I hear you and I feel your frustration and your fear. I'm wondering if the doctors or hearing aid fitters (audiologist I assume), have shared any information with you about hearing assistive technology that goes beyond hearing aids? How to use the telecoils in your hearing aids with unique technologies, like hearing loops, etc. ? I managed for years with failing hearing because I used every bit of technology I could get my hands on. Who told me about this and how to use it; how to get it? Not the doctors or the hearing healthcare pros. I learned nearly everything I know from other people like me. I learned how many of us there are and that I was not alone. That helped more than I can say. How did I meet those people? Through the organization called The Hearing Loss Association of America. (HLAA). It was called Self Help for Hard of Hearing People, Inc. (SHHH) then, founded in 1979. It's still the same organization but the new name makes it easier to find online, thus the name change in 2006.

I started a chapter in my home town 35 years ago. By so doing I came out of my personal hearing loss hiding place and went public so I could meet those other people who were all hiding just as I was. We were all amazed how much it helped to share our experiences. Together we learned, we educated and we advocated once we knew what to advocate for. There are chapters of HLAA in Pennsylvania. I hope there is one near you. Maybe you've been told about HLAA from the medical professionals you have seen. Maybe not. You can get a lot of information on the HLAA website. http://www.hearingloss.org

I would be happy to communicate with you personally, but I cannot provide my e-mail address on this site. If you go to http://www.hlaawi.org you will find the newsletter I edit and can track me down. Yes, AVA is one of the apps that convert speech to text. There are several of them. Live transcribe is one of the favorites, but is only available on android phones. There are others. These technologies are emerging because the people who have been members of SHHH/HLAA have pushed for them. Prior to SHHH/HLAA, hard of hearing people didn't even have an identity.

You can live well with hearing loss, but you have to learn how. While sign language is a solution for a handful of people, few people who lose hearing as adults use it. Why? Because they live, work and socialize in the hearing world and want to remain in it. Something can be done to help you, but you have to find that help. You know, even if you were to become totally deaf, you would still be able to communicate with those speech to text apps. Meetings and lectures can also be captioned. You can remain in the hearing mainstream with technology if you know how to access it and use it. I wish you well.

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