Hearing Loss: Come introduce yourself and connect with others

Hello, I lost complete earring in my left ear following a trip to Southeast Asia 7 years ago. Doctors could not tell me what caused the loss, but it would not come back. I have since retired in Thailand. It is very hard for me to understand people from other countries due to their strong accents. I wear a set of 5 year old Phonak croc. Do hearing aids make it more difficult to get pass accents? What is the latest/best hearing aids for SSHL?

@dwi Hearing aids really do not deal with accents except with how those who speak use different frequencies of sound to form words.. there are adjustments on hearing aids to work with the frequencies but since accents are usually a function of not hearing what you are used to.... it is the brain that also has to be trained ... hopefully the one speaking has to be reminded that you are hard of hearing and perhaps written conversation would be easier or if the accent speaker could speak slower... Depending upon your smart phone, you might record the voice or even use voice to text apps..

an easy way is for the other-languaged person to speak into the app on your smart phone and then the smart phone verbally speaks the translation in your language.. We used this throughout Europe and it worked a great. Would be interesting if the HA app on the phone, which is blue tooth connected to the ha's, could interpret languages. Maybe do the settings on the phone to emphasize the lows more, and then use the normal app for interpretation. Low frequencies are typically used more on the phone systems, hence, elevating those frequencies a bit. Gina

@Gina. This is so interesting. I had no idea all the things I've been missing. Thanks! Nancy

an easy way is for the other-languaged person to speak into the app on your smart phone and then the smart phone verbally speaks the translation in your language.. We used this throughout Europe and it worked a great. Would be interesting if the HA app on the phone, which is blue tooth connected to the ha's, could interpret languages. Maybe do the settings on the phone to emphasize the lows more, and then use the normal app for interpretation. Low frequencies are typically used more on the phone systems, hence, elevating those frequencies a bit. Gina

@dwi. Can you understand Thai and other tonal languages with your SSHL and hearing aid? I think you are doing REALLY well if you can. As a point of curiosity, what kinds of accents are you having trouble understanding, i.e. Germans speaking English? I have a SSHL and learned from people in this group there are hearing aids that will help me. I'm really looking forward to getting one when it's safe to venture out. I love traveling abroad and managed to do so with my hearing limitations. I know my experiences would have been so much richer if I had been able to hear better and pick up local languages, which I couldn't do. Where in Thailand do you live? Nancy

an easy way is for the other-languaged person to speak into the app on your smart phone and then the smart phone verbally speaks the translation in your language.. We used this throughout Europe and it worked a great. Would be interesting if the HA app on the phone, which is blue tooth connected to the ha's, could interpret languages. Maybe do the settings on the phone to emphasize the lows more, and then use the normal app for interpretation. Low frequencies are typically used more on the phone systems, hence, elevating those frequencies a bit. Gina

I have given up on understanding Thai. 5 words having opposite meanings sound the same due to the way they use tones. It is easier pointing and using hand signals. Sometimes it becomes less frustrating talking to a Thai rather than someone speaking English in their native languages. I have found there are different strong dialects within, English speaking counties that are difficult to understand. . I am living in Hua Hin, Thailand