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@imallears @joyces Great suggestion from FL Mary - "Alone time is good but don’t isolate yourself too much…you need to keep your brain active". There is more and more evidence that hearing problems can contribute to dementia due to lack of stimulation. It makes me wonder, if you are getting stimulation by other means, such as online forums like this, does that counteract the lack of oral stimulation? I think it probably does.
When I am doing something else I never think about my lack of hearing comprehension, I only think of it when I am in that situation, so I am not depressed constantly at all. Admittedly though, when in a social environment it is depressing and frustrating. We do what we can do and hope for the best.
Joyce, what kind of hearing aids do you have? I know Phonak has some great devices to stream conversation directly to your HAs. I have Oticon and the Connect Clip they have but it only helps with streaming one person into my aids. Phonak has a device that you can put in the middle of the table and it streams everyone to your aids. My audiologist is getting me some of these aids for me to "test drive" them in December. They would have to be extraordinary for me to invest in new aids at this point. My Oticons are less than three years old and I paid about $6000 for them so another expenditure like that would be almost impossible, unless as I said, the difference was extraordinary. Then I would make the sacrifice.
Replies to "@imallears @joyces Great suggestion from FL Mary - "Alone time is good but don’t isolate yourself..."
I am playing catchup with a number of the groups Mayo offers and I'm dying to know the name of the device that streams. Is it their Palm Pilot you are referring to?
You’ve probably tried and made a decision but you can use a Phonak MyLink neck loop with the tcoil in your current hearing aids to link to Phonak Roger Products. I recommend the Select. It’s the only product I’ve found that helps in a group setting with background noise.
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In reply to JK, Volunteer Mentor @contentandwell, "Great suggestion from FL Mary..."
I believe that participating in an online forum or, in my case, doing research for programs, reports, books exercises our brains. For the next term of the lecture series, I'm doing half of a program about Vincent Van Gogh. First, an art expert will talk about his work, and then I'll talk about how he definitely was NOT crazy, just had Meniere's. This counteracts a general belief and two books that confirmed that Van Gogh was mad. Long before a hearing expert read all of his collected letters and confirmed that they reflected Meniere's, I looked at his paintings and knew they were just how I felt much of the time. Members of the learning institute already are aware that my hearing took a big downturn between Spring and Fall terms!
I have one aid for my left ear, a Costco (Oticon). I was tested for a CI, but failed by 5%, i.e., I could understand 55% of simple sentences in a sound booth. That's a long, long way from real life, even when the tech introduced the wind noise, which is much like the constant tinnitus I have in both ears, tuned to different channels. I've read about the Phonak aids and the neat mic that's selective directionally, but the aids and the mic total something like $7,000 or more. My right ear isn't aidable, so if I qualify for a CI at some point, it will be for my long-useless right ear. Although the doc, who in effects SELLS the CI operation, insists that it works for those with Meniere's, I'd want to talk to some Menierians who've had the surgery. I don't quite believe that a CI could overcome the distortion. Not an issue at present, since I don't qualify.