New to hearing aids. Phonak M

I've had NHS hearing aids for 5 years now and wear them daily.
I have to have the wires replaced every 9 months (on their advice) and am eligible for a hearing test every 3 yrs (again, their advice). I still struggle with certain sounds, one being if someone has a strong accent, especially Scottish for some strange reason
I've recently found out I would have been eligible for a disabled rail card since getting the aids but this wasn't mentioned to me by anyone at the time, or since. I only found out from reaching the age of 60 and qualifying for a senior railcard.
I wonder if there are any other 'benefits' I don't know about that I, and other hearing aid wearers are eligible for.

For anyone who has difficulty inserting hearing aids it could be that your aids are fitted with the wrong sized domes. This happened to me. My audiologist changed the domes for smaller ones and now I have no difficulty. Also, dry ears can make inserting difficult. Try olive oil or a tiny bit of vaseline.

My OH had NHS aids but they had fiddly batteries and there was no support from the NHS once issued. Later OH got private ones and they are fine after lots of help from the audiologist who supplies them. They don't have fiddly batteries.

I agree it is so much easier to recharge them each night,

It is a benign brain tumour hitting my acoustic nerve on the left and not old age. This may be why the NHS pair sounded muffled and I could not cope. My new private ones are fabulous.

After trialling private hearing aids I opted for NHS ones with blue tooth. My brain adjusted to all the noise fairly quickly and the tinnitus went away, although initially I did find ‘hearing’ tiring,
I’m interested about which APP people with the NHS hearing aids have downloaded. I’ve had a look but there are quite a few. Can anyone share please?
Thanks for this thread. : )

Yes you can. I have tinnitus and it helps a lot.

Interesting comments here... I am user of a hearing aid for 9 yrs now due to deafness in one ear from a blocked eustacian tube.
I was told to wear it at least 5 hrs a day initially so brain could adjust.
I have had trouble with domes falling out and have tried the various sizes. In the end I had a mould made for inside ear and that works. I note someone has trouble with glasses and hearing aid. It is possible to get a spectacle that includes the hearing aid located on the side arm instead of behind the ear. I lost my hearing aid during covid when flipped off when removing a mask. I tried a fancier one that had bluetooth and rechargable battery. It was nice to be able to listen to podcasts/phone calls in the bad ear. But the model of phone I had at the time was not compatible with the hearing aid so was useless. I actually prefer the small battery to having another device to be plugged in and maybe a charger that might be left in a hotel etc. In the end I opted for a cheaper h aid that is not bluetooth. I now have an earpod for the good ear that only cost £20.

I do not understand why I was not offered Bluetooth and rechargeable with my NHS pair as some are. That is the reason I had to buy it privately. I live in London and both NHS and private aids were supplied by Specsavers.

Charleygirl5 not all local authorities offer the Bluetooth hearing aids free through the NHS.
We're in Staffordshire and my husband had to pay for his.
I just have the free ones.

Hi am now in my seventies and have had NHS hearing aids since in my thirties, great! Put them in first thing and take them out last thing! If you have a good audiologist, mine is great, a lot of people don’t even realise I wear them and they are full moulds as I am profoundly deaf. Please message me if you need any advice.

I was very motivated, decided to get over the strange feeling asap. I never take them out before bedtime (or bathtime). Iwear mine 2 years now. My loss of hearing is hereditary, I lost more than half of the high-tones - and you need those for understanding/conversation. So happy I decided to take hearing aids, I once again can join in conversations! Iunderstand my grandchildren again!

I notice not many grans have mentioned all in the ear aids. I’ve worn this type for 25 years. No fiddly tubing to get used to. Unfortunately I’ve had to go privately for these and have spent a lot of money over the years. I did not know that Specsavers had a link with NHS. I reckon hearing aids supply must cost the NHS a fortune unless the manufacturers of the aids charge the NHS less . I’ve often thought that hearing aids are far too expensive and someone is making huge profits.

Pearl30

After trialling private hearing aids I opted for NHS ones with blue tooth. My brain adjusted to all the noise fairly quickly and the tinnitus went away, although initially I did find ‘hearing’ tiring,
I’m interested about which APP people with the NHS hearing aids have downloaded. I’ve had a look but there are quite a few. Can anyone share please?
Thanks for this thread. : )

Pearl. It’ll depend what make your hearing aids are. Mine are phonak m so just needed to put that in the app search then download. There should be one for yours.

Macgran43

I notice not many grans have mentioned all in the ear aids. I’ve worn this type for 25 years. No fiddly tubing to get used to. Unfortunately I’ve had to go privately for these and have spent a lot of money over the years. I did not know that Specsavers had a link with NHS. I reckon hearing aids supply must cost the NHS a fortune unless the manufacturers of the aids charge the NHS less . I’ve often thought that hearing aids are far too expensive and someone is making huge profits.

Mac gran. I would have liked the in ear aids but when I went to boots she said my ear canals are too narrow so they wouldn’t be suitable. She showed me the ones I could have, so went via the NHS instead and saved a fortune.

I’ve found one or two unexpected advantages of needing hearing aids including giving an irritating neighbour the brush off when I encountered them in the swimming pool, ‘I’ve not got my hearing aids in, we’ll have to catch up another time’.

I have had HAs for 40 years plus. Spending thousand of pounds on private aids. I then changed to NHS phonac 7 years ago and bought a Roger Pen, had shoes fitted on the aids and that was Bliss there was nothing I could not hear. 5 years later NHS changed their supplier and we all now have Bluetooth Signia aids. My Roger Pen is not compatible so I have had to buy an additional Loop aid which converts the Roger Pen so now all is almost well again. I do love using Bluetooth though as like others have said the phone calls go straight through to the aids as does everything on the iPad, but sadly not the iMac which does not have proper Bluetooth. I don't use my app much but change from the hearing aids. Left is programme change I have 4 on mine, right is volume. and once you adjust one it changes both, very easy to manage. Mine are moulds, which I need now, the in the ears aids in various sizes no longer give me the volume I need.
Having said all that, no aid are going to be perfect, My cochineal is worn so I only clearly understand 9 letters of the alphabet, the rest could be anything, so it is no9t always the aids, but the actual ears that are worn out and sadly cannot be repaired. I manage easily one to one, but struggle in crowds, the Roger Pen does not improve crowds as it just makes it all louder even when I cut the background noise off on programme 2. You need to experiment with your hearing aids go back to your supplier, they cab adjust them on line with you if you have digital. Your supplier should have set them up for you on the app and explained everything to you. one took over an hour going through it all with me and gave me a print out showing which aid does what. Very thorough indeed. I have my tubes done every 6 months, once they go hard the input diminishes. So that is important to remember. Good luck with your new ones, I hope you get to love them as much as I do mine. I have severe tinnitus and reversed hearing loss, so struggle with men's voices much more than ladies, particularly on the phone.

Katyj

Pearl30

After trialling private hearing aids I opted for NHS ones with blue tooth. My brain adjusted to all the noise fairly quickly and the tinnitus went away, although initially I did find ‘hearing’ tiring,
I’m interested about which APP people with the NHS hearing aids have downloaded. I’ve had a look but there are quite a few. Can anyone share please?
Thanks for this thread. : )

Pearl. It’ll depend what make your hearing aids are. Mine are phonak m so just needed to put that in the app search then download. There should be one for yours.

Look for the make of your hearing aids, then download that one, mine are Signia, I am surprised your consultant did not do it when you collected your aids, they should have done all that which mine did as I said in my post previously

Thanks to Katyj for explaining Bluetooth. I was offered this with my new hearing aids but backed away in horror! For various reasons I don’t use my mobile phone so don’t want it somehow linked to my hearing aids.

watermeadow

Thanks to Katyj for explaining Bluetooth. I was offered this with my new hearing aids but backed away in horror! For various reasons I don’t use my mobile phone so don’t want it somehow linked to my hearing aids.

You honestly do not know what you are missing the sound is beautifully clear and just like normal conversation when you listen to your phone and iPad. they are truly brilliant and have changed my life.

All in the ear HAs are not suitable if you have severe hearing loss, you get to the stage where only moulds will give you the volume and clarity as good as possible you need.

win

watermeadow

Thanks to Katyj for explaining Bluetooth. I was offered this with my new hearing aids but backed away in horror! For various reasons I don’t use my mobile phone so don’t want it somehow linked to my hearing aids.

You honestly do not know what you are missing the sound is beautifully clear and just like normal conversation when you listen to your phone and iPad. they are truly brilliant and have changed my life.

All in the ear HAs are not suitable if you have severe hearing loss, you get to the stage where only moulds will give you the volume and clarity as good as possible you need.

I agree with all the above. Another added benefit of connecting my hearing aids to my phone is that I can be listening to something interesting whilst nodding occasionally and pretending to listen to DH's running commentary on whatever sport he is watching!

JdotJ

I've had NHS hearing aids for 5 years now and wear them daily.
I have to have the wires replaced every 9 months (on their advice) and am eligible for a hearing test every 3 yrs (again, their advice). I still struggle with certain sounds, one being if someone has a strong accent, especially Scottish for some strange reason
I've recently found out I would have been eligible for a disabled rail card since getting the aids but this wasn't mentioned to me by anyone at the time, or since. I only found out from reaching the age of 60 and qualifying for a senior railcard.
I wonder if there are any other 'benefits' I don't know about that I, and other hearing aid wearers are eligible for.

I have worn hearing aids for many years, l do not consider myself disabled and whilst aware l could apply for a disabled rail card l would not.
Others may consider their deafness a disability, it's up to the individual to decide.

OldFrill

JdotJ

I've had NHS hearing aids for 5 years now and wear them daily.
I have to have the wires replaced every 9 months (on their advice) and am eligible for a hearing test every 3 yrs (again, their advice). I still struggle with certain sounds, one being if someone has a strong accent, especially Scottish for some strange reason
I've recently found out I would have been eligible for a disabled rail card since getting the aids but this wasn't mentioned to me by anyone at the time, or since. I only found out from reaching the age of 60 and qualifying for a senior railcard.
I wonder if there are any other 'benefits' I don't know about that I, and other hearing aid wearers are eligible for.

I have worn hearing aids for many years, l do not consider myself disabled and whilst aware l could apply for a disabled rail card l would not.
Others may consider their deafness a disability, it's up to the individual to decide.

I certainly do, it is isolating, lonely, frustrating and so much more not to be able to converse in a group, you sit there and pretend to understand but you have not got a clue. I attend lots of meetings through my voluntary work and if it was not for my Roger pen I simply could not do that, I have had to buy that privately as Assessories are not funded on the NHS. It is sad not to be able to hear the TV and have to rely on sub titles that annoy others as they cannot see the full picture, unless you go to the expense of having a loop in the room. Being hard og hearing as it is called regardless how much or little is a huge disability for most of us.

It is up to the individual whether they consider their deafness a disabled or not, and rightly so. You are quite right to consider you are disabled, l am equally right to consider l am not.
I would be very angry if everyone who wears hearing aids were considered disabled. There are ramifications to this that would negatively affect me.
Apart from living with my own deafness (I believe from measles as a child), l have worked with the profoundly deaf and understand the limitations and challenges that deafness presents.

I have had hearing aids off and on for years as I have had impaired hearing for most of my life. I have moulds on mine, which work much better for me. Bluetooth has been a lifechanger as I am able to connect it to my iPad when teaching on zoom.

Also, I have the disabled person's railcard. I am not yet (quite) eligible for the senior railcard and I like to travel by train so it is a real saving. I do not consider myself disabled but announcements at stations are muffled at the best of times and it is so easy to miss something important.