This thread is to follow on from the few posts that were in the passport thread.
I think where weâd got to is that hearing aids seem to cost in the region of 4000 euros, that SS and mutuelles contribute (but that depends on your level of cover, in my case piffling) and that very basic hearing aids are now free as on 1/1/2021.
It that about right, Florian? I think the outstanding question is whether there is a possibility of offsetting the cost against tax in some wayâŠ
Let me say one thing to be hard of hearing or deaf is the worst of the handicaps.Why ? Stand in front of any reception desk and become invisible or treated as thick not through any fault of your own but because you are dismissed by the person infront of you. Receptionists desks are always lower then you are fact! When you explain that you need to see their face to see what they are saying this will last until they start fiddleing with the computer you are now invisible.Questions are presumably being asked I can hear something but what Iâdonât know,then the pause ,I know they are waiting for a reply ,now you are made be an idiot .You again say that you are hard of hearing ,apologies are passed .Ten seconds later the process starts again.
You do not get used to it.
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I was typing when you answered
I can understand the frustration although I am not too far down that road myself - heading that way though!
My very intelligent (and deaf) step-father always used to say that being talked over or treated as if he was sub-normal was a nightmare⊠It can be one of those âdoes he take sugarâ situations if you know what I mean.
The tax relief was half of the final sum that I paid,after deducting the parts from the SS and mutualle.
I have both ears done .
Mine are phonak audio b 70 .With batteries (13), at the time they were less then the models with no batterries that charge overnight on their own base.
Now a few years technalogical advances and the no battery models have dropped to the price I paid.
Certainly is.
There is other help available , through the Maison Departmentale des Personnes HandicapĂ©es. (MDPH ) this tends to be variable with the funds available. As far as I am aware each departement has it ownâŠ
And means tested?
My mother blew her budget on hearing aids, and felt it was worth every penny in terms of the improvement in quality of life. Stint on other things (flash cars, jewellery, etc) and save up for hearing!
I believe that is the case ,with MDPH you have to prove your handicap ie lettre de audiologue with graphs etc.It may not be for everyone.
Great idea for a post.
Iâm partially deaf well 60-80% in certain frequencies and have been for years, (probably from birth or to much time using noisy weapons). Iâve never got round to getting hearing aids as I get by in a fashion but I really should as I canât hear or comprehend Mrs Wozza when sheâs in the kitchen & Iâm in the living room the two rooms a join, but a positive look on this is that without teaching myself I can lip read if people talk directly to me, so I can talk to people deaf as a post directly in front of me but the other side of a large table in a busy restaurant when I have difficulties hearing the person two chairs away or Mrs Wozza in the garden 10yrds away & she asks me to raise my voice so she can hear me.
I forgot to say Mrs Wozza thinks I have selective hear too.
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I have a friend who is an excellent lip reader, to the extent that people donât realise she is deaf. She finds the current scenario with masks hard to bear. She is very grateful when she finds someone who is wearing one of the clear visors. Like others, itâs the âbeing treated like an idiotâ that is so difficult for her.
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Yes being able to lip-read has advantages as we found out as kids, we knew mother had hearing difficulties so thought if we whispered weâd be fine, no! Weâd never heard of lip reading⊠She knew everything we were up to!
A good many years later I was back in the UK visiting my parents, the tv was on & mother & myself were having a conversation when my father shouted, âOugh Iâm talking to you twoâ! My mother didnât realise she didnât have her hearing aids in & I have problems hearing people when the tv is on (so we were both lip-reading). I think my father has problems with hearing too as the tv in my parent house is too loud for me & Iâm partially deaf! 
Bars and resturants have become a bit of a no go area for me as my hearing loss has progressed. The trend toward stripped down decorations,no wall coverings t o deaden sound
just makes them noise boxes, add in intrusive âmood musicâ .Its not pleasant .
I donât think I am âproperlyâ deaf but I do have a lot of trouble with interference from background noise, restaurants etc. and the worst of all is the insistence in so many tv programmes to have music, or not even that but noise, when people are talking.
I shout and rail at the telly and have to turn it down and then back up again when it stops.
An added problem is that my wife has had 3 min-strokes over the last few years and she talks quite quietly but also indistinctly with long pauses while she searches for the appropriate word. It gets very heated between us as she then starts shouting which is no good at all, âDONâT BLOODY SHOUT, JUST SPEAK CLEARLY FFâ etc., well you get the picture.
I have bought and discarded 2 hearing aids, the most expensive one boasted a double microphone to cut out background noise. I couldnât tell the difference and at least I got my money back on that one.
Mind you it does help with unwelcome phone calls âje ne peux pas vous entendre, je suis sourd, sms svpâ. 
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Thatâs interesting @David_Spardo - Iâm not deaf either but it looks like the gap in my hearing (mid range unfortunately) has always been there and, of course, with age, it is noticeably worse. The hearing aids I got from the NHS were actually very good with background noise etc and allowed me to just hear âforwardsâ if i a restaurant. However, they are now very old (15 years +) so I needed to do something eelse. The new ones are nothing like as good, sadlyâŠ
what do you mean the new ones arenât as good?
They arenât at all clear in noisy situations, especially if I am on the phone. My partner does a lot of banging about when he is cooking. Perhaps the answer is to get a different phone but the NHS ones were good in that regard (not just adequate generally nowâŠ)
I have had âgood aidesâ since I started wearing aides and if I am honest none have been good in noisy environments.The major differences for me have been in TV and telephone connection the technologie is chalk and cheese from those first ones to those I have now.
Iâve only just seen and âlikedâ your post Florian (Graham linked it from another thread) - but thought Iâd mention that this is not just your view - I used to be on the board of Social Firms UK (the UK umbrella body for social enterprise for people with disabilities) and remember a presentation of research confirming that deaf people really did suffer more prejudice and discrimination than most other disabled people.