HA Report #8 Really Enjoying My Rechargeable Hearing Aids

 

Last week, just two weeks after getting my second pair of hearing aids, though they're my first pair of rechargeables, I returned to HaOzen for an "update." Israeli healthcare is extraordinary. 

Israel began as a "quasi-socialist" country. Healthcare is a government department, though there is a choice of "sick funds." The basic prices and services are the same, but there are difference in the "trimmings." Think of the variety of T-shirts, dresses or jeans you can buy, even in the same store.

Those who feel that their hearing isn't what it should be and feel the need for hearing aids are required to go to an ENT-Ear, Nose & Throat doctor to check if it isn't something medical that a doctor can't fix. If the doctor diagnoses the need for HA's he/she writes a referral, and the patient gets a high-tech hearing test. With that, the person chooses from a wide variety of places which have arrangements with their sick fund. The price and choice of hearing aids depends on the severity of one's hearing loss. We're given generally over a month to decide whether or not the hearing aids are both useful and comfortable. If there's a problem with them, they can be returned within that time period. No charge to the patient. That's why I went for that "chat." Some customers/patients need technical advice, and others find them so terribly uncomfortable that they're returned well before the deadline. I visited a lot more with my first pair, needing different size domes to fit better in my ears. 

Since I wasn't having any problem with the new hearing aids I didn't bring my charger or any other equipment. The hearing ids were in my ears. The audiologist asked how I was doing, and I made it clear that I'm enjoying them. It took awhile to get used to the fact that I didn't have to worry about packing spare batteries whenever leaving the house for more than half an hour. And I'm glad that I no longer have to remember to put in fresh batteries before Shabbat. 

I have the charger and timer at the end of the kitchen counter, and every night before going to sleep I put the hearing aids in the charger. The timer has it go on while I'm asleep, so when I'm up the hearing aids are fully charged. This also works on Shabbat. And if I'm going swimming during the day, I leave my hearing aids in the charger, just because it's a safe place.

I also told her that when I had left the clinic two weeks earlier I could hear the wind blowing loudly in my ears. To quiet things down I began playing with the controls to quiet it down.

Since then, the wind hasn't been heard. Over forty years ago, a neighbor taught me how to use a computer by saying one word, "Play." That was a time when most people had never even seen a computer, and I had needed to learn quickly for work. I follow his instructions with all new technology, yes, including my hearing aids. With Bluetooth I can control my hearing aids on my phone.

Don't fear hearing aids. They're very helpful. Research has shown that delaying the use of hearing aids lowers one's attention span. Not hearing well causes a form of ADD and worse.

Enjoy in good health.

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 #7 When Acoustics Were Bad, Learned Something New

If you click Hearing Aids Report #6, you'll get the links to all the previous posts about my hearing aids.

I've been wearing hearing aids for a few years already, and it's still a learning process. Today I found myself in a very difficult situation. I was at an event in a hall with terrible acoustics. I had been in the building once before, but it was almost totally empty, so I hadn't noticed anything problematic.

This was an event for senior citizens to let us know about various rights, so I really wanted to stay and listen. I found what was the best noise insulated spot, on a fabric couch by a curtained window. All was fine until they started using a microphone, which was too loud, but I thought I could stay by turning off my hearing aids. Thank Gd for Bluetooth control... however the multiple speakers in the ceiling caused me to hear it echoed.

When a man with a very loud voice started to talk, I let out a scream and some of the staff came to see what was wrong. They took me to a room just off of the hall and gave me a chair in the doorway, hoping that it would be better. I still couldn't hear him clearly enough to understand what he was saying.

Then I decided to play around with streaming, as you can see in the photo. I kept adjusting it until I could both hear and understand what he was saying. The low tones were at maximum and the high tones were off. Once the event was over I returned them to their regular setting. Has any other hearing aid wearer had a similar experience? I'm surprised that I was the only one so uncomfortable at the event filled with senior citizens.

I also guess it's time to revisit the clinic.

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. 😏

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 #4 Data Usage Warning aka Good News-Bad News

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

It has been awhile since I've written one of these reports about living with hearing aids. You probably thought that I had figured it all out and written all that's important; I sure did.

Recently my phone has been nudging me with these Data Usage Warnings, and I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. I hardly use any apps, just one game, which isn't very addictive. I even changed "providers" hoping that would help. It's now saving us money, thank Gd, but the warnings retuned.

I began to suspect that the "good news," one of my favorite things about using my hearing aids could be the cause. So I went to the phone shop that had recommended the new company and told the helpful young man working there that I had one of my "dumb questions." 

"Could my use of Bluetooth to hear my phone straight into my ears via the hearing aids be using up all the data?" I asked him, hoping/praying for a negative reply. 

I really enjoy being able to hear things clearly and not bothering others. Well, you probably guessed it. The "bad news" was that my suspicion was correct. The Bluetooth uses up a lot of data. 

Next year when I start negotiating with a "provider" for our cellphone service I'm going to have to try to triple the usage in the deal. 

And to think I had to replace a wonderful phone just because its Bluetooth wasn't compatible with my hearing aids.