HEARING AID DAY

      Yesterday I had my annual hearing and hearing aid annual check up.

       The market is very competitive for hearing aids these days. There are many gimmicks and you better watch yourself. What you're actually looking for is a good quality hearing aid but it's hard to sort things out with all the sales gimmicks.

      I chose a phonak which is highly rated. I get free batteries for a lifetime as well as annual  hearing aid checks. You can go in for service at any time. Now the price? Before I get there we have these things that contribute to the price. My pension plan  contributes $900.00. Our government has an aids to daily living program which contributes $900.00 AMA (Alberta Motor Association )contributes $2500.00 AMA also supply the batteries. So that's $4300.00 and then I get to pay close to $2000.00. 

     So yesterday they did another hearing test and that was fine...not much change from last year. The hearing aids wear cleaned and balanced. Then they downloaded any new updates. There was also some feedback which they said they fixed but today I still have feedback. So the hearing aids were louder and so was the noise. 

    So hearing aids are not perfect but they are much better than the alternative. The Micro Manager thinks I still can't hear. Most people I can hear very well but the odd person is difficult to hear and she's one of them . She is sure that I purposely ignore her. She gets frustrated with me. So the hearing aids are no problem , but some people have trouble believing I can hear.

A DECISION IS FINALLY MADE

   A while ago I wrote about getting a pair of hearing aides. I didn't tell you that I took them back. Most hearing aid places have a policy that you try the hearing aid for a period of time...some up to 90 days. After about three weeks I decided not to buy the set of hearing aides. The customer service at the business was absolutely terrible. Then I decided that the hearing aides were junk and service would be hard to come by. 

    So because we were busy it took a while to get back on the hearing aide trail. We finally decided to try Connect Hearing. What a great business! They gave information that you could understand. They tried very hard to give you the best experience possible. I now have hearing aides to try for 12 days. I know already that I will buy them. The first time I went out in the yard I heard chipping sparrows. The sparrows have been there all the time. I just couldn't hear them.

    The hearing aides I'm getting will cost much more money. They are from a highly rated brand.

    Now the previous hearing aides were from Costco. They have a very good price for their brand. I believe Costco gets all the old brands that haven't sold and puts their name on them. The hearing aides you buy are not the latest models. You are getting an older technology.

    Things are changing very quickly with technology . It's important to get the latest.

    I have a second level hearing aide. It will cut out some of the back ground noise. But it doesn't have all the bells and whistles to let you adjust TV volume and phones. I don't watch TV and I don't have a phone so I don't need those features.

    So if you're buying hearing aides , do your home work. There's a tremendous difference out there. Each hearing aid business has a different gimmick. As usual , some professionals are much better than others so look around until you're satisfied.

HEARING AIDS ARRIVE

    I've had deteriorating hearing for the last 5 to 10 years. I've tried to ignore it. I've tried to live with it. I've tried to blame it on others like the  Micro Manager. I've tried to blame it on other health issues.

   About a year ago I finally admitted the obvious. I had to get hearing aids. Then came the shopping. There's a very wide selection of places who want to take your money. Lots of warranty and service are promised.

    In Alberta we have something called aids for daily living. That gave me about $900.00. My health insurance agave me another $900.00 I pay about 1/3 for the hearing aids I got.

    I got the no frills aids. It's very basic. Not much more than volume control. Yes ,they set them according to your test and what you can and cannot hear.

    Off you go!

    Well, on the way out to the parking lot I was amazed at all the things I hadn't been hearing for a while...car doors slamming, shopping carts and car motors running. The car motors is important. When I would walk through a parking lot I had to watch cars start to back out. I couldn't hear which cars were running and about to start backing up. So this is actually a serious safety issue.

    When I got in the house I stopped many times to say what is that. Footsteps, fabric rubbing, faucets running (very loud). I could hear the radio at the back of the house again.

    Most of all I can hear the micro Manager.

   I got the behind the ear type 

   One hurdle I haven't mastered yet is to insert the aids into the ear.

    So over all I'm very happy and look forward to the time that it's easy to insert them into the ear.

SOME DAYS YOU LEARN THINGS.

    My hearing has been noticeably deteriorating for about five years. There have been symptoms with it that made me think that there could be physical problems influencing the hearing loss.

    I finally got an appointment with a specialist and saw him yesterday.

    First, I had a hearing test . This showed that my hearing was normal as far as volume is concerned and that tone is where my hearing problem is located. So hearing women's and children's voices is where my problem lies. I will miss words or syllables and then things don't make sense.

    Next I saw the specialist. He told me that the only thing he could do is give me a clean bill of health! Isn't that nice! Then he carefully went over my situation.

     It is age related.

     My eardrum is not as taught as it is supposed to be. Therefore it doesn't work properly. Nothing can be done about that. No medication! No surgery! It just happens and goes on down hill.

     The eardrum problem is influenced by many things: atmospheric changes, fatigue, colds, allergies. This is why my hearing level varies.

    Now he covered other things that made sense. Since I'm older , messages go slower to my brain. The example he used was a message from a foot takes longer to get to the brain and be interpreted. I have often said that when I fall, "My butt is on the ground before my brain knows I'm falling." So what he says about messages taking longer to get to the brain makes sense. This situation also muddles our hearing.

    So he said, "I give you a clean bill of health but you might not like it." So for my age things are fine.

     He also told me that a rearing aid would be of limited benefit. ?  I thought he was being very honest to tell me about hearing aids.

    Now I started to think of other things in my body that may be stretched like my eye lids, ear lobes, double chin, biceps and who knows what my insides might look like! I'm sure there are holes bumps and lumps in various places.

     So things the doctor told me can be related to other body organs.

    I thought it was a good visit.

    I learned a few things that could be transferred to other areas.

My Neighbor Elmer

       A few years ago I had an elderly neighbor , Elmer. Elmer was a great neighbor. He had it all...kind, humorous, generous, thoughtful, sympathetic, helpful.  In short he had many great qualities for being a good neighbor. I remember all these great qualities. 

     Now Elmer loved to listen to his radio. He liked talk shows and documentaries. He didn't watch TV until the evening. Did I say Elmer was elderly? Yes, and along with elderly comes a few deficiencies. As with many seniors, Elmer's hearing was deficient. Now this didn't bother Elmer one bit. His radio had a volume knob and he used it. So over the years the radio and TV got louder and louder. It was okay in the winter, but in the summer when windows were open and I was outside it was a bit much. Now I didn't have the heart to tell him to turn down the volume. I would tell a teenager to can the volume in a hurry. But teenagers would have the volume turned much higher.

     Okay, Elmer was a fictitious neighbor, but I think many of you have an Elmer beside you and it's unpleasant.

     The next guy is real. The next guy is me. I only listen to radio. I like news,documentaries and talk shows. Oh yeah , and music too.

     I am now elderly. My hearing is somewhat impaired. And so my radio is turned up too loud. Neighbors can hear my radio when they're outside.  The micro manager is driven to distraction by the volume on my radio.

     So here I am. I'm just like a person I have complained about.

      How many of you have a neighbor who turns the volume up too high? What do you do about it? 

     So aging not only brings about problems for the elderly person but those around them. This is only one instance. There are many more.

    I will try to consider others with my radio volume.