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Digital hearing aids advice please


Bobba
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Advice welcomed please from those with any experience of digital hearing aids and streaming TV programme audio from TV to hearing aids Via Bluetooth.

 Currently I have two NHS supplied aids with telecoil loop. NHS will not retune them for another 18 mths as it is a three year interval between consultations. This also affects my TV enjoyment as volume control has to balance the needs of both Mr and Mrs B. I’ve tried one of those neck loop digital devices plugged in to the TV optical output but it was pants.

 The NHS does not provide digital hearing aids and so I am considering purchase. I understand that using an appropriate App you can stream TV sound and adjust volume to personal needs. In addition you can get wired mini speaker type things into the ear, as opposed to conventional tubes, and this eliminates the “echo” sound from the tube system.

 In addition to Bluetooth, the TV does support sound out from both TV speakers and optical output simultaneously.

 So, before I let some sales person posing as an audiologist try to sell me something I may not need I thought I would consult PW colleagues for their views. Thanks in advance.

Bob

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I am unable to comment upon the various systems that you mention, but, I can say that the 'loop' system works well enough for me. If my Wife has the volume at a level that she can hear, I simply turn the loop off. With regards to private hearing aids as opposed to NHS,  I have several shooting pals, who, like me are all deaf and they have tried various varieties of 'private' hearing aids. They have all but one,  gone back to the NHS ones. The only one that has not, paid nearly £6000 for his  !  Be careful with the private route,  at first they sound great, but when it comes to actually living with them, it can prove a costly mistake.

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My wife is deaf in one ear, partial hearing in the other and has a digital hearing aid so I asked her to look at your post. She has a private device and nhs as back up. Hers is a “resound” model and it is programmable to the environment so she doesn’t need the loop system. She operates it from a little hand set. It also has an external speaker that feeds straight into the aid. So if we are at dinner, I sit on her deaf side with the speaker on my lapel. So this acts as an ear on her deaf side. At work her boss wears it so she can speak to her from wherever.

She did say get a really good audiologist you can trust not a hearing aid salesman. She uses Oxford Hearing centre as we used to live there. She now travels down to them from Scotland if they are needed. She has had a few issues and simply posted the aid to them and it was sorted and returned immediately.

Hope this helps and good luck. It’s not a cheap option but her life is transformed by using a good quality private aid and a first class audiologist.

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22 hours ago, Westley said:

I am unable to comment upon the various systems that you mention, but, I can say that the 'loop' system works well enough for me. If my Wife has the volume at a level that she can hear, I simply turn the loop off. With regards to private hearing aids as opposed to NHS,  I have several shooting pals, who, like me are all deaf and they have tried various varieties of 'private' hearing aids. They have all but one,  gone back to the NHS ones. The only one that has not, paid nearly £6000 for his  !  Be careful with the private route,  at first they sound great, but when it comes to actually living with them, it can prove a costly mistake.

Thanks Westley, What Loop system do you have please?

 

3 hours ago, bryan7162 said:

I know it might sound silly, but try a pair of 3M Peltor sporttac head phones, used for shooting,

they have volume controls, so you can set them to your needs

Not so silly at all. I think I will also explore Bluetooth headphones. The added advantage is that with headphones on I wouldn't be able to hear Mrs B when she speaks to me......... :-)

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21 minutes ago, Bobba said:

Thanks Westley, What Loop system do you have please?

 

Not so silly at all. I think I will also explore Bluetooth headphones. The added advantage is that with headphones on I wouldn't be able to hear Mrs B when she speaks to me......... 🙂

The 'Loop' is an Echo Megaloop.

With regards to the Peltor headphones/hearing defenders, save your money, I have tried them all including Cens. The Cens are OK WHEN they work, but the best ear defenders are the Howard Leight. They are the only ones that I can hear conversation through, all of the others are just NOT loud enough.   

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13 minutes ago, Westley said:

The Cens are OK WHEN they work,  

mine worked fine until they go a bath via a can of coke then put in their case and forgot about for a couple of months, still used them for 5 or 6 years because one still works,  

had no problem last year about buying a new pair, easier to turn off and on, 3 levels of volume

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43 minutes ago, itchy trigger said:

mine worked fine until they go a bath via a can of coke then put in their case and forgot about for a couple of months, still used them for 5 or 6 years because one still works,  

had no problem last year about buying a new pair, easier to turn off and on, 3 levels of volume

Too long a story, BUT, if I am looking to replace then it is Vario for me.

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I have a pair of digital aids that after five years I was looking to upgrade to the newer Bluetooth version , from the ones I tried I just couldn’t see £5000 worth of improvement over the ones I’ve already got , given the ones I already have would then become expensive back up ..With regards to any improvement from the nhs to the Siemens ones I paid for the difference was staggering ..when I first walked out the store (specsavers) into the street I literally stopped in disbelief at what I could hear ..This was five or six years ago and they cost me the very thick end of £3k ...

Now the not so good bit ...the first three or four years they are under guarantee , which is just as well because they went back every year , one at a time they where replaced four or five times each due to moisture (sweat) which causes them to switch off .Given I looked after them as per instructions , putting them in a drying box at night and was always conscious of wearing them when it was raining it was bloody annoying when they packed up ..Specsavers sent them for repair , they have to go back to Siemens for this , and they don’t repair them they replace them .This is fine and dandy when they are under warranty but once that ends it’s £168 (each )a go , so far I’ve had four goes of that .When I tried talking to specsavers about extending the warranty as they had both been replaced four times by then , they were having none of it ...

Regardless of the above I would be ,and am lost without them , I’m just resigned to the fact I will probably need to spend £336 a year till the lid gets nailed down on the box ..years of shooting shotguns and full bore rifles have taken a heavy toll on my hearing , if I knew then what I know now hearing protection would  have been the first thing I put in the truck for the days sport ..

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On 07/02/2021 at 10:41, DUNKS said:

Hi I was told by the NHS audiologist that their hearing aids were digital?

Thanks. Agreed, as to the hearing aid itself. But the additional digital functions I am looking for are the wire / mini speakers to the ears as opposed to tubes, and, the bluetooth pairing to the TV. Sadly, neither are seemingly available on the NHS aids. Hence my original query.

At least we have an audiology service on the NHS. I was told by the NHS audiologist that in the ROI those who are acutely deaf - which significantly / adversely effects their way of life / work - they are dealt with by the state. For those with just hearing impairment they are given a voucher to cash in at a commercial supplier as a contribution towards the cost of their hearing aids. He was of the view that there are "those" (whoever "those" are?) who are looking at NHS cost / staff savings and are looking at a similar system here. Privatisation by the back door?

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I was forced to have hearing aids three years ago and am due for a check-up but am guessing C-19 has put paid to that this year.  I have the NHS goldy coloured things that hook behind the ear and TBH they're pretty good.  The only problem I've had is that the young man who was, shall we say, clearly bored doing whathe was doing said the instructions are in the box.  Well, they aint so no idea what the little beeps mean even to this day.  So if any one can help with a set of instructions I'd be really greatful.  They might even be available on a link or whatever they call it.

As far as specsavers and the like go, I don't think the service they provide to get a couple of hundred quid every two years is warranted so there's no way I'd be spending 000's with them for hearing aids.  I do know different trusts spend their money differently eg my trust has the standard hearing aides whereas a mate in another trust has got the in-ear digital things.  I have the hearing of an 80 yr old in one ear and not much better in the other and like the other poster, the hearing defenders would be the first thing I'd reach for all them years ago.

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  • 3 months later...
On 14/02/2021 at 00:08, Hornet99 said:

I was forced to have hearing aids three years ago and am due for a check-up but am guessing C-19 has put paid to that this year.  I have the NHS goldy coloured things that hook behind the ear and TBH they're pretty good.  The only problem I've had is that the young man who was, shall we say, clearly bored doing whathe was doing said the instructions are in the box.  Well, they aint so no idea what the little beeps mean even to this day.  So if any one can help with a set of instructions I'd be really greatful.  They might even be available on a link or whatever they call it.

As far as specsavers and the like go, I don't think the service they provide to get a couple of hundred quid every two years is warranted so there's no way I'd be spending 000's with them for hearing aids.  I do know different trusts spend their money differently eg my trust has the standard hearing aides whereas a mate in another trust has got the in-ear digital things.  I have the hearing of an 80 yr old in one ear and not much better in the other and like the other poster, the hearing defenders would be the first thing I'd reach for all them years ago.

I have these, the instructions are somewhere!
The button on the top will swap between normal mode and Loop mode if you have it programmed.

If you go from normal to loop it will bleeps once.

If you go from loop to normal it will play a little tune.

The rocker switch is just volume.

It will bleep for every movement and bleep twice when you return to the "set" volume 

 

Hope that helps

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