Eh? What's That You Say?

[raymac46]

I've had hearing problems for years in my left ear. In fact when I had a hearing test over 40 years ago the plant nurse though my left ear was going back then. I didn't do anything about it until 2004 when another test revealed that my left ear had quite severe loss at the upper frequencies (8000 Hz or so.)

I got a small "in the canal" hearing aid and it helped quite a lot (I could hear birds again on my left side.) However I never liked the plugged up feeling I got and as years went by wore the little gadget less and less.

Now I'm having problems hearing the TV and my wife as well. So I had another test.

My left ear still sucks, and now my right ear has also deteriorated in the upper ranges. The good news is that technology has improved a lot, and although I now need two hearing aids they don't give you that beans in the ears feeling any longer.

I get my new stuff fitted tomorrow and hopefully I'll improve enough to listen to TV without cranking the volume. Oh yes, my wife approves as well.

[zlim]

Great!

I got my ears washed out in February and it's amazing how much better the tv sounded!

[raymac46]

Well have them now and it's a matter of getting used to hearing high pitched sounds I haven't heard in a while - like computer keyboard clacks, whines from disk drives, refrigerator humming etc. I certainly can hear the TV better at a much lower volume.

You can get three levels of cost/quality in hearing aids. The Chevy level gives you quite a lot like directional microphones, audio programming and noise suppression. The Buick level helps you hear better in noisy environments like restaurants. The Cadillac level is for those who sit in meetings all day or who have to hear in football stadiums.

I went for the mid grade ones myself as we have the grandkids around a fair bit and that can get noisy.

[ebrke]

The Buick level helps you hear better in noisy environments like restaurants.

That's what I had to go with for my mother (cost constraints). Unfortunately, she's reaching a point where there's a little difficulty even with the hearing aids, but we've done as much as we can.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Ah, yes... I lost all my upper frequencies in my right ear nearly 40 years ago due to repeat adventures with ear infections as a child. My friends and I spent many summers hopping from pool to pool around the neighborhood. It seems as though I always had an ear infection back then.

 

Mine can be corrected with out patient surgery. My inner ear functions normally, but my ear drum is all scar tissue. They take a piece of skin off your thigh or butt and create a new ear drum for you. It's about $3500. It'll have to wait till I hit that lottery, though.

 

In the meantime, I use my right ear to listen to women. It functions very well in that regard because most women have voices that are outside of that ear's hearing range. I just nod politely and grunt occasionally when they speak to me.

[raymac46]

I saw what the audiologist calls a "banana chart" which shows the frequency - speech interaction. In my case, I can hear lower frequencies well enough and that's where the vowels are. Consonants are higher frequency clipped sounds and I miss those - 66 and 56 sound the same to me. Net effect I can easily tell that someone is speaking to me but they seem to be muttering all the time.

http://www.agbell.org/SpeechBanana/

Last night was fun when my wife popped popcorn in the microwave while I was wearing the hearing aids. It felt like I was in the trenches in World War 1.

[ebrke]

. . . most women have voices that are outside of that ear's hearing range. I just nod politely and grunt occasionally when they speak to me.

Ah, it seems to me that habit could get you in a lot of trouble.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

. . . most women have voices that are outside of that ear's hearing range. I just nod politely and grunt occasionally when they speak to me.

Ah, it seems to me that habit could get you in a lot of trouble.

 

Only kidding... about ignoring women who sit on my right side.

 

However, I do have to turn toward them to hear them. That part is true.

[raymac46]

My new hearing aids have made it far easier to hear air conditioning condensing units, chainsaws, hedge trimmers, lawn mowers, jackhammers....

[zlim]

Stay away from chainsaws, hedge trimmers, lawn mowers, jackhammers! You have an excuse - it hurts my ears.

 

Air-conditioning is a must though. I'll put up with the slight noise. We're in the midst of a several day above 90° (32° C) and high humidity spell.

[Pete!]

I live on a busy street, under an approach path to one of the New York area airports.

My wife can't hear me either, so we don't argue much.

 

Added a supplemental amplifier/speaker set to the TV, and plugged it into an outlet on the back of the cable box that goes on and off with the box.

Use an amplified land line phone w/ answering machine, (99% of the calls on the landline are scams targeting "seniors", so I don't care if I hear it ring).

I press the "speakerphone" button when the cellphone rings (if i hear it ring).

End of problem...

Edited July 8, 2016 by Pete!

[zlim]

I hooked up the stereo system (RCA red and white plugs) to the tv so we have 2 additional speakers in the corners of the room away from the tv. We use the stereo remote to turn the speakers on or off.

[Pete!]

I hooked up the stereo system (RCA red and white plugs) to the tv so we have 2 additional speakers in the corners of the room away from the tv. We use the stereo remote to turn the speakers on or off.

I've got something like that in the "spare room".

Using a set-up that goes on and off with the cable box, with the TV that I usually watch, means only messing with one remote.

[zlim]

This is the back of our cable box

we don't have an outlet. I assume you mean a plug.

If not, then what plug/port?

[Pete!]

Different Box (Scientific Atlanta Explorer 4250HD)

The Outlet (13) can be configured to go on and off with the box. It is "not recommended" for use with the TV, but It works just fine with the power supply for my speakers. The audio output (6) needed an adapter for my speaker wires, but if someone else prefers to use the TV's built in speakers, they can just turn off my external speakers without messing with the wires.

[zlim]

Thanks for the view of a nicer box.

[raymac46]

There are accessories you can get for hearing aids that stream audio directly. These plug into the TV or cable box but you'd have to be a real TV addict to buy one. I find that I can now hear TV at "normal" levels anyway.

I do like the feature to listen to stuff delivered through a "hearing loop." We have one in our church. It's a live audio environment - old, stone walls, wooden pews - so there's lots of reverb and also hum from ceiling fans. The second program on the hearing aids cuts all that out and concentrates on the sound from the microphones so you hear speech much better. This assumes you want to hear what the preacher is saying though.

[mac]

 

Use an amplified land line phone w/ answering machine, (99% of the calls on the landline are scams targeting "seniors", so I don't care if I hear it ring).

 

 

Pete!,

 

Try http://www.nomorobo.com/ It stops all robocalls. Your landline phone rings once, and that's it. It also stops them from leaving a message. Works great for us on our AT&T landline.

[Pete!]

Pete!,

 

Try http://www.nomorobo.com/ It stops all robocalls. Your landline phone rings once, and that's it. It also stops them from leaving a message. Works great for us on our AT&T landline.

The last time I checked, it doesn't work with basic, no frills, old fashioned, (but extremely reliable), copper wire landlines.

[zlim]

Verizon does not allow it so it won't work for us either. I did look into it.