melissa
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- Sep 17, 2006
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I thought I'd write about my audiology appt which happened this morning and see what people think (I just got back from shopping in town after it and have a great new wardrobe!). I felt that the audiologist was a little short with me but I don't know if that was just my interpretation. Sorry in advance as I can write for England!
I went in, and a man I'd never seen before came up to me and said 'Miss North?' very quietly- I was reading a magazine in the waiting area and he was about a foot away from me. I said yes, but he said to wait a minute, then he came back and we started the appointment. The minute we got into the audiology room he said 'Hello my name's Ian and I'll be doing your hearing test' quite loudly, so I don't know why he was so quiet before!
I answered some questions on the computer about difficulty in certain situations- eg busy street corner, I picked extreme difficulty hearing, watching tv mild difficulty. I told him that I was having problems hearing as well as usual in general and particularly from my left aid, and that they often fall out/get dislodged, especially when it's windy. They are Unison 6 BTEs with slim tubes. He said he'd never heard of that and I did I go walking in the wind a lot or some other extreme hobby!
He did the test, same as all the others I've had- various beeps and white-noise type sounds, press a button each time I hear a sound, and the bone conduction headband. He then said he wanted to repeat the first test (normal headphones) for the left ear as the results weren't what he was expecting.
The test finished, and he showed me my audiogram. There's a slight difference in one ear (trust me to forget which one!), it was 10db on the last test and 0db on this one. Round about 2000hz I think. Then he said that my aids had been adjusted quite a few times and the reason I'm missing things is the slim tubes, that they don't cover low frequencies and that skeleton moulds will cover those (I asked about skeleton moulds). Then he said things have moved on in 3 years and they don't give out Unison 6 any more, but the Oticon Spirit, and he showed me one. I'm wondering why the usual woman I see never mentioned the ear mould issue before.
Then he took ear moulds, and had some trouble removing the left one, said I had a slightly widening ear canal and asked if I'd had any ear surgery. I said no, the reason for my hearing loss is that I was born prematurely, and he said something to the effect of 'Ok, but I didn't ask about that.'
Then- and this is the bit that annoyed me -I said 'Can you get moulds in different colours?', and he said yes, you can get colours, or glitter, for children. I said 'I want one!' and he said 'But they're for children, you're not a child'- I then said 'I've got pink hair, I don't care!' and he then said as I have longish hair my hair would cover them anyway and no-one would see. I then made a comment about being a big kid but the conversation seemed to be over. I didn't want to push it as I was scared he might just refuse to treat me, but I was annoyed by his reponse.
Then I asked if I could have a printout of my audiogram, and he said no. I asked why's that, and he said it's property of the (NHS) trust, and something I didn't catch all of about was I referred by my GP, and that I made my own appointment 'under the 3 year rule' (I have no idea what he means except that my aids are 3 years old!). He said he could interpret/explain the results to me, so I asked him to, and he said 'I've already explained them to you', then pointed at the 10db loss and said 'there's a slight loss there but not much difference.' I really did not like his attitude and didn't consider that much of an 'explanation.'
So, that's what happened- in a month I'm going back to get Oticon Spirits with skeleton earmoulds (clear). I found his attitude snappy and standoffish, but I don't know if it's just my interpretation. I have never met this man before. What does everyone think? I do have a tendency to misinterpret people as being hostile when they're not, as I get paranoid, so I don't want to be mistaken. It's been a long time since I've had a hearing test so I don't remember what their 'beside manner' is supposed to be like.
Also, any info about the Oticons appreciated- I will do a forum search, but any comments are welcome. The lack of volume control worried me slightly.
I went in, and a man I'd never seen before came up to me and said 'Miss North?' very quietly- I was reading a magazine in the waiting area and he was about a foot away from me. I said yes, but he said to wait a minute, then he came back and we started the appointment. The minute we got into the audiology room he said 'Hello my name's Ian and I'll be doing your hearing test' quite loudly, so I don't know why he was so quiet before!
I answered some questions on the computer about difficulty in certain situations- eg busy street corner, I picked extreme difficulty hearing, watching tv mild difficulty. I told him that I was having problems hearing as well as usual in general and particularly from my left aid, and that they often fall out/get dislodged, especially when it's windy. They are Unison 6 BTEs with slim tubes. He said he'd never heard of that and I did I go walking in the wind a lot or some other extreme hobby!
He did the test, same as all the others I've had- various beeps and white-noise type sounds, press a button each time I hear a sound, and the bone conduction headband. He then said he wanted to repeat the first test (normal headphones) for the left ear as the results weren't what he was expecting.
The test finished, and he showed me my audiogram. There's a slight difference in one ear (trust me to forget which one!), it was 10db on the last test and 0db on this one. Round about 2000hz I think. Then he said that my aids had been adjusted quite a few times and the reason I'm missing things is the slim tubes, that they don't cover low frequencies and that skeleton moulds will cover those (I asked about skeleton moulds). Then he said things have moved on in 3 years and they don't give out Unison 6 any more, but the Oticon Spirit, and he showed me one. I'm wondering why the usual woman I see never mentioned the ear mould issue before.
Then he took ear moulds, and had some trouble removing the left one, said I had a slightly widening ear canal and asked if I'd had any ear surgery. I said no, the reason for my hearing loss is that I was born prematurely, and he said something to the effect of 'Ok, but I didn't ask about that.'
Then- and this is the bit that annoyed me -I said 'Can you get moulds in different colours?', and he said yes, you can get colours, or glitter, for children. I said 'I want one!' and he said 'But they're for children, you're not a child'- I then said 'I've got pink hair, I don't care!' and he then said as I have longish hair my hair would cover them anyway and no-one would see. I then made a comment about being a big kid but the conversation seemed to be over. I didn't want to push it as I was scared he might just refuse to treat me, but I was annoyed by his reponse.
Then I asked if I could have a printout of my audiogram, and he said no. I asked why's that, and he said it's property of the (NHS) trust, and something I didn't catch all of about was I referred by my GP, and that I made my own appointment 'under the 3 year rule' (I have no idea what he means except that my aids are 3 years old!). He said he could interpret/explain the results to me, so I asked him to, and he said 'I've already explained them to you', then pointed at the 10db loss and said 'there's a slight loss there but not much difference.' I really did not like his attitude and didn't consider that much of an 'explanation.'
So, that's what happened- in a month I'm going back to get Oticon Spirits with skeleton earmoulds (clear). I found his attitude snappy and standoffish, but I don't know if it's just my interpretation. I have never met this man before. What does everyone think? I do have a tendency to misinterpret people as being hostile when they're not, as I get paranoid, so I don't want to be mistaken. It's been a long time since I've had a hearing test so I don't remember what their 'beside manner' is supposed to be like.
Also, any info about the Oticons appreciated- I will do a forum search, but any comments are welcome. The lack of volume control worried me slightly.
