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  1. #16
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Campbelltown NSW
    Age
    77
    Posts
    335

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    I was having my hearing loss monitored since retiring after working in a noisy environment for 50+ years and two years ago was fitted with hearing aids due to industrial deafness. The units supplied are the second top model with no option to top up for the top model. Batteries are free for life and the units are replaced every five years. Naturally enough a new model came out about six months later.


    During the insurance claim I was sent to a ENT specialist to confirm the loss and cause. My losses were in the high frequencies and during our talk he pointed out that another effect is that I could mishear words, which explains why SWMBO was saying something different to what I was hearing, sometimes with undesirable results .


    The other thing he picked was a hearing loss imbalance, which is unusual for industrial deafness. He wrote a letter to my GP to refer me to a local ENT to investigate. Apparently there is a condition where a very very slow growth (the name I can’t remember) can develop in the ear canal and eventually get to the brain, fortunately for me the scan came back ok.


    My experience with them is mostly positive, they do take a bit of getting used to until the brain adjusts, at first crunching up paper or number ones in the toilet bowl and running water seemed unrealistically loud. A big plus though for me is that music is so much better with high frequencies returned and I am hearing it all anew, along with hearing and understanding conversations again, although in noisy environments like clubs and pubs I have to knock the volume down a notch as I get a bit overwhelmed from noise from multiple directions.


    Overall I agree with riverbuilder and for me it’s changed my life for the better and for people around me.

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  3. #17
    Join Date
    Jun 1999
    Location
    Westleigh, Sydney
    Age
    77
    Posts
    9,542

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    I haven't been tested, but appear to have slight hearing loss, when I compare the volume that I need the TV to that needed by SWMBO.

    I used to laugh at those guys who used their 'selective' deafness as an excuse for not hearing what their wives said. Now I find it quite useful.
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  4. #18
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    geelong
    Posts
    359

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    What was that again?

  5. #19
    Join Date
    Feb 2006
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    27,756

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    About 25 years ago SWMBO convinced me to have a hearing test and was found to have significant loss in one ear and some moderate loss in the other - it was all at higher frequencies which explained why I found it hard to follow female speech and movie and TV speech were hard to follow. I was finding I really disliked noisy environments even dinner parties, restaurants and pubs etc so had started avoided these like the plague also much to SWMBO's irritation.

    The audiologist who did the test - a man of few words - looked at the results and said, "too much 70's rock music", and he was right. I'd go to lots of concerts and go early and get a place right up close to one of the speaker stacks, I wasn't happy unless I could feel my "inards" vibrating.

    He also indicated that as hearing response naturally deteriorates with age and that by the time I'm 50 I will need a hearing aid.

    This frightened me a bit so I made every effort to protect my hearing wherever possible. I bought noise cancelling head phones for plane travel, researched and bought the best ear muffs I could find and wore these in the shed, I even wore these muffs on planes when my son lost my noise cancelling muffs - got lots of funny looks. I remember my SIL 40th birthday party at a pub. I sat for 2 minutes inside with the gang where a DJ was blasting out disco music and then went outside and found the quietest corner of the beer garden. I do the same thing these days but don't get me wrong, I still like and occasionally still listen to loud music provided its what I like.

    When I got into chainsaw milling about 15 years back and modified the chainsaw exhausts I use high quality muffs AND earplugs etc. I installed a "sound pressure level" app on my mobile so I could check sound levels where ever I was. At the mens shed I would take readings and wave them in front of members performing noisy operations with no muffs on. The one that really got me was a member who said "It's OK I've turned off my hearing aid"!

    Recently I decided to have another test. Turns out I had protected my ears so well that the hearing loss since the previous test was minimal and now my hearing loss in the bad ear was mostly only a few % below average for my age and the other was average for my age. It's not like my hearing got better but everyone else's has deteriorated faster than mine. I still conveniently have that dent in the high frequencies around 4k that makes it hard to follow female speech. Of course the audiologist tried to sell mea hearing aids but I figure as long as my music sounds OK with my iPhone volume on just over half way I'm still OK.

    Interestingly my 4 year grandson its autistic and finds loud (especially sudden) noises (also lights) really frighten and confuse him so much he freaks out. To help him his parents have decided to run a low sound household eg TV sound is always turned down very low - so much I find it hard to hear. To cope with at things like Wiggles concerts his parents have provided him with earmuffs and it makes a heap of difference. The grandson can decide when to take them off and on so being in control means he's less frightened. l wonder what his hearing will be like later in life?

  6. #20
    Join Date
    Aug 2012
    Location
    Caringbah, NSW
    Age
    81
    Posts
    385

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    And here's another one who's hard of hearing. TV can now be heard by using a bluetooth transmitter attached to the TV with the hearing aid/s programmed for that device and a small receiver around my neck. I can hear it, even while the TV is turned to Mute, and the wife enjoys the TV not running at full volume. Only downside is that when I have it on I can't hear the phone ringing (but with all the nuisance calls, that is probably a blessing).

    And while watching the YouTube videos I have to use the cc (typed text) but the text translation makes for some hilarious reading/watching. One guy "prefers turning girls" (I assume he said Burls) and in Riverbuilder's YouTube video on his Walkaround of My Bench the house is "a bird only access house"! The mind boggles!

    The cause, in my case, was probably a very unusual Industrial Deafness. I am a retired Accountant and claim Industrial Deafness was caused by my clients yelling when I told them how much tax they had to pay! But, there are millions a lot worse off than us Deaf 'uns, so keep enjoying this great hobby, and never lose your sense of humour!

    Cheers, Gary

  7. #21
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    In between houses
    Posts
    1,784

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    ������ you know you can Bluetooth them to your ipad to watch YouTube? I’ll leave it to you to work out about the birds, and boats

  8. #22
    Join Date
    Aug 2012
    Location
    Caringbah, NSW
    Age
    81
    Posts
    385

    Default

    Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, my equipment requires a separate bluetooth transmitter and receiver coupled to the hearing aid/s and all programmed by the audiologist. so not real simple. Anyway, I would miss the laughs I get from the cc translations, especially ones like "hold the chisel firmly against the tourist"! Not wanting to face armed robbery charges, I settled for "toolrest".

  9. #23
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    McBride BC Canada
    Posts
    3,543

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    I can appreciate that people speak loudly enough and clearly enough.
    However, many of the sounds that people make do not match any words in my head.
    The Dr. knew immediately what it was when I mentioned it.
    "Aural Cognitive Dysfunction."
    There's a little age-related frequency attenuation, some volume loss but all to be expected.

    English is my first language, I was pretty good at it.
    Now, I can't figure out what people are saying to me.
    THEY get annoyed when I try to figure out what they said.

    Even worse is the common response when I say:
    "I have no idea what all you just said to me."

    One of several reasons why I retired when I got the chance.
    Could not cope with work conversations. Background noise was a wipe-out.

    These COVID mask things are really the last straw.

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