New Hearing Aid Diary, Week 6

Things seem to be humming along, except when they're not.  Odd effects like almost no volume in one ear when I turn it on first thing in the morning.  And only one aid giving the sound cue when I switch programs. 
So far, they don't seem to be drowning in sweat, which there is plenty of in my ears....this is Williamsburg, VA, and it's summer.
My audiologist is getting a new/different receiver for my right ear, which is the one with the tiny canal that does a 90-degree turn right inside the entrance.  It's a stretch to expect the receiver-in-canal style of aid to work in such a tight space.

iPhone 6 and accessibility

Just filed this report with the FCC:

"I have read that Apple is going to discontinue the audio jack on the iPHone 6.  This will make it impossible for me, and many others, to use the phone with a neckloop and T-coils in our hearing aids.  This will make the iPhone inaccessible to those who can only use it in this way.  here is a link to an article about the change: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/iphone-6-require-new-headphones-apple-fans-fuming-article-1.1826371
...and here is an article (on the right side) about how we use the smartphone and its audio jack with our hearing aids to make phones calls, etc.  http://hearingaidsrcool.blogspot.com/
By the way, bluetooth is not anywhere near as good in terms of speech clarity."

Turn it the )@($&@&$_ down!

At a concert last week at the National Theater (Richmond, VA), the sound level (using AudioTools app) was >100 dBA for sustained periods of at least 30 minutes.  At least twice.  Max was 108 dBA.  Even given the inaccuracy of the app, that's pretty @$)(@*#&$^ loud.
My husband and I left early, and vowed never to go to that venue again (this was the second time we had been blown away by the volume; first time we thought it was just a f(the band).
Trying to figure out how to report this....there were people working in the place.

 

New Hearing Aid Diary

I'm thinking I'm going to switch back to the larger aids; they have a volume adjustment on the aid itself.  The tiny/micro ones don't, so you have to use a remote control, which is really easy to leave in a place that is not readily available/findable.  Not good for  59-year-old who misplaces things.  Even my keys.

New Hearing Aid Diary, week three, day two

Whoa.
Driving around Jamestowne Island today with the car windows down.  Heard a bird call from outside the car, over the car engine noise.   Great crested flycatcher.  I can't remember the last time that happened.

New Hearing Aids Diary, week three

Adventures!
My right aid was sounding very clogged, so I took out the wax protector, replaced it, and the new one fell off.  Couldn't tell if it was in my ear canal or on the floor of my hotel room.  They are, literally, the size of a pinhead.  They come with special tiny devices to remove and replace them.  Maybe part of the problem was that I didn't have one of those devices with me, so I had to use a corkscrew instead.  Kind of a blunt instrument, in that context.  I'm not telling my audiologist; she'll get mad at me.  Good thing I always travel with a corkscrew in my luggage!  I guess.

Also, everything was really loud, including all varieties of background noise.  When I talked to my sister in the car, the volume would soar way way up, and then ramp back down gradually....... until I started talking again.  I had to go back to my previous aids until I saw the audiologist. She got on the phone with tech support and made some changes that solved most of the problems (a few are left, but none as irritating as that).

New Hearing Aid Diary

Day Two

There is a little voice in my head.  It is a woman's voice, and she tells me what program my hearing aids are in, when I change the program.  She has a very calm, whispery voice, which is nice, but it's hard to hear sometimes.

I swear, when she tells me I'm in the "Zen" program, she says it a little more whispery so as not to disturb my spiritual balance.  Oddly enough, the Zen program comes right before the Master (default) program, so if I cycle through the programs kind of fast, she says, "Zen Master."  Coincidence?

I still want Michael Palin's voice, like my sister Beth has on her GPS.  Or Bugs Bunny.

New Hearing Aid Diary

Day One
Just got back from the audiologist.  Whoa. 
You'd think she might've prepared me for my new "Zen" program, which plays soft, relaxing background music for me, while keeping me in the moment.  No small task.  So, I just ended up with the "aqua" music, which apparently most people like best.  I'm going to have to try that "Led Zep" one, too, but I really want Philip Glass. 

Mentioned it to a few people, just for laughs, and some of them thought I was kidding.  Who, me?

Smartphones and Hearing Aids: a cheap, high-quality solution.

http://online.qmags.com/HH1013?pg=1&mode=2#pg33&mode1

Undercover Detective: The Case of the Aquatics Class Here's how I surreptitiously (kind of) monitored sound levels in a large pool area during an aquatics class. (link below)

http://hearinghealthfoundation.org/blog?blogid=39

A restaurant with good acoustics. Seriously. And terrific mole coloradito. (link below)

http://www.hearinghealthfoundation.org/blog?blogid=18

Here's Tikka, my interpreter-bird.  She sits on my shoulder, and tells me what she hears.  Her hearing is exquisite.  Her vocabulary consists of about 7 words and 15 other sounds, including the hawk-alert sound and the "pay attention to me" incessant, increasingly-urgent click.  But she makes the most of what she has to work with, and if all else fails, she bites my earlobe.  At which point I turn to look at her, and she says, "What?"

Hearing-ear parrot?

I have this off-and-on fantasy of getting Tikka the Parrot Princess certified as a "hearing-ear" bird. I know she can do it, because she alerts me to things going on around me all the time (that I don't hear.) Besides, she is fascinated with my hearing aids. Bit the tiny little volume button off one of them a long time ago. While on my shoulder.

She's also computer-literate.

But I don't want to encourage people to get parrots just for that reason. They're VERY high maintenance and, IMHO, we humans should stop breeding them. Too many rescues, too many mistreated, and they live too long, which makes everything that much harder.

Recruitment, Hyperacusis and Tinnitus

Check out this paper on hypersensitive hearing conditions. It explains why we automatically pick out our name from a noisy background, even when we can't distinguish any other speech.

http://www.tinnitus.org/home/frame/Hyperacusis_handout3_Nov00.pdf

That Crazy Lady with the Earplugs

That Crazy Lady with the Earplugs

Last week, I was parked at a local gas station, while a mechanic looked at the headlights on my car (both bulbs had blown out within days of each other). I couldn’t help noticing a group of construction workers sawing through the concrete pad where the pumps were, making an amount of noise that was really unbelievable unless you were right there in its midst (in which case it was painful). The worker nearest me did not appear to be wearing any hearing protection. I rummaged around in my car and found a pair of earplugs that I had squirreled away, and walked over to him. I handed him the earplugs, and gestured for him to put them in his ears. He seemed to understand, but walked away with them in hand toward a man in a forklift cab (who was wearing earplugs).

I tried to focus on my headlight repair, and paid the mechanic. By then, all the workers had pulled the hoods on their sweatshirts over their heads, and the noise had stopped. Odd, I thought. So, not being one to shy away from a confrontation, I walked over toward the man in the forklift cab. As I neared him, he shouted, “Ma’am, I have a glove box full of earplugs! That guy you talked to is the only one who won’t wear them!” So, I walked back up to “my” guy, and asked if he was wearing earplugs, and he showed me that he was, under his hood.

As I got into my car, he came over to the edge of the work site (surrounded by tape) and showed me his earplugs again and smiled. I smiled back and showed him my hearing aids, and shrugged.

Kathi Mestayer,

That Crazy Lady with the Earplugs