Hearing Aids Report #5, Just Because The Battery Works Doesn't Mean It "Works"

You may find it helpful to read my previous articles about life with hearing aids, updates #1,  #2, #3, #4, plus mask-tying advice for avoiding COVID and loss of expensive hearing aids.

For many reasons, I've really been enjoying my hearing aids, and not only because I hear much better. I love the fact that Bluetooth streams music, lectures, phone calls, etc. directly into my ears, and I can also control the volume and check the battery percentage via a simple Oticon app on my cellphone. At least I was able to do it until a week or more ago. 

Suddenly one day after I replaced a dead battery the phone and hearing aids stubbornly refused to "pair." I tried everything I could think of, following the advice on the Oticon app, including turning on and off the phone, Bluetooth, WIFI and putting in fresh batteries.

About batteries...

Just when I got my hearing aids I was offered some unused, though old hearing aid batteries of the same size, but an expired date. I showed them to my audiologist who said that as long as they're clean I can use them:

"They may not last as long as new ones, but they won't damage the hearing aids."

That was good news for me, since they didn't cost me anything. And not long after I got those, someone else offered me a few packets with a much later expiration date, also for free.

This morning when my left hearing aid began that "all out of juice" tune in my ear, I replaced the battery with the very last one of the "expired" ones. Before reinserting it in my ear, I noticed that the "light" hadn't gone on. So I opened and closed the battery yet again. Still dark. So I opened a card from the newer batch. You can see the card in the photos above. 

Again I replaced the battery, but this time with new one. My phone had been on the table with the Oticon app open. Imagine my surprise when suddenly I saw it announce that phone and hearing aids were pairing. Quickly, I replaced the other hearing aid's battery with a new one, too, and like magic, the Bluetooth connection had come back to life.

Such a relief. I feel grateful and also dumb. Shouldn't I have thought of that solution much sooner?

Hearing Aids Report #3 Be Prepared & Not Cheap

 

Hearing Aids case & batteries

You may find it helpful to read my previous articles about life with hearing aids, updates #1 and #2, plus mask-tying advice for avoiding COVID and loss of expensive hearing aids.

This post will have three topics, which I hope you'll find helpful. The first topic concerns us hearing aid-wearers all.

Be Prepared

As per Murphey's Law, one of the first times I left the house wearing my hearing aids, figuring I wouldn't be gone long, and since I wasn't far from home, I didn't take the kit with spare batteries. Yes, I got the battery model and not the rechargeable. That's what was recommended for Sabbath observers, since a new battery is supposed to last longer than a newly charged hearing aid. 

Obviously you guessed it. Almost half the time I was out, I was forced to listen to low-battery-warning rings in stereo. Since I didn't have my case with me, I couldn't take them out, either. But the good news is that even as they kept nudging that it's time to change the batteries, they still magnified the sounds. I should have at least checked the battery percentage which can be done pretty simply on my phone. Yes, they're connected via Bluetooth. Volume can also be adjusted very easily on my phone.

Hearing Aid Expenses

After purchase of course, which I'll talk about later, I have to buy batteries. They can certainly add up in terms of expense, and as I noted above, they rarely last as long as you were counting on. I asked around and was told that it's cheapest to buy them in large quantities online. Just as I was about to bite the bullet and put in my first order, one of my sons told me that he found a whole bunch of packs in a home he was renovating. The former owner has no need any more... Once we ascertained that they're the same size I need, he passed them on to me. I checked them out with the audiologist, who said that even though their date had passed, they seemed OK. He also told me what to look out for as a sign to throw them out. So now I'm set for the next few months.

Facebook Hearing Aids Support Groups

When I had my third meeting with the professional who tested and fitted my hearing aids he mentioned that I'd probably enjoy being part of hearing aids support groups on Facebook. Some are even specific to the brand Oticon, which I have. I quickly whipped out my phone and opened Facebook. Then I searched "Oticon hearing aids support," and suddenly there were a slew of groups to join. There aren't too many notices per day. Usually I ignore them after a quick read, and sometimes I even chime in with some advice. Hah! Me the expert! But to be totally honest I'm shocked at what American have to pay for hearing aids, thousands of dollars in many cases. People even get second hand hearing aids, which I find pretty sad, frightening and pathetic. 

Here in Israel we're all members of a "sick fund," and once we're recognized as needing hearing aids, they highly subsidize one pair every three and a half years. I paid just a few hundred dollars for the pair. And I have friends who got theirs for nothing from special "funds." They were new, not second hand.

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I hope this has been helpful and am looking forward to your responses in the comments. Hoping to hear from you....

Hearing Aids All The Rage With The Senior Set

I've been enjoying multifocal glasses which double/triple as sunglasses for a number of years, and now I've gone "hi-tech" with hearing aids. 

If you look really, really carefully you can see a pale wire entering my ear from under my scarf. 

After too many years of saying "What?"  "What? I cant hear you." or missing out on important information or just tuning out, since what's the point....

Yesterday I finally got hearing aids. As I type this, I'm in shock that my gentle taps on the keyboard actually make noise. It's a whole new world out there for me. Since I got home, I've been lowering the volume on the television, my cellphone etc. 

Last year when I sort of mentioned to my doctor that I thought my hearing had badly deteriorated she disagreed, since I could hear her. But this year I insisted. So many of my friends who seemed to hear much better than me have begun wearing them. It was embarrassing at people's homes having to raise the volume on their TV's. Now I can easily raise or lower the volume of my Oticon hearing aids via my cellphone. 

To be approved for hearing aids and a subsidy to cover much of the cost, I needed a hearing test which I did in a clinic in Ariel University. Then I needed to be examined by an ENT Ear, Nose and Throat specialist to make sure that my hearing loss wasn't due to a curable illness. Finally I went to the Jerusalem branch of מדטון הדים Medton Hedim. It had been recommended by a neighbor; there are many different places I could have gone to.

At Medton Hedim I had a more detailed hearing test plus a talk with the "technician," or whatever he is. Then my Kupat Cholim, sick fund had to approve their subsidy. I paid much less than the "real" price. The subsidy is for a pair of hearing aids every three and a half years. Then I can get new ones if needed at the lower price. I paid less than I had paid for my latest multifocal eye glasses about a year and a half ago. They had also been discounted by the sick fund.

Yesterday was the day. I was taught how to insert the hearing aids and care for them. I set up the app on my phone to control the volume via Bluetooth. There's a lot to remember. Just like after getting new glasses, I was told to keep them in from now on except for sleeping, bathing, swimming etc. Of course there's a follow-up appointment in a couple of weeks, and I can always call to ask questions.

When I left the office, I was amazed by the sounds I hadn't been hearing. Then I went by lightrail to the other end of Rechov Yaffo to buy earplugs in the Speedo store. The good news there was that my points --really thanks to friends who use my membership when buying in the Ariel Pool branch-- covered the price of the earplugs. 

Next I have to get another new phone, because the Bluetooth in the one I bought recently isn't compatible with my hearing aids. One of my descendants will certainly enjoy that recently bought phone.

The joys of growing old....