HoH and feeling a bit isolated

deafdyke said:
BTW, not only is HLAA not exactly interesting, it has connections to AG Bell. Dhh from birth/early childhood are automaticly enrolled in AG Bell's membership. It's also against dhh kids being educated bilingally. It also thinks that there's money to unwrap by keeping dhh young people dependant on an oral exclusive focus, even thou most kids who Sign, also use HAs and CIs.
Click to expand...
Ah, that’s unfortunate...
 
Moonlit Rosettes said:
Hi, I go by many different nicknames: Xan, Rose, Nuke, Hey You (variously followed by With The Glasses, With The Wheelchair, or With The Cane); take your pick. Anything but Late For Dinner, lol! I’m 24 and currently in college for my software development degree. I was recently diagnosed with mild hearing loss (in the 40 dB range), but I have an auditory neuropathy that causes significant hearing difficulties in any kind of background noise regardless of volume (obviously louder noise is worse since that’s normal, but I struggle even with quite background noise; and no, I don’t have auditory processing disorder). I’ve known for about a year and a half that I’ve had issues with my hearing, but I was a bit surprised to actually see hearing loss reflected on my audiogram. I’m really new to all this and was recently kind of slapped in the face by how much the neuropathy affects me. I went to visit family for the Easter holiday (they’re Catholic) and I couldn’t hear anything while I was there. It was impossible to follow conversations and I had to ask the family to repeat themselves two or three times before I just guessed at what they were saying and hoped for the best...I didn’t always guess correctly. :/ I’ve been really struggling with my identity lately and that was like icing on the cake. I’m feeling very alone. I’ve tried searching for the deaf community in Kansas City, which is the closest major population center to me, but I haven’t come up with anything. I want to try hearing aids, but they’re way too expensive. At this point I’d just like to know I’m not alone.
Click to expand...
 
Hi Xan, I think all people with hearing loss struggle more in noisy situations - that is very common. I saw someone mentioning the Pocket Talker, which i also recommend. I wear hearing aids but if in a noisy situation, I will still use the Pocket Talker. It is a small, low cost handheld device with REALLY good audio quality, and it has a microphone that you can point towards person speaking, thereby reducing input from surrounding noise. You can buy different models of microphones for different situations. I also recommend hearing aids from Costco. I recently bought my second pair of Resounds from them. I could buy 3 pairs from Costco for the price that local private offices were selling one pair. The one I like the best, for sound quality and helping in noise is a MIH custom model, MIH = Microphone in helix. The mic is located in the ear pinna, pointing forward, which is where most of the sound you want, is coming from. Most BTE/RIC hearing aids have the microphones behind the ear, pointing up and or backwards, and then they try to do all sorts of sound processing to amplify the sound coming from the front, more that the sounds from behind and sides. So those mics inherently pick up all the surrounding sound. I also recommend HLAA as a resource as another person did. Lots of information on their websites, and many people adapting to much more severe hearing loss than you currently have, with lots of information on tools and assist devices. One person said many of HLAA members are late-deafened adults and maybe that is true, but I don't see why that matters - the information and support they give is very helpful. But i think it helps you to have courage, when you hear about other people forging ahead with hearing loss, and finding their own way to live their lives fully, and using tools such as hearing aids, telecoils, loop systems, captioning phones, etc. One other thing - captioning phones - if your hearing loss progresses, you can get a captioning phone from a couple different companies and the captioning service is free. ........ For those of us that were late deafened, post lingual development, we are neither fully part of the hearing world, nor the deaf culture. It can be very isolating as you say. It is extremely difficult to learn ASL -- I tried. If you go to deaf events, (I tried that too) you will need to learn ASL before you can really participate. And even if you learn that, you still have to deal with the hearing world at work, etc and need to learn how to adapt and use whatever assistive tools helps the most. Please protect your remaining hearing also. Good luck! There are lots of us HOH out there, and there are ways to cope and be happy.
 
RockyMtnMary said:
One person said many of HLAA members are late-deafened adults and maybe that is true, but I don't see why that matters - the information and support they give is very helpful.
Click to expand...
B/c the experience is very different, and the info is very much Hearing Health 101, rather then emphasis on community. It's like the difference between a young person's Blind support group vs a VI group for older age aquired sight issues.
 
deafdyke said:
B/c the experience is very different, and the info is very much Hearing Health 101, rather then emphasis on community. It's like the difference between a young person's Blind support group vs a VI group for older age aquired sight issues.
Click to expand...
So? Why knock down what others want to try? Your life experiences are not the same as the next 10 people standing in line next to you.
 
Moonlit Rosettes said:
Hi, I go by many different nicknames: Xan, Rose, Nuke, Hey You (variously followed by With The Glasses, With The Wheelchair, or With The Cane); take your pick. Anything but Late For Dinner, lol! I’m 24 and currently in college for my software development degree. I was recently diagnosed with mild hearing loss (in the 40 dB range), but I have an auditory neuropathy that causes significant hearing difficulties in any kind of background noise regardless of volume (obviously louder noise is worse since that’s normal, but I struggle even with quite background noise; and no, I don’t have auditory processing disorder). I’ve known for about a year and a half that I’ve had issues with my hearing, but I was a bit surprised to actually see hearing loss reflected on my audiogram. I’m really new to all this and was recently kind of slapped in the face by how much the neuropathy affects me. I went to visit family for the Easter holiday (they’re Catholic) and I couldn’t hear anything while I was there. It was impossible to follow conversations and I had to ask the family to repeat themselves two or three times before I just guessed at what they were saying and hoped for the best...I didn’t always guess correctly. :/ I’ve been really struggling with my identity lately and that was like icing on the cake. I’m feeling very alone. I’ve tried searching for the deaf community in Kansas City, which is the closest major population center to me, but I haven’t come up with anything. I want to try hearing aids, but they’re way too expensive. At this point I’d just like to know I’m not alone.
Click to expand...
You should ask in your area or through fb who their audiologists are and go see one. They can and will help direct you to a good dealer for your needs if they don't carry their own aids. As for feeling isolated, yeah that happens, but it does pass to a degree. It is frustrating asking people to repeat themselves, but so be it that is something that will be needed for the rest of your life. Wish it were not so, but it is. Some people will speak more clearly than others. Also check yourself into classes for ASL because you can always use it. Lip reading helps a little, but not always since we don't always see their mouths- with beards and mustaches today. Hugs to you.
 
RockyMtnMary said:
Hi Xan, I think all people with hearing loss struggle more in noisy situations - that is very common. I saw someone mentioning the Pocket Talker, which i also recommend. I wear hearing aids but if in a noisy situation, I will still use the Pocket Talker. It is a small, low cost handheld device with REALLY good audio quality, and it has a microphone that you can point towards person speaking, thereby reducing input from surrounding noise. You can buy different models of microphones for different situations. I also recommend hearing aids from Costco. I recently bought my second pair of Resounds from them. I could buy 3 pairs from Costco for the price that local private offices were selling one pair. The one I like the best, for sound quality and helping in noise is a MIH custom model, MIH = Microphone in helix. The mic is located in the ear pinna, pointing forward, which is where most of the sound you want, is coming from. Most BTE/RIC hearing aids have the microphones behind the ear, pointing up and or backwards, and then they try to do all sorts of sound processing to amplify the sound coming from the front, more that the sounds from behind and sides. So those mics inherently pick up all the surrounding sound. I also recommend HLAA as a resource as another person did. Lots of information on their websites, and many people adapting to much more severe hearing loss than you currently have, with lots of information on tools and assist devices. One person said many of HLAA members are late-deafened adults and maybe that is true, but I don't see why that matters - the information and support they give is very helpful. But i think it helps you to have courage, when you hear about other people forging ahead with hearing loss, and finding their own way to live their lives fully, and using tools such as hearing aids, telecoils, loop systems, captioning phones, etc. One other thing - captioning phones - if your hearing loss progresses, you can get a captioning phone from a couple different companies and the captioning service is free. ........ For those of us that were late deafened, post lingual development, we are neither fully part of the hearing world, nor the deaf culture. It can be very isolating as you say. It is extremely difficult to learn ASL -- I tried. If you go to deaf events, (I tried that too) you will need to learn ASL before you can really participate. And even if you learn that, you still have to deal with the hearing world at work, etc and need to learn how to adapt and use whatever assistive tools helps the most. Please protect your remaining hearing also. Good luck! There are lots of us HOH out there, and there are ways to cope and be happy.
Click to expand...
I had no idea that there was such a device as a Pocket Talker. I think that will help me too. Glad you mentioned it.
 
Back
Top