Do I have a hearing problem?

I have noise related hearing loss, not surprising the environments in which I spent my working life.
Got a referral from my doctor. Within an hour of the test, a pair of behind the ear NHS aids had been sey up to cater for my individual problems. Outside the rain was thundering on my umbrella as the grass squelched under my feet!
That was over 15 years ago, and was recently provided with the latest digital aids. Happily, hearing has not deteriorated over the last 5 years, since the last pair of aids.
The volume on TV programmes, and recordings, varies from channel to channel and from programme to programme. The over emphasised and often needless,"background" music is no help. Especially when the actors lower their voices.
OH still does not understand speaking with head in a cupboard, or another room, makes hearing difficult; and that after many years dealing with the deaf!
Some voices / accents are easier than others, and some people speak more clearly than others.
Am loathe to admit defeat and put on the subtitles, but fear that unless something changes it will be necessary.
makes you realise just how wonderful the human body when it first sets out, and before we damage it!

Some films on TV have soundtracks which turning up the volume fails to make intelligible. I wonder if this is because they soundtrack was designed for cinemas and not the small screen. As it is, subtitles are the best solution. When I'm with my family, I think that they speak indistinctly and far too fast, which was not always the case, but I remember how I always had to turn up the TV sound for my late father, I realise that I may be in line for hearing aids. ?

InnocentBystander

MissAdventure

The first rule about having a hearing problem is that it absolutely isn't you.
Its everyone else mumbling.
It's the TV muffling the voices.
It's people talking quietly in another room and expecting you to hear them....

I was in the 'blame the actors' camp until I had a hearing assessment by NHS audiologists at the local hospital. She, the audiologist, did a very thorough set of tests and declared that I had mild to moderate hearing loss and she prescribed modern digital miniature behind the ear hearing aids. When they arrived she tuned them to the profile of my hearing - different each side - so that the boost they provided matched the weaker frequencies of my ears. It was a revelation! Most people who have not had a test or been prescribed aids think they amplify the sound and that, therefore, background noise becomes a problem. This is not the case for me. My hearing on the default setting of the aids is not any louder at all, but it is so much clearer. Before I couldn't differentiate between 'f' and 's' and you don't have to have a ribald sense of humour to think of how that could be difficult! Put pride behind you and give the NHS a go when the heat is off them after the plague. It will cost you nothing, not even for batteries, and you will find that speech really is as clear as you thought it used to be.

I would agree here. My GP told me, pre-Covid to go and have a hearing test at my local opticians, purely because it would be much quicker than waiting for an NHS test. When I had done that she wanted me to take the report to her and if necessary she would refer me to the NHS audiology department. She said the NHS hearing aids are every bit as good as private ones and a damn sight cheaper.

I had a hearing test about 18 months ago at Specsavers and they keep pestering me to go back for another one, which I have no plans to do at the moment as in my opinion it is too risky. I am staying at home.
I was advised that I have slight hearing loss, probably only a problem in a noisy pub or restaurant or party, none of which are happening, nor even happened very often before the pandemic , so I decided it was too soon to bother with a hearing aid just yet. Maybe a factor was that this Specsavers was not part of the NHS, as some are, so I would have had to pay.
We bought a sound bar for the TV, but DH has it far too loud for me and the bass is even louder, especially when I have gone up to bed before him. It is the background music and different accents which spoil the sound on TV.

annodomini

Some films on TV have soundtracks which turning up the volume fails to make intelligible. I wonder if this is because they soundtrack was designed for cinemas and not the small screen. As it is, subtitles are the best solution. When I'm with my family, I think that they speak indistinctly and far too fast, which was not always the case, but I remember how I always had to turn up the TV sound for my late father, I realise that I may be in line for hearing aids. ?

I agree about inappropriate sound balance on films. The recent run of Indiana Jones films on Channel 4 have been especially difficult. We have a TV with built-in speakers which are fine for most things, and an expensive home cinema set up that could blow you our of the window, but neither/both could make the speech louder and the incidental noise/music quieter so that the former was audible above the latter. Come advert time the windows rattled!