Hi,
My mother has been trying different hearing aids (mostly digital) for the last 5 or so years, and I'm not real excited about the results she's gotten so far. In a nutshell, she still doesn't hear what people are saying until the 2nd or 3rd re-issue of the statement, and usually requires considerable amplification and other such voice clarification to get it through.
Some issues/comments/questions:
- her usual routine is to get the full testing of her natural hearing limitations done, and then have a custom digital unit made and configured. This is all fine, except I cannot understand why they never want to have her re-tested with the unit fitted - not only to see that her deficiencies have been addressed (atleast to what degree...), but also to see how it has affected her hearing in other ways. Not doing so seems completely non-professional to me.
- with her current units fitted, she observes that sudden sharp noises (clap, cough etc) will result in an increase in the volume/clarity of background noises, but seemingly not of immediate spoken voice. I can clap 3 times, and she'll indicate that the air-conditioner will be more clear to hear for around 3-4 seconds (assuming I make no more noise), but my saying words that she finds quite muffled (like "soon") don't seem to get any clearer (she says she can't tell if they're clearer or not). This sounds to me like her unit is reacting to them in this way - why would that be? It sounds to me like the unit sees anything but the sharp noise as "non interesting", which would mean its configured wrongly, except that it doesn't seem to affect spoken words as I'd like.
- Her GP reccomended nasal openers like Claratine as being an option to clarify audio input. She certainly finds Claratine makes a marked difference in audio clarity - what can one do other than this? Drugs like this would seem to be good as a short-term fix. Then again, I know full-well about the complications of going to specialists to see about allergy fixes.
- what are the options for those wanting to know more about how these aids work? My mother doesn't want to know more, but I do, and we both feel like these audiologists are either being too slap-dash in providing a solution, or aren't allowed to give her the treatement she really needs. I agree that providing solutions needs to be done by someone properly qualified, but sitting back with such seemingly inadequate solutions provided is quite frustrating. It all seems like a more complicated Uni Physics practical that the student is cutting corners on. Is there another (likely non-govt-funded) approach that seems someone with more time and dedication who can really do what is required to sort her problems out?
Thanks for any help.
sTu.
My mother has been trying different hearing aids (mostly digital) for the last 5 or so years, and I'm not real excited about the results she's gotten so far. In a nutshell, she still doesn't hear what people are saying until the 2nd or 3rd re-issue of the statement, and usually requires considerable amplification and other such voice clarification to get it through.
Some issues/comments/questions:
- her usual routine is to get the full testing of her natural hearing limitations done, and then have a custom digital unit made and configured. This is all fine, except I cannot understand why they never want to have her re-tested with the unit fitted - not only to see that her deficiencies have been addressed (atleast to what degree...), but also to see how it has affected her hearing in other ways. Not doing so seems completely non-professional to me.
- with her current units fitted, she observes that sudden sharp noises (clap, cough etc) will result in an increase in the volume/clarity of background noises, but seemingly not of immediate spoken voice. I can clap 3 times, and she'll indicate that the air-conditioner will be more clear to hear for around 3-4 seconds (assuming I make no more noise), but my saying words that she finds quite muffled (like "soon") don't seem to get any clearer (she says she can't tell if they're clearer or not). This sounds to me like her unit is reacting to them in this way - why would that be? It sounds to me like the unit sees anything but the sharp noise as "non interesting", which would mean its configured wrongly, except that it doesn't seem to affect spoken words as I'd like.
- Her GP reccomended nasal openers like Claratine as being an option to clarify audio input. She certainly finds Claratine makes a marked difference in audio clarity - what can one do other than this? Drugs like this would seem to be good as a short-term fix. Then again, I know full-well about the complications of going to specialists to see about allergy fixes.
- what are the options for those wanting to know more about how these aids work? My mother doesn't want to know more, but I do, and we both feel like these audiologists are either being too slap-dash in providing a solution, or aren't allowed to give her the treatement she really needs. I agree that providing solutions needs to be done by someone properly qualified, but sitting back with such seemingly inadequate solutions provided is quite frustrating. It all seems like a more complicated Uni Physics practical that the student is cutting corners on. Is there another (likely non-govt-funded) approach that seems someone with more time and dedication who can really do what is required to sort her problems out?
Thanks for any help.
sTu.
