HA Report #7 New Hearing Aids... Second Pair

Just a quick post about my second pair of hearing aids. You can read the saga about my first, click here. 

First to summarize my experience with pair #1... I chose battery powered hearing aids, rather than rechargeable, because the audiologist said that batteries last more hours than recharging. Since I'm a Jewish Shabbat observer, this was a very crucial issue. Shabbat is 25 hours long, Rosh Hashannah 49 hours, and during very rare years in Israel when they are three days 73 hours. Four and a half years ago, I didn't hear anything about an approved, by Torah observant rabbis, method to charge hearing aids on Shabbat. Since then, however, I began hearing that Tzohar had announced an approved method. 

Thankfully it didn't take me long to get used to my hearing aids, especially taking advantage of Bluetooth control. The hardest and most expensive thing was purchasing batteries. Miraculously, in the early months I received a number for free from a variety of sources. I consider them gifts from Gd. Also I was relieved to have found no real technical problems, other than finding certain sounds painfully loud. I did my best to manually adjust them, but I was told that there wasn't much else to do. My insurance guarantee had expired (without their warning me to come for a final free adjustment,) and I wasn't going to spend half the price of a new hearing aid, a quarter of the price of a new pair, for an audiologist to try better. 

As a result, I began investigating replacing the originals only at a new place, since I refused to return to where I had gotten the first pair. I also knew that I had to speak to someone I trusted for technological religious decisions to ask about charging them on Shabbat and Jewish Holidays. Thankfully, since there was no real rush, I wouldn't have to compromise on any issue. In the meantime, all sorts of friends and neighbors continued to contact me for advice before getting their first pair. 

I didn't start the process required here in Israel for getting hearing aids until I had answers to those two crucial questions. Siyata d'Shmaya, Hand of Gd for sure helped me, since both questions were answered around the same time. When at a class, a friend saw me adjusting the volume on my hearing aids via my phone's Bluetooth and asked if I had the same options she has. Hers were newer and better, so I asked where she got them and which Sick Fund she's a member of. Since we're in the same one, I got the rest of the information. 

Around the same time, I had a ride with a neighbor who was wearing hearing aids, so I asked him about the rabbinic decision permitting charging them on Shabbat, and he said that he has a Shabbat clock connected to the charger set up every night to go on and recharge the hearing aids as he sleeps. It's off when he puts them in and off again when he takes them out. 

So with those two important questions answered I began the process. In Israel one first needs to be examined by an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor to make sure there's nothing that a medical doctor can't fix to improve hearing. After that one must get a hearing test from a qualified audiologist, some of which work with hearing aid businesses. 

That's where I got
my new hearing aids

The ENT said I was healthy, and I ended up at the hearing aid provider my friend recommended. I was given a choice between a free (100% subsidized) model, which would be complicated to charge on Shabbat, and a more advanced model for a highly subsidized payment, which charged sans complications. Considering that we can only get the subsidy every few years, and I wanted the most advanced hearing aids, I was willing to pay. They cost less than NS2,000 for the pair, which is around $600. If my hearing had been worse, I'd get a better deal for even more advanced ones. That's how it works in Israel. 

On the way home, I changed buses in the Shaar Binyamin shopping area and had enough time to enter a hardware store to pick up a timer and extension chord outlets, which I needed for the place the charger would "live."

Considering that I was already experienced in controlling them via Bluetooth and I'm not tech phobic, I didn't need much instruction. I'm used to playing around with modern technology. "Play" was what a neighbor told me when teaching me how to use a computer for the first time...

I'm happy to say that I'm very pleased with my new hearing aids. I've adjusted to them, and even more important is that they have adjusted to my needs, thank Gd.

Hearing Aids Report #6 Two Years Later-- A Few Tips and HUMOR 😅😊

You may find it helpful to read my previous articles about life with hearing aids, updates #1,  #2, #3, #4, #5, plus mask-tying advice for avoiding COVID and loss of expensive hearing aids.

pre-bedtime routine
glasses and hearing aids

It's hard to believe that over two years have passed since I first got my hearing aids. My audiologist had sent me out that day with them in my ears claiming that there's no gradual getting used to them, but to be honest it did take me quite a few months. During those first few months I returned to the clinic for quick visits, help, different size domes etc. Also, I'd go days without wearing them and find them uncomfortable by the end of the day.

I can't say exactly when things changed and wearing them daily until bedtime became routine. Of course, I wasn't under a lot of pressure to rush it, because I do hear, though not perfectly. Generally I don't put them in until I'm leaving home, or if I need the Bluetooth in order to listen to things when I'm not alone.

One of the The best thing about wearing hearing aids is no longer interrupting people with "What?" or "I couldn't hear that."

A few weeks ago I made an appointment at the clinic where I had bought my hearing aids to see if there had been any changes in my hearing. The audiologist who helped me then had be promoted to head a different branch, so I had someone else. She tested my hearing and adjusted the hearing aids to their new requirements. No complaints.

Our healthcare provider gave lots of choice in places to get the hearing aids but first required an exam by an ENT and a proper hearing test. Every three and a half years we, here in Israel, can buy a subsidized pair.

*****

Following are a couple of funny things concerning my life with hearing aids. My hearing may be faulty, but not my sense of humor. What do you think?

Has this happened to anyone else?🙃 Tell me in the comments.

1-I sat down by the computer in the den after being in the kitchen and suddenly realized I didn't have my phone, though I could hear it through the Bluetooth. 

So I went back to the kitchen and looked all over. I couldn't find it. 

My husband decided to be helpful and "dialed" me, but of course that didn't help, since the ring is via Bluetooth. I heard the ring through my hearing aids.

So I took out my hearing aids and opened the battery case to turn off the Bluetooth. 

Suddenly sounds came out of a cabinet. Yes, I had placed my phone in a kitchen cabinet. I took it out,  turned my hearing aids back on and returned them to my ears.😉

2-One morning my phone refused to make any sounds. I tried everything, turned it off. Restart didn't help. I psyched myself up to prepare for a trip to someone for repairs. 

Before leaving, I took my hearing aids to insert in my ears and... discovered that I hadn't turned them off before going to sleep. There wasn't anything wrong with my telephone's sound. The sound had been going into the hearing aids which had been in their box. The only thing I hadn't tried was to turn off the Bluetooth. 😏