Hearing Aids and hearing loss

Health Care & Carte Vitale
21

The thing is, knowing about it and doing something about it are two different things .
Try getting a mask with a transparent front for example.It should be the norm for shops and offices that deal with the public.

22

Where is the moisture from one’s breath going
 if the front is transparent (ie not absorbent)
 ???

23

Its not rocket science to have breathable material around the transparent bit.

24

my glasses steam up
 and wearing a plastic front
 will probably/possibly steam up as well.

Can’t really see why it should be mandatory


25

There are more hard of hearing then you think , a clear fronted piece allows lip reading rather then muffled incoherant speech.

26

Following on from a thread elsewhere .
If you are having trouble hearing things or other people are starting to say you are😀
If its your first time,then go to see your own doctor, he probably won’t do any testing but he will know ,or should ,the specialists in your area the better ones and the not so good ones.
You do not have to go down the doctor first route you can book your own appointment direct.Your choice.
When you have seen the specialist ,he /she will give you a prescription to take to the hearing aide supplier, ask him who he would recommend .
Make your appointment with your hearing aid supplier.
Discuss what you want and see what is available.
Buy your aids , the supplier will do the necessary with your paper work.
If its not your first pair of aides there is no need for an audiologist visit but a prescription is necessary to claim back from the security sociale.
Who you choose to buy from is up to you.
Personally I do not use glasses sellers who do hearing aides my experience was poor to say the least .After all you wouldn’t service your car at a car wash would you.
This is a guide and not definitive things change so be flexible.

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I am planning to make an appointment to see whether I would benefit from hearing aids, but don’t know where to start. Flocreen suggested seeing a hearing aid supplier, before an audiologist. I see there are many chains
 Audika, Amplifon, Audition, Audilab, Entendre
 Does anyone have a particular recommendation?

29

If you think your hearing really is faulty (rather than just checking in case) I would actually go to an audiologist first as they aren’t selling you anything! A hearing aid centre will give you a free basic test, it is true, but had I gone to an audiologist first, I wouldn’t have gone back to that particular hearing aid centre. I know I didn’t absolutely have to but I felt obliged! Probably says more about me than the hearing aid centre and hopefully you are less of a wimp than me :smiley:

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30

Be prepared for a hard sell! They are there to sell you things
 Audiologists are there to diagnose, which strikes me as a necessary first step.

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31

Ah good - someone agrees with me!

32

Thanks Jane and Angela. I’ll start with an audiologist. I have just found one not far away. I don’t think my hearing is that bad, but I often have to get my OH to repeat himself. Also I have a constant whooshing sound that I only really notice when everything is quiet. In a crowded room I have great difficulty following a conversation, although I haven’t been in one of those since early 2020!

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Yikes! Thanks Graham. Having read all that, I don’t think I have pulsatile tinnitus, thank goodness, just a steady tinnitus.

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35

Age is great, isn’t it, Fleur :smiley:

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36

I took a free test on impulse in a pharmacie and bought an aid from them. It was useless, because I realised that my main problem was confusion with sounds from behind and to the side of me. So I bought another online which boasted 2 microphones with which I could switch only the front facing one on. Didn’t work either, so I sent it back.

I may try the audiologist route after reading the above, I am not deaf, but I do find rapid speech difficult to understand and use subtitles for everything that isn’t live on the tv. My wife and I have really humerous shouting matches, partly because, after 3 mini strokes her diction is not exactly RADA.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could have subtitles for radio? I listen to R4 for most of the day when I am inside, surely not too difficult. :laughing:

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37

I would definitely try the audiologist route as they should be able to give you a suitable ordonnance for just what is going on for you. The standard cheap things that just increase the volume levels are utterly useless in my view!

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38

My 93 year old mother is profoundly deaf. Her hearing needs were being met (or rather not) at a local Specsavers. I had to fight to get her referred to the QE audiology department
in Birmingham. We walked out of there with big smiles on our faces as for the first time in years my mother could hear me properly with her new hearing aid professionally set up.
My wife has just started wearing a hearing aid. She has a booklet explaining how it takes time for the brain to adapt to a hearing aid.
I would advise you find a good audiologist David.

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39

By all means see an audiologist but then go to,

Its what I am going to do, you can tune the hearing aids yourself cutting out a big earning hearing aid racket.

40

Fine if you are happy having big black blobs sticking out of your ears!

(Also, basic heading aids are now free in France for people plugged into the state system)