Giving up on hearing aids

RoseRodent

RoseRodent

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I'm not sure this is the best fit with the hearing aid section, if you know of non-wearers who you think could be helpful maybe you could funnel them into this section for a bit. :lol:

If people have broadly or totally given up on hearing aids, why and what did you do next? Did you have any problem interactions with other people and how did you handle them?

I feel like I wear hearing aids for everyone else's convenience, and I can't decide if that's worth another investment of my own time, effort and (majorly!) money to be left still struggling in most situations. I can hear OK aided in a nice quiet room talking to one person with nothing else going on. Move to any other environment on earth and that all goes out the window.

I feel like because my audiogram doesn't look "that bad" and we are still lacking the technology to measure distortion and dead regions I'm going to have problems with any adjustments (accommodations) that involve getting that stupid letter "Rose has a bilateral mixed hearing loss..." from the ENT and the physician, it's not going to tell them I am "deaf enough" for the accommodations I will need if I ditch the hearing aids. I'm going to get hassle from people who figure that it's my duty to wear the hearing aids so that they don't have to come so far to meet me in the middle. I'm not going to fit into Deaf world because I don't sign, and I'm not sure that BSL is the communication method for me, but speaking isn't either. I looked at supported aural methods such as SSE and cued speech, which are far more my cup of tea, but far less widely used.

And of course the hearing aids give me a nice big signal to everyone else that I can't hear them and there's a good reason for that.

I don't know whether I go for the option to buy better hearing aids or say forget it, nothing is going to give me hearing in those social situations where it really matters to me.

Would appreciate some perspectives on that.
 
There is such a variety of hearing aids. I understand in the UK you have to take whatever they give you if you go to the NHS. Can you go to someone else and try a different brand?

To me, hearing aids make my life possible, in terms of communicating with friends, enjoying music, taking classes in dog training, all the things I do.

Some of my aids over the years I've liked better than others. The ones I have now are quite expensive and for the most part, they really are worth it. These are Phonak Savia Arts, I think about 5 years old now.

Do you have digital, programmable aids? There are so many out there, I'd think it would be worth your time to find one that really fits and works well for you. It's not just for other people's convenience; it's for your own enjoyment of life.
 
Beach girl said:
There is such a variety of hearing aids. I understand in the UK you have to take whatever they give you if you go to the NHS. Can you go to someone else and try a different brand?

To me, hearing aids make my life possible, in terms of communicating with friends, enjoying music, taking classes in dog training, all the things I do.

Some of my aids over the years I've liked better than others. The ones I have now are quite expensive and for the most part, they really are worth it. These are Phonak Savia Arts, I think about 5 years old now.

Do you have digital, programmable aids? There are so many out there, I'd think it would be worth your time to find one that really fits and works well for you. It's not just for other people's convenience; it's for your own enjoyment of life.
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Yes, we can get digital programmable aids from the NHS, and mine make an amazing difference to my life. However, I believe Rose has been having problems with hers for quite some time and her audiologists don't seem to listen to her problems.

Going private is an option here, but if you have a restricted income due to deafness and other problems it may be almost impossible to find a way of paying for them, which I believe is a big problem for many in the US and in other parts of the world.

You are right that we are offered very little choice in the brand or style of HA we get, and the NHS may not be perfect, but it does at least provide most of us with decent HAs that we would otherwise be unable to afford.
 
Yes, it's both a blessing and a curse to have that system, isn't it. My husband is British (although now a U.S. citizen) and his family has benefited in many ways from the NHS. It has it problems when it comes to choice, but certainly covers the basics in many ways better than here in the U.S.
 
Hee!!

My hubby and I have a few signs to each other we understand quite well. Mine is the Italian one where you make a fist with one hand and pat your bicep with the other, slightly raising that clenched fist. :lol:

He has one that means "excellent" that he picked up from a Dutch colleague. He tightens his lips and sort of puts them out like in a kissing position, and makes a pinching motion with his thumb and forefinger, sort of like the "zip your lip" thing, and draws it in front of his lips to an abrupt stop.

That means "perfect." It's something the engineers used to do while in a noisy environment and they couldn't hear each other say anything.
 
My son stopped using his right HA at the age of 8, and he stopped using HAs altogether at the age of 13. He interfaces with the hearing world on a daily basis. To continue to use a hearing aid for the convenience of the hearing is a sorry reason to use an HA. If the HA provides benefit to YOU, and you feel it makes your life easier and more satisfactory, then use it. If you feel, however, that it provides no benefit, and that you are actually more comfortable without it, and using other many available means to interface with the hearing, then you go without it. It is your decision,and your decision alone, to make. You are the one that lives with your deafness every day. You know better than anyone how you need to manage it. What is best for others should never be your first priority in considering your options.
 
Beach girl said:
Hee!!

My hubby and I have a few signs to each other we understand quite well. Mine is the Italian one where you make a fist with one hand and pat your bicep with the other, slightly raising that clenched fist. :lol:

He has one that means "excellent" that he picked up from a Dutch colleague. He tightens his lips and sort of puts them out like in a kissing position, and makes a pinching motion with his thumb and forefinger, sort of like the "zip your lip" thing, and draws it in front of his lips to an abrupt stop.

That means "perfect." It's something the engineers used to do while in a noisy environment and they couldn't hear each other say anything.
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I make a cross on my forehead with my I handshape when I sign Italy or Italian. I haven't seen your sign before.
 
deafskeptic said:
I make a cross on my forehead with my I handshape when I sign Italy or Italian. I haven't seen your sign before.
Click to expand...

Yep. That is the standard ASL sign. The other one could be considered insulting. My Italian friends tell me it is a cultural gesture for "Up yours."
 
RoseRodent said:
If people have broadly or totally given up on hearing aids, why and what did you do next? Did you have any problem interactions with other people and how did you handle them?


I feel like because my audiogram doesn't look "that bad" and we are still lacking the technology to measure distortion and dead regions I'm going to have problems with any adjustments (accommodations) that involve getting that stupid letter "Rose has a bilateral mixed hearing loss..." from the ENT and the physician, it's not going to tell them I am "deaf enough" for the accommodations I will need if I ditch the hearing aids. I'm going to get hassle from people who figure that it's my duty to wear the hearing aids so that they don't have to come so far to meet me in the middle. I'm not going to fit into Deaf world because I don't sign, and I'm not sure that BSL is the communication method for me, but speaking isn't either. I looked at supported aural methods such as SSE and cued speech, which are far more my cup of tea, but far less widely used.

And of course the hearing aids give me a nice big signal to everyone else that I can't hear them and there's a good reason for that.

I don't know whether I go for the option to buy better hearing aids or say forget it, nothing is going to give me hearing in those social situations where it really matters to me.

Would appreciate some perspectives on that.
Click to expand...

Agreed that professionals wont be to quick to help with accommodations

You are in one of the best places(im jealous) to learn cued speech
 
that kinda sucks for you to give up on them.
I had to ditch my Oticon Gaias for my new ones this year since I thought the accesseseries that came in with the new pairs are awesome LOL :)
 
The other one could be considered insulting. My Italian friends tell me it is a cultural gesture for "Up yours."
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Laughing - yeah, it is, it's very insulting. I would never, EVER use that sign in public. In the privacy of our own home, it's me telling my husband to knock it off or quit being a jerk about something or other. Most unladylike, to be sure. But somehow funny, between us.

Not be used in public under any circumstance. :naughty:
 
PFH: I believe you mentioned before that you were born prelingual deaf . Hard to reconcile - "giving up hearing aids" in that situation? Things a bit different in Bolouders?

Implanted Advanced Bionics-Harmony activated Aug/07
 
drphil said:
PFH: I believe you mentioned before that you were born prelingual deaf . Hard to reconcile - "giving up hearing aids" in that situation? Things a bit different in Bolouders?

Implanted Advanced Bionics-Harmony activated Aug/07
Click to expand...

things are different when you have hearing parents trying to require you have access to sounds.

Then later on when one is finally old enough to make decisions for their selves they choose to do whatever they want. This is when I finally ditched it.

This is pretty standard everywhere, kids finally being able to do what they want when they get older.
 
I wonder what being born prelingually deaf (just like me) has to do with giving up hearing aids? I could choose to give up mine today. Or not.
 
I gave up my HAs for like 10 years and did fine but then I missed listening to music so I went back to wearing them again. However, I dont wear them for the purpose of interacting with others when I go out..I just like to hear the loud music. hehehe
 
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