I know there is a comedy video out there that claims if your wife wants you to do something she asks you a question and you need to figure out what she wants you to do. Perhaps something similar is happening here.
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Correct. Unfortunately I wish it were that simple. She is info and tech averse. I am the one who has to climb the mountain in trying to assist her with her hearing. She was in denial for a long time before she first went to the NHS to get tested (15 years ago) Because she spends an inordinate amount of time using head phones as she listens or watches stuff on TV she has become more and more isolated. Because her hearing (with HA inserted) is very poor (I will qualify later) she tends to shy away from hearing situations where background or noisy environments are present.
I can not get her to parties or social gatherings easily. She always finds a corner/wall chair to sit in at a meal. If I talk to her with HA inserted and she is not aware of me talking to her… she is reading or doing something and therefor does not see my mouth move then I usually am not heard or acknowledged.
Our communicating environment has become very simple and predictable. When we are facing each other over a table - like in the morning or evening - then talking is fine. But if line of sight is not possible then it becomes almost impossible.
Thank you all for your input. I am going to see her GP with her on Monday and I will be outlining and discussing a strategy that I think she needs to follow. This includes another visit to the TIA/Stroke clinic as she thinks she might have had a tia in the past week. It also will include a discussion with the Dr to find out whether her dizzy spells are permanent and if so how will it be possible to retrain her brain to improve her ‘wobbly’ disposition.
She had an MRI following a Cat Scan to see if there was any evidence of middle ear problems but only a minor historical tia was discovered.
She was recently at the Audio department at our hospital and they said that once the diagnostic route had been completed (MRI/ CAT Scan) they would make her ‘a special patient’ and try and improve her situation.
SO all is not bad and I feel that there doors opening that may provide a different perspective of her hearing loss and it’s potential remedy.
I will come back to you all with an update when this is to hand and seek further support and advice if that’s OK.
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Unfortunately all the things you mention are pretty common for the hearing impaired. I think the average denial period is 7 years. And avoiding public outings is pretty common also because she can’t interpret speech, especially in noisy situations. I don’t like the constant use of headphones which could cause further damage to her hearing. I hope she is wearing her current aids all the time except when she sleeps, otherwise she’s not allowing her brain to adjust to the aids. Consequently she’ll never hear well with the aids. And hearing aids will never return here hearing back to normal. She is going through what all of us have dealt with at one time or another. And that is whether she is going to allow her loss to destroy her life and crawl into a shell. I hate going to weddings. The dj music is overwhelming. But still I go and try to make the most of it. You’re helping her is great. But it also encourages her to not be independent. It’s the easy way out.
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I do wish you the best. It must be very hard.
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To all who have assisted in this discussion - I now have an update.
My wife has after more than 3 months been diagnosed with Meniere’s Disease. This explains the initial hearing loss discussed above. She is still very unstable on her feet and I think I am in for the long haul as far as being her carer is concerned. Not much improvement over this time. But I live in hope.
Yesterday my wife was ‘fitted’ with ReSound (DanaLogic) Ambio S 88 HAs. I sat through the whole 'technical / computerised audio balancing ‘whatever’ fitting. She had inserts from a neck roll type of audio speaker inserted into her ears and the audiologist fitted the HAs into her ears at the same time and after a lot of unintelligible ramblings of ‘seemingly foreign voices’ she ended up being a very happy bunny…
Things have definitely improved for her. She has suddenly become very chatty - almost to a fault! Quite amazing.
I am now left with the task of sorting out the Bluetooth facilities. Apparently these devices have the capability to receive sound directly into the ear from a mobile phone…and from a TV… and link to an App on a smart phone… etc etc…
All well and good but the information guide does not provide the information on how to achieve this. I know I can fiddle about and try pairing etc but I would far prefer to know in advance what to do and how to implement these facilities.
I #s it too much to expect to have this information available in the written form? I have tried getting a ‘User Guide/Manual’ from the manufacturers but they deny all knowledge of having any such documentation. The NHS audiologist didnt know what I was talking about so while my wife is a happy bunny in that she can hear a lot better, the journey with the Ambiop S88 has only just started.
If anybody has any thoughts on how I can get hold of a technical manual to help me with my ‘support’ responsibilities while looking after my wife then I will most grateful to receive such advice and information.
I have uploaded the only technical information to give you an idea as to how ‘short’ yhis generic hand book is…
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I commend your desire to help your wife. Bluetooth isn’t that difficult assuming your aids are Bluetooth capable. If they are you need to pair her aids to her smart phone. You can find simple instructions online. Or you can search for an owners manual online for her particular aids to find out how to hook up to Bluetooth. There’s no guarantee that she will hear better with Bluetooth. And since she just got her aids she needs time for her brain to adjust to them. Figure at least a couple of weeks. At the end of that time frame she may need to see the audiologist again for further adjustments to her aids. The audiologist can then answer all your questions and show you how to connect to Bluetooth. One step at a time.
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Unfortunately with NHS Aids, there often aren’t any information online. Most NHS Aids are rebranded. Sometimes you can find limited information but not always.
Read the comment above from Mark.
Quite often NHS Audiologists don’t know much more than us.
My friends daughter has a BAHA and her NHS Audiologist said her BAHA has no Bluetooth which was completely rubbish. I connected her BAHA to my friends iPhone in a meter of seconds.
Ok. I appear to have blown this one. My apologies. Good thing I have zebra watching my back.
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Just explaining that NHS is very different to private audiologists!!
The NHS service was very thorough but limited…It seems they know how to balance and fit and also have a very strict brief. Ordinarily one would expect an after ‘sales’ hand holding lesson. But this was not forthcoming. I just wonder what ReSound HA this Ambio 88 is a rebrand of? Any ideas? The information on the HA is as follows…
on the HA itself in addition to the makers name is 203-JN1068 and then in tiny writing GN Hearing and underneath it BEB80 02. Any detectives out there?
Whatever it is, it runs on Low Energy Bluetooth so is very limited in what it can connect too.
Only HA that runs on normal Bluetooth is Phonak.
We have worked out the NHS Phonak and NHS Oticon but not the Resound.
According to this, it does work with a few Android phones which has only just started to happen so I wonder if they are quite up to date?
The link I posted shows the hearing aids as these? Have they used the right hearing aids in the link?
If they have then it’s the Resound One?!
Altho this link is showing something else.
https://www.yourhearinghelper.com/hearing-aid/resound-danalogic-ambio-smart-88-hearing-aid
Resound is a pretty popular brand. I would think a lot of their features pretty much work the same way from one model to another.
This should provide the basics of how to connect to an iPhone. Connect digital hearing aids to smartphone
It may have the ability to connect to some Android phones, but I would highly encourage sticking with iPhone. For TV, you’d need to get an additional TV streamer device.