Can my life be changed? (Being deaf)

Dr.EM said:
Even if your hearing is impaired, but you are able to hear with hearing aids, this is better than what you'd achieve using cochlea implants. A cochlea implant restores a sensation of hearing, what you hear is not the actual sound, the pitch, intensity etc are all different, and to a developed brain it'll just sound as noise. I guess they work much better in the young where you become accustomed to their output, you may even be able to understand speech using one if accompanied by lip reading.

About the best currently are digital hearing aids. These include DSP to enhance to sound, speech will be easier to understand, background noise is filtered. Perhaps you are even able to get one customised to your hearing deficiencies? Such a device may not be available on the NHS however.

I hope you are able to find something effective, I know how important my hearing is to me and how awful it must be if it were impaired.
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Reading up on it, some people like and dislike the cochlea implants, and if I do not like it, it is not something I could reverse. So it is a big risk really.

I have digital hearing aids and they are great, the only part I hate is to turn them off I have to pull out the battery, there is no on and off switch, and the battery doesn't seem to last as long as the old ones.

I heard that there are ones which fit into the mould which maybe better, so it is what I have now, but even smaller! Maybe this is something I could look into. :)
 
Idartalis said:
You must have really old pair of hearing aids.

On mine there's a switch that turns it off and on, even 10 years ago I had hearing aids with the same switch.
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Nope, my year old digital Siemens (that i didn't get along with) don't actually have an off switch. Instead the battery 'cradle' has to be pushed out so it is half open, an incredibly awkward thing to do when they're still on your ear. Always struck me as odd. My 8 year old digital Phonaks by comparison have an Off switch :p I wonder if it was to stop people taking the **** at school etc and creeping up behind you and flicking them off? Still not worth the hassle of not having an off switch though.
 
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Oooh, I got it all wrong.

Mine has a cradle too, doesn't feel like it though, it's a Phonak, my older hearing aids had on/off switch though.

I only need to switch the batteries maybe every 3-4 weeks, which isn't bad considering I use it like 10 hours a day and I turn it to the maximum volume half of the time, how about yours?
 
Idartalis said:
You must have really old pair of hearing aids.

On mine there's a switch that turns it off and on, even 10 years ago I had hearing aids with the same switch.
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Got mine a few months ago. This is it:

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Yeah I am happy, would be good to somehow eliminate the visual aspects so it looks like I am not impaired, not that it bothers me, but it would be better.
 
HEADRAT said:

You don't really think about it if you have been able to hear properly all your life but it must be pretty emotional hearing the world for the first time!

My hearing is starting to get worse :( Does anyone know if hearing problems are hereditary? As my Dad has trouble hearing also.
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i only noticed you had a hearing aid in the first time i ever met ya, at i46 ithink it was....

after that, you completely forget, so its not something people care about other than yourself tbh!

i have a friend who has invisible hearing aids (or nearly invisible) but they cost him a fortune.

i bet they are cheaper now mind


http://www.bootshearingcare.com/hearing-aids/invisible/

he does still use his larger ones at certain times, but not sure why
 
Well, I'm in the same boat as you 5UB, been partially deaf all my life; hereditery condition which aflicts most of the family - now even my son :( :( though my daughter is free of it.

I've always been self consious of hearing aids and because of it I harly wear it. I've had it for nearly 13yrs. Ideally I suppose, I'd like to have an op and have better hearing but I don't hink it'll work. As for HA I'll only ever have the small right in the ear ones but as the last one cost me £1600 I'll have to save up big style :(

it does get me down in the long run and get right on my **** - what really grates me is just becasue I don;t hear someone first time they then start talking slowly and loudly, mildly annoying......
 
davido_labido said:
i only noticed you had a hearing aid in the first time i ever met ya, at i46 ithink it was....

after that, you completely forget, so its not something people care about other than yourself tbh!

i have a friend who has invisible hearing aids (or nearly invisible) but they cost him a fortune.

i bet they are cheaper now mind


http://www.bootshearingcare.com/hearing-aids/invisible/
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To be fair, I forget I am deaf, been wearing them all my life and it is something you forget about. I suppose it is like glasses, however I find hearing aids being more rare, especially on someone younger.

Those invisible hearing aids seem like a good alternative, not sure what the quality is like compared to the digital one I have at the moment, but something like that would be pretty cool.

I cannot see the price tag on Boots website, what is it, do you know? How expensive are we talking?
 
5UB said:
However, I was wondering if there was a way to remove it completely visually. So I look "normal".
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That many people walking around with headphones strapped to their ears these days, I doubt anyone even takes any notice of if you've got a hearing aid or not.

Can't say its ever crossed my mind to even look, nor would I care if they were wearing one...

*shrug*

If it's purely for aesthetics then I wouldn't bother. As you say its a permanent thing, and if you're happy enough with how you hear now, I wouldn't want to risk it.
 
5UB said:
To be fair, I forget I am deaf, been wearing them all my life and it is something you forget about. I suppose it is like glasses, however I find hearing aids being more rare, especially on someone younger.

Those invisible hearing aids seem like a good alternative, not sure what the quality is like compared to the digital one I have at the moment, but something like that would be pretty cool.

I cannot see the price tag on Boots website, what is it, do you know? How expensive are we talking?
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See my post, when I bought mine it was £1600 just for the one, iirc it was about £2200 for a pair in Specsavers when i last looked for glasses (yes, I'm blind as well! :rolleyes:)
 
ive just text him, it was around £1600 and was a "siemens imini 701"

he says the only downside is that it has a brown "backplate" which if you dont have large ear canals can still be visable, but he is fine with his. Also it doesnt have bluetooth in like his other (which is why he still uses his large one a lot)
 
feriso said:
See my post, when I bought mine it was £1600 just for the one, iirc it was about £2200 for a pair in Specsavers when i last looked for glasses (yes, I'm blind as well! :rolleyes:)
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That is quite a lot. - Is it something we could get through the NHS? Recently that woman got bigger boobs for free, surely people like us should be able to get in-ear hearing aids. :p
 
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