Copyright 2002
It is a fair question to ask what credentials I have to speak on the subject of buying a hearing aid. What I have to offer is a lifetime of experience coping with a rare progressive hereditary hearing loss. That experience extended itself to eleven years working in a gerontology position with a county government agency, often interceding for and advocating for older people who have hearing losses. It also extended into my later successful efforts to start the first hearing loss group in the area in which I live.
As to experience with hearing aids, I have bought, worn, loved and hated them for almost three decades! I have also had the privilege of lecturing on the subject of hearing loss from the perspective of a person with a hearing loss to governmental, educational and disability-related organizations about the nature of hearing loss. Inevitably, during the question and answer session following my presentation, I am asked many questions about hearing aids. What follows is a summary of the questions I am most frequently asked, and my answers.
FICTION: Everyone with a hearing loss can hear better with a hearing aid
FACT: Very often, all people with mild hearing losses need to re-connect with the rest of the world is an amplified telephone and/or a hand-held personal amplifier like a Pocketalker. Other people have hearing losses so severe that the slight benefit they get from a hearing aid is not enough to make it worth their while to wear them.
FICTION: Hearing aids will allow you to experience perfect hearing again.
FACT: The best hearing aids on the market can restore only a portion of normal hearing for most people. The quality of sound reproduction may also vary greatly depending the amount of hearing you have lost, and upon the quality of the hearing aid you select.
FICTION: It doesn't matter where you buy a hearing aid, or which kind you buy-they're all pretty much the same, anyway.
FACT: In my opinion, you should RUN, not WALK the other direction whenever you are offered a free hearing test by a hearing aid dealer. Their "free" testing often results in offering you very expensive hearing aids that are often inappropriately fitted. For a relatively small sum of money, you can get a hearing test by a certified audiologist who has no vested interest in selling you a hearing aid. You will also save yourself the high pressure sales techniques that usually follow the "free testing".
FICTION: In the ear hearing aids are just as good as behind the ear hearing aids, and they aren't nearly as noticeable.
FACT: Someone "out there" has gone to a great deal of effort to try to convince people who are considering a hearing aid that in the ear (ITE) hearing aids work as well as behind the ear (BTE) hearing aids. The story continues that ITE's are much less "noticeable". If your hearing loss is moderately severe or worse, an ITE hearing aid simply lacks the capability of providing the kind of amplification needed. In addition, if you look at someone wearing an ITE hearing aid standing next to someone wearing a BTE hearing aid, it will disprove the second part of that theory. There is very little difference in the appearance of the two. In addition, if you are physically active, you will find the ITE aids fall out much more frequently (particularly when you perspire) than the BTE's. Common sense tells you that there is a LOT more holding the BTE in place with the actual unit tucked behind your ear as well as the mold placed in your ear than the ITE which is simply sitting n your ear. If those were not compelling enough reasons to consider a BTE hearing aid over an ITE, consider the fact that very few ITE's are equipped with a T-switch, or telecoil switch, which will allow you to use the hearing aid to speak on the telephone, or with a T-loop amplification system.
FICTION: I don't need to know about my hearing loss or hearing aids, that is what I pay someone else to do.
FACT: If you
are to make an informed decision as to what type of hearing aid
to buy, it is to your benefit to understand your hearing loss
and learn about the different types of hearing aids. The American
Academy of Audiology offers the following website that offers
a wealth of interesting information to help you understand your
hearing loss and your audiogram:
http://www.audiology.org/consumer/guides/
Their website has a page with pictures of the
various types of hearing aids, and also go into the difference
between analog and digital hearing aids:
http://www.audiology.org/consumer/guides/howtopurchase.php
FICTION: Getting used to hearing aids is no different from getting used to glasses. You just put them on and start hearing better.
FACT: It is not
realistic to expect that you will become accustomed to wearing
hearing aids as easily as you did wearing glasses. After living
in a world with reduced sound for some time, the decreased level
of sound you hear has become the norm. The best word picture I
can give is to imagine sitting quietly and listening to music.
Suddenly, someone turns the volume up full blast, and you are
jarred out of your chair! It is much the same with hearing aids.
You will be experiencing a level of sound to which your ears are
not accustomed. Your best hope for becoming familiar with the
new aids is to use them for short periods of time, and only in
controlled circumstances. Wearing your new hearing aids for an
hour a day for a week or so while you are alone at home will help
you become accustomed to again hearing the sounds that surround
you. You can then venture out to other safe environments where
you would not ordinarily expect loud, startling sounds. Eventually,
your ears and brain will be able to accept and interpret the new
level of sound, and you can re-connect with the world around you
and enjoy the sounds you have been missing.
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