What are your favorite apps for hearing loss or tools you use?

pedronpaiva @pedronpaiva I would search for the answer to your question by going online to organizations for the deaf. One that comes to mind is the National Association of the Deaf.

Really cool! I'll check it out.

Seems pretty good

@stella52 Congratulations! How are your hearing aids working for you?

I am just getting started, so I don't have much to report. My audiologist started them at a really low level and will increase it every 2 weeks or so in order to help with the adjustment to hearing more sounds than I'm used to. Unfortunately, at this level, it seems to be making me more aware of my tinnitus, not less. I think I'm going to ask her to crank it up faster than she had planned. I'm amazed that once I get them in correctly, I can hardly feel them at all. As they are the behind-the-ear type, they are kind of struggling for space with my glasses and my mask. Taking the mask on and off -- without dislodging the hearing aids -- when out and about is a little tricky. It's a work-in-progress, but I'm determined and very hopeful they're going to work out for me. I know it's a lot of detail I'm sharing, but I know it was helpful for me to read other members' honest accounts of their experiences to help me make an informed decision about going through with the purchase. I'll post updates as I feel they might be helpful. Hugs to everyone struggling with hearing loss, tinnitus, or other hearing challenges. 🙂 Cheers to the moderators and everyone else helping us overcome the challenges <3

Congratulations on taking a major step to get hearing aids! Please use caution with the masks. It's very easy to lose a hearing aid when taking a mask off. You might want to find a few masks that tie behind the head or fasten in the back of the head with a 'button band'. They are available on Etsy. 🙂

@stella52, Hi Stella, it might seem like a lot of detail to some but for those of us who have experienced this or something close to it, it is meaningful detail! So it certainly is not "just detail"! 🙂

About Masks: A simple way to adapt a mask for someone with aids is to replace the ties with one much long single "round" of narrow elastic. To put the mask on, you pull the elastic toward to bottom and slip it over your head and behind your hair at the nape of your neck. Then you pull the elastic, moving the mask downward, and slip the other side of the round over the top of your head. The elastic on my mask is 27" long, which means a 29" piece of 1/4" elastic to allow a one inch overlap. When you don't need the mask, simply pull the top part of the elastic forward and down, dropping the mask below your chin. I've found the elastic is far better than a narrow strip of bias tape, because tying it behind your head often means getting your hair tangled in the knot. Lots of cloth masks have channels on both sides, so they can be easily adapted to the longer elastic to go at the nape of your neck and over and behind the top of your head. The elastic isn't a problem with aids or glasses and is easy to pull up when you need a mask, or down when you don't. FWIW, citizens of our small town on the Oregon coast have been extremely good about wearing masks. Even though we had lots of tourists in August and September, we've only had 15 cases of Covid, the first group from one Pacific Seafood employee who lived in two and brought it home to his family, and the second group a couple of weeks after an especially nice weekend (read: thousands more visitors in town) when nine motel employees at two motels caught Covid but, thanks to quick action, didn't spread it to anyone else. Even in early April, local stores refused to let anyone enter who wasn't wearing a mask. So, masks can be a bother, but I believe that they really do keep Covid from spreading.

Hi, Has anyone here had experience with Skype for business and closed captions? I need to function in English and French and would prefer to see captions in both languages (especially in French - my second language). This is for business purposes. Thanks, Lucy

@lucyg I have not used Skype (personal or business). Does Skype for business have the ability to display two languages at the same time? If not, then I would think that it would handle both languages separately. Maybe the help section of Skype will be your best resource???
Tony in Michigan

@tonyinmi Thanks, I looked at Skype for Business help and they do load in a single language as requested. Maybe the next generation of AI programming will do multiple languages this. Thanks.