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Hearing Loss: Come introduce yourself and connect with others
Hearing Loss | Last Active: 5 days ago | Replies (1521)Comment receiving replies
Hi! I'm Bob. Longtime hearing loss severe to-profound and wearing a variety of hearing aids. Service-connected for hearing loss with the VA but I also carry an insurance benefit of $2,500 to ensure I get state of the art and science hearing devices. Hearing loss also runs in my family mother, brother, and oldest daughter so far but none of them are dealing with it yet. And yes, I have done chemo treatments in 2006 and 2008 but cancer clear since then. I am at the stage of getting new hearing aids and it feels overwhelming in the options and pricing. Yes, I have always used an audiologist and have the exams, but I am a bit more invested now because at 68 I now know the research on hearing aid risks and consequences of being under treated. I say that because my current aids are not helping me, maybe because I was not out and about in social situations during the pandemic or maybe because I switch back and forth with my two pairs for leisure and the others for teaching, so my brain is having trouble learning from two different sets of aids. What have you found to be helpful in selecting hearing aids that the audiologist recommends (sometimes I wonder if they may be shoehorning into the models they carry or get incentives on, maybe this is an unfounded concern?) and actually work for you?
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I have the same concern you have, Bob. I have been using Widex Evoke hearing aids for nearly four years. They were recommended by two different audiologists, who both seemed to have some sort of business agreement with Widex. I still see the audiologist from whom I purchased the hearing aids, and she still insists that Widex will be the best choice for me in the future when newer models are released. My hearing has deteriorated in the past four years since I’ve been wearing the hearing aids, and I find myself frustrated in many situations, particularly noisy backgrounds, as I simply cannot function as I used to. I no longer attend concerts and other live performances or go to many large gatherings because of my inability to hear and the fatigue that results from trying to listen. I have almost completely lost the ability to enjoy music, something that was always very important in my life, both as a listener and a singer/player.
Like so many other things in our hypercapitalist era, the dedicated, effective treatment of hearing loss is, I’m afraid, being sacrificed on the altar of greater and greater profits. It is difficult to know how to find providers and practitioners who are genuinely interested in doing the best thing for their patients rather than seeing to their own profitability first. Audiologists, I’m afraid, are no exception.