Thread: Hearing aids and woodworking

Paul, I will follow this with interest as I am not far from needing some myself. I had hearing aids back in the late eighties, but I was able to get an operation on both ears that fixed them. Well time has caught up with me and they are both deteriorating.
I have a metal machinist friend who has in ear ones that he has a remote control for that cancels out the background noise and he can adjust as necessary.
Rgds,
Crocy.

I have a cochlear implant on my left and hearing aid on my right, have been profoundly deaf since I lost my hearing to meningitis at 11mths old.

Wear both full time and use ear muffs when operating loud equipment. The newer ones these days are able to be programmed to suit different environments and to shut off feedback when wearing earmuffs.(you still need to protect little hearing you still have).

My Cochlear processor has replaceable covers on the mics and hearing aids come supplied with a brush to clean/wipe them down.

My hearing aid's have replaceable filters over the microphone's.

When you have yours fitted, you should get full detailed instructions.

Cheers Barry

If you're generating enough dust to damage hearing aids I think the impact on your lungs is of greater concern.
Solve the problem not the symptom.

Paul
I dont wear them inthe workshop or when there are small children playing and screeching.
Cheers
John

I can't see any reason for wearing mine in the shed. I suspect most wearers like me use them to clarify certain sounds rather than to correct a profound loss of hearing.

mick

By all means, GET THEM!, I wear mine everywhere except in the shed, don’t need them when working.The dust shouldn’t worry them as they’re waterproof anyway. I had them on once under my earmuffs but when I took the earmuffs off they flicked one off from my ear and it took three of us an hour to find it😆. I wear them in social situations and generally will put them in at lunchtime at the shed when we are chatting. They are one of the best things I’ve ever done, they change everything.

I've had them for over 30 years. (I'm 78 now.) Initially I would take them out when I was in the shop. Now I'll just put hearing suppressor ear muffs over them. I have found that the good Peltor muffs can be wiggled around to work with both in the ear and behind the ear styles of aids.

Just a word of warning. Almost 50 years ago I was forced to work in a computer room after working in an office environment. One of my co-workers would wear shooters ear plugs. I bought a pair for myself. I was working the midnight to morning shift and one of the first few shifts with the ear protection I wore the ear protection home. As I walked into the house I realized that I still had the ear protection in my ears. I took them out. As I was moving about I kept hearing a strange noise. After a bit I figured out that the noise was my pants legs rubbing together as I moved about. It was a noise that I had never experienced before. For years there after, in a noisy environment the ear protection would go in. In later years the hearing aids would come out and then hearing protection would go in.

After being forced into retirement I took woodworking classes at the local Community College. I would wear my muffs but none of the students would wear any ear protection. I went to Harbor Freight (Chinese junk tool store here in the US) and purchased 10 sets of ear muffs. I put all 10 out in the class room that was used for 15 or so classes a week with a sign, "Free take one". It took over 3 weeks before all 10 were gone.

A word or two about buying hearing aids. Here, to dispense hearing aids you must be licensed. There are two types of dispensing establishments. One is part of a corporation that has a hearing aid department. (Like Costco.) The second are a stand alone businesses. The survival of the stand alone business is dependent upon the profit by selling hearing aids. In the stand alone business, usually the dispensing agents are working on commissions. While I'm not sure how your nationalized health care system deals with hearing aids, it is something to keep in mind. I have dealt with both types of businesses here in the US and the best of the two is not the stand alone business. I have purchased from Costco and I am fitted with what is best for me, not the ones with the biggest commissions.

I never wear mine (behind the ear type) when I’m working in the shed or wearing headgear of any type because I’m too scared of losing one, and they aren’t cheap.

But general advice, they aren’t like glasses where you put them on and problem solved, it takes several months for your ears to get used to them and they should be adjusted gradually. It’s important to have a good audiologist who will give you as much attention as you need. I visited half a dozen before finding the right one, a couple were obvious charlatans trying to take advantage of gullible old people.

My current ones have a dongle which allows you to listen to a TV, radio or whatever through bluetooth or cable. That’s really useful because headphones and hearing aids don’t combine well. I watch stuff on youtube on my ipad a lot and can’t understand at all well without the dongle.

My thanks to everyone who replied. I am off to a local audiologist for a hearing aid assessment tomorrow, which includes discussing lifestyle and activities, so the general consensus that hearing aids come out and hearing ear muffs go on when in the workshop is valuable advice. What I got from it is to increase the priority on the hearing aids being easy to put in and take off; It's normally just me in my workshop so hearing aids are not useful there.
(Glennet, I did a lot of checking around before selecting this audiologist and I am avoiding the chains)

I had not thought of earmuffs catching on a hearing aid and flicking it somewhere - if it is anything like what happens to me with dropped screws then I would be unable to locate them (a financial disaster)!!!

I'm in New Zealand (NZ) and our health system does not provide free hearing aids (unlike the English Nat Health Services), and the government old age pensions department does not provide free hearing aids (unlike the Australian old age pensions department). We can get a NZ $500 subsidy for each hearing aid but this does not go far when the mid-level hearing aid costs around NZ $3,000.

Rrich, CostCo is not present in NZ but the Specsavers company is starting to introduce Audiology services and sell its own brand of hearing aids, which come in around NZ $2,000 cheaper per pair of hearing aids.

Paul

Mine are controlled with an app on the phone, smart something or other, and it has a “find my hearing aids” feature, as long as they are turned on it works. But, of course, when I lost mine I hadn’t downloaded the app yet.

Paul,
The first audiologist that we had was as honest as the day is long. Every time SWMBO and myself went into see him it was all about us and not about money. After almost a year he sold his shop to a hearing aid dispensing chain. (Sonus) The first visit for tuning and adjustments under the new ownership was shocking. The entire visit was all about selling the newest and greatest.

I managed to find out where our original audiologist was working as a factory representative. We had a very long telephone conversation. During that conversation, he told me that he was barely making money and had to sell his business. In translation, reading between the lines, hearing what wasn't being said, etc. he said that he was just too honest. He said that he knew of places that were selling $800 wholesale cost aids for between $7200 and $7800 a pair.

Our heath maintenance organization suggested a chain dispensing place. (HearX) We went there and found a very good audiologist. But she left the chain because the $$$ on her health insurance was about to run out. The next year or two was absolutely H***. Then one day I bumped (Literally) into her at Costco. She told me that she was working there at Costco. We have been going to her for hearing aids ever since. Although she is 67 she seems to love working. She lives down the street, less than 5 miles, from Costco and about 4 miles from us. I dread the day when she decides to retire.

Last year I received a new pair of hearing aids, the quality difference from what I had is staggering; they are in a world of their own.

To answer your question(s) I now leave my hearing aids in all of the time because they are comfortable (behind the ear units), work unbelievably well in virtually any situation and after a couple of days I forgot they were there.

There are a multitude of programs loaded, restaurant, noisy place, wind, music and so on. These work seamlessly to the point I now don't worry about having to change the program as I don't need to change the program. My previous hearing aids were very good, but these are in another league.

They are also waterproof, to a point. That said, one day I came in from a few hours of turning and needed a shower, I got under the shower and couldn't believe how high the sound of the water hitting the top of my head was; I was still wearing the hearing aids. Now even with them being waterproof, that was too much and while I didn't jump out, I stepped out of the bath tub, removed my hearing aids then hopped back in. Thankfully they still work perfectly.

When in the shed or in a loud environment, I wear a pair of Peltor muffs, they are brilliant. I can hear all normal things with the aids on and the muffs on top. Without the aids and with muffs on, I don't hear workshop noise.

When on the PhoneI talk and hear through the aids, I also do zoom meetings with the computer and using blue tooth I listen and talk through my hearing aids. They are nothing short of fantastic. One can also walk around and stream music or radio through the phone via the hearing aids and they give the correct amount of volume for each ear. Stereo music and podcasts where two people are heard individually in either the left or right ear are another step up.

Then ones I now have are Phonak Audeo M70.

Phonak Audeo M70-R - Lithium-Ion Rechargeable

There is another higher model, but you are starting to get into funny money territory.

Mick.

A word of warning about behind-the ear hearing aids. I've had mine flip off when removing my face mask which is also retained by the lugs on the side of my head.

mick