Hearing Loss: Come introduce yourself and connect with others

@davekoh
Hi,
I rely heavily on Live Transcribe especially in these masked times. There are some areas, like my salon, where the WiFi is weak and it doesn’t work at all. It also doesn’t work well in restaurants and other similar noisy environments even if the phone is right up near the speaker’s mouth. I have TextHear on my phone which is not very accurate and also Otter which is more accurate. You have to keep hitting the mic icon on TextHear and hold the phone closer to the person speaking. I am going to try Otter today at a very noisy restaurant and report back on that. My Samsung Galaxy s7 has a powerful mic but the phone desperately needs to be upgraded. I sometimes turn the phone upside down when using Live Transcribe so the mic is facing the sound source. I was considering an external mic but will wait for my upgrade.
What kind of problems are you having?

FL Mary (west coast...no hurricane this time)

So is there an external Mic available that would amplify the phone sensitivity for better transcription results?

Costco varies all over the board. I have heard both positives and negatives. A few locations have audiologists, but many have only hearing instrument specialists. Fully agree that the price is right in most cases. It is true that some of the hearing aids sold by Costco are 'locked'. That means that ONLY Costco can make adjustments. If you move or travel and have an issue with a hearing aid, you cannot get it adjusted or fixed unless you go to Costco. Not always possible.

In most cases with a poor fitting, it's not the hearing aid, but the fitter that can be the difference between a well fit device and a poorly fit one. Regardless of where you buy a hearing aid, you are a 'customer' of a product. If you do your research in advance you will likely learn that you should get manually operated telecoils and volume control, and also BlueTooth. But don't expect the provider to tell you that. Sometimes they'll tell you telecoils are 'old technology'. They are, but they still connect you to many audio devices and events. And, they do not add cost to hearing aids. Those of you who are on Connect are all computer users. Have you ever used your hearing aid's telecoils to hear audio messages on your computer?

Manual controls are important because you want to control what you're hearing. Automatic sounds good until you're in a setting where everything is too soft or too loud and your stuck with automatic controls. BT adds cost to hearing aids, but it's worth having if you use it to hear on the phone. It will also connect you to other hearing assistive technology. Again, there is a learning curve on all these extra devices. Worth time time to learn if you want to hear as best you can.

Question: Has anyone who has had a bad experience with hearing aids had a problem returning them whether to Costco or any other provider. Trial times vary, but what happens when one decides to return them?

So is there an external Mic available that would amplify the phone sensitivity for better transcription results?

Hi. This is Sylvia. I experienced hearing loss in my left ear in my 50’s. Shortly after, I developed Ménière’s disease and have very little hearing in that ear.
I wear hearing aids in both ears and am fine with face to face conversation, but have trouble distinguishing words in a large room like a gym or swimming pool. This makes it difficult to follow instructions in exercise classes. I’m thinking possibly cochlear implants might help. Does anyone have experience with a cochlear implant?

In regard to returning hearing aids, my answer is no problem. I have returned hearing aids I got from VA and it was well beyond the trial period. The VA audiologist tried repeatedly to adjust them and finally gave up but that was after the trial period ended. No problem. They were replaced by a different brand. AND I returned that pair because they did not have t-coils and received yet another pair of new hearing aids. I got 3 new pair inside of 6 months.

Hello. My name is Rose and I’ve been wearing hearing aids for 32 years. I’m a young 75 now. Ha! For the last 10 years I’ve been purchasing my hearing aids from Costco. I love their great customer service. For the past6 months, I’ve noticed that my right ear goes “deaf”, which is so annoying. If I open and close the battery door, my hearing comes back but then dies again. Has anyone had any experience with this issue? I’ve had that h/a replaced to no avail. If anyone has any suggestions, I’d love to hear them.

Thanks.

Arrowshooter, In most cases, returning a hearing aid must be done within a trial period that is explained in fine print in the contract. The VA may have a different policy, which is wonderful. Most states mandate a minimum of 30 days trial; some may be longer. It's up to you to ask about this when you try/buy a hearing aid. You'll likely still have to pay the cost of the testing/audiogram, but that may be covered by insurance. Regardless, that document belongs to you. Be sure to ask for a copy. If you end up going to a different provider for any reason, and your audiogram is current, you may not have to pay for another one.

Yes, Julie, I understand that VA is different - in many ways. But I guess my point is that I was very happy with what I ended up with even though it took almost forever. The other point I make applies to ALL audiology patients and that is YOU MUST BE YOUR OWN ADVOCATE.

That's an extremely important point! Self Advocacy. Hearing aids sell like commercial products rather than like medical devices. Thus, we are consumers. Caveat Emptor!

FYI: I tried 5 different hearing aids last time around before I found the right one. My audiologist is great. She knows I know what I'm talking about. I tried the first 4 for about 3 weeks each, so didn't overstay the 30 day trial period. Far too many people get fitted, find them frustrating, and don't keep them on during that trial period, so they don't know how well they work.

It's difficult adjusting to hearing aids. Providers need to do a better job of explaining that to people. It's not a magic bullet like the advertisements lead people to believe.

The most recent retired president of HLAA was military. He initiated a lot of programs for veterans during his two year term. Are you a member of the HLAA Virtual Veteran's Chapter?