Landlubber Hearing Aids

[Thistle]

Pure vanity I am afraid

That was my original approach but I fairly quickly gave up on an in-canal aid which objected to getting any water on it at all; even one raindrop would kill it.

My new ones are behind-the-ear jobs with the inevitable tube leading into the ear. These days I have no hair to hide any of it. First day out with them I was in a situation where I had to contribute to discussions in a large and sometimes busy room. Before the meeting I went through some of the papers with an assistant and she spent some time within 1m or so of me. Conscious of the possible effects of the aids on my own speech volume, I asked the same assistant about it during a break in proceedings. She peered closely at me for a moment before stating that she wouldn't have noticed the aids if I hadn't told her about them and that my speech volume was unchanged from normal. Any qualms I may have had about vanity are now firmly squashed.

As an aside, though I appreciate that the in-ear technology may have improved in the last few years, the new aids are, I'm told, waterproof to 1m (which I have no intention of testing!)

 

[AntarcticPilot]

That was my original approach but I fairly quickly gave up on an in-canal aid which objected to getting any water on it at all; even one raindrop would kill it.

My new ones are behind-the-ear jobs with the inevitable tube leading into the ear. These days I have no hair to hide any of it. First day out with them I was in a situation where I had to contribute to discussions in a large and sometimes busy room. Before the meeting I went through some of the papers with an assistant and she spent some time within 1m or so of me. Conscious of the possible effects of the aids on my own speech volume, I asked the same assistant about it during a break in proceedings. She peered closely at me for a moment before stating that she wouldn't have noticed the aids if I hadn't told her about them and that my speech volume was unchanged from normal. Any qualms I may have had about vanity are now firmly squashed.

As an aside, though I appreciate that the in-ear technology may have improved in the last few years, the new aids are, I'm told, waterproof to 1m (which I have no intention of testing!)

Behind the ear but with a speaker in the ear works well and is far less obtrusive than the tube, as well as being more effective. Instead of active you just have a thin wire coated in clear plastic. Mine are shower proof, but they say not to wash your hair with them in.

 

[mjcoon]

... Mine are shower proof, but they say not to wash your hair with them in.

Now you are just getting at Thistle! ;-)

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Now you are just getting at Thistle! ;-)

What, me?

 

[Thistle]

Now you are just getting at Thistle! ;-)

I'll read it as hair - singular!

 

[WoodyP]

I ended up with a single aid on the NHS to fit my right ear. As a left-handed shooter it's the opposite ear that gets damaged. I'm best hearing people on my left but noisy environments mean I can discern little. At parties this can be an advantage as l can smile while ignoring the prattle. My wife seems to think I don't wear them often so I can ignore her. As if.

 

[FairweatherDave]

One other drift.... I first got a single hearing aid in my early fifties on the NHS. I wonder if I would have qualified for NHS aids if I had been over 60 with the same amount of loss. It is essentially age related loss. I wouldn't assume I didn't qualify for hearing aids on the NHS until the NHS tested me. Once you have started private it might be hard to then get them on the NHS.

 

[FairweatherDave]

Just a wee update. Got my new NHS hearing aids yesterday. I'm ecstatic! My old ones (which were not that old at all) were obviously faulty and I have lost more hearing since last tested. But what an improvement. So to anyone accepting their hearing aids are rubbish, get out there and do something - NHS big thumbs up!