Connect
← Return to Sample sounds for hearing aid adjustments?
Discussion
Sample sounds for hearing aid adjustments?
Hearing Loss | Last Active: Mar 8, 2021 | Replies (18)Comment receiving replies
@ Toni, Ken82, & Joyces: The strange pandemic times we're living in right now have definitely changed the landscape. I guess a lot will depend on how well, we as individuals are able to adjust, along with how long it will take to get back to whatever 'normal' will be. Many HH people I know through our local HLAA chapter, are terribly frustrated due to problems with their personal equipment. The only saving grace is that they are not going out in public, so they are mostly in settings where they can control the noise factor. it's not quite as frustrating than having to deal with the ambient background noise caused by reverberation, etc. in public and social settings.
I, myself, have had problems with my cochlear processor shorting out. I've taken the measures to replace the removable parts, but am still having problems. I decided this weekend that I will drive to the CI center in Milwaukee to get this repaired. I hope they will take me. They actually did offer to send me a computer that could test the processor and let them know what to fix and how to fix it, but no guarantees it will be fixed. We shall see what happens. My husband and I are going out to settings we feel are safe, but not to major events. Driving 100 miles south to a large hospital/CI center is somewhat 'major'
Ken82, I strongly suggest you tell the people at your clinic that they should install a counter loop in their office. All audiologists and hearing aid fitters should also install a hearing loop in their waiting room. They should connect it to a sound source so people can learn how to use telecoils, AND they should promote those telecoils in all the hearing aids they sell. It's an injustice not to. A telecoil ads virtually nothing to the cost of a hearing aid. BlueTooth adds over $1000. It's good to have both, but were I to choose one over the other, I'd go for the telecoils. Why? because I know how to use them in many ways, whether it's at home on the computer, listening to music on the radio, attending a concert or play, using my iPhone, or socializing in a noisy restaurant. I did not learn how to do these things from my audiologist. I learned from other hard of hearing people I've met through HLAA. And, in spite of the pandemic, I continue to learn via the Zoom conferences that HLAA is holding all over the country. I fear that way too many people are just giving up. How depressing!
On the other hand, I think positive about the end of the pandemic and believe that all the things we cannot do now will once again be a part of our lives. They will come back. The key to many of them is being able to get workers to take the jobs we've always taken for granted. Grocery baggers, wait staff, and a whole lot more. As long as they are not making more money collecting welfare and unemployment they will be back. (This coming from a retired educator/social worker LOL.)
Replies to "@ Toni, Ken82, & Joyces: The strange pandemic times we're living in right now have definitely..."
Connect
In many ways, Covid seems rather unreal here in the quiet of the Oregon coast. Our town of 9,000, which swells to over 50,000 most weekends (except during the past year) has had a total of nine cases, in two outbreaks. At one point our county had fairly high numbers, all related to fish processing in the town on a bay 40 miles south of us. I learned that workers there are NOT employees, but all temps so that the fish processors need not pay any sort of benefits--which should be illegal, to my mind. We've seen news photos of food lines in big cities, where people are struggling with how to provide food for everyone who needs it. Shoot, due to our 100% tourist economy, we always pack food boxes every winter...nothing new about that, well organized among our local charities. This year, we had the addition of a forest fire north of town that burned nearly 300 homes, so we've been providing not only for those with no work due to Covid (and tourism during winters) but fire victims. Oregon's Gov mandated masks and closures very early, which helped slow the initial spread, and everyone here has been very good at being careful, so we haven't ever really felt immediately threatened by Covid. Because people and businesses in town are pretty militant about mask wearing, we only had one outbreak traced to visitors (five of the nine cases, all due to one gloriously beautiful weekend in August). The fire is much more real to me, perhaps because I've done fire relief food distribution and cooking for the past six months, some of it out in the mobile kitchen in the fire area, where residents are working to clear their own lots and moving back onto them in various temporary trailers, campers, etc. Still, it would be a treat to go somewhere wearing something at least a bit better than a sweatshirt! I miss our local lecture series (24 days most years) and monthly fly fishing club meetings, but I see the other three main people who volunteer for Backpacks for Kids several times every week. Due to Covid, we're the only ones who work in our pantry, so we're often there. We do miss seeing all the volunteers we ordinarily have, and it's been hard to learn how to provide for "our" families when there's no school (kids took food home every Friday to see them through weekends). I miss doing graphics work for clients, the interaction with them...no need for glossy catalogs when the national tackle show is virtual! So, I do look forward to a time when we will be able to go about without masking. I do feel much better about being out and about every day now that I've had both shots: not only am I far less likely to catch the damned disease (if I ever was likely to), but there's far less chance I could hand it off to someone else. Most of all, I miss hugs!