Jill's Jottings
We seem to have moved through Christmas and arrived in 2016 on jet propelled wings!
For these jottings, I have changed my mind – decided not to use the topic I indicated in November's Hear Hear. However, that's ok – as Peter says, it's a woman's prerogative to change her mind, since we are from Venus! (Have you read 'Men are from Mars Women are from Venus'? Gives some ideas about male behaviour as well – a good read!) However, I've digressed!!
My topic - hearing aids, but first of all I want to tell you what a hearing aid is: A hearing aid is an ultraminiature electro acoustic device that is always too large. It must amplify sounds a million times, but bring no noise. It must operate without failure in a sea of perspiration, a cloud of talcum powder - or both. It is one product one puts off getting till 10 years after he needs it – but can't do without it for 30 minutes when it needs to be serviced.” (Description by Sam Lybarger – hearing aid designer.) Tongue in cheek, but there is some truth in it!
Every so often I hear of people saving up for expensive aids – and the question arises, is it a case of you get what you pay for? Are the less expensive ones ' cheap and nasty?' Here are some thoughts from the website www.hearnet.org.au/hearing-health/common-questions. It is a response to the question 'What are the differences between the most expensive and least expensive hearing aids?
An expensive aid is one that is left in the top drawer and rarely, if ever, used. What a hearing aid looks like has little bearing on the cost of the aid. It is the processing inside the aid that largely determines the cost – the more complex the processing, the more expensive the aid tends to be. It is the ability of a hearing aid to automatically adjust to different listening environments (eg. Quiet, noisy,, music etc) that requires more complex processing. In order to optimise these adjustments, many of the more expensive aids combine information from both aids (if two are being used) to determine the best settings.
It is not yet really clear whether the more expensive aids are always significantly better than less expensive ones for a given individual. For this reason it can be very helpful to trial hearing aids before making a decision about which ones work for you. Many hearing aid clinics offer a trial of hearing aids.
The following information appeared in Hearing Matters Hearing Loss magazine March/April 2008. Author was Dr Mark Ross, Audiologist (also hearing impaired himself). It was in response to the question as to what he would recommend.
Unless some current premium hearing aid includes some feature that demonstrably benefits a particular person – a possibility not to be ignored – I'd suggest that a prospective user first consider hearing aids labelled as “entry level, basic or mid-level.” ….......these are not primitive, outmoded devices, but sophisticated electronic instrument (and once 'premium aids' in their own right.!!)
In terms of hearing improvement, in my opinion most hearing aid users will do as well with one of these as they would a top of the line model. Plus save a bundle of money.
With the money saved you could purchase specific equipment such as a TV Listener or remote control for the aid (if you have fumbly fingers like me!) Remember we have a pamphlet on Questions to Ask Your Hearing Health Professional, which we hope will help you to feel more confident when purchasing an aid – and to expect that the answers are in terminology you can understand.!
If there are any topics you would like me to research for the jottings, please let me know.
