30. A bit of DIY ~ 28th June

I went back to see the audiologist for the third time this week to sort out my other painful hearing aid. I was surprised to see the electric-sander hadn't been replaced. Inevitably as soon as he turned it on it kept making terrible noises that even I could hear. After a few questions I discovered that the machine isn't even an audiological piece of equipment, but rather something you get from your local hardware store! I thought it looked very similar to the one I have in my garage! I would have brought mine along if I had known! He shaved a bit off both hearing aids, but I cannot tell at the moment whether they are comfortable because of the blisters and cuts they have already caused on my ears.

27. A quick shave ~ 25th June

It's only two days since I got the new hearing aid moulds and I am already back at the audiologists because the moulds are so painful.

You know the discomfort of wearing a brand new pair of shoes for the the first time and they give you a horrible, painful blister? Well that's what's happened with my ears. The bit of the mould which goes inside my ear is fine and a much tighter fit than the first pair which is great. However the outside part of the mould is rubbing under one of the folds in both ears.

With a sanding machine the audiologist shaved the bit of the mould which had been hurting me so much. When examining it he said that it had been bleeding hence why it's been so sore. Just as he started to shave the second hearing aid, the machine overheated and decided to stop working...typical! I have to go back on Saturday by which time the machine will have been replaced. 

26. Collecting mould ~ 23rd June

I've just collected the new moulds for my hearing aids. They are made out of silicone as opposed to my old ones which are made of vinyl. They aren't as soft but they appear to be a better fit because they go deeper into my ears.

23. Day 2: The Crown Jewels and Paw Yogi ~ 18th June

This morning we discussed lip reading and we practiced various sentences such as "I went to London to visit Buckingham Palace to see the Crown Jewels". We lipread where each of us lives i.e. Leatherhead, Staines, Ashtead, Farnham, Guildford and Shepperton. We used words that sound similar to each other ie pad, bad, mad. We also talked about certain numbers i.e. 13 & 30, 14 & 40, 15 & 50, 16 & 60, 17 & 70, 18 & 80, 19 & 90 - stand in front of a mirror and notice how similar the lips look like for each pair of numbers. The hearing people were told that using their fingers to indicate the number. The lady came over to me and suggested I learn sign language as she thought it would be more beneficial to me than the older students, so she kindly said she'll look into it for me. We also talked about assertiveness and asking people to stand in good lighting, ask them to repeat what they have said, ask them to speak up and for us to keep asking until we achieve what we set out to get. When you ask a hearing person to repeat something, they will say it exactly the same way as before. We were told to ask people to speak slower (not necessary louder because the person will shout and this alters their lip movements, making it even harder to lipread), ask them to face me, ask them to use different words, ask them to keep their hands away from their mouth and if necessary ask them to write it down (I haven't had to use it yet but I now always carry a small notebook with me). I have found that with significant hearing loss you have to be more assertive as well as confident, which I am struggling with. When you can't hear someone behind a counter for example, it is too easy to look at the person you are with to get them to repeat it to you. The thing I find the hardest is going into a noisy restaurant, cafe, bar etc and asking them to turn the music down. I have never had the confidence to ask yet as I have always asked someone to do it for me.

The hearing people were given headphones to wear which were attached to a MP3 player playing white music and then huge builders headphones on top. Those who managed to keep them on for the duration of the break, the rest of the session and lunch, reported how tired, confused and isolated they felt. Whilst I would never wish for anyone to feel like that, it was a good exercise to allow hearing people to experience a taster of being hard of hearing. The big difference of course is that they were able to remove the headphones, either when they couldn't hear what somebody was saying to them or when they had simply had enough. We (the hard of hearing) were told that we should always make time for regular non-concentration breaks to stop us getting so tired. A snooze every afternoon does sound appealing don't yo think?!

A lady from an audiology unit of a nearby hospital talked about hearing aids, what they do, whether private hearing aids are better than NHS hearing aids and so on.

She said that all hearing aids do is make things louder and whilst she's the expert, I disagree. It is true that hearing aids amplify sounds, but it is not a case of making peoples voices louder. Background noise become louder, music becomes louder, building work becomes louder. Do individual voices become louder? For me the answer is no. Even with my fancy hearing aids which are meant to minimise background noise, these other noises can overpower the sounds I want to hear making them hurt my ears and making me tired. My reason for disagreeing with the lady is because the hearing aids don't just amplify noises but make them sound different to the way I used to hear them when my hearing was good. A lot of noises sound 'tinny', some people sound as though they don't have any teeth(!) etc. I will write more about this topic in a future post.

I noticed yesterday that there were two people at the course along with a dog which had a coat on it saying it was a hearing dog. The couple, Steve and Chris, were in fact volunteers. Chris has good hearing whilst her husband Steve can hardly hear a thing. This is where Yogi comes in. Yogi, a soft gentle and placid dog, hadn't had the best start to his life, but things changed when the charity 'hearing dogs' found him. After a very long period of training he was found to be a suitable match for Steve. Steve said that Yogi had changed his life for the better. I've got a few questions lined up for Steve and Yogi tomorrow as I want to know more!

              

We had a social event in the evening. Our "classroom" had been transformed by the staff; all the tables had been moved around and were beautifully set. We had been told that there would be evening entertainment....a magician. I automatically had visions of a clown prancing around, not my idea of fun (sorry if there are any clowns reading this!). Therefore I was relieved to see a man in a suit with no face paint in sight. The evening turned out to be great fun with the magician going from table to table. With a lot of persistence I succeeded in getting the magician to reveal some of his tricks to me! He even told me his biggest secret which is.....I suppose I shouldn't reveal all to you in my post though! The evening made me realise that I must never have a career as a magician. I was worse than awful!

22. Day one of the residential course ~ 17th July

The course started yesterday so I sadly missed the first day. I was hoping there would be someone close to my age, on the course but when I opened the door I must admit that I was disappointed. The person closest in age to me was 20 years my senior, but the majority of people were in their seventies.

We started the day discussing 'practical communication'. We talked about problems with some loop systems. My very basic description of a loop is: most modern hearing aids have a button which you can change to go on a 'loop' programme. In places such as some theatres, some banks (usually only at the desk), some post offices (usually just at the counter), some supermarkets (only at where you pay), some churches/cathedrals etc they have a machine called a loop which enables those with hearing aids to wirelessly connect to their machine and supposedly make it easier for the hearing aid user to hear. You may have noticed that I used the word "supposedly", which is because I've often found that it has made no or little difference. My audiologist explained that this is usually because of three things: either the 'building' have not turned their system on, they have not set-up the system correctly, or it is a very cheap system which they have bought! We were taught that if we make an appointment at somewhere such as a bank, we can request that they provide a note-taker which they should pay for.

I told them about my recent incident whilst visiting the dentist. I was told that in the future I should ask the nurse (who is always present during the appointment) to look at me and repeat everything the dentist has said during the appointment. What an obvious thing to do but I had never thought of doing it. It was great to get tips off other people who had 'been there, done that, got the T-shirt'.

The session over ran so we weren't able to do the last bit of the morning. It was a shame as I am frequently told I am talking too quietly which is because my Dad has shouted since he started to lose his hearing and I have been so determined to not do the same that I have ended up doing the opposite. When you lose your hearing, you have no idea of what volume you are talking at.

After lunch we had an introduction to sign language and also finger spelling which was fun. I found that when lipreading it can be really helpful when someone finger spells the first letter of a difficult word.

Copied with kind permission by BSL Communication (www.bslcommunication.com)

This wasn't discussed on the course but do you know how many versions of finger spelling there are? According to the website 'Ethnologue' (http://www.ethnologue.com/subgroups/deaf-sign-language) there are a total of 130 types of finger spelling alphabets eg British Sign Language, American Sign Language, Australian Sign Language, Kenyan Sign Language etc. I have also read  that there are several thousand versions throughout the world. Whatever the exact figure, you can see that there are a lot. Unfortunately it is not a universal language which makes communication even harder for a deaf person whilst they are travelling.

Having had afternoon tea (which was always yummy!) we had a 'relaxation technique' session which if I'm honest I didn't enjoy. I love relaxation (who doesn't?), however in the past I have been taught far more effective and more advanced techniques. Rather than relaxing, I kept thinking about all the other things I would like to do or should be doing instead (like a nice swim in the hotel pool, writing to you on my blog, catching up on e.mails etc). I also found it hard not to laugh as I heard a few snores from fellow pupils! However it seemed a very successful event for most people and had the desired effect intended which was good.  

After all that learning I had a good nights sleep!

20. My Hearing Aids Complaint List ~ 9th June

I've been back to the audiologist for my post two week hearing aid appointment (actually it's been three weeks, oh well!). I went in with my little list:

• Hearing aids are falling out
• The main bit that goes behind my ears falls off when I put my sunglasses on
• I can't hear music without it screeching inside my ears
• I can't hear the other person on the end of the phone (only yesterday I phoned a friend at her work place about a business matter and as soon as she answered the phone I had to pass the phone to someone else to talk to her. If it hadn't been my friend, I would have been very embarrassed)

I was told that other than having thinner arms on my sunglasses, there's nothing else I can do. He altered the sensitivity on my hearing aids. For some of the queries he said he'd ask a colleague for further advice. I had new moulds taken of my ears (as shown below) and this time he put the horrible gunky paste deeper inside my ear so that when they are made they will be more of a snug fitting when I wear them (and hopefully not fall out anymore).

Again I left without a magical cure. I'm to go back in a couple of weeks.

15. Have you ever named a hearing aid? ~ 25th May

I've decided that I don't want to call my hearing aids 'hearing aids' anymore! What a boring name! I've already achieved the non 'Bridget Jones knickers' look, so maybe I should call them 'Mark Darcy' and 'Daniel Cleaver' - perhaps a little sticker of them should go on both my hearing aids! ...I think 'Ben and Jerry' sounds quite yummy too!

What do you think? Please contact me with other name suggestions for my hearing aids.

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When a deaf person goes to court, do they still call it a 'Hearing'?