General Chat

There should be a device that makes those that have good hearing lose about 50% of it for a month so people like me don’t have to swear at them and they get an understanding of how we struggle every day.
Rant over thanks for reading this.

That isn't a rant Zizz, it's a fair and true comment!
If only mumblers would appreciate how isolating reduced hearing can be instead of getting agitated when asked to speak up.

What used to get to me was people who when asked to repeat something, which I hadn't heard, then said,
"It doesn't matter".

If it mattered enough to say something in the first place, please have the grace to repeat it.

It isn't the mumbling that gets to me as much as the speed with which they speak. The younger they are, the worse it is. I just switch off! :-(

Gwyn I so agree and have recently got my own back on OH. (who actually has been very good once I got aids 20+ years ago). He has always had excellent hearing but just recently, if he is not concentrating on what I say he sometimes doesn't hear me. when I sigh and he asks me what I said I have actually said 'it doesn't matter'. I do repeat it though once I have made my point.

Yes people can be very upsetting at not empathising, well I think that should be, once they know there is a hearing problem as these days many aids are quite inconspicuous. If I am in a shop (those were the days) and the assistant speaks softly I always tell them I have a hearing problem, that has usually worked.

It definitely is a hidden disability and people should realise that aids are not magical. hearing with aids is not perfect but I am eternally grateful for mine as the alternative would be horrible. I dread mine going wrong during the lockdown.

If hubby says it doesn’t matter I say well don’t say it then.

My mum would say there’s none so deaf as those who don’t want to hear !

Most individuals don't look deaf. ;-)

No, but some look daft DERMOT!

My husband knows I’m hard of hearing, I bought two hearing aids privately, they are better than NHS ones but not as good as natural good hearing, he thinks they are.

At the moment I have discovered that when I am 2 metres from someone I cannot hear what they say :-(

It is amazing what a difference the aids make . I bought some privately a few months ago as I was having real trouble hearing my granddaughter. Last week I realised that my left ear wasn’t hearing as much as it should do, so I changed the wax filter and the difference was amazing. I used to hate being in a noisy background such as a restaurant because I couldn’t join in with the conversation of those on my table..Now thanks to a setting on my phone I can turn off the background noise and concentrate on talking to the group around me.

I think you just get gradually used to the reduced hearing and muddle along as best you can without realising how bad you are. Having said that they described mine as only moderate loss, so I would hate to think of what severe loss is like.
It must be dreadful for those who haven’t got aids but need them.

I am so lucky to have a wonderful audiologist at the NHS hospital. She really listens to what I say regarding which situations I find I have difficulty with hearing.
She tweaks and re tweaks until she finds the optimum setting for my aids and always talks through any other updates which might help me.
Without her, I wouldn't have been able to carry on volunteering at school.

You do learn to compensate, but it is wonderful when someone takes the time to make life so much richer and easier.

I think but I may be wrong that some NHS hearing clinics pick ready made aids that are nearest to what you need and adjust them a bit, my NHS aids weren’t that good.

My wife says that I am deaf, but I can hear most people quite clearly. She has a tendency to talk to me from the other end of the bungalow, through two closed doors and accuse me of being deaf when I don't hear her. Both of my brothers wear hearing aids, and even then can't hear a thing.

I'm the same .............. but the person I have most trouble with is OH. He speaks quietly, and then shouts, starts talking at the end of the hallway or from another room, etc.

He says "it doesn't matter", and often refuses to repeat.

To make matters worse, I've always been one to cut out extraneous noise if I'm concentrating , and get lost in a book when I'm reading. Then I literally don't hear anything ......... the radio or TV can be on, but I couldn't tell you what was said or even what programme it was.

He started to bully me about getting a hearing aid, though he refuses to believe that it was bullying. Never been a bully before. So I got stubborn, and told him I wouldn't do anything until he stopped it. Took him a year to stop, I was actually thinking of leaving at one point.

He gets really frustrated if he has to repeat anything, and that makes him sound angry.

I have no problem hearing on the phone, even with my grandson who tends to speak fast. And there are several people that I can hear OK, others who speak too softly.

I only have hearing in one ear, the right has been bad for years.

I was on the point of making an appointment for a hearing test (we only have private clinics, no doctor referral) when everything shut down here

Mind you, he thinks I'm now going to hear the smoke or CO2 alarm in the middle of the night. I told him, you don't sleep in the things ........... he sounded surprised!!

Sylvia "you don't sleep in the things "...…..
I just use one. I was nodding off in bed one night when I was woken by a loud rustling noise..... It was the duvet over my ear as I moved my head!
So, no, you don't sleep in the things!

When I had NHS hearing aids I couldn’t use the phone at work, they were the sort you had to put to your ear and made my aids whistle, we weren’t allowed Wi Fi or camera phone because of the nature of the place, with my mobiles and home phone I can put them on loud speaker.
PS the aids I have now are Wi Fi and very good hubby thinks I should be able to hear everything, however I think there should be the afore mentioned device. :-D

ZZzzz ............... it would be a very good idea!

OH says he hears everything ................ not exactly true!

He can't hear if he's running water in the kitchen sink, or watching the roast cook in the oven. At least that is what he says ;-)

I am supposed to, of course!!

I am pretty sure that it depends which area you are in as to which NHS aids you get, there are more than one sort. The last pair I had are excellent but not perfect and they use more batteries than the previous ones. I do have difficulty on the phone, so much so that I don't use it. I can hear on speaker though. Family don't phone the whats app or email or message.