Hear, hear!

I experienced a surprise, today. Hunky Husband had told me that he had called his audiologist and that he was to see her this morning. What he failed to tell me was that he had gone ahead and told her which model of hearing aids he wished to buy. Dr Combs had a set ready for him when we walked in. She took about an hour to fit them to his ears; explain how to change settings on them, manually (eventually, HH may choose to let the units change settings to the environment, automatically); go over the warranty; and go over the battery recharging and unit maintenance procedures with us. Unlike the photo, above, Dr C had chosen units that are silver in color "To go with his hair." After seeing the units behind his ears, she thought that he might like to change for dark-colored units to match the ear pieces on his glasses. I doubt that he does that.

The red band on the earbud that is shown, above, indicates that the unit fits into one's right ear. The left ear's unit has a blue band. Most of us are accustomed to having red be on the port, as in red wine, (left) side; but, in the case of the hearing aids, red is for right.

To remind HH of how to manage the settings on his hearing aids, Dr C gave him a business-card-sized instruction card - which card neither of us found very satisfactory.

 

When we got home, I incorporated the instructions into a table that is much simpler for HH to follow. Even the early stage of dementia in which HH finds himself makes it difficult for him to follow slip-shod instructions. BTW: Dr C wears hearing aids, herself, which makes communications spotty, at times. It also makes her quite empathetic to her patients.

Dr C had set the audio gains a bit low, for now, to give HH a chance to get used to the audio. Next week, she will set the gains a bit higher. As I understood it, she will adjust the gain a couple of more times during the 60-day trial period. If, at the end of the 60-day trial period HH is displeased with anything, he may ask for different equipment or get a full refund - no harm, no foul. I must say it was pleasant, today, having HH watch TV without my having to wear earplugs to protect my own hearing. I'm hoping that HH can summon the patience to get through the trial period.

Below is HH's audiogram. As with the hearing aid units, red marks pertain to the right ear. HH was surprised to see how much hearing he had lost. (He blames time spent around jet engines in working/flying in B-52s in his much younger days.) At the highest frequencies, his hearing in either ear approaches profound deafness. (I could have told him that - of course - lol.)

Comments

[bogie]

Although I am used to cold water (blue) being on the right, and hot water (red) being on the left, the coloring actually of the hearing aids make sense to me.

Let me explain - Blue is 4 letters, so coincides with the four letters in left.

My contact cases drive me nuts. It used to be that white was for right, which makes sense to me since they rhyme. Whatever the odd color was (gray or blue) was left (again, 4-letters, makes sense). A couple of years ago that color scheme changed to the opposite. I was always putting my contacts in the wrong side of the case (with my contacts in, I can't make out the lettering on the case). In the morning (when I can actually see the letter markings by holding the case up about 4" from my face) I would be putting the contacts in the incorrect eyes - very bad for seeing as well as comfort. I have finally remembered to say the rhyme, "blue is right, left is white," every time I take them out or put them in.

Yay for HH in actually taking action on the hearing aids. I hope he finds them satisfactory and comfortable so he continues to wear them.

[Cop Car]

OMG, Bogie, what a nerd you are! (I'm laughing with you!!) I hadn't even thought about water faucets. We don't yet have the world organized, do we?

Good grief! To have color coding swapped about must have been confusing. During the 30 or so years of my own contact lens wearing, the compartment for the left lens was labeled "L" while that for the right was labeled "R". No one thought to color code them and I, being near-sighted (and not having your eyeball problems!), had no problem reading the letters (especially, as the letters were as big as a barn - no comments from physicists, please).

Yes, yay for HH. BUT...he took his hearing aids out that night and hasn't since used them. He waited until the next morning to even try to recharge the batteries and set them up totally incorrectly for charging. I found that the charging unit had a couple of loose connections between it and the AC electrical outlet and that the behind-the-ear units were not in the correct compartments of the charger, let alone in the correct alignment within it. This is a challenge from his dementia, of course. HH just could not follow the instructions in the manual for the battery charging unit.

I also noted a large amount of earwax on the earbuds (which should have been cleaned before insertion into the charger). I cleaned the earbuds last night, after HH had retired for the evening. This morning, I volunteered to clean his earbuds each night if he preferred. Were there a market for it, HH could make a mint selling the copious amount that he manufactures. (Recall that Dr Niederee's nurse had removed enough earwax to grow a Victory Garden about a month ago and that HH is, thankfully, scrupulous about not poking swabs very deeply into his ears.) Oh, and I added a section on recharging batteries to the table of instructions. HH keeps me on my toes! I'm hoping that he will wear the hearing aids, today.

[Joared]

Interesting to read about the experience with hearing aids. Glad you're able to be so helpful. I haven't kept up with all the latest audiological advances, technological gains, since my training in the '70's. I did work then with individuals and sometimes their families to aid in some users adapting to wearing their aids. So many times the aids ended up in a drawer and weren't worn. One of the major reasons users rejected them was they lacked an attenuation feature. They also often needed to overcome a reluctance to educate their loved ones/friends how to best communicate with them once they learned some of the helpful techniques that worked best for them.

I think aids should be more readily available as part of health care to more people -- hearing aids and glasses since both sensory aids, especially hearing, are vital inputs for appropriate cognitive function.

My husband had hearing loss, especially in one ear but was not receptive to getting tested, much less considering an aid even after his audiogram. Was an ongoing challenge to get him tested but he agreed finally when I said I was going to have my hearing tested since a local hospital's audiologist was offering free screenings. Of course, I had my hearing tested years earlier numerous times and had administered tests in our training program. TV was loud in our house, too. He died before we got to the point I might have been able to get him to do more.

[Cop Car]

Joared--Disappointingly, HH hasn't touched his hearing aids since dumping them into the charger that first day. He reads and re-reads the manual for the hearing aids and for the charger, and he can't tell me any way in which I could be helpful - just got angry that I asked. He did say that the amended table that I made him didn't really suit him but couldn't tell me what changes he wants. His complaint is that none of the directions are "organized".

I'm trying to be patient and let him come up with his thoughts; but, it is frustrating. Like me, he is an independent cuss!

[bogie]

CC - try organizing them this way

Left ear:
To turn on: 5-7 second push on button of left unit
To turn off: 5-7 second push on button of left unit

Right ear:
To turn on: 5-7 second push on button of left unit
To turn off: 5-7 second push on button of left unit

To lower the volume for noisy situations: Use right ear piece and push the button until the appropriate amount of beeps is reached:

* Noisy levels - to second beep
* Very noisy - to third beep
* To return to normal levels (home): - first beep

Extreme noise - turn off both ear pieces

I'm assuming the normal levels is the default setting.

I wouldn't confuse him with the louder/softer "gains" at this time. The general levels should be fine for now - that is why I didn't include those. If he wants finer control down the road, then the gain can be introduced.

I wonder if they make a remote control for the earpieces? Seriously, I would be constantly turning off the hearing aids if the difference in changing the volume was 3 seconds to turning off at 5 seconds. I have a hard time feeling the buttons for the headset I use for my phone, so only use the softer/louder buttons.

[Cop Car]

Bogie--Thanks for the suggested organization. I'll try it out with your dad if he gives me the chance. One thing: the audiologist was especially insistent (although HH doesn't remember it) that he learn to adjust the gain. She wants him to understand the adjustments that can be made, even if he chooses to let the hearing aids make the adjustments automatically - which, if he continues with the whole thing, I'm sure he will do.

For the past three evenings, HH has installed his hearing aids to watch TV. HH has progressed from yanking the hearing aids out to make adjustments to, yesterday, making adjustments with the earbuds in place. (It turns out that, if I am in the same room with HH, I can hear the beeps when he makes an adjustment.) Even last night, though, he did take the hearing aids off after only 20-30 minutes. I think the issue was that Elder Brother's talking was too loud (he also has hearing loss at the upper frequencies - especially in his left ear, from target practice in his youth per his audiologist - and does not wear hearing aids) and, for whatever reason, HH did not adjust the Program but chose to remove the hearing aids.

HH goes back to Dr Combs, tomorrow. It will be interesting to see what happens, then. BTW: I asked Dr C about HH's being able to use his iPhone to control the units, but we haven't gotten to that point, yet. It may be possible to control the units through our Wi-Fi, too. Or, as you suggest, he may buy a remote unit rather than relying upon using his iPhone for that purpose. However, it will still be faster for adjustments to be made with the buttons (with only one button per unit, it shouldn't be hard to do by feel.)

[Joared]

FWIW I found some individuals most responsive to regular sessions interacting with a therapist (Speech-Language-Hearing Pathologist) when that person with hearing loss could benefit from better adaptation to effectively using their aids. Some individuals (of all ages) just react differently which may not be that productive with a family member, however well-intentioned and knowledgeable that helping loved one may be -- family dynamics. Some individuals have also found it helpful to eventually bring that family member into a later session or more when given that option. Some Audiologists can recommend SLPs that are especially adept at providing this service, or may even have them in their practice.

[Cop Car]

Joared--Thanks for your knowledgeable input.

Dr Combs will continue seeing HH, regularly - until HH is comfortable using the hearing aids or until he throws in the towel. I, personally, am happy just to have him (for now) use the hearing aids when he is watching TV. If he can get comfortable using them for TV, he can segue into wearing them more extensively.

I have learned that I can no longer work in the kitchen while HH is watching TV. Previously, knowing that HH could not hear me, I could rattle around fairly normally while he watched TV - only apologizing when I drop something or giving him a heads up before ripping a plastic tab off of a grocery store food container so that he doesn't get startled. HH's hearing aids automatically attenuate sudden, loud noises, according to Dr C; but, nothing is perfect.