephesians was saying about they block out music.

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BabyHornyBrat4

Hell, I hate to wear the hearing aid...

Hear Again

When I received digital hearing aids (granted, this was 11 years ago), it took 3-4 weeks for them to arrive.

I had an appointment with my audi where she gave me a hearing test and then took impressions of my ears (for the earmolds).

The earmold impressions were sent to the lab and the HAs ordered on the same day, so it only took about a month before I received my HAs.

Kateweb

thank you every one for your posts it was helpfull to know what to expect and also stress reliving.
Im getting a pink ear mold with a drk purple BTE and for the life of me I can't rember the brand name, I was amsed at how small it was I was expectiing it to be bigger I'm just so happy that I will be able to have 2 ears again eventualy I will nead them for both ears but not just yet . so in about a week my ear mold will match my black and pink Vans ( the most comfuy shues on the planet)
thank you every one

Hear Again

Kateweb,

You'll have to let us know how you like your new hearing aid!

I know what you mean about the smaller size of hearing aids! When I received my digital HAs (Oticon DigiFocus II Super Power BTEs), I couldn't believe how small they were compared to my analogs (Oticon 380P BTEs).

Even ITE (in-the-ear), ITC (in-the-canal) and CIC (completely-in-canal) aids have become increasingly smaller!

Phillips

Congratulate to get new hearing aid and learning it too

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set2

Kate,

I am getting earmolds made on December 22 and then I will go back in early January for the fitting. My hearing aids are going to be transluscent hot pink (I almost picked purple). So it will be a Hot Pink Happy New Ears!

The number of fittings will depend on how you are doing with the hearing aids. If they sound great then you are good to go. If not then the audi can tweak them. I hope you do have get a trial period in case you are not happy with the hearing aids. Good Luck!