Connect
← Return to Need decision help how to proceed with hearing aids, your experience
Discussion
Need decision help how to proceed with hearing aids, your experience
Hearing Loss | Last Active: 3 days ago | Replies (22)Comment receiving replies
It is a crying shame that all people who sell hearing aids don't share information about the telecoil option. Reality: It has been removed from many hearing instruments because it takes a teeny tiny piece of space in the product. It doesn't add cost to the product. BlueTooth does and Auracast will. Telecoils and loops have been around since telecoils were designed to connect to the old landline phones; thus the name 'tele' coil. Loops installed in venues added value to telecoils long ago too. I am 100% in favor of advancements in technology so look forward to Auracast. However, I want to hear NOW, not years from now. Over the years I, and others have successfully advocated to have loops installed in venues. Worship centers picked it up first, then performing arts centers, then meeting rooms. etc. You can install a loop in your home that will allow you to hear the TV loud and clear.
Again, a travesty that the very people who should want to help us hear, and say they do, should be sure that everyone of their clients/patients is aware of what is available. "Old technology' can still be the easiest answer to a dilemma. It's a bit like saying air conditioning in your car is 'old technology' because now you can buy a car with cooled seats and steering wheel. That old AC is pretty nice to have when you need it!
Insist on telecoils in your hearing instruments and cochlear processors. The industry needs to know that we really do want to hear as well as possible.
Replies to "It is a crying shame that all people who sell hearing aids don't share information about..."
Tell me more about putting a loop in your home. Who can do it and how much does it cost?
As far as other venues in Denver having telecoil systems I can only speak to movie theaters and when I ask they look at me like I am speaking a foreign language and suggest a clumsy device to hang around my neck. Quite frankly it is cumbersome and I have removed it and gone back to my hearing aids.
Lawyers have made a living filing lawsuits when restaurants and other venues don’t provide access for handicapped people to get in and out and use the restroom. Why don’t people with hearing loss get the same consideration.
Telecoils would be great if every venue had to install them just like Auracast will be great if it works universally all over the country. We really don’t have anyone that is strongly advocating for us because we don’t use our voices and sheet numbers to demand it and our elected representatives don’t demand it.
Do you ever read anything about hearing loss in the AARP bulletin or magazine?
I know they are working on finding a way to restore hearing loss in adults by bringing back damaged or destroyed hair cells but where is the urgency and demand from the hearing impaired? There are millions of us in the United States and yet we are invisible. We are paying obscene amounts of money for hearing aids and many lack the insurance to help pay for them. Medicare doesn’t deem it important enough to pay for or considers it cosmetic. CI’s are covered if you can meet their loss of hearing standards but research has been painfully slow in this country.
Just sharing my frustration for all the people that suffer in silence because hearing loss just doesn’t get a seat at the table for far too many people.
Come on people. Demand more attention from AARP. I read about research to restore eye sight but nothing about restoring hearing loss. Until we do we will be at the mercy of overworked Audiologists and overpriced hearing aid manufacturers.
Connect
Unfortunately, and I count myself among people who go to an audiologist and don't know anything about hearing aids and nothing about hearing loops or telecoils. If audiologists signed a hippocratic oath, IMO, they would be breaking that oath by not telling their customers about telecoils. From my understanding, most hearing aids can still hold a telecoil. But individuals need to ask for it so they still see the demand. Too many people are embarrassed about their hearing loss and want something as small as possible so wearing a hearing aid isn't obvious. Most behind the ear hearing aids will still hold a telecoil, but some are being made smaller so they don't have room. It's very frustrating. I would still like an audiologist to tell me why they don't support telecoils.