Latest Moan From You and Me 2024

My dad became a little hard of hearing when he was older, and used to say "Why does everyone mumble these days ?"
I told him it was because he didn't concentrate when people spoke to him, but now I find myself that everyone mumbles !

 

Email from Gov.uk today



It's nearly as good as my first Italian mobile phone provider whose last IVR key press option was (in Italian) "If you want to hear these options in English, press 9".

 

@shiney When I started working for my company 18 years ago, we used to have telephone support.
If you have the same product used by people around the world, then you can make a study about how people in different countries use the same product. We covered EMEA including India and Africa.
One of the things I noticed is that there is no other country that has so many hard of hearing users then England (not Scotland and not Wales).
It must be in the genes, I said to myself.
I'm surrounded by people who need the telly on volume 25. I myself need 6 to understand, hear good with 8.

 

I don't really know much about it but I think that it's theorised that, essentially people switch off more, or don't interact as much when they lose their hearing and the brain atrophies. If someone has had hearing loss all their life then perhaps they have adapted more to the situation.

All the elderly people I know with still sharp minds are the ones who use them most.

 

I was born like it and deafness run's in the family

 

To an extent maybe; I think in my case it discouraged me from interacting with people, adding to my already existing introversion.
I think it allowed teachers to assume that when I didn't respond I was either stupid or not interested.
It made French dictation tests very difficult.

 

When i didn't respond to something a teacher said i had a wack round the earhole, what made me worse was i went for an opt and when i went back to school i couldn't even spell "it" and i ask the teacher how to spell "it" which the return words were "don't be so stupid" i also hate doing test of any sort because of the words they use so i always get bad marks but when i did hands on stuff i got good marks

 

@shiney my wife had a hearing test at Boots a couple of years ago and was told she suffered 'significant' hearing loss. She was put under considerable 'encouragement' to purchase hearing aids there and then, with prices starting in excess of £2k. She declined their kind offer.

 

Bit of a sad story.
Me and another boy both started work at the same place on the same day, he was 16 and I was 15.
We got on pretty well and after the first few months we were sent by the company to the tech college for a 6 month stint.
I found the whole thing a doddle, the maths part was easy stuff compared to what I had learnt at school, even the English was just basic stuff.
Practical wasn't anything too taxing either.

But my mate was really struggling, it went on for another 2 yrs before the company decided they didn't think he was any good and got rid of him.
Anyway we lost touch and I met him in the dentist of all places 50yrs later.

We only had a quick chat but one of the things he said to me was that he would have done a lot better if he had been able to read.

I hadn't got a clue he couldn't read, he hid it well and never mentioned it at the time.

I could have helped him a lot if I had known but we were young and you don't see things in the same light when you are in your teens.

 

It's funny Pete I just had a very similar conversation with someone whilst walking the dog. It came up because some childlike writing was spotted on a works Christmas card and a person commented on it not knowing that it was one of the adult staff.
My mum used to teach first aid and she regularly had people in their 50-60's say they couldn't read or write. One did find out later they were dyslexic and I wonder how many people had an underlying learning difficulty but were just branded thick. Once the chap knew he had a problem he was able to learn to read and write at 56 years old.

 

I have hearing loss and suffered in my forties from a condition called otosclerosis in my right ear. It's a form of arthritis, often inherited, where a tiny, tiny bone in the middle of your ear gets stuck and doesn't vibrate. Apparently I can hear well inside my head, it's just not getting through! Had an operation back in the 1990's to replace the bone with an implant. It's better than it was although I can't hear very high notes.
My left ear wasn't affected which is slightly odd but I have age related hearing loss in that one and have been wearing a hearing aid.
I've now been waiting 7 months for new NHS hearing aids, anticipated delivery, next May!
My son has the same condition but not my daughter.

 

My sister has had hearing problems for years, she had NHS hearing aids but found then pretty useless.
She has since paid a few thousand on private ones and I notice she doesn't use them half the time, she prefers to just keep saying, I cant hear you.

I suppose its easy for me to say as I dont need them as such and assume they are a bit of a bind to wear, but it can get you down shouting and repeating yourself over and over.

 

OH has hearing probs too and as @pete says, having to endlessly shout/repeat yourself makes me sound cross ( well, I am after the 3rd attempt ).
Shocked to know in this day and age that Hearing Aids run into the thousands. So much for technology !!

 

The price of private hearing aids is just a rip off as far as I'm concerned. When I had my NHS ones prescribed about 7 years ago, I was told they were state of the art ones at a cost to the NHS of £500 each (so don't lose them!).
I was quite impressed with them, very slim fitting at the back of the ear and a nearly invisible plastic wire into the ear. Each aid was individually calibrated by computer to fit my hearing needs at the clinic. I expect my new ones to be even better.