Loss of hearing clarity: Solutions or strategies anyone?

Another barrier to hearing is fans: ceiling fans, window fans, air conditioner fans — fans of all kinds. For some reason fans are the enemy of my hearing aids. In warm weather people seem to keep fans turned on out of habit. When the fans are turned off I can hear much better. I’d much prefer a stuffy room where I can hear to a ventilated room where I cannot. Of course I’m mostly in the minority.

@contentandwell Is your difficulty with clarity primarily happening in crowded spaces (like coffee shops and restaurants) or everywhere (including quiet places like home)? If primarily in crowded spaces, then you might want to discuss the possibility of spatial hearing loss with your audiologist. There are tests that can be performed to diagnose it. JK McElveen

@jkmcelveen When I had my hearing tested the level at which I could hear sounds had not changed much. My recognition of words had degraded quite a bit.
Crowded places are virtually impossible, even just a few people together in our home makes it impossible to hear, it's all garbled. With my current hearing aids, Oticon Opn1s, the clarity is improved. I can now hear what the sermon is in church if it is said loud enough and not mumbled. I could not that before I had these hearing aids.
I believe I have had all of the tests but I have an appointment coming up so I will mention that to her. Thanks for the suggestion.
JK

When I first got my hearing aids they picked up the sound of the fan in my car to a very annoying level. It took numerous trips back to where I had purchased them, but did get improvement. Unfortunately, with that improved, the clarity in hearing conversation and television dialog was diminished.

Thanks for all the good feedback! This has really helped me sort through my issues and not think that I was the only one dealt the problems. Just read Smart Hearing from Katherine Bouton and thought it was a very worthwhile resource. This week I am going back to my audiologist and she is going to let me try out the Phonak Roger Select to use in a meeting environment....will let you know how that works. I am retired but still stay active with a couple of organizations which means I attend meetings which are very hard for me. I also teach a technical class Monday nights but have just instructed the students about my hearing issue and I think they understand and try to help me. I don't want to go sit in a corner like I see some hard of hearing people! One thing I did accomplish was to have a hearing loop installed in our church over Christmas and this has been received very positively! But HA users need to know how to utilize it otherwise it won't be of any benefit to them.....enough for now but thanks for all the suggestions!

@scottk I would like to get my church looped as well. Would you mind telling me how much it cost?

Mike: Our install was about $10,500.00 It will depend on the construction of the church. Our loop was installed underneath our floor which had concrete construction but we were then able to loop both the main church and the basement by doing it this way. Some concrete construction has rebar/steel rods which then will not make this possible. Otherwise it can be laid on the floor of the church but typically not above since you will not have a good signal that way. Make sure that the installer is knowledgeable! You can check with HLAA to see if they have anyone in your area that they would recommend. I was right with the installers when they were testing to make sure that my HA's worked well with it. It really has been a good addition! Hope this helps.

Congratulations on getting the hearing loop installed in your church! That's a great step forward, but it does take some educating to teach people how to use it...and let them know that it's there to use! The signage doesn't do much if you don't know what it means. The more people who benefit from it, but more vocal they will be about wanting it in other places. Hearing loss doesn't need to put us out to pasture. With technology that goes beyond hearing aids, most of us can do most anything. Sure, we have to accept the reality that some places are difficult, but becoming hermits isn't good either. That hearing assistive technology is worth learning about and trying. It's so important for us to let the audiologists and ENT MDs know this is important to us. WE WANT TO HEAR!

@scottk Scott, how would I know if my church had this? They did some major reconstruction about 10 years ago so I wonder if they may have installed it and I somehow never heard about it.
JK

@contentandwell
The 3 or 4 places I have been to that were looped (2 of them are churches) have a sign as you enter . My church has the ear with the slash through it. Signs should be posted. Unfortunately these looped areas are few and far between. I just remembered, on our trip back to NY, one toll booth in each subway was looped....also had the ear sign.
Of course you could always turn on your Tcoil setting when the pastor/priest uses the microphone. You’ll know right away.

Regards from Mary