Poor speech discrimination

[jojomac23]

I have very poor speech discrimination in one ear and no matter how loud I turn up my hearing aid I still cant make out what people say

I also have tinnitus in the same ear

My ENT consultant has not been helpful

Does anyone have any tips, Can this condition even be helped at all?

[doglover1973]

Hi jojomac. I have the same problem . Deafness & tinnitus in one ear. My hearing aid amplifies sounds but doesn't clarify speech. I'm still waiting for ENT. I've read a book about hearing loss - Living with Hearing Loss by Don Mcferran. He says that hearing aids are not useful for profound hearing loss - in terms of speech. I'm just grateful for the other ear 🙂

[jojomac23 in reply to doglover1973]

Hi

Thanks for that

Like you my other ear is not as bad but I can't rely on the bad ear at all

Sometimes when someone is speaking to me I just give up after they have repeated it 3 times and I have still not understood

As for ENT they only suggested listening to audio books . What is the point of that

I already wear headphones when watching Netflix on my laptop and it has done nothing thanks jojo

[doglover1973 in reply to jojomac23]

I know. It's a problem . I try to get people over to my left side otherwise I can't hear what they're saying. I don't know why ENT think audio books will help .. What did they say about your deaf ear? Did they check for AN?

[jojomac23 in reply to doglover1973]

Yes I have had mri which thankfully was clear . ENt don't really helpI also had severe vertigo this year and ENT didn't help

I got help privately from a vestibular therapist and also a chiropractor

With this sort of thing unless anything obvious they don't know what to do

[doglover1973 in reply to jojomac23]

That's good news about your MRI scan and I'm glad you've found help from somewhere too. It's a puzzle why people go deaf in one ear for no apparent reason.

[jojomac23 in reply to doglover1973]

Hope you get on OK at ENT . My NHS hearing aid clinic said they only do speech discrimination tests on people with cognitive difficulties . This is absolute nonsense . They haven't a clue. I got my speech discrimination test done privately and they said it was very poor in that ear and said to see ENT who were equally useless

[doglover1973 in reply to jojomac23]

Thank you. That's silly . Anyone with serious hearing loss is going to struggle with speech discrimination. A hearing clinic would surely be aware of this . I think I'd better lower my expectations of ENT .

[jojomac23 in reply to doglover1973]

Hopefully you have a better experience at ENT . Apparently my hearing loss is moderate in both ears but only one ear has speech discrimination problem thankfully I can hear better in other ear

[TinnitusUKPat Partner]

The rationale behind using audiobooks is well-intentioned, I think - healthyhearing.com/report/5... - but from what I can tell it's a practice best used in conjunction with a hearing therapist's support, which might not be the most immediately accessible thing to access at this moment in time.

[jojomac23 in reply to TinnitusUKPat]

Thanks . How do I access a hearing therapist . What do I ask for

[TinnitusUKPat Partner in reply to jojomac23]

I suspect that you've answered your own question, jojomac - usually an audiology service at your hospital would be the best place to start out with, as they're likely to have such a person within their network of contacts.

[jojomac23 in reply to TinnitusUKPat]

My hearing aid clinic didn't even un derstand speech recognition problems so I don't hold out much hope there

[TinnitusUKPat Partner]

Not sure where you are in the UK, jojomac, but speech discrimination tests are fairly standard fare for audiology teams - it's unfortunate that you've encountered trouble getting support from your local area's services.

[jojomac23 in reply to TinnitusUKPat]

I am in glasgow and they told me they only do speech recognition tests for people with cognitive problems like people with dementia which is just not true. I had to get a test privately and now have no where to go with this

[TinnitusUKPat Partner]

It might be worth checking in with Alan Hopkirk, who runs the Glasgow and West of Scotland tinnitus support group - invizear.com/tinnitus-support/ - for his take on where to get help with this situation.

[jojomac23 in reply to TinnitusUKPat]

That's great Thankyou for your help