Last post Sun, Mar 30 2008 12:50 PM by DFHOH. 3 replies.
Anybody know anything about these?
I currently wear a hearing aid but when it comes to electronic sounds like the TV, radio, conference speakers about all I get is the adults from an episode of Charlie Brown. I am interested in particular about something to help me in board meetings or teleconference calls. Like many with a hearing loss I can manage when it's one on one but as soon as it goes to two or beyond my listening skills erode rapidly.
All suggestions appreciated.
Steve
Hey Steve,
We have several options available, ranging from personal listening devices to devices designed for television, phone, etc. I did a quick search of our website here: http://www.activeforever.com/search.aspx?SearchTerm=listening+device
We have thousands of products so you may find one on there that I am not thinking of. Hope this helps you out. If you find one you like, Disaboom members get a 5% discount (discount code "Boom").
Good luck with your search!
Richard
Steve,
I lost hearing in my right ear overnight about 12 years ago. Loss was accompanied by severe vertigo and nausea that took almost two weeks to clear up. My right ear seemed to be unaffected but gradually dropped 20-30dB. I started using standard retail-store wireless headphones for TV and radio. I tried them all--RCA, Sony, Panasonic, etc. looking for some that were really effective, but I was never really pleased with any of them. I decided I had to "make do;" They were good enough to let me watch TV and hear music. You might try a few and see if any of them help for TV or radio.
Initially, I got fitted with a hearing aid for my right ear only, because my otologist said I had sensori neural loss in my left ear and didn't had enought word perception tomake two HAs worthwhile. But, in November 2006, the hearing in my left ear vanished during the night, accompanied, not by vertigo, but by screaming tinnitus. I'd had some head-noise after the first loss but it was manageable and I could mostly ignore it. This was jet turbines winding up in my head and it was terrifying. By the time it subsided a few days later, my hearing had dropped to around 80-100dB loss in the right ear, and I thought I was stone deaf.
I got a referral to Dr. George Hashisaki at UVA Medical Center, who specializes in sudden sensorineural hearing loss, and got more testing. He indicated that I will probably be a candidate for a CI sometime in the future but with two well-adjusted HAs I have about 60-70% word perception in quiet enviroments, so I can get by. I now have a COMTEK AT-216 FM assistive listening system, which is absolutely amazing. I use the T-coils in my HAs to pick up the signal from a neck loop on the COMTEK receiver and give the transmitter to the speakers at conferences or use an omnidirectional microphone for meetings. The COMTEK system is more expensive than retail systems but the folks in Utah are terrific and very helpful and I could not work without it. The output is so high that, a couple weeks ago when one of my HAs quit working. I bought a set of high-efficiency ear-buds and plugged them into the receiver. I could hear well enough to get by until my HA was repaired.
The biggest loss I experienced is that I can no longer hear music. The distortion is so great that there is no tonality to what I hear. I have minimal frequency discrimination. The COMTEK system uses a compression algorithm that compensates somewhat for that, but most women sound like guys and I can't even try to talk to a soprano.
The advantage of the COMTEK system is that the transmitter is about the size of a deck of cards and can be passed from person to person easily. The receiver is the same size and fits in a shirt pocket. Both use standard 9V batteries. Rechargeable NiMH batteries and a charger are provided in the kit but you can also use primary non-rechargeable batteries. I use lithuim batteries when I need a long service time and won't be able to recharge, but even regular alkaline batteries last more than 10 hours.
Hey Steve (that's my name too!)
Does your TV have closed cationing (cc)? Turn it on! I use it all the time! I can't get thru a TV program without it!
If you don't like cc or have an old TV without it, there are FM devices out there .. just google "assistive listening devices" ... that may help.
At work thought you have other options: Your employer is REQUIRED under the ADA to provide a reasonable accommodation. This can be one or more things.
There are two things I use at work: one is Captel telephone for talking on the phone. This is an amplified phone with captioing service! YES a captioend telephone (go towww.captel.com). I use it in conjunction with the T-coil in my hearign aids. I use this every day and although the captioing is no tperfect, it certainly helps when someone is giving a phone number I do not cath just by lsiitening.
The other is CART: Captioned Access in Real Time. This is a service for Hard of Hearing and Deaf who need captioing of meetings conferences etc. This is good for when you have meetings of more than you and your boss.
CART is a person who sits next to you during the meeting. They are specially trained with a machine connected to a laptop (can also be displayed larger on a wall or screen for everyone too!) Essentially, they are captioning the meeting and everything that is said. All you really need to be able to do is read! :) It works well whether it be a group in one room or via teleconference (I use it both ways). The CARTer becomes your ears and types in what is being said. You will need tomake a reqeust for this through your boss and they should get it set up for you. There are technical things I left out beasue is long and cumbersome, but suffice to say, it works well! and many tiems hearing peole look at it a say.. "Wow , I can even use that sometimes"
If you need any other assistance on this, let me know. P.S. You have a right under the ADA to secure a reasonable accommodation. Your employer must provide a reasoanble accomodation.
