[TheForge] Hearing aids

[Daniel T Hayes]

Don,

See Steve Smith's reply for anything technical (he knows at least ten times
what I do about how aides work). All I can offer is one cheapskate
suggestion, and answer your one question about tinnitus and noise
cancellation.

Since your hearing loss is similar to mine (high frequency), I can recommend
one low-cost device that you might find surprisingly helpful, even after you
get aides. Try one of the Radio Shack Clarity phones ($100 w/answering
machine, $80 without). They have a boost button with adjustable gain, and
the amplification is primarily in the higher frequencies. Don't be surprised
if you find it easier to understand people over the phone than in person.
Heck, you may even decide to put off buying hearing aides for years. I'm
serious about that, especially if you're like I was and find not being able
to hear people over the phone to be your biggest problem. In any event,
unless you use a special handset and your aides have a good magnetic pickup,
your aides won't help when using the phone anyway (nothing helps with a cell
phone). I'm sure there are other phones out there, and I'm absolutely
positive you can pay several times as much through the audiologist's office,
but I know the Radio Shack units work. I think you'll be shocked at the
improvement. Besides, Radio Shack will gladly take it back if you aren't
satisfied.


As I understand it, high frequency loss is the most common, and most hearing
loss is accompanied by tinnitus. Not that many causes of tinnitus aren't
treatable but there isn't anything that can be done to help most people's
tinnitus. The noise cancellation aides won't help either. Tinnitus is an
inner ear thing. The noise cancellation feature works by detecting steady
tone background noise and then either ceasing to amplify it, or actually
superimposing an opposite/negative wave to cancel it out (ask Steve for the
details). The effectiveness of the noise cancellation feature on hearing
aides is nothing like what you get with something like a Bose headset. It's
much more subtle. With the headset, there's a dramatic silencing effect when
you turn them on, not just steady state background noises. I travel back and
forth to Japan every couple of months and wouldn't consider making the
flight without my headset.

Dan

-----Original Message-----
From: theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:theforge-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of PlumDon at aol.com
Sent: Monday, January 24, 2005 5:30 PM
To: theforge at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Hearing aids

In a message dated 1/24/2005 5:16:04 PM Eastern Standard Time,  
dhayes at dthayes.com writes:

I  wear hearing aides, and here are my thoughts:

1) Get tested by a  licensed audiologist, better yet with an outfit with
several doctors of  audiology. 
Yes, Dan did that. Went to the best ENT doctors in my town. 

2)  Hearing aides are expensive. 
That's a big problem for me. I have trouble spending money. 
 
3) Forget about simple solutions like a Radio Shack  amplifier.
 
Yes, will do. But thank you Bruce for the suggestion. 

4) . My  loss is mainly in the mid/high frequencies, and each ear is 
different. 
 
Me too. 

5) The best units have multiple modes (mine have five) with both  the
frequency curve, and the degree of directionality set separately for  each
mode. 
 
A bit beyond my current level of understanding. But I am on a learning  
curve. 

6) Avoid the vanity in-the-canal units. Behind the ear aides  work better,
more sophisticated and more directional. 
 
I am getting the impression they are also less expensive so I am favoring  
the BTE approach. Notice BTE...I am already getting into the jargon and the

technology. 

7) Aides with noise cancellation,
 
I also have tinnitis in both ears. Any help there?

Hope this helps,
 
It helps tremendously and I thank you very much.

Dan
 
Don Plummer



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