My new hearing aid is purple

[kestrell]

Yesterday I went to one of the audiologists at Boston Medical Center to get fitted for my new hearing aid.

While my hearing loss is only categorized as "moderate," we all agree that hearing loss of any sort which interferes with localization for a blind person is significant. Also, I miss a lot of what people say if there is a background noise, like the TV, or running water, or the dishwasher, or another conversation, or one of those annoying people who crinkle bags or play with a beeping device while someone on a panel is speaking. Still, it's pretty clear from things the audiologists say that a lot of people opt to not get hearing aids.

Of course, one reason why a lot of people probably go without hearing aids is that they cost $1400, and health insurance tends not to cover any of the cost.
This also explains why I keep hearing TV commercials for cheap hearing aids, including
the Lee Majors bionic hearing aid commercial
https://www.getleemajorsbionicear.com/default.aspx?mid=884417&a=115739&s=CD5447-&ClickID=06_39223192_13f64784-3245-4b31-b363-79c695df8e13

Anyway, for $1400 you get a digital hearing aid with a computer chip wich is programmed according to your particular loss of hearing and a hearing aid which is shaped to your particular ear shape. You also get to choose a number of options. I wanted a hearing aid with a volume control, since I am also sensitive to noise, so I chose one with a rocker switch on the outside. I also chose the sort of hearing aid which fits over the outside of the ear, which is basically two pieces, the little microphone/volume switch part which goes outside the ear and the speaker part which nestles closer to the inside of the ear. Plus, I got to choose to have it in purple (second color choice: silver). There was a catalogue for a company called Resound which had one hearing aid called "Leaf," which was leaf green, but, sadly, it wasn't available in the kind of hearing device I needed.

The fitting part involved taking a kind of pink putty/clay which was used to take an impression of the inside of my left ear, after the audiologist put in a tiny cotton ball with a string on it, which I promptly dubbed the "ear tampon." Once the putty stuff has hardened, the audiologist pops it out and the impression, along with the specifics of your order, is sent off to the hearing aid company.

So I now have one more appt. for the medical extravaganza on June 30, when I see the otolaryngologist, the audiologist (twice--once for a hearing test and once for the hearing aid), the rheumotologist, the neurologist, and the radiology dept for a mammogram. After this, I will come home and have ice cream. Maybe even ice cream with rainbow sprinkles.

Comments

[jesse_the_k]

So your earmolds will be purple? I've seen a number of folks modeling that style and it's definitely lovely. I'm sure it will bring out the sparkles in your eyes.s

Was the person wielding the ear putty amused by "ear tampon," or had they taken personality lessons from the ocular prosthetist?

MyGuy's audiologist gave him a 30-day trial. If he wasn't satisfied with the aid, he could return it. MyGuy used a slightly more generic aid which didn't require an earmold, and that may be in part why he decided to return it in 30 days. At any rate, a switch you can readily access is a Very Good Thing. Some environments you just don't want to hear any louder (in particular the T or a bus).

[kestrell]

Both the assistant audiologist who made my ear mold and the head audiologist were pretty cool about my picking a color--they actually use the online catalogues for the online catalogues of various companies, and the catalogues always a variety of brightly-colored versions. It was very different than my trip to the ocularist. I've noticed a lto of times the attitudes of imposing "normality" versus encouraging individuality tend to diverge along age groups: my ocularist is obviously in his 50s or so, he works by himself, he's the only one in his profession in Mass., and one of the few in NE (the field is small enough that he knows all the other ocularists across the country, at least those who attend the conferences), while the audiologists are under forty and are using a device which has a lot of competition amongst numerous companies. Like other consumer goods, prosthetics andassistive tech definitely offer more customization when there is more competition.