Newbie

Hi there,

I’m new to the hearing forum and could not see a welcome area, so though that I would post here.

A little history, been deaf all of my life since birth. Some gene defect causes high frequency hearing loss. I see people on here have their audiogram in text in their signatures. I can’t say I understand them at the moment or know how to generate them. Mine starts as a level line and then drops severely into the higher frequencies. Only just recently saw the “speech banana” to understand how I don’t hear all of the "ph"s, “f”'s and “sh”'s.

Now 35, I got hearing aids when I was 30. Was like night and day. Since changing jobs though, I need better help from a hearing aid, to aid in conversation (there are more people in my office, it is much more noisy, and the nationalities and hence accents are much more diverse).

I just got some Phonak Nadia V SP on the NHS today and the Audiologist told me to come here for details on self programming.

I guess initially I’m looking to mingle with people with the same frustrations as myself as it does feel a very lonely existence in a world where thee majority of people have ears that work so take hearing for granted.

I’d then like to discover tips for my hearing aids, find out what else is available, and determine whether or not to even go down the self programming route.

I’m British by the way.

Apologies if I’ve broken any rules already, like I say, I’m new here.

:smiley:

Welcome Mondola! Glad you signed up. Under “User CP” at the top left of the webpage you can add a signature line with your audiogram. It helps us know the extent of your hearing loss of course.

Noisy offices are a problem for most HOH people in the workplace. The Nadia is a great aid but your audi’s advice to come here for details is way off base. They need to adjust the aids for you and explain all the features and details. We’ll help if we can, but our input will be much more limited than the face-to-face contact you should have with your audi.

I understand our existence can be a lonely one but we have to do the best we can and move forward. Good luck and again, welcome to the hearingaidforum.

Hi there bherring1964 ! Thanks for the warm welcome ! :slight_smile:

I guess I was not clear about the audiogram thing. I do not have the details of my audiogram and do not understand the format that you use. I have only ever seen my audiogram plotted as a graph, and never presented in the tabular form that you all seem to display. Are you just plotting figures that were provided to you by your audiologists ? I’ve only ever seen my audiogram when I visit the audiologists and know the shape of it, but not the actual figures.

Well I went to a private audiologist and was quoted £5,450 for a pair of Phonak Audeo Yes IX’s at first but upon ringing the NHS back discovered that the NHS provide the Nadias. So I am giving these a try for now.

I am not sure how much of a jump there is from the Nadia V that I have to the Nadia Audeo IXs. ALl I can see is the zoom control and the 20 channels as opposed to 6, but do not know how much of a jump that is.

At the moment, I am just getting used to the SOundRecover function.

Sounds like everyone is talking with a heavy lisp at the moment, but I am still missing lots of speech, especially with my daughter and in the work environment, where I was hoping for the most improvement. I don’t know whether to push for the Audeo IX’s, but as I say, I do not know how much of a jump it might be, so I could just end up with the same dilemma, but more cycles to go through and a zoom control that also does not offer the huge improvement that I yearn for. Of course, they may well be fantastic, I just do not know.

I downloaded the iPFG last night, but have done nothing with it yet. I’m not expecting to do much with it, but he seemed to be suggesting I could at least swap programs about using it and connect it up via bluetooth. It’s on the NHS, not a private Audiologist, so I guess you don’t get the extra info and support that you guys would from your audiologist.

I will give them a ring to see what is available.

Thanks again.

:slight_smile:

Welcome to the forum.

It is good your audiologist recommended your coming here. Do some searching for questions you may have, you will find this site full of information. This knowledge will help you in all areas of hearing aids.

Good luck

Hi mondola: Don’t worry about posting an audiogram for now. What you see here is a tabular representation of the graph (audiogram). At each frequency there is a decibel (dB) loss associated. That is usually downward sloping, but I digress.

About your current struggles: We have to be patient and give it time. Our brains can take months to adjust to the new sounds. At the very least expect 3-4 weeks before things really improve. It takes time and practice and as time goes by, things tend to be more understandable.

Good Luck! : )

Got my audiogram figures today, but it is not showing up in my signature yet, so hopefully this new post will pull it up ?

:confused:

EDIT: Yay, the new post kicked it into action. :slight_smile:

We see them now! Based only on your pure tone thresholds, you should do very well with a quality set of hearing aids. You should not need a super high power aid like Nadia but Nadia is a good aid that would have plenty of “reserve” power for you. Any good BTE aid should work well for you.

Mondola,

If you ever are interested in programming your own hearing aids you would need to buy a Hi-Pro USB and CS-44a programming cables. Both can be purchased on EBay, but the Hi-Pro USB is $675.00. It couldn’t hurt to call audiologists in your area and ask if they have any used Hi Pro’s to sell. They are switching to wireless, so they may be happy to unload one for a decent price.

I purchased the one on EBay and I will be adjusting my hearing aids, after a few visits to my audiologist for initial fitting. If you want to play with iPFG to see how easy/difficult it is, click on
Hearing System->Online Activation For This Session
to uncheck it. Then iPFG won’t constantly complain that your hearing aids aren’t connected.

Hi there,

Just an update for you. :slight_smile:

I have got a pair of Phonak Naidas on the NHS. However, I’m still really struggling in the new environment that I work in. I have revisited the NHS numerous times since in order to determine what could be done. Various research and tweaks have been done on both parts.

In the end, they have are also of the opinion that the Naida’s will not help me in the environment I work in, so they have issued me with a letter stating so. I am going to take this letter and take it to the Access To Work scheme who should hopefully approve me to go and purchase the Audeo Yes IX’s from the Private sector.

We all did some comparisons and there were more than the 1 or 2 differences that I originally found.

The issues I have are that I literally cannot hear people standing right next to me. However, on Friday’s, when a good majority of our work force works from home, it is not so much a problem.

So fingers crossed that I do get the new hearing aids and they work, or another way of working can be determined, otherwise I will unfortunately have to move on because I just cannot do my job otherwise.

I sat down and got a demo of the software and there are a few niggles in the design (I test software for a living - LOL), but nothing too difficult. Will see what the outcome of the whole hearing aids issue is and then see whether I actually do need to program myself or not. I’d love the option, but if I don’t need to, then I won’t.

Thanks again for all the help guys ! It’s a great site !

:smiley:

Hi mondola, would be very interested in how you get on at “Access to Work”!!! I am having some “very similar” problems to you!

I asked yesterday about Access to Work, I was looking for a referal to Highland Council Occupational Health from the Lass who coordinates Deaf Services in the Highlands, I got the referral, but she also said Access to Work had no funds and did not help to supply hearing aids anymore! Don’t know if this is UK wide or not? I hope not… for your sake! Cheers, Kev

I am not expecting too much from them to be honest.

I had the assessment and he has proposed the usual things that assist a little (better phone, T-loops, etc).

I feel that the Access To Work grany will hide behind this report and thus not approve the hearing aids, but the assessor said that his proposals were a back up plan to the newer hearing aids.

But when I told the advisor that I was getting the hearing aids he then said I would have to pay 2/7 of the costs because only 5 days a week are working days. He just seems to be making policies up on the spot and trying any way to get out of it.

I do not feel as though they have been terribly supportive so far, but there is no resolution either way yet, so it is early days.

Hi Mondola

I will let you know how I get on with my referral, tis terrible the way some company’s treat their staff! I have been informed from many friends that our occupational health officer is excellent and very supportive! I believe this 2/7ths is a lot of hot air, I was told from the horse’s mouth, Access to Work pay 50% and your employer pays 50%, when you require environmental aids to do your job, hearing aids may be a different kettle of fish though, so it might be down to a post code lottery?

You probably know this; 1 in 7 people in the UK have a hearing loss and in some areas its 1 in 5! As the population lives longer this is becoming a huge headache and I have read that the government is trying to close down a lot of audiology departments!!!

Cheers Kev:D

I hope that all goes well with your referral.

It does seem to be different depending on geographical area, and I am not just meaning the Access to Work scheme. For example, the NHS where I am have been generally very good, I have had no problem with them. It is just recently that their hearing aids do not supply the level of support that I require.

There are various drop in clinics that I can attend in order to get to see people. My one bug bear is that you cannot get hold of anyone on a phone for quick queries, and have to attend the clinics, but once you get hold of someone face to face, generally all is very good. You just have to turn up at 8 a.m. to get the first ticket for 9 a.m. otherwise you join a queue behind everyone else and it’s a lottery as to how long each appointment will take.

On top of that I managed to get registered as hard of hearing and thus obtain the disabled person’s railcard and concessionary bus pass. All through the council services which, although difficult to locate the correct department at first, and a little slow to initially start, once got moving, everything was very quick.

My younger brother however, is located in London. Only an hour away from me, but a completely different council. He has exactly the same hearing condition as myself, since it is genetic (albeit with slight differences in our audiograms). His doctor has tried to refer him numerous times to the audiology department at his hospital but there is no response and there is no one for him to contact in order to chase up. He also has met a dead end whenever he has tried to get registered. So there’s me with a T-loop system from my council, SoundRecover hearing aids on the NHS, a green card that allows me not to pay VAT on hearing products and the disabled person railcard and bus pass, and him with endless frustrations.

It is just crazy that we live so close, and these services are supposed to be nationwide, but he experiences difficulty, whereas, at least in this case, I have been successful.

The assessor from Access to Work has confirmed that he has received my NHS letter and is going to have to talk to his manager, so we will see where that goes.

I didn’t know about the 1 in 7 or 1 in 5 statistics. As I said in one of the first posts, it seems like a lonely existence, as certainly people of my age seem to exhibit great hearing.

And also, whenever I turn up at a drop in clinic for an appointment, the person always expects an older gentleman due to the audiogram slope, so it certainly is a perception that older people have hearing loss.

Either way, if the government wants to close down audiology departments, then that has to be bad news. As I stated, the drop in clinics are well attended in my area, and the service is very good. The people are not patronising and very helpful.

If that was taken away, then where would everyone go for this service ?

I guess this is the kind of change that Mr. Caneron is talking about, and why he wants you to set things up by yourself !

:frowning:

As expected, he’s hiding behind things again. When pushed, I now have to supply a letter from the NHS with different wording, I also have to obtain quotes from 3 different xcompanies, and I also have to pay for some of the cost.

I pushed this all back and stated that this is not offering me any Access to do my work. It states on the website that within the 6 weeks of employment that Access To Work will meet all of the costs and that it feels as though any block is put in my way. I have supplied everything that they have asked for and more, and still there are more sub policies that are made. I stated that this is causing me no help, I feel as though I am getting no support, and I am progressing further and further into a job that I am finding difficult to do merely because I cannot hear.

He said he will go off and present the information I have sent to him to his manager to see what can be done.

I still don’t hold out much help, but I’m a bit over swallowing anymore BS now !

:slight_smile:

Hi Mondola, well done you on the BS:D:D:D

I think you should get your brother to chase up his local MP as NHS Audiology have no right to deny anyone a service whom is in need, maybe go to the local press, get a lawyer or see CAB as he is being denied his basic rights, maybe contact RNID as they have a larger voice! The problem with most deaf people is we hardly ever complain tis as if we always make do! In my opinion this is because many of the HOH community and indeed big “D” lack the communication skills for obvious reasons or our confidence has taken a severe battering over the years by being overlooked, denied jobs or worse being totally ignored, if someone could harness that 1 in 7 or 1 in 5 politically than what a power they would wield!!!

Don’t let them grind you down; you fight for what is rightly yours! Cheers Kev:D

Well, after much pushing, jumping through loops, and repeating myself over and over and over again, I finally managed to get the Audeo Yes IX hearing aids from Access to Work !

Got them fitted today. So far, not noticing that much of an improvement, but it is early days yet. Came with the myPilot to allow me to use the Zoom Control function.

I go back in two weeks for tweaking of the instruments.

Will let you know how I get on.

:slight_smile:

Congratulations Mondola in getting the Audeo Yes IXs. I’m enjoying my “Smart” version quite a bit after the 15 year old analogs.

TerryB

Hi there,

I’m struggling with them and cannot wait for them to be tweaked in a week’s time. They seem to be set a little too subtle for my liking !

:slight_smile:

Hi Mondola,

Glad to hear you got “Access to Work” to supply you with new aids:D

I hope the 2nd fit works better for you!

I did trial the Alera 9’s, phone clip was excellent, TV streamer did not work, at all. The sound was good on the 9’s, but they are just not powerful enough for my loss! So they’re going back…I am off to NHS Audiology tomorrow to see what they can offer me, probably not a lot, we’ll see?

If I have no luck with the NHS Audi then I may trial the Phonak Spice when it is released here, there are some excellent reviews on this site!

Cheers, Kev:D