Disabilities

[Perianne]

I read someone started a thread about have eyesight problems.

I can hardly hear. I can't talk on the phone because I can't make out what the other person is saying. I can hear mumbling if someone talks to me with my back turned. If I turn to face them, I can mostly understand what they are saying.

I have headphones for watching TV and listening to music. My friends and daughter have learned how to communicate with me, and, I have adapted for work.

When I am in a crowded place, like a loud restaurant, I get sensory overload: I hear everything but can't make out what the sounds are. I can go to concerts because it is so loud, but I must go with someone who is willing to drive home because I get confused from the sound after a while.

Anyone else want to share any disabilities?

[Common]

I read someone started a thread about have eyesight problems.

I can hardly hear. I can't talk on the phone because I can't make out what the other person is saying. I can hear mumbling if someone talks to me with my back turned. If I turn to face them, I can mostly understand what they are saying.

I have headphones for watching TV and listening to music. My friends and daughter have learned how to communicate with me, and, I have adapted for work.

When I am in a crowded place, like a loud restaurant, I get sensory overload: I hear everything but can't make out what the sounds are. I can go to concerts because it is so loud, but I must go with someone who is willing to drive home because I get confused from the sound after a while.

Anyone else want to share any disabilities?

Listen Perianne you can get free caption phone, it has built in answering machine and speakerphone and sound amplifier.
What it does is it prints on the caption phone screen what you and the person you are talking to is saying. So if you miss something you can read it, or read the entire conversation.

I dont know if you wear hearing aids if you do wherever you bought them can send them a form and they will call you with a date to come and set it up...its a game changer for people that cant hear or understand on the telephone.

If you dont have hearing aids it makes it more difficult, but if you have medicare you can get a free hearing test yearly...you can schedule a hearing and test and ask that provider to write the form...if all else fails if you have costco near you...tell them you cant afford hearing aids but cant hear on the phone and would they please send in the form for you..

DO IT!!!!! its free and its a gamechanger

[Cotton1]

Listen Perianne you can get free caption phone, it has built in answering machine and speakerphone and sound amplifier.
What it does is it prints on the caption phone screen what you and the person you are talking to is saying. So if you miss something you can read it, or read the entire conversation.

I dont know if you wear hearing aids if you do wherever you bought them can send them a form and they will call you with a date to come and set it up...its a game changer for people that cant hear or understand on the telephone.

If you dont have hearing aids it makes it more difficult, but if you have medicare you can get a free hearing test yearly...you can schedule a hearing and test and ask that provider to write the form...if all else fails if you have costco near you...tell them you cant afford hearing aids but cant hear on the phone and would they please send in the form for you..

DO IT!!!!! its free and its a gamechanger

Thanks for tip, Common. I call my elderly mother to check on her at least once a day. Its impossible to have a normal conversation with her because of her hearing. Lately I have had to resort to emailing her. I had never heard of caption phones. Thanks to you I just sent her an email about them .

[nathanbforrest45]

@Perianne
I too am quite hard of hearing. I wear hearing aids given to me by the VA. These are very expensive on the open market but boy do they make a difference. If you are using those $19.00 Walgreen hearing aids throw them in the trash right now. All they do is act like a speaker but don't make allowances for your actual hearing issues. For example some can hear low frequency but not high, others the opposite. My hearing aids can be adjusted individually to raise or lower the sound level. I have the same issues in a restaurant but I can turn down the volume so I can hear someone right next to me but the ambient noise is blocked. Or if I get a screaming kid on the table next to me I can turn them off completely and they act like ear plugs and it becomes blissful again!

If you don't wear hearing aids you really do owe it to yourself to see an audiologist. Even the lesser expensive hearing aids are much better than those so called devices from the back of magazines. Plus, although expensive you can generally buy them on a reasonable credit plan. It really will change your life.

I will have to say however, that although I have top of the line hearing aids there is still a four word phrase that for some reason I cannot make out when my wife says it to me: "Take Out The Trash" sometimes sounds like "Do you want ice cream" or "Why don't you go sailing"!!

Seriously, give that a shot and let us know.

[Peter1469]

@Perianne
I too am quite hard of hearing. I wear hearing aids given to me by the VA. These are very expensive on the open market but boy do they make a difference. If you are using those $19.00 Walgreen hearing aids throw them in the trash right now. All they do is act like a speaker but don't make allowances for your actual hearing issues. For example some can hear low frequency but not high, others the opposite. My hearing aids can be adjusted individually to raise or lower the sound level. I have the same issues in a restaurant but I can turn down the volume so I can hear someone right next to me but the ambient noise is blocked. Or if I get a screaming kid on the table next to me I can turn them off completely and they act like ear plugs and it becomes blissful again!

If you don't wear hearing aids you really do owe it to yourself to see an audiologist. Even the lesser expensive hearing aids are much better than those so called devices from the back of magazines. Plus, although expensive you can generally buy them on a reasonable credit plan. It really will change your life.

I will have to say however, that although I have top of the line hearing aids there is still a four word phrase that for some reason I cannot make out when my wife says it to me: "Take Out The Trash" sometimes sounds like "Do you want ice cream" or "Why don't you go sailing"!!

Seriously, give that a shot and let us know.

That is one thing the VA does well. I work with a guy who is retired Air Force and he got some really nice hearing aids for free. They are blue tooth so he can link to his phone and his TV at home. He uses them to listen to podcasts when he rides his motorcycle into work and back home.

[Perianne]

Everyone tells me to get hearing aids, but to be honest, I am too vain. There. So, instead I get by.

Eventually, though, I am going to have to do something. This has been coming on since I was in my 20s and is continuing to get worse.

[Cotton1]

Everyone tells me to get hearing aids, but to be honest, I am too vain. There. So, instead I get by.

Eventually, though, I am going to have to do something. This has been coming on since I was in my 20s and is continuing to get worse.

Have you been tested to be sure you do not have an "Auditory Processing Disorder"? The only reason I mention that is because of what you said about being able to have a convo face to face but not so well otherwise. A "processing" disorder simply means you can hear but not always make out the words. If typically manifests early in life. BTW, I'm looking for the perfect woman. The "perfect woman" would be a deaf/mute with her own mop and broom. Lemme know...

[Perianne]

BTW, I'm looking for the perfect woman. The "perfect woman" would be a deaf/mute with her own mop and broom. Lemme know...

I am also short, but I don't have a flat head.

[Cotton1]

I am also short, but I don't have a flat head.

Lol....

[nathanbforrest45]

Everyone tells me to get hearing aids, but to be honest, I am too vain. There. So, instead I get by.

Eventually, though, I am going to have to do something. This has been coming on since I was in my 20s and is continuing to get worse.

There are hearing aids on the market that are all but invisible. I wear in the ear and unless you are staring at my ears (Oh No, not the ears, lower lower) you can't see them. There are some that are very small and go deep in the ear with the "works" tucked behind your ears like glasses.

Check them out. My grandmother never work hearing aids until she was in her 80's. She never told anyone she had them. She changed her will five times!