I only wear one hearing aid and that’s because my other ear has no speech discrimination.  So without the aid, I hear very little. During the course of the first hour, I realized and I mean, fully became aware of how much I actually did not hear and though my colleagues knew I took off my hearing aid, initially, no one appeared to communicate any differently with me, knowing, I could not hear.  That’s when it hit me.  Hearing people have no understanding of what it means to “not hear.” They have no idea that I am watching their lips move and nothing they are saying is being heard or understood.

I admit to being a very poor lip reader but I do read people well. I can see the build up of their frustration in  “my” not hearing them. I can see their blood pressure rising as the coloring in their faces change and their mouths fly wide open, thinking, she’ll hear me if I just scream a bit louder, open my mouth a bit wider.  I want to yell STOP this madness.  Stop, listen, learn.  No matter how many times I tell these people, yelling does not make me “understand” the words being said, I continue to feel misunderstood or is it my hearing loss thats misunderstood.  NO, it’s just hearing loss that is not understood.  I refuse to take the blame for “their” frustration.

I put my hearing aid back into my ear and the world is turned back on.

So last night was the reading and I received positive response from the audience.  I shared it on the Connect list and now I’ll share it here on the SWC blog.  Here it is…

Hearing Aids 101

 a la Chelle George

Hearing aids aren’t called hearing miracles for a reason. Hearing aids help but they can’t reproduce true hearing. Technology is making advances but there is no cure for hearing loss. Those of us who wear hearing aids learn their limits but some hearing people around us seem to think once we pop our hearing aids in, we will understand everything. I’m here to tell you, even with our aids in we are still hard of hearing.

Sensorineural hearing loss, also called nerve deafness, is the most common type of hearing loss and it is permanent. With this kind of loss, some sounds come across at normal volume and others not all. Usually it’s low tones heard best with the higher frequencies missing. High pitches includes birds, bugs, timers, phones, kids and many women’s voices. In the alphabet many consonants are higher frequencies and vowels come across in low tones. Out of 26 letters in the alphabet, I hear five of them best; even with my hearing aids in.

Imagine going through your day hearing mostly vowels and only some consonants clearly. Many conversations are a constant puzzle to piece together. Take the sentence, “I’ve got to get my keys,” and try understanding it this way: I ot et I ee’s. For those with hearing loss, their mind races to fill in the blanks much like Wheel of Fortune with letters blanked out. Life becomes the Wheel of Fortune, only can I buy a consonant, please? The vowels aren’t as important. My hearing aids help me get a few more sounds but I still miss whole words. A busy day of ‘hearing’ can lead to exhaustion with all that concentration and mental activity.

Hearing people seem to think, “If only she would turn up the volume, she could hear.” Here it is in simple terms; volume distorts. Some sounds I hear well and some I do not. Take the word “shout” and try shouting it out. The “OW” hurts my ears coming across loud and clear but the “sh” and “t” are lost in “OW.” Shouting won’t work and neither will hearing aids with a super high volume because technology hasn’t caught up to missing frequencies.

Mechanical hearing pick ups mechanical noises better than sounds I want to hear. I can’t hear my phone ring, my cat meow, birds sing and I have trouble understanding speech but I do hear the garbage truck grind to a halt in front of my house, the banging of the garbage bin as it’s tipped over and set back down. In cars, I hear road noise better than the person sitting next to me. In restaurants I hear fans, refrigerators and soda machines, not to mention the clashing of plates and clattering of silverware far better than the person sitting across from me trying to have a conversation. This also applies to large gatherings. All I hear is the roar of the crowd which drowns out the person in front of me trying to talk.

Technology has come a long way and digital hearing aids have helped in that these noises don’t hurt my ears as much as they used to but I still can’t hear whispers, understand the television without captions nor lyrics in songs and I can’t understand what someone says from another room, even with my hearing aids in. Listening to people takes mega amounts of concentration. I use some lip reading, watch body language and facial expressions for clues and sometimes I still get stuck on a word or a whole sentence, even with the help of my hearing aids.

I don’t leave the house without my hearing aids because without them I am more lost and every little bit helps. The old analog hearing aids were much harder to wear all the time because they turned up all the noise, including those I already heard well. The newer digital ones suppress some sounds and then try to take sounds I can’t hear and turn them into sounds I can but even that program has it’s limits.

Eye glasses slip on and replace vision but hearing aids can’t do that. They help but they do not give me my hearing back. All the adjustments in the world will not replace true hearing. Please know I am tormented at my own failure to understand my native tongue, simple English. I come down hard enough on myself without others getting impatient with me. Once sounds are gone, they are gone and there is no magical cure.

*Note: Cochlear implants run along the same lines. They may hear more sounds than a hearing aid but The CI does not replicate true hearing either.  Cochlear implant people are hard of hearing, even with their CI on.

by Chelle George

Coping with hearing loss meant faking it, that was my only strategy back then.
I tried being hearing because I didn’t know what else to do.  There were so many conversations lost during those years and missed connections too.   It was a poor strategy.

Along came the internet and America Online.  For months, I had to call long distance to dial up so I was limited being online but oh how I loved it.  It opened up a new world for me.  This was the first place I could socialize without struggling to hear.  With the internet, I no longer felt like a social idiot.  All the words were right in front of me to see.  It was beautiful.

It took some months before our small town had local internet service and right away I signed
up.  I had unlimited internet time at long last.  I was overjoyed and spent every spare moment online, chatting, emailing and surfing the web.

After a year of playing around online, where I never had to admit I was hard of hearing, I
looked into hearing loss.  The first sites I remember finding was SHHH (Self Help for the Hard of Hearing) and ALDA.  There wasn’t much on their web sites except some basic information and a list of chapters.  The nearest one was an hour and a half away which wasn’t feasible for me.

Keeping up the search, I found the Say What Club.  I joined and learned so much from those good people.  Faking it was bad they said so I worked on being honest about my hearing loss. There was a whole world of assistive listening devices (ALD’s) out there. The phone company
provided voice carry over phones and I signed up for one. I learned about resources such as vocational rehabilitation and the disability center at my local community college.  I was not alone
when I had the Say What Club with daily emails of strategies, support or even the chance to rant or cry about our predicaments.  I had friends from all over the country who understand what it was like to be hard of hearing.

Without the Say What Club being available to me online, I would have been years behind in
technology and awareness. Most likely, I wouldn’t have the courage to be upfront about my hearing loss.

The next big miracle was texting.  It started out a teenager activity and my kids were among those who texted.  One night I had my daughter sit down and show me how to do it. She was patient and I learned.

The problem was, I seemed to be one of the few adults who texted.  How I wished my friends and  family members texted back then.  It was so much easier and quicker to communicate, in my opinion.

A few years down the road, other adults began texting.  My mom was among the first and it elevated our communication to a daily thing.  A couple times a day we would text one another back and forth.  If a whole day went by without one of us texting, we text, “Everything ok?”   It was great having my mom at my finger tips and our relationship grew.

Now texting is common.  Many friends and most of my family texts.  Better yet, I had bosses
and co-workers text me.  Airlines, my tax person and my own phone company have started using texting.  Most people say yes to texting when I ask them.

My phone doesn’t ring much. Instead it buzzes with text alerts.  I discourage phone calls with most people.  A type of anxiety builds up me in every time I think about phone calls.  Even my voice mail tells people to text me instead.  (That has gotten rid of unwanted sales calls!) I loathe phone calls.  On the flip side, my phone is near me most of the day and I don’t go anywhere without it.  The buttons are worn and friendly from making words on the little screen.  I can’t go without texting anymore than I could go without email now.

I upped and moved to Salt Lake City almost three years ago, away from those small desert
towns. Surely the big city would hold a SHHH or ALDA meeting some where.  A quick internet search showed me SHHH had changed to HLAA (Hearing Loss Association of America).  There was HLAA chapter meeting once a month at the local deaf and hard of hearing center.
Not only was I lucky enough to find a meeting with others like me, I landed at the Sanderson Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

HLAA meetings were advertised on their local web site with CART (Communication
Access Real Time).  I heard about CART many years before with the Say What Club but never experienced it.  The thought of it was exciting.  It was pure joy to walk into my first meeting
for HLA at the Sanderson Center and see the whole meeting captioned. I was elated.

Every meeting I go to at the Center has CART available if I or others request it.  It was another miracle as my hearing continues to plunge.  I can go to three hours of meetings there (or a presentation) with CART and walk away energized.  Two hours in a social situation without CART or any other accommodation and I leave exhausted.  I go the Center every chance I get.  Every time I walk in the doors I feel the burden of the hearing world lift off my shoulders and I relax.

I’m glad I live when I do.  Technology has been keeping up with me.  I can’t imagine how separated from the world I would be without it.  I try imagining what life would have been like for the hard of hearing and deaf 100 years ago with no technological help… the only words that come to my mind are  isolated and lonely.   Technology has been keeping up with me.  I can’t imagine how separated from the world I would be without it.  I try imagining what life would have been like for the hard of hearing and deaf 100 years ago with no technological help… the only words that come to my mind are  isolated and lonely.   Technology continues to improve and
expand.  I’m eager to see what comes.
next.

But, Digby-pepsi, this is the story of my life:  if I can’t see your face, I can’t understand you. I might hear you making words, but I won’t necessarily know what they are.  But look me in the eye, and I’m with you all the way.

It’s a myth that one sense becomes stronger to compensate for a weakened one.  I had an otherwise intelligent friend who asked if my acute sense of smell was the result of my hearing loss.   have absolutely no idea how my nose helps my ears,  but I do know my sense of sight helps fill in what I can’t hear.   And my vision hasn’t improved because of my hearing loss – it’s not so hot either – I just depend on it more.

No matter how good my hearing aids, or how perfect the listening environment, I still need to read faces to “get” what’s being said.   All faces, all the time.  At a dinner party, I need to see the face of each person as  he or she speaks in order to remain totally involved.  If I can’t see speech, I can’t discriminate the consonants – tuck will sound like duck, which will sound like…etc.  Do you have any idea how difficult it is to convince a group of slightly inebriated people to speak one at a time, or put their hand up when they wish to speak?  I get whiplash trying to keep up, and every once in a while, I have to thump the table and say, “What the hell we talking about now?”

Most people with hearing loss, regardless of severity, depend on speechreading and other visual cues to some degree.    My 84 year-old dad just got hearing aids, and was shocked to discover that they haven’t cured his hearing loss and that he still needs to use the closed captioning on TV.

Speechreading is a skill that improves with practice. Some people may be naturally better at it, just as some people have a knack for carpentry or music.  Research suggests that women tend to be better speechreaders than men.  (I’m just saying, this is what I read.  Next week’s blog, “Man-Lips”, has more on this.)   But for all people with hearing loss, whether congenital or acquired, speechreading is a skill worth developing.

I learned from an early age, and on my own, to “read” physical clues.   Speechreading is a bit like a live-action puzzle, which we solve by asking a few questions.  What do I see on her face?  What do I hear her saying?  What’s the subject we’re discussing (context)?

Lips – Are they forming consonants or vowels?   Singular or plurals?  Accents?
Eyes – Are they narrowed, or wide? What emotions?
Teeth – Are they clenched or apart? Are they clean?  (Speechreaders really notice this!)
Facial expression – Stern? Calm? Are eyebrows up or down?
Body language – Relaxed? Hands on hips?  Arms folded? Fists clenched?
Gestures – Hands laced or stabbing the air?
Tone of voice – Sharp or giggly?

Put it all together and – eureka!   Comphrehension! This process happens almost without our realizing it, and the more we practice, the better we get.   But listening with hearing loss involves a large energy output, so after a long day of speechreading, people with hearing loss are often exhausted.

I pride myself on being a good speechreader, able to understand most people, most of the time, if they’re facing me.  What’s my worst speechreading nightmare?  A Scotsman, fresh off the boat from the highlands, talking with beer foam on his bushy mustache.  No matter how slowly the wee man might speak, I can nae understand a word!

36 million Americans are hearing impaired and/or deaf, yet we are still struggling to obtain captioning on television, the internet, movie theatres, broadway shows and many other places.  Within the next few weeks, I’ll be flying several planes and cruising Alaska.  However, I can bet my airline ticket that the shows and movies I will be entertained by, will not be captioned.

So, what’s a customer to do? I am a full ticket paying customer who just wants to enjoy the flight and cruise like everyone else.  I’m not deaf but watching a show is more enjoyable if I can understand what’s being said and the only way I can get the speech is through captions.  I feel as though I spend half my life advocating and the other half is spent learning about social media. I can’t help but say to myself, 36 million Americans are hearing impaired, why aren’t we all out there advocating for universal captioning?

Then again, could you imagine if we all showed up at the White House lawn to make a statement? Time to speak up.  This country has allowed the silence to take over.  The more silent we are, the less power we have to make change.  Help advocate for captioning.  How? If you have a favorite show on t.v. thats not captioned, write the producers of the show.  If your favorite show is captioned, write a letter thanking them.  Join the battle by joining CCAC http://www.ccacaptioning.org/ and get informed.

Educating yourself as a consumer is the most important thing.  We deserve it.

It all began with my watching a wonderful TED Talk given by Dave deBronkart, entitled, “Meet e-Patient Dave” and wanting to share it with others. If you click on the link, make sure to turn on the subtitles, found underneath the pause/play button, to the right of the words: “Subtitles Available in:” Choose your language from the drop-down menu, as several different languages are available.

I’m a big fan of TED Talks, as I find them inspiring and informative, but I also like them because they are caption/subtitle friendly. However, patience may be required, as it does take a few days for newly posted TED Talks to be translated/subtitled, since those adding this feature are volunteers, but usually a talk is available in English in just a few days.

At first glance, this talk, given by a man diagnosed with kidney cancer, might not seem relevant to hearing loss, but it is very much so. Dave’s emphasis on taking charge of what’s ailing you, and the need to search for answers beyond those that your doctor provides, is far-reaching. Patients ARE the most under-utilized resource in healthcare, and conferring with other patients (referred to as “the power of patient networks”) who have ‘been there, done that’, can lead you to some of the the most effective and cutting edge treatments available. It’s amazing, the detailed information that e-Patient Dave found on the patient networks he came across. Information that cut through all of the less aggressive and less successful treatments that, had he tried, probably would have meant a quick demise. We can all benefit from adopting e-Patient Dave’s attitude and forcefulness where our health is concerned, and hearing loss is a health issue.

Speaking of “Patient Networks”, I consider the SayWhatClub to be one, as we pass on valuable information about hearing loss straight from our own experiences, but we also spill over into providing the emotional support and understanding that a person can’t find in a hearing world, among hearing people. Not even those who love us most know what life is like for us, unless they have a hearing loss themselves.

Dave also asks the question “Why is it that iPhones and iPads advance far faster than the health tools that are available to you to help take care of your family?”, and I found myself asking this same question in relation to being able to access information on finding the right technology and the right person to apply and program that technology to treat hearing loss. Why is it so hard?

One of the last stories Dave tells is about Kelly Young, a rheumatoid arthritis patient (Kelly’s blog is RA Warrior. I’ve looked at it briefly and it’s a wonderful blog!) who coincidently has a daughter who “wears powerful digital hearing aids”. A large percentage of RA patients (40%) have no visible symptoms (sound familiar?  Hearing loss is the invisible disability) which makes it hard to track the disease, causing some doctors not to believe a patient when they say they have pain. Kelly found, through her online research, a nuclear bone scan that can reveal inflammation, so she had one done. The radiologist report came back “No cancer found”, but that’s not why she had the scan, so she asked her doctor if the report could be read again, based on her reasons for requesting it. After some back and forth and repeated requests, her doctor fired her, saying “If you don’t want to follow my instructions, then go away.”, which launched Kelly on a quest to help others receive better care, to take charge of their own data, and to insist on having their thoughts and wishes heard and considered by the doctors who treat them. I’ve had my own bad experiences with audiologists and and doctors, where I’ve questioned their instructions, asked about things we might try, and made suggestions that I thought were reasonable, only to be looked at like I had two heads.

“Let Patients Help”, the end message of Dave’s talk, is a movement I need no encouragement to join, as more “warriors” are needed to take their own raw data into their own hands and make themselves heard. Who is more motivated to make a difference in their disease, disability, or course of treatment than patients themselves?  Learning to be responsible for ourselves and seeking to make tools available that will allow us to have more knowledge of those things that directly affect us is always a good idea, no matter what ails you.

The last point of relevance I considered… if you look at the video in the right frame of mind — times other than when you are down in that dark place of panic at not being able to function as you once did. A place where nothing seems more frightening than the inability to hear. A place that renders you hopeless at finding a way to live your life with little or no sound, making your loss of hearing seem the worst thing in the world that could happen to you – and apply it to the whole scope of what might cross your path in life, it can put hearing loss into perspective. Though, you really can’t compare adversities, because what is hard for one person doesn’t make what’s hard for another any less valid or troubling. However, we are able to look at Dave’s disease, one that makes him wonder “What’s my mother’s face going to look like on the day of my funeral?” and if he’ll be around for his daughter’s wedding, and take a bit of comfort in knowing that our hearing loss doesn’t threaten, in most cases, to take our life in a relatively short period of time, if at all. Or does it?

Many do allow hearing loss to take more than simply their hearing, leaving them isolated and low functioning, but it doesn’t have to be that way.  We have a choice in the matter, and, in my mind, to live less of a life than you would if you had your hearing, borders on criminal.

In reading the “about the author” section, of Kelly Young’s blog, I learned of her purpose in becoming a warrior, and she also shares her personal information, point of view, and passion.  Last, she gives us her private information, which reads: “Kelly lives in Central Florida with her husband and five children. Typically, a list of hobbies and activities would be given here to define the author’s life.  Kelly’s list has been confiscated by RA. (It formerly included various sports and crafts.) Instead she now seeks less tangible ways to define herself: She is patient, honest, and kind.”

Hearing loss doesn’t have to confiscate one thing more than you let it.  Life is so much more than what can be taken in through our ears.  The sights, smells, feelings, and tastes of the experiences that you open yourself up to are many… and that’s the KEY: Remaining open! Constantly fighting the temptation to close yourself off by placing needless limitations on what you can do. It’s not an easy task, but personally, I feel a responsibility to constantly push back against those things that threaten to isolate me. I feel compelled to do everything I can within my ability. To do less seems a slap in the face of those whose disease or disability takes more from them, as on this day.

For Brian, December 20, 1955-July 29, 2011, who fought the good fight and will be sorely missed by all who knew and loved him.

Oh, I’m sorry, I know how to fingerspell and sign.

No, sorry, I don’t sign, I’m hearing impaired.

I just need you to give me the “subject” and then rephrase what you said.  I’m just not catching what you are trying to tell me.

I know you heard what I said a few minutes ago. You even responded correctly. Okay,  okay, I’ll repeat it.

WOULDDD YYYOOUU LIKE-IKE TOO LOOO-UCK AAATTT A CASHAWEL OUT-FITTT OR WOULD YOUUUU LIKE-IKE TOO LOOKK AT AYYYY DRESSY OUT-FITTT?

You don’t have to exaggerate your mouth movements and you don’t have to yell.  That makes it even harder for me to understand what you’re saying. It distorts all the words.

Well, how do you know I’m YEEELLLLLING?

Did I mention I’m deaf?

Oh no, I’m soooooo sorry, but I bet you’re a great lipreader.  But wait, I can sign to you. I took one class in college 12 years ago.

Never mind! I’ll buy an outfit online.

But before we get to that chapter he demonstrates how seemingly intelligent people (students at MIT) made illogical choices in study after study because of a simple human behavioral quirk he calls the relativity factor. It goes something like this. If you give a person three choices A, A- and B, and you price them accordingly, with the two A’s being almost the same and one of the A‘s a little bit cheaper, both A and B will be thrown out in favor of A-. If you offer just A and A-, they will choose A-.

With new products people often don’t know what a good price should be, and may not feel confident buying it because there is nothing to compare it to. Among other things, Ariely used the Williams-Sonoma bread machines as his example. When bread machines were first introduced people weren’t buying them. After consulting with a marketing firm, Williams-Sonoma introduced the new “Deluxe” Bread Machine and priced it fifty percent higher than the original. There was actually no reason to price it fifty percent higher. It wasn’t fifty percent better, and wasn’t much improved over the original. It seems counter-intuitive to introduce a new more expensive product on top of a failing product, but amazingly it had the intended effect. When consumers could compare two bread makers, the original cheaper bread makers began selling like hot cakes. That’s how relativity works in marketing.

I have been thinking about how Ariely’s relativity chapter applies to hearing aids. Back in the 1990s when digital hearing aids first came out, it was unthinkable to buy a pair of hearing aids for $6000.00. It’s funny because I can see now how sneaky they were in introducing the digitally programmable analog hearing aids at the same time. That would be Ariely’s A- choice. They weren’t digital hearing aids and they weren’t just plain analogs. I can’t remember what I paid now, but the cost was in between the plain analogs and the full digitals. They seemed relatively reasonable. Eventually when I bought my first pair of fully digital aids, the extra $1000 didn’t seem like a huge leap after being primed with the inflated price of the digitally programmable hearing aids.

In his chapter on supply and demand, Ariely discusses numerous studies on another concept called “arbitrary coherence” and its application to price anchoring. Apparently we get attached to paying certain prices for certain items and it‘s hard to move us away from that price. Once we‘ve formed an attachment to a price we will continue to pay it even it if it’s a ridiculous price. A good example was people moving from Lubbock to Pittsburgh will squeeze into an uncomfortably smaller home, while a family moving from LA to Pittsburgh will move into a absurdly large mansion. It’s all in what you’re used to paying for a home. The idea of paying a different price will be distressing for many people because they always pay THAT price.

So the big question is how do you get someone to pay $4.00 for a cup of coffee at Starbucks that only costs $1.00 at Dunkin Doughnuts? And more importantly, how do you get people who normally pay $3000.00 for a pair of hearing aids to feel comfortable paying $6000.00?  According to Ariely, you have to convince them their experience will be very different when they pay $6000.00 as opposed to the $3000.00. At first a person may be reluctant to try it.

Studies have found that putting objects in fancy packages will make people rate them higher. This should come as no surprise. For example, while rating coffee or wine, over and over researchers found that the same brands were rated higher when they were sampled in fine china or crystal on a linen table cloth with a bouquet of flowers and a little dish of candies, as opposed to being rated in paper cups, no table cloth with a garbage can next to the table.

Starbucks didn’t do the fine china thing, but they created an exceptional ambiance that convinced consumers they were buying a new coffee experience, not just a plain old cup of coffee. The hearing aid industry has been working on its image too. Years ago, when I was in my early 20s and got my first pair of hearing aids, they were beige and came in an ugly brown pouch. The care pamphlet I was given had drawings of old people on it.  Today hearing aid pamphlets show glossy photographs of busy families walking in the park and riding bikes. You can’t tell who in the picture might be wearing the hearing aids.  No one looks very old.   Also, in the past seven years hearing aids have been coming out in sleek new shapes and colors never before seen in audiology.

Suddenly we are calling them hearing “devices“ because they are so much MORE than a hearing aid. This is not unlike Starbucks renaming their $4.00 coffees to the French sizes “grande” and “venti” to give the customer a more cosmopolitan experience, helping to justify the $4.00 expense. Your hearing aid is no longer just an aid. It’s a device- a technological wonder with bluetooth capability and automatic everything!

And the new mottos! “Life is ON” “The energy of understanding!” It makes you feel so ALIVE! I don’t recall hearing aids having mottos in the past.

And look at the names of the hearing aids– “Fusion, Agil, Motion, Solana, Nitro. . .” They could almost be rock bands, or athletic shoes, or sports cars! The hearing aid industry isn‘t selling hearing aids anymore. They‘re selling life.

This is why the average pair of digital hearing aids cost $6000.00 today. It has nothing to do with supply and demand.  If you are in the market for a new pair of hearing aids, I cannot tell you what to buy, but please consider shopping around.  Try several brands aids out including the so called “cheap” brands.  You might be surprised!  This consumer guide may be helpful to first time hearing aid buyers.

In fact, nothing amazing has happened to hearing aids in over a decade unless you count blue tooth, and that’s not really new technology.  It’s new on hearing aids, yeah, but it’s so not new.  It was only a matter of time before someone stuck bluetooth technology in a hearing aid– a no-brainer really.   You had small phones the size of a hearing aid.  Why not actually stick the technology IN a hearing aid?  It wasn’t developed for us.

Many things on hearing aids have become automatic, but not better.  For example, most of us who have worn our hearing aids for years  prefer controlling when our FM kicks in.  If you have ever been to a convention with a room full of hard of hearing and deaf people, you don’t want your FM kicking in every time someone walks by with a Smartlink.  Soooo annoying.  I also prefer to have control over when my “speech in noise” program kicks in.  I don’t like my aid muffling sounds for me.  Sorry.

I am getting off the subject– my point being that there is not much new going on in hearing aids since the 1990s, so they should have come down in price by now, but they haven’t.

There is one area I forgot to mention here and that is the open fit aids.  They ARE new and literally cool because you don’t have to wear ear molds.  But if you have a severe hearing loss you can’t wear them, though many audiologists will try to sell you a pair, knowing you’ll be back in a couple years needing more power.  Even though open fit aids are not power aids and often do not have FM, they cost about the same as a power aid with more on it.  So basically you’re paying MORE for LESS!

Back in the 1990s, when digital hearing aids were the new thing, hearing aid companies believed we would pay nearly twice what we would pay for analogs, so they upped the market price to  $6,000.00 for a pair of state-of-the-art power aids.  If you balked you were given some rhetoric about how hearing aid wearers were a niche group and that the technology was developed specifically for us, and that we had to pay for it somehow, and how much was your hearing worth to you anyhow?  Isn’t your life worth it?   Now, over a decade later we are STILL paying that same price.

But hearing aids haven’t improved much.  We have been trained to expect to pay $6000.00 for a pair of state-of-the-art digital hearing aids.   And pay we will.  Because we have no choice if we want to hear.  Or do we?

Do we really need automatic everything?  Do we need bluetooth?  What would happen if we all shopped around a bit?  And demanded less?  What I mean by that is what if we were to start demanding no frills aids, no automatic anything with lots of power and FM for a good price?

Just say no.  They won’t get the message if we keep spending.

This being said, I have decided to be more honest with myself and with people I don’t know re: my hearing impairment.  I’ve decided that it is perfectly OK to tell the cashier, the waitress or whomever I’m speaking to that I have a hearing impairment, and could they please talk slower and speak up for me?  I have tried this new-found approach just this week.  I met a girlfriend for lunch, and I arrived first.  I went up to the hostess and requested a table that was not located in the center of the restaurant (booths work well for me as far as blocking out noise in restaurants).  I said “I have a hearing impairment, and it is better for me to sit at a table or a booth that is not in the open, but against a wall.”  The hostess then took me to the quietest area of the restaurant and sat me in a corner booth (perfect!) as I waited for my friend.   When I went to the grocery store later that day, the cashier asked me a question.  I asked her to repeat it, but still no comprehension on my part.  I then just said to her “I have a hearing impairment, and it’s very hard for me to understand what you are saying.”  She then talked a little louder and slower and just asked “Coupons?”  I got it that time!  In my experience, I’ve also discovered that when you are honest with people and tell them why they need to repeat what they said or word it differently for you, they are more than accommodating in the request.   I am learning to give people more credit than I did in the past, which has allowed me a more positive view of the world.