Does wearing hearing aids hurt?
No. Not unless your ear is against something, like when you laying down or getting hit in the ear with a ball. There might be some discomfort with wearing a molded hearing aid at first, however, it is something you can get used to.
Why do you speak so clearly?
My hearing loss started when I was 10 years old, so I learned to talk well before the hearing loss started. Growing up I only had a severe hearing loss in on ear, meaning I still had my right ear to help me hear speech. I also always had excellent speech clarity when hearing myself and others.
Do you hear yourself when you talk?
Yes, I do… however, I cannot speak for anyone else. It’s different and it’s quieter, but I hear myself very well when I don’t have hearing aids in. Perhaps it’s the way that sound can be conductive through the bones in your head. (??)
However, there are some high notes that my roommate says I should not be hitting.
Do you wear your hearing aids to bed?
No, they whistle like crazy when they are close to an object. Laying down on a pillow with hearing aids would not only be uncomfortable, but they would make a ton of noise. Plus your ears need to breathe for the night and the electronics need a rest.
Think of wearing glasses to bed – that doesn’t quite work either!
How do you wake up in the morning?
I used to use the combination of a very loud alarm clock and a bed shaker… (as bed shakers can look super tacky and the battery dies off early). When I travel I now use sports band or watch (ex: The old Jawbone, Fitbit, iWatch) with a built-in alarm clock vibration.
Today with this new level of hearing loss, I use a bed shaker that feels like the earth is moving. This device and system that also connects to the fire alarms in the building.
Naturally shutting out sound while sleeping can definitely have its benefits. Beauty sleep is always easy in public places like on an airplane when there is a crying baby behind you. (HA, suckers!).
What accommodations do you need in the workplace?
I am still figuring this all out as I haven’t been working in an office since the Sears layoffs.
Before, one of the biggest challenges meetings in large boardrooms (where I would create a buddy system with a colleague to avoid missing key information). I also needed special accommodation for the phone, which usually ended up with me using the Bluetooth capabilities of an iPhone.
Some other accommodations could be: note takers, CART, other voice to text services (some even come as an app), hiring interpreters (for those who know ASL).
I remember the time I missed important information in some meetings such as:
“We’re going to work all night to redo the presentation for our client for tomorrow”… yeah, that wasn’t a cool experience.
What accommodations do you need in the classroom?
For education and in the classroom I use a microphone with the teacher and sit at the front. Lately, I have also been asking for the assistance of a note taker.
For any videos in class, captions are a must!
All schools and workplaces have different accommodations in place, and some are far better than others.
Do you know how to lip read?
Somewhat.
I have adapted well mostly in the regards of my level of required speechreading; using the support of sound, mouth movements, facial and hand gestures to fill in the blanks within a conversation or daily interactions.
I am absolutely awful when it comes to silent lipreading. What is interesting is that they stop teaching this as a practice.
Through medical studies, they have discovered that people with hearing loss naturally start to lip read an pick up visual clues where necessary. Earlier I was advised NOT to practice and NOT to look into as long as I was hearing well with hearing aids. Personally, I have been quite distraught about this advice. Now that I am even more hard of hearing, many people have an expectation that I am fluent in lip reading.
Did you know:
Lip reading is a very difficult practice and some take to it much easier than others.
In general, many vowels look the same and some consonants are very distinct in appearance. For the Hard of Hearing, we use the visuals you can see and the sounds you can hear to piece together the conversation. (Reminder: If I can’t see your face, I can’t hear you!).
Also for many lip readers, they find it helps when they are familiar with the person and their particular rhythm of the way they speak and move their mouth.
Do you know ASL?
I haven’t begun learning until now. Growing up, I was never a part of Deaf Culture or had that sort of exposure. I am learning now because there is a large possibility that I will go completely deaf or close to it.
Not to mention, it is a beautiful language that opens many doors of communication!!
Can you wear hearing aids in the shower or with sports?
I would say “absolutely not” with shower or swimming. I wear an old hearing aid with a fabric protection sleeve for running.
Modern-day hearing aids are generally “water and dust resistant”, however, I have never seen any of these tiny devices perform well for sports. I just recently discovered Ear Gear which is a product that does protect it a bit from sweating.
Cochlear implants have a costly device that protects the ear while swimming if you are someone who swims all the time. I am sure that hearing aids must have a similar device.
Are hearing aid retail stores any good?
Personally I have only heard the negative things of such stores, but usually, those are complaints of people landing at an Audiology clinic. Here are some things that I know:
Working with an audiologist in a clinic has its benefits:
A) Building a relationship with a highly educated expert.
B) Getting fitted with the hearing device with the right features for your loss (no bias to any brands).
C) Personally, I saw better results being fitted for a hearing aid by an audiologist than with a hearing aid tech. (My own personal bias).
D) An audiologist usually has more training with hearing aid adjustments and a better understanding of changes in your hearing loss.
What I know about hearing retail stores:
These retail locations usually only sell one or two brands (their own brand), plus I have heard you become more of a “client number” with the hearing aid technician.
One huge thing that I admire about introducing retail locations is that they are making hearing aids more accessible to the general public and breaking down barriers to purchase (cost, image, etc). With certain levels of hearing loss I would ALWAYS recommend an audiologist. Someone with a mild hearing loss might see the cost benefits to the services offered at some of the retail store locations.
I would love to hear your opinion or personal experience with a hearing aid retail store.
Do you know a good Audiologist?
Ask me and I will recommend a good one in Toronto.
Are you Deaf or Hard of Hearing?
I have been asking my own questions lately. At what point do you use the term “deaf”? Why do some people with hearing aids call themselves deaf? (Like in the show “Switched at Birth”). When a hearing loss occurs, when do you start to say “Hard of Hearing” or “deaf”?
Lately, I have discovered that a lot of this has to do with identity and accessibility. If someone grew up with Deaf Culture and use ASL, they may identify with being deaf for the purpose of identity as well as for accommodations.
Today we have powerful hearing aids with a sound replacement technology that help change the pitches of sound so I can still piece together a large part of human speech in my right ear. English being my main language and the main form of communication, today I still currently call myself “Hard of Hearing” or I can clarify with a “severe-to-profound hearing loss” as I don’t know sign language, and can somewhat carry a conversation. When needed to be emphasized, I say am “almost deaf” or on the “deaf spectrum”. All definitions are technically correct.
What does the Website Favicon represent?
The base clef reminds me of an ear and was the inspiration of the icon because it represents sound. Not only that, but low pitches have continued to remain the clear and decipherable throughout my life as the high pitches disapeared. The additional element reminds me of a hearing aid or a CI.