Received my appointment letter today to see the audio and hearing people at Burton Hospital in October with a view to giving me a HA. I know I'm lucky to get an appointment relatively soon so want to make the most of it. The last thing I want to do is regret asking a question after the event.
I'm deaf in my left ear and on a an average day I get loud hissing in my right ear and intermittent high pitched tone coming from my left side. I have just suffered 24 hours of 4 days of extremely high pitched tone in my left ear, having come through this I'm back to my default sounds.
When I go for my appointment, will I be asked about the sounds? will the audio specialist ask the frequency etc? What if on that day I'm having default sounds instead of the excruciating sounds, how do i convince the audio people of this?
If there are ant further questions I should ask then please let me know.
Many thanks
Graham
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GDJTAM
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Yay Graham, glad to hear you've got your appt. I can only speak from my own personal experience but it sounds like you're going for a hearing test to decide whether or not your hearing would benefit from a h/a. You will not need to tell them what frequency at or what decibel you hear your T at. Once they've done the test and if they think you would benefit from a h/a they may go on to talk about one with a built in masker if they do them on the NHS. I'm sure others on here can advise you as I've not been offered that, bearing in mind we're both completely deaf in one ear!
When I spoke to my audiologist last year she suggested that it was possible to put a h/a behind my deaf ear and run the tubing round the back of my head and somehow link it up to the tubing of the other h/a so I could hear sound from my deaf side. At that time I had not received my first h/a and it all sounded a bit complex and I haven't followed it up since as I feel ok with just the one h/a. I know how originally you were so averse to a h/a and you still might not need one but if you do you could ask the audiologist about the possibility in case I've been misled. It's been so long since I've heard anything from my right side I thought I might find it too confusing.
Sorry to hear you had a bad four days of it 24/7 hopefully it's calmed down like some others get.
Hope your OK, since we last spoke I've decided to keep an open mind on having a HA. I had an audo test at my last ENT appointment and the ENT consultant said a HA may benefit me. Then I get an appointment saying the tests could last an hour.
I'm talking with ignorance here but my left canal was closed off when the tumour was removed, but somehow the high pitched tones are coming from that side? I'm just perplexed how a HA would work on my deaf ear or how it would mask the left side if I wear the HA on my right side.
This T thinking is enough to give anyone a head ache.
I have had mixed experiences with Audiologists. One was very good and understanding. The other told me to just ignore it and get on with my life.
I had two sets of test. One for the usual hearing and the other for Audio Processing Disorder. Very thorough indeed. The was the good Audiologist. She then referred me to a Hearing Therapist and a Psychologist. I was given tinnitus Maskers Hearing aids to use when necessary. I was treated very well. This was a far cry from the bad one who sent me off with a leaflet.
I sincerely hope that you get one who cares.
I suggest that you ask for everything available. T is a very funny thing and different in everyone. You will not know what works for you until you try it. I know of someone who was refused HA for T as they said her hearing loss was minor. They went privately and had HAs fitted. It stopped the T instantly and it turned her life around.
A few ago when the consultant read me my audio results and told me I had lost 20% hearing in my good ear, mainly on high pitch sounds I thought why me! He then said he would refer me for more tests and suggested a HA would be beneficial.
I posted my thoughts on the possibility of having crappy luck with illnesses over the years and now I've got to wear a Nokia 3300 behind my ear! I was dead against it until Xene replied to my post and now like you suggested, I'm going to get what I can and keep an open mind with HA's.
Yes, Graham, be positive and I do think that a hearing aid would help. I have very slight high frequency loss in my right ear (would not have known had I not got the T) and I can honestly say that my hearing aid definitely reduces my tinnitus.
Like you, it was a huge shock to have to wear hearing aids (1 masker on left ear) and I never would have believed I would be wearing them (just about accepting it now after 2 years). Would also suggest you write down any questions you want to ask at your appointment - I was in such an anxious state I cannot remember anything but the hearing test, and how very helpful and kind was my audiologist. Love, Angela xx
Thanks Angela, I've now began to put questions, no matter how trivial or daft on my phone notes. 1st question... Hearing Aid... Left deaf ear... You kidding me?
BTW, I watched baby driver the film with the getaway T driver... Excellent film.
I've been wearing my NHS HA's for 2mths now, after being initially reluctant to go that way. I'd got to the point where I simply couldn't go on w/ the T at the intensity it had reached and accepted the inevitable. All the professionals say that if you've got any sort of hearing impairment, putting something in place to address this will usually improve your T situation and that's definitely been the case for me. My audiologist has suggested that he'd normally expect an improvement of 10-20%, which sounds about right from my experience.
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