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My journey with hearing loss

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  • 20-12-2017 10:20pm
    #1
    Joe222
    Registered Users Posts: 197 ✭✭


    Hi all

    I have been wearing hearing aids for about 5 years. I am in my mid 30s. I thought I would write down some things about my own hearing loss, how it has affected my life and how I have got on with my hearing aids.

    Hearing loss and the wearing of hearing aids is often targeted towards older people. Understandable I guess but when you start to lose your hearing in your 20s it is a pretty dark place with many worries about your future when you have your whole working life ahead of you.

    I first noticed some loss in my 20s missing out on conversations in the back of cars with the radio on and also in pubs. Around this time I made my first visit to an audiologist which wasn't a great experience with little insight gained.

    Over a year or two in my late 20s it became very noticeable to me that I had a problem that was only going to get worse. It was becoming difficult to hear the tv, I was asking people to repeat themselves and conversations in the pub were becoming very difficult.

    Over this time I had many sleepless nights, bed sweats and even at one stage felt tightness in my chest with worries about my future. Looking back on it now it was possibly some sort of panic attack. I would normally be a pretty relaxed person but I guess worries wear you down. I was also experiencing tinnitus at this stage which was often at its worst during the quiet of night time in bed.

    A couple of years later I finally bit the bullet and visited another audiologist. Mri scans were done to make sure everything was ok and eventually I was told I had mild hearing loss on both sides. It was pretty hard to take and the thought of getting hearing aids filled me with dread. I was young and single at the time and hearing aids were just not discreet.

    Eventually and thankfully I got fitted with the 'in the canal' (iic) hearing aids by a hearing audiologist. They weren't invisible but at least they weren't obvious to the eye either. The following year was challenging as I had to make 3/4 trips back to the audiologist to get adjustments made. I had also started a new job so it was a tough time but overall the year went by quickly and I got used of my aids.

    My hearing aids cost about €4500. They were top of the range but they don't come cheap. Unfortunately the government only gives a rebate/grant of €500 per hearing aid (renewable every 4 years I think). So naturally many people out there just can't afford them.

    How do I hear now? Fairly ok. The tv is still difficult. I use subtitles a lot but for general conversation they serve me well. Pubs and places with background noise are just a non runner unless the person is close to me.

    I am a fairly fit active person. Unfortunately hearing aids don't really fit into that lifestyle. When I run, cycle or swim I remove them. Not ideal but the technology just isn't there at the moment.

    I will probably have to change my aids shortly as they normally don't last much longer than 5 years. There are a few options out there that I will be looking at -
    iic (invisible in the canal) hearing aids and
    Lyric hearing aids (a disposable deeply inserted hearing aid that is invisible).

    Both of the above are expensive - the first around €4/5000 while the lyric is also around €4000 but that is just a subscription for 1 year.


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    #2
    EireGrif
    Registered Users Posts: 35 ✭EireGrif


    Do you ever think about cochlear impact?


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    #3
    looksee
    Registered Users Posts: 28,567 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    The only thing I can contribute is - don't compromise on quality. I had one top of the range hearing aid for some years, then went on to two less high quality as I was retired and it was not so essential that I was able to hear in various environments. I quite regret that as my hearing is not as sharp as it was with just the one aid.


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    #4
    the_syco
    Registered Users Posts: 37,301 ✭✭✭✭the_syco


    Joe222 wrote: »
    My hearing aids cost about €4500. They were top of the range but they don't come cheap. Unfortunately the government only gives a rebate/grant of €500 per hearing aid (renewable every 4 years I think). So naturally many people out there just can't afford them.
    Joe222 wrote: »
    Both of the above are expensive - the first around €4/5000 while the lyric is also around €4000 but that is just a subscription for 1 year.
    You don't say where you got the price from, so contact Deafhear and Bonavox. I got my hearing aids through the latter, but plenty of people here got their hearing aids through the former.

    Also, unless you're going to be using all of the functionality, the dearest may not suit you the best.
    Joe222 wrote: »
    How do I hear now? Fairly ok. The tv is still difficult. I use subtitles a lot but for general conversation they serve me well. Pubs and places with background noise are just a non runner unless the person is close to me.
    Pubs... if the person is near to me, I have a preset that filters out the background noise. I have another preset that allows in all noise, which is handy if the people are not too far away, but not next to me.

    You should be able to get a clearer sound with the TV, if not by themselves, at least with t-coil or Bluetooth. What's the make and model of the hearing aid?
    EireGrif wrote: »
    Do you ever think about cochlear impact?
    Pointless for the OP, and only really for profoundly deaf/totally deaf people. People need to relearn how to hear, as the sound is entering via a different source.


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