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Have you gotten your hearing tested?

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Community Manager
Community Manager

Have you gotten your hearing tested?

Statistics show that hearing loss has doubled in the past 30 years.  Have you tested your hearing?  Do you have a baseline to test again for the future?  Curious how many people test their hearing as parf their health routines.

AARPTeri
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Newbie

Hearing aids are by far the most over priced health aid on the market! It's almost criminal how much dispensers of aids mark up the cost of their product! I was able to land a pair of used hearing aids that retailed for over $7,000/pair for a mere $350!  Fortunately the ear molds fit quite well and I avoided having to replace them with what I call the Universal replacements that cost $100. I don't know how you would come across used hearing aids, but now that I am retired perhaps I will look into that as a business. You can purchase new aids on line at a fraction of the cost of going to a hearing aid rip off palace! Today's hearing aids are indeed magical devices. After someone gives you a hearing test, they are able to see exactly the frequencies you have difficulty with as well as the degree of difficulty at each frequency. With this information they are able to program your aids to your exact needs, amplifying the frequency you are not hearing, and leaving alone the ones you are having no problem with. It's sort of like a graphic equalizer on your sound system and some aids have as many as 16 different frequency adjustments! When the salesman put them in my ears, I could hear like I was 16 years old again. At that time, about 15 years ago, he wanted $6,000 for them which was way out of my price range. As far as finding used hearing aids, i might  suggest talking to your friendly funeral home director. My feeling is that most aids that get donated back, hoping they go to needy hearing impaired people, either get tossed or resold as new.

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Honored Social Butterfly


@mv2498 wrote:
My husband has a deficiency that is significant and should wear hearing aids. There is no Social Security or hearing compensation from our insurance. This keeps him from getting hearing aids

  Many audiologist might have used, refurbished models available.

  Use to get them for my mother since she needed extremely powerful models - they were about half the cost of a new one and worked just as well and also had a good guarantee.

It's Always Something . . . . Roseanna Roseannadanna
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Periodic Contributor

I've been wondering how to get this done without getting roped into buying a device.

 

I don't think I have a problem with volume...but I don't seem to hear fast enough to catch what a lot of these younger people are saying....sounds funny, but I really do have to keep asking them to repeat and slow down. This only happens with certain people and others are just fine.

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Periodic Contributor

I noticed hearing loss in left ear but overall I thought I was OK - got tested.  Had hearing loss in both ears, more left than right.  Mostly in crowds, it was hard to hear conversation above noise of say, a noisy restaurant.  All came to a head when in a crowded retaurant the waitress asked me how I was today and I said "Diet coke please".   Wife had a good laugh.  

I am curious as to pricing plans people are seeing.  I went first to ENT office and they were nice but I followed up at Costco and saved SUBSTANTIAL $$$ there.

 

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Contributor

No, but need to.

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Regular Contributor

Yes. I got the free test at Costco (membership required), and a second time at a hearing specialist in Los Angeles. The Costco test showed I had a 30 Percent loss, and the second test showed almost a 40 percent loss. I purchased two hearing aids and my life has improved immensely. I encourage every senior to get tested. Before my hearing aids, I was withdrawing socially because it was embarrassing to keep asking people to repeat themselves. Luckily, for me, I have an incredible health insurance plan, which picked up most of the cost. I don't understand why these tiny devices cost so much.
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Bronze Conversationalist

I don't know why they cost so much either.  Luckily I was able to make payments..some people can't even do that....

Should be somekind of discount offered by AARP, unless there is one and I don't know aboutl.

 

Yes truly helped me

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Periodic Contributor

 
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Contributor

Yes, just recently. Only because I had to continually ask certain people to repeat what they were saying.. The audiologist wanted me to take 2 VERY expensive hearing aids. I took one. It is helpful. Almost everyone I see has 2 hearing aids. Is there any info regarding hearing loss in the ear without the hearing aid?
Thank you!
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Bronze Conversationalist

My hearing loss is greater in right ear,  less in the left....I bought be courteous

There is a lot of infomation on the net about this...

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Newbie

No

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Bronze Conversationalist

Hey this isnt what I typed in above reply....be courteous

Lot of info on the net about this

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Community Manager
Community Manager

We apologize for the issue with your post... we have corrected the problem and you should be able to post all words now.  Thank you.

AARPTeri
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Newbie

I am interested in hearing be courteous

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Periodic Contributor

I was certified to do industrial hearing tests be courteous

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Contributor

No
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Contributor

No, I have not.
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Bronze Conversationalist

Yes had hearing tested few years ago....Was tired of people actually getting mad at me if I couldn't hear what they were saying.

Guess they had no understanding at all,  like I was doing it on purpose....the aids really help...

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Contributor

NO! I NEED TO KNOW WHERE TO GO TO GET IT. I LIVE IN RIDGEFIELD, WA. 98642 

Vickie Heath

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Trusted Contributor

If you keep your emails, one on 25 June 2020 was titled 

take our at-home hearing test — it's FREE for AARP members

here is the verbage and link that was inside

 

National Hearing Test — FREE for AARP members
Test your hearing annually with this free, phone-based hearing test taken from the safety and comfort of home. It’s confidential and scientifically validated.  Take the test.

Free Telephone Hearing Test
Members can take the test for free once a year. The National Hearing Test is an independent and scientifically validated hearing screen test developed with funding from the National Institutes of Health.

 

SHOOT!  It would not allow me to include the original link.

www.aarp.org/benefits-discounts/all/national-hearing-test/?CMP=EMC-CSN-DIS-OTH-HEALTH-HearingCenter_...

 

Hope this one works

 

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Periodic Contributor

Hi there,

 

If there is an ENT, Ear/Nose/Throat, specialist nearby he/she should be equipped to run a basic hearing test for you. A full test requires an Audiologist. The quick search that I ran for your area all comes up with Vancouver. Do see your PCP first to rule out any obvious physical issues.

Two things: be wary of an "over the phone" test as the speaker is not particularly reliable, and be careful with hearing aid shops as they have an interest in selling you their wares.

Also, avoid "As Seen on TV specials". They're more likely to cause harm than good.

Best wishes.

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Newbie

Yes, recently.

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Honored Social Butterfly

I would do this but I have 'selective hearing loss' when DW is around. If I got tested and found there were no problems, that wouldn't work any longer.  Man Tongue


"...Why is everyone a victim? Take personal responsibility for your life..."
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Bronze Conversationalist

Years ago a co-worker pointed out to me that I could not hear him talking to me until he got within 10 feet.  So I went the an ENT doctor who determined that I needed an hearing aid.  When the audioligist tested me my hearing was 42dB loss in one ear and 47dB loss in the other.  I chose to get just one HA, it was an 'in the ear' or ITE as it's called.  As I've aged I've gotten tested more and more often since once hearing is damaged, it continues to deteriorate. 

 

It's very frustrating when people don't go to an audi.  I got my first pair a few years ago and paid them off while living on Florida's measly unemployment.  

 

My hearing in the ear that was 'naked' for so long has deteriorated in leaps and bounds, so now I have a Cochlear Implant in that ear.

 

It's also most irritating and abusive to the Deaf Community when people refer to their hearing loss as ' being deaf'.  The 40dB loss I tested at first is at well below the comminication level.  Once your hearing reaches 60dB loss, you no longer clearly hear words; at 70dB loss you have lost so much in 'words' that even whole sentences may not make sense; at 90dB loss your are severely deaf, then at 100dB you are totally deaf.

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Periodic Contributor

Yes Just yesterday got hearing aids. My ears feel stopped up and itch constantly. Everything is louder but understanding voices has not improved. I will try to remain hopeful that in time I will get used to them and my hearing with understanding will improve.
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Newbie

Medicare? Or Medicaide? Ordinarily Medicare does not cover anything more than the hearing test: does not pay anything toward hearing aids.
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Bronze Conversationalist

You have to go back to audiologist to have them adjusted and also he can give you some oil to use in ear to stop the itching.It was just a small bottle ran out, but on reading the ingredients Vitamin E, so I just bought a generic Vitamin E oil...Yes, takes a while to get used to...your brain has to adjust,.. It will eventually do so.  But you might need the other one,  to even things out with your hearing...

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Honored Social Butterfly

LeCherie,

My mother was deaf bassed on the scale but she was very good at reading lips of those who would face her, talking and pronounce their words.

It was awful when she had to be hospitalized or go to the rehab place (nursing home). No matter how many signs I posted in the room and on her, people just didn't change their normal behavior towards her.

I have tinnitus in my right ear. I suspect I know the cause of it since a CT Scan showed no brain problems. There is only minor hearing loss and that has not changed in years. However, if I tune in the sound, it seems to be louder now.

I use various types of white noise to block it when I am going to sleep and this has worked for years. Otherwise, it is just a case of ignoring it during the day. Often I just tell it to "shut up"!

A friend of mine had meningitis, left him deaf and he now has a cochlear implant but he still has differentiating problems with multiple sounds in a room. So he prefers to be in relatively quite places where not many different sounds are going on,

Do you find that with your cochlear implant?

One of my neighbors' grandson has a genetic problem where he lost his hearing at a very young age, he got the cochlear implants and now he is a teenager and it doesn't seem to slow him down at all although with the decline in his vision from the same genetic problem, he will never drive.

I am not really up on when and how cochlear implants work. I just hope that I don't lose any more hearing but since it seem everybody on my mother's side of the family had some hearing loss, mine could have some familiar bearing.

However, I contribute the tinnitus to loud noises in my youth, too much aspirin and an extreme case of TMJ; could be some stress relationship in there too.

It's Always Something . . . . Roseanna Roseannadanna
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Bronze Conversationalist

My hearing was damaged by an ear infection when I was a toddler, but my mother denied to my teachers and everyone that I had any hearing trouble even though the school testing program indicated I needed to do something.  The tinnitus has probrably been with me forever, but I rarely noticed it.  Researchers still have not found what causes it.

 

Yes, with the CI you have to change the program according to what environment you are in.  It's not always easy.  When I go to yoga, the classroom has plaster walls over brick and real hardwood floors.  I've not found the best setting for there, so I have to turn my mat to watch what the instructor is taking us into.  

 

For those of us on MediCare, they won't do the CI surgery until we can comprehend less than 40% of the sentences being said on certain DVDs they supply the audi.  I'm very close, and frustrated, with my other ear.  But I'm still comprehending like 43% and I'm tested annually.

 

Also, with SS only income, MediCare paid nearly the entire cost of my CI.  I paid less than $200 for the entire procedure, equipment, and follow-up.

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Periodic Contributor

A question for folks who are on Medicare with only SS income and whose only treatment choice is a coclear implant:

 

It has been my understanding that while Medicare would cover a large part of the cost of a CI, loss of hearing had to be bilateral rather than unilateral? In other words you had to be functionally deaf.

I'm dealing with Sensory Neural Hearing Loss, which is as typical is unilateral, and typically so great as to be considered profound, near total deafness.

 

As neither of the two ENTs and one Audiologist that I've seen have mentioned Medicare assistance, is there somewhere within the system to find more current information?

 

Thank you in advance.

 

Oh. SSNL can also result in horrific tinnitus.

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