Mom/Grandma got some new hearing aids yesterday, and it looks like they are going to be a big improvement.
She got the Bernafon Verite 6 from Costco. After putting them in, she thought they weren’t working at first because sounds weren’t distorted or tinny sounding like they were with her previous hearing aids. Yet she could hear us talking even in quiet voices, so obviously they were working.
Later, sitting at home in her apartment, she suddenly looked up at her cuckoo clock and said, “I can hear it ticking!” She hasn’t heard that for a long time.
They come with Bluetooth, a wireless connection. It allows her to hear her TV directly through the hearing aids, and also answer and talk on the telephone without touching the phone.
The TV part works well, but there is a bug or defect in the telephone system. I could get her cell phone working fine, but not the home phone. So for now she will have to continue actually picking up the handset to talk. But I’m pretty sure we will get that worked out eventually.
So welcome back to the hearing world, Mom!
Did she try using her home phone normally, with the new hearing aids in? I wonder if she could hear well without the Bluetooth.
She certainly could hear me better last night using the Bluetooth with her cell phone. In fact, she told me I was speaking loud, so I’m going to have some “getting used to” to do, too!
Comment by Donna — April 12, 2011 @ 2:13 pm
That’s good news! Is there a part that goes behind the ear? Sometimes it takes getting used to something new before it’s comfortable.
Comment by Dale — April 12, 2011 @ 2:17 pm
They are the behind the ear type, though they are pretty much invisible.
She can talk on her phone just holding the phone to her ear like most of us have to do. She says she can hear at least as well as before.
Comment by Daryl — April 12, 2011 @ 2:29 pm
Good news. I know this will improve her quality of life. Not hearing must be a real bummer. We usually call her on her cell phone anyway, so we will continue to do so, but it would be good to get the home phone working too for those friends who call her on it.
Comment by Richard — April 13, 2011 @ 7:18 am
I unpaired the cell phone when I was there, hoping that the land-line phone would work better then. I have not yet re-paired the cell phone, so it may be a day or so before you can take advantage of that improvement.
Comment by Daryl — April 13, 2011 @ 11:40 am
I am still enjoying the newness of hearing. I have discovered that some of the older TV reruns have some noise; at least, age is what I am blaming it on. New ones are as clear as if I am hearing them directly from TV
Comment by Mom — April 16, 2011 @ 9:26 am
Mom, maybe they work better with stereo shows. The newer shows will all be in stereo, while the old ones will be mono.
Maybe there is something about mono signals that create the static sound you complain about.
The commercials in the show would all probably be stereo, so that may be why they sound OK.
That’s something to look into.
Comment by Daryl — April 16, 2011 @ 10:20 am