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Author
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Topic: Do any of you use or need hearing aids?
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Aznative
FARTS ON CLUELESS LIBERALS
Member # 506
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posted March 03, 2016 06:11 AM
I've been cheating on Leonard and hanging out at another site, Glocktalk. Recently, I came across a discussion about hearing aids. If any of you are hard of hearing you might enjoy this link.
http://www.glocktalk.com/threads/hearing-aids.1612762/
FYI: I'm Aznative on Glocktalk too and here is a copy of my reply to this discussion:
This has been a great thread. I purchased two hearing aids 17 years ago for about four grand. They only had three different amplification channels and who heard of blue tooth 17 years ago. It did have three different settings. One was for voice, the other was t-coil for phone mode, and the other was both voice and t-coil. Overall they did help but the one thing I always hated with them is talking on the phone. My audiologist told me to hold the phone away from my head to avoid feed back. Well that didn't work too well at times. I could never seem to find the sweet spot and still received a lot of feed back. Sometimes I would switch around between t coil, voice, and t coil voice combo position. However the position I was happiest with was to take the damn things out so as to remove the molds so I could just talk on the phone naturally. However, to remove them was maddening because I would set them down while talking on the phone and forget where I set my 4k investment. I also tried putting my phone on speaker mode and that worked for about six weeks until the speaker finally blew out. Well I was not too happy with expensive 17 year old hearing aid technology and totally gave them up about 8 years ago.
I was going to put off buying another pair for two years but MaxxAction's post has given me the urge to get another pair to wake up my natural hearing. I live real close to a Costco and Costco's generic brand have 20 plus amplification channels and also have blue tooth which will eliminate the aggravation of using a phone while wearing aids. I'm hoping the Costco audiologist will give the blessing to use their generic brand which are made by Resound. Costco's top of the line branded (non generic) models are about twice as much. I like only spending $1,800 for a new pair with blue tooth, and they look to be a whole lot better than those 17 year old models.
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Never thought the devil would need a teleprompter but I could be wrong.
United State of America: RIP
Born July 4th 1776 died November 6th 2012
Posts: 1937 | From: Phoenix Az | Registered: Jan 2005
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Aznative
FARTS ON CLUELESS LIBERALS
Member # 506
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posted March 03, 2016 06:13 AM
Now I just hope Leonard doesn't mind be advertising the competition.
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Never thought the devil would need a teleprompter but I could be wrong.
United State of America: RIP
Born July 4th 1776 died November 6th 2012
Posts: 1937 | From: Phoenix Az | Registered: Jan 2005
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Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
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posted March 03, 2016 09:31 AM
Nah, I have very few rules about that stuff. Can't remember any, at the moment?
But I have Costco hearing aids, or I did. I was at a Casino with some dame maybe 4-5 years ago and somehow lost the right ear aid somewhere in the bedsheets...(my best guess?)
So, I quit wearing the other one, as well. These were the inside the ear model, you couldn't hardly see them at all.
But, I had (have) five modes, one of which is a 5 db reduction and it always worked very well on phone conversations. Worked well at the range, too. Limits sound above 80db. Well, they all do, actually.
I'm still deaf, but I really hesitate to spend that kind of money again. At the moment. Costco has/had a guarantee for the first two years against loss. I was well past that when I lost mine.
Good hunting. El Bee
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EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 32363 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Cdog911
"There are some ideas so absurd only an intellectual could believe them."--George Orwell.
Member # 7
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posted March 03, 2016 02:05 PM
No I don't, but I wish I could. Too many other medical bills to spend money one what I basically regard to be a luxury item. Cannot think of a life- or limb-threatening reason to do something to make myself so I can hear again. Worst in my right ear. My mom was pretty much deaf on the right side, maternal Gma was bad on both sides. Partly inherited, partly guns and loud music. If it weren't for the constant ringing, I'd be content with where I am. Plausible deniability when the wife reminds me that I didn't so something she asked (told) me to do. "Didn't hear you." Occasionally, I'll feel pressure in both ears which is hard to ignore, but it goes away, especially fi I do something to occupy myself besides worrying about why my ears are ringing. Use a fan to create a gale force wind at night, covers the tinnitus okay. If I had the $$$ for hearing aids, I'd use it to replace my old truck anyway.
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I am only one. But still, I am one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something; and, because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.
Posts: 5440 | From: The gun-lovin', gun-friendly wild, wild west | Registered: Jan 2003
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Kokopelli
SENIOR DISCOUNT & Dispenser of Sage Advice
Member # 633
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posted March 03, 2016 03:38 PM
I'm half deaf. Years of industrial noise > 120 decibels.
Upper tones are gone. Oddly, I have slightly better than normal hearing in the lower tone ranges. You do NOT want me to adjust the Graphic Equalizer on your stereo.
Like CDude says, the aids would be a luxury. Better things to spend the coin on.
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And lo, the Light of the Trump shown upon the Darkness and the Darkness could not comprehend it.
Posts: 8231 | From: Under a wandering star | Registered: Apr 2005
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Lonny
PANTS ON THE GROUND
Member # 19
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posted March 03, 2016 08:15 PM
I know I need hearing aids, but I think I can get by for a few more years, I hope? My wife would be all for me getting them now, but it's just one more thing to dick around with due to getting older.
The worst for me is trying to hear somebody when there is some sort of background noise. I knew the high pitched stuff was tough for me to hear. Last summer, we were out in the woods and my son mentioned that it sounded like there were squirrels all around us. The Columbian Ground Squirrels make a high pitched chirp or squeak. I couldn't hear any and at first didn't believe him. Until my wife said, "You can't hear that!!??"
So I know now, that lots of the high pitched stuff, I simply can't hear. I'm sure far off howling coyotes are often not heard anymore either.
Posts: 1209 | From: Lewiston, Idaho USA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Paul Melching
Radical Operator Forum "You won't get past the front gate"
Member # 885
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posted March 04, 2016 03:08 AM
Like Lonny I cant hear my wife's speaking voice clearly if there is a TV or radio in the background, at first I thought this was the result of years of practice but alas I'm getting more deaf as time passes. Too many years of guns and race bikes. Way down on the list of things that need what little money I have.
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Those who value security over liberty soon will have neither !
Posts: 4188 | From: The forest ! north of the dez. | Registered: Jul 2006
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Aznative
FARTS ON CLUELESS LIBERALS
Member # 506
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posted March 04, 2016 05:09 AM
Cdog: you really need to think about the hearing aids. When I used my first pair, the tinnitus went away and would stay gone for 15-30 minutes after I removed the hearing aids to go to bed.
I'm like you KOKO. I cannot hear the birds and such but I can hear a boom box in the neighborhood that my wife cannot hear.
I'm really hoping the audiologist will approve the Costco Generic hearing aids. They have a blue tooth add on and are about $900 cheaper than top of the line name brand stuff. Their generic brand is made by Resound. You usually have to buy top of the line get blue tooth capability. Using a phone was a real pain in the ass for me so blue tooth capability is real important in my case.
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Never thought the devil would need a teleprompter but I could be wrong.
United State of America: RIP
Born July 4th 1776 died November 6th 2012
Posts: 1937 | From: Phoenix Az | Registered: Jan 2005
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Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
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posted March 04, 2016 07:28 AM
What kind of phone are you talking about, AZ? If it's the kind that has a speaker on one end and mic at the other, and you hold it to your ear, I don't see what the problem is?
Look, nobody here is any more deaf than I am. I was discharged deaf before I was 21 but never mentioned it because I feared they might not let me go, or something? How's that for stupid?
I hear the low pitch sounds better than most people. My wife had ears like a bat, as did her mother and as does my daughter. I mean, REALLY exceptional hearing, and yet, when the kids were young, they had a couple white rats in a cage, in the closet. At night, downstairs, I could hear them on the wheel but Nanc couldn't. Go figure.
Anyway, talking on an iphone, everybody uses the speaker and talks "at it" from close to arm's length. I'm not otherwise getting this bluetooth app? In other words, I have one, but don't know where it is right now?
The aids I have, (or the one I have left) were top of the line, when I bought them. Plus, miniaturized. As I recall, they offered about a dozen modes to choose from, but the aids only had 5 available, with different features, like listening to music, driving in wind, conversation in a crowded room and one that jumped the volume up by 5db and one that choked it down 5db. The other uses, I don't remember, but I could go back and they would reprogram whatever I wanted to try, to see if it offered any advantage.
The main thing I cannot hear is coyote howls, unfortunately. ![[Frown]](frown.gif) Barks, yes, howls, no.
Good hunting. El Bee
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EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 32363 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Kokopelli
SENIOR DISCOUNT & Dispenser of Sage Advice
Member # 633
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posted March 04, 2016 07:48 AM
A few years ago at the Puyallup County Fair there was a booth hawking "Compare our New & Improved Hearing Aid".
Ok............I'll bite.
It sounded like a '60s a.m. transistor radio earpiece.
And that WAS the New & Improved model. ![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
So.......Question;
Are these latest New & Improved models gonna let me hear crickets again or are they just gonna make what I already CAN hear louder ????
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And lo, the Light of the Trump shown upon the Darkness and the Darkness could not comprehend it.
Posts: 8231 | From: Under a wandering star | Registered: Apr 2005
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Moe
Knows what it's all about
Member # 4494
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posted March 04, 2016 08:22 AM
Years of shooting trap damaged my hearing but it was a chain saw and a log splitter that gave me tinnitus. I've had a constant ringing in my ears since the weekend I put up 6 cords of firewood on a 3 day weekend in about 1984.
The hearing doctor told me that a hearing aid would be worthless because of the ringing. I have trouble hearing over running air conditioners and fans.
Occasionally my wife mumbles rather than talking out loud and she gets frustrated when I saw "What?" Goes with the territory. Mostly I hear pretty good under most circumstances.
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I snatch kisses. And vice versa.
Posts: 593 | From: Oregon | Registered: Nov 2013
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Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
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posted March 04, 2016 12:09 PM
There is no solution to tinnitus.
koko, what you experienced was some type of analogue amplification system. These newer digital aids look at your hearing test profile and they focus, on the frequencies that you require, rather than everything. It's all custom designed for your situation.
Hardly anybody can stand straight amplification. Setting a glass on a counter next you your ear can be literally painful. But, in some people with broad hearing loss, I guess it's better than nothing? But, for shooters and loud rock music listeners and industrial environments, this is a condition where your hearing is damaged by loud noise, not from a degenerative condition.
Moe, the doctor that told you a hearing aid would be worthless was speaking of an analogue amplifier hearing aid. Same thing as koko.
Wives that mumble. Yes, I had one too. But when you think about it, you actually hear her but do not understand. I have a great deal of trouble with parts of speech that have (for lack of a better word) HISSING and WHISTLING sounds. These are caused by the letters S, and F and C, and a few others. Other than that, any background noise will interfere with your ability to understand spoken language. As I said above, a crowded room, driving with the windows open and windy days outdoors, these cause interference.
I'm always accusing my girlfriend of talking to the wall or the window and not looking at me so I can help my hearing by reading her lips.
This is a deep subject.
Good hunting. El Bee
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EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 32363 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Aznative
FARTS ON CLUELESS LIBERALS
Member # 506
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posted March 04, 2016 01:17 PM
The problem I had with using a phone while wearing hearing aids was when I put the phone to close to my ear the aids would produce feedback which is a very annoying pitch screeching sound. My old hearing aids had three modes: voice, t-coil, and voice t-coil combination. T-coil is where the aid uses the magnetic field produced by the magnet in the phone's ear piece to produce sound. T-coil mode didn't work well. Trying to use voice mode produced feed back. I was having so many problems I resorted to using the phone speaker phone, but about six weeks later the speaker blew out. The newer models with blue tooth will solve this problem.
I have the softest spoken wife on this planet and she will never catch on that she must face me if she wants me to hear her.
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Never thought the devil would need a teleprompter but I could be wrong.
United State of America: RIP
Born July 4th 1776 died November 6th 2012
Posts: 1937 | From: Phoenix Az | Registered: Jan 2005
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jimanaz
2nd Place RICHARD FARNSWORTH LOOK-A-LIKE CONTEST
Member # 3689
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posted March 04, 2016 02:10 PM
Many rock shows in the 70's and 80's (Ted Nugent in '77 left my ears ringing for 2 days), several years in a machine shop, lots of shooting (that damn .357), and plenty of other abuse. Yeah, I would benefit from them. But I'm not getting any until I can no longer pass my bi-annual physical. I can still hear coyotes in the distance and I'm good with that.
Posts: 940 | From: AZ | Registered: Oct 2010
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Yotehntr
Knows what it's all about
Member # 3684
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posted March 04, 2016 04:06 PM
I've been putting it off for a couple years now. I only need one though... Doc said it must've been a virus just all of a sudden I have no sense of direction when it comes to sound. Wife can holler at me and I take off walking to her, if she hollers again I'll turn around thinking I'm going the wrong way. arrgh. Reading what they said about it's harder if you wait has me wanting to check costco out. Talked to the wife about it and she found the closest costco lol guess she's tired of me saying huh?
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Yotehntr Calls Put something pretty on your lips! ;)
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JimM
Knows what it's all about
Member # 4420
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posted March 06, 2016 03:16 PM
I wear hearing aids like many.
I hate them when the wind is blowing out here & that's pretty much all the time. I have a remote for sound amplification and a few settings depending on where Im at.
Seems like my right ear bud always falls out when Im taking off a neck gator, heck even lost 2 of them hunting in the last 4 years but I got them replaced via the VA for no cost to me (service connected loss)
Tinnitus is like the common cold, no cure and my ears have been ringing for 45 years or more.
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Cdog911
"There are some ideas so absurd only an intellectual could believe them."--George Orwell.
Member # 7
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posted March 07, 2016 06:37 PM
I'm with ya, AZ. Ironically, and sadly enough, my wife and son speak at the same frequency - the one frequency I have the most trouble hearing. My hand to God. They can be right next to me in the car and where I can see their lips moving, but I'll be damned if I can hear a word their saying. Like you, my most common things to say to them are "Huh?" and "You need to look at me when you talk." My wife just huffs. My son cusses me out. LOL That's when I use my limited sign language.
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I am only one. But still, I am one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something; and, because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.
Posts: 5440 | From: The gun-lovin', gun-friendly wild, wild west | Registered: Jan 2003
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Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
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posted March 08, 2016 06:55 AM
Wow, never realized I had a talent for sign language?
Another pet peeve. Ever notice that while talking to ya, and knowing you didn't understand, they walk away, and repeat whatever they said, at the same volume, only with their back to you and at double the distance. Of course, that's sure to clarify things.
Here's what it is. First, I understand, it's my problem. And, I truly and desperately want to hear what is said. I make extraordinarily effort, but. "They" drop the ball! They are actually lazy. I strive to understand, I want communication, but they don't make the effort, even while knowing there's a problem.
Almost makes me want to become autistic, don't give a shit, since they don't give a shit.
Okay, end of rant.
BUT, FOOD FOR THOUGHT !
(grab one of these "perfect people" and force them to read the above, useful information. Who knows, something might dawn on them?)
Good hunting. El Bee
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EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 32363 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Cdog911
"There are some ideas so absurd only an intellectual could believe them."--George Orwell.
Member # 7
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posted March 09, 2016 07:09 AM
I have endured the same reply, LB. I just bluntly remind them that I spend every f'ing dime I have on their doctor appointments and keeping them fed, housed, and clothed, taking care of myself last - all part of what I affectionately call "Dad Rules" - and that if I was to allow myself the luxury of thinking of myself once - only once - I would have the hearing aids I need so that I could hear whatever they were saying to me. Tends to shut them up.
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I am only one. But still, I am one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something; and, because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.
Posts: 5440 | From: The gun-lovin', gun-friendly wild, wild west | Registered: Jan 2003
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Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
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posted March 09, 2016 02:00 PM
Yeah, I hear ya, Lance.
What about implants or a rug? You're getting a little thin on top... You go with the shaved look now, right? It's badass, for sure!
Good hunting. El Bee
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EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 32363 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Cdog911
"There are some ideas so absurd only an intellectual could believe them."--George Orwell.
Member # 7
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posted March 10, 2016 03:37 PM
I wouldn't grow hair on my head if I could. If it's long enough to be able to tell I just got outta bed, the clippers come out. Like being able to wash my hair with a wash cloth. Grecian formula? Hell no. If I want color, I use shoe polish. I hate hair and am fine without it. Shorter the better. Having said that, I am hopeful to live long enough to die with a full head of hair. Been watching my hair line for years. Started out at the top of my forehead like normal, slowly started going up, over and down the backside of my head. Figuring, if I live long enough, it seems to be going down my back, under and working its way back up toward my face. Excited to see how things work out. LOL
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I am only one. But still, I am one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something; and, because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.
Posts: 5440 | From: The gun-lovin', gun-friendly wild, wild west | Registered: Jan 2003
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Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
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posted March 10, 2016 03:45 PM
Did you just describe Trump's 8th wonder of the world?
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EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
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